Chapter 980: Pitchside Interview with DAZN

"Okay, welcome back, people wherever you are! Thanks for still staying with us even after the game is over! Now, we have two of the orchestrators of Schalke’s success today, still waiting in Veltins Arena for us! Hello, Morita? Higo? Can you hear me?"

Soon enough, the buzzing sound could be heard as the camera was connected to the stadium once again, and everyone who watched the broadcast live could see the two Japanese boys fixing the headphones while checking their appearance on their camera.

"Yes, we can hear you, Herzog-san. Thank you for the chance. Hello, Ballack-san, how are you both?" Morita spoke politely as the opener of the interview.

"Hah! We are more than good, Boy!" Michael Ballack laughed when he heard that. "Today is definitely an incredible performance for you both! We are so proud to have you here!"

Daniel Herzog also smiled when he heard that question.

"Indeed, we are truly enjoying the show today. To think that you can hold Bayern Munich like that, even being so close to winning the game... I find watching today’s game to be a wonderful experience!"

It wasn’t just him being polite or throwing an empty word here. No, if anything, Daniel Herzog and Michael Ballack truly enjoyed what they had witnessed today, finding that it was refreshing to see another team in the league causing such big trouble for Bayern Munich.

It also helped that they quite liked those two, especially their politeness. Honestly, they didn’t have any superstar air at all, just looking like two ordinary boys who enjoyed being on the pitch and fought against the best team in the world.

"Anyway, Higo! I know that Lewandowski had already revealed in the past how you would always put a target on him whenever you fought! Is there anything like that for today? One that would make you so determined to block him from getting even one goal?"

Higo couldn’t help but snort when he heard that.

"It is not a secret anymore, huh? But yeah, I made a vow to myself that I have to stop him even if I have to kill myself. That is the same vow that I made for myself whenever I played against him, and somehow, it works well for me so far."

"I mean, out of three games that we played, he only managed to bag one, and it came from a penalty kick, right? That shouldn’t count at all." He ended his answer with a disdainful tone, one that made the guys in the studio laugh their ass off at his cheeky answer.

"Still, I told Muller-san that I had a different target today, and I am glad that it works well for me," Higo added something that made not only the two in the studio, but Morita, feel curious as well.

"Oh? What kind of target?"

"Well, in our last two games against Bayern, I always conceded two goals, right? So, I told myself that I want to prevent them from scoring more than one today, and somehow, I managed to hold it until the very end, only losing a goal against them."

"I think that is a good achievement, right?"

This time, everyone was so speechless, not expecting Higo to be this bold and harsh to himself.

"I have to give you a hat off, Higo. Your fearless attitude against the best team in the world is something that people in the league should learn, you know?" Daniel Herzog shook his head in admiration.

"Hah! That’s what I tell him!" Morita smiled widely, always so happy to be able to hype Higo no matter what the situation was. "He has it in him to be the best in the business! If only he cared about it a little bit..."

"What about you, Morita?" Ballack suddenly chimed in once Morita spoke.

"You scored such an amazing goal against probably the best goalkeeper in the world, and you even almost scored another screamer if only you didn’t get fouled at the end of the game. What do you think about it?"

Yeah, only after the game was over did Morita remember that he pulled a screamer today, scoring from the halfway line with a crazy lob shot that moved like a meteor.

After pondering for a second, he finally answered, "Hah! Of course, I am happy! If anything, that should be worth the Puskas Award, right?" He grinned jokingly.

Puskas Award was a reward for the best goal of the year, and usually, it was the kind of goal that Morita threw today that would be nominated to get one.

"Still, it is quite annoying that the last chance failed. I don’t know how he still got so much stamina even when the game was about to end. If only I could run a little bit faster at that time, we would be here laughing for our win today."

The boy clicked his annoyance at the end of his answer, showing his high ambition as well.

"You guys are crazy, I tell you that." Daniel Herzog shook his head once again in exasperation.

"People will think that either you lost your mind or that you don’t know the world well enough to challenge the best, but you guys have already proved that you are not just bark here. So, after this match is over, what is your target?"

This time, Morita went quiet for a moment, looking at Higo as if confirming something.

The goalkeeper figured out immediately what his friend wanted to say, but in this moment, when adrenaline was still high, there was no way he would disagree with Morita.

"Oh, yes! This is going to be good!" Morita laughed giddily. "This is something that we have never spoken to the outside world about, anyway, so make sure you listen well, Herzog-san! Ballack-san!"

"Oh?" This time, those two leaned forward, interested.

"Yeah, call us stupid and not knowing how big the world is, but we have already set our target since the beginning of the season!" Morita laughed.

"So, Golden Boy Award, Kopa Trophy, are you ready to put Koki Morita and Ryusuke Higo on your list? Because we are going to come to you this year; just wait!"