Chapter 110: Insane (by Demya_The_Healer)
Xhaka shifted late, and that hesitation was all he needed. He threaded the ball through the narrow space, squeezed his body between the pair with a burst of pace, and burst free into open grass, leaving both men off balance and glancing helplessly over their shoulders.
The crowd sitting around the corner flag gasped as they stood up to witness what could come of this.
Breaking free down the flank, Lukas darted toward the edge of the box, the crowd rising with every stride. Jonathan Tah stepped across, towering and certain, his arm outstretched to force him wide. But the ball was glued to his feet, and with a sharp stepover followed by a sudden cut inside, he wrong-footed Tah completely. The big defender stumbled, lunging at air as the ball slipped past him.
No sooner had he escaped than Nordi Mukiele closed in from the right, covering the penalty spot. Timing it perfectly, he flicked the ball just out of Mukiele’s reach with the outside of his boot, then burst around the defender’s other side to collect it again. A single touch steadied him, the goal opening up before his eyes.
Lukas let fly with his left foot, the strike rising and curling toward the far corner. For a heartbeat, it looked certain to ripple the net — the fans behind the goal were on their feet. They had just witnessed a moment of sheer and utter brilliance.
But Hradecky was having none of that.
He flung himself at full stretch, fingertips grazing the ball just enough to tip it wide.
"OOHHHH!"
Gasps and roars merged into one as the chance slipped away, his moment of brilliance denied by a world-class save.
The fans got on their feet and applauded him as he strutted back to that left flank to take the resulting corner kick.
Up in the stands, Joanna sat there, mouth slightly agape as she clapped with the fans. João had his hands on his head. Javi was all smiles while Anne had an expression of slight shock.
They had all known Lukas was a terrific player. They knew how talented he was and how highly rated he was.
But this was their first time watching him in person, against recognizable faces in the Bundesliga. Players who had gone unbeaten in the Bundesliga the previous season were being toyed with by Lukas right now.
It was such a bizarre feeling to them.
They had seen it on TV against Bayern Munich last week, but seeing it in person was such a different feeling. Hearing the supporters around them sing praises of Lukas made them proud.
Especially Javi.
But instantly, as if something struck him, his smile faded as he went into deep thought.
"With how popular he’s getting, it’s only a matter of time before she sees him... I guess I should have a conversation with him soon before she tries to contact him," Javi thought as he watched his son receive a pass from Koch, skip past Garcia, and release a through ball for Brown down the wing, to the cheers of the fans around him.
The smile returned to his face. "I guess I’ll worry about that when the time comes. For now, I’ve gotta enjoy this show he’s putting on."
On the pitch, completely unaware of the thoughts his father was having up in the stands, Lukas was causing all sorts of problems for the Leverkusen players. Especially the midfield.
Neither Xhaka nor Garcia could touch him. And after that spell of pressure from Leverkusen right after his team’s third goal, they had been on the front foot for much of the past ten minutes.
The clock steadily ticked past the 75th minute and was entering into smash-and-grab territory. Anyone who scored now would almost definitely win the game.
Leverkusen got the chance to do just that on the counter in the 78th minute.
Lukas had received the ball at the edge of the penalty area from Højlund. But immediately the ball was played to him, he had already been crowded out. Garcia, Xhaka, Hermoso, Grimaldo — four players surrounding a 16-year-old.
He tried to dance out of the encirclement, a drag back with the sole of his boot before flicking the ball to the left, avoided the tackle from Grimaldo, but four at once seemed far too great a task at this stage as Hermoso managed to poke the ball out of possession and Xhaka immediately hit the ball high up the pitch without even looking to see if anyone was there.
Unfortunately for Eintracht, there was someone.
Schick, who was hugging the halfway line as his team defended, keeping the Eintracht defense on their toes while providing a way to release pressure for his team when they wanted to clear the ball up the pitch, was the one the hopeful clearance got to.
Koch was caught off-guard as a fortuitous first touch from Schick saw the ball go through his legs, and all of a sudden, Schick was through on goal with only Trapp in front of him.
Toppmöller had his hands on his head as the Czech Republic international bore down on his team’s goal while Koch and Mukiele tried, to no avail, to keep him contained.
"Oh, horrible mistake by Koch! Patrick Schick could give Leverkusen the lead in this tie... ONE-ON-ONE with the goalkeeper..."
Just as Schick got close to Eintracht’s penalty arc, Trapp made the decision to rush out of his line to face Schick.
The goalkeeper went low and hard, timing his run perfectly to destabilize the center forward.
But Schick was in too good form to miss a shot on goal while one-on-one with a goalkeeper.
Luck also played a huge part in that, though.
The two players collided. Trapp sat on the floor, his legs and arms spread as wide as they possibly could while Schick tried to lob the ball over the goalkeeper.
The ball hit Trapp’s head before he clobbered into Schick and ricocheted out of the penalty box.
Schick raised both hands asking for the penalty, but the referee allowed play to develop first as the ball landed directly in front of Wirtz right outside the penalty area.
"FLORIAN WIRTZ!" the commentators screamed as Wirtz lobbed the ball over a helpless Trapp struggling to get up, and an already jubilating Schick sitting on the ground with his hands in the air, switching from a penalty shout to a goal celebration while some fans directly behind the goal placed their hands on their heads as they watched the ball looping into the net.
Just when they thought the goal was all but confirmed, a figure seemed to appear right at the goal line as white-and-red-coloured boots thumped the ball out of the air as it flew right back into the pitch.
The Leverkusen players, half of whom already had their arms in the air, couldn’t believe their eyes as they rested those hands on their heads.
"OH MY WORD, WHAT HAVE WE JUST WITNESSED?!"