Chapter 746: Erling Haaland - Another Anomaly

In fact, Higo couldn’t remember clearly what the opponent’s name was at that time. The only thing clear in his mind was that it should have been during the tournament in Niigata in the summer about two years ago, after he finished his first-ever tournament with Hakodate Nishi.

At that time, he faced an opponent that was so tricky that even his clairvoyant ability couldn’t predict the boy’s movement clearly. The only fortunate part in that game was that the opponent wasn’t really that good, so Higo could still stop him, but the memory was clear to this day, as it was the first time his ability betrayed him.

After that, he had done a lot of things to deal with this matter, from revealing the secret to Kumiko, which he had always thought he would take to his grave, to even learning something as abstract as sports biomechanics that forced him to study how a footballer would kick the ball.

However, time passed by, and besides that one particular boy, Higo had never met anyone else who could shake off his ability to foresee the future. During that period, the boy even forgot that he had it firsthand, and he had completely forgotten about what he learned at that time.

Unfortunately, fate liked to slap him in the face right in the worst situation. It was in a derby game when he faced probably one of the best young players in the world right now in a one-on-one situation, and this happened again.

The timing definitely couldn’t be worse than this.

It was fortunate that the shot itself couldn’t find the back of the net. However, right now, Higo still had a cold sweat on his back, his mind shutting down for a moment as he couldn’t think of how to react to this.

"Higo? Oi, Higo, what is going on?!" Ozan Kabak suddenly shook his shoulder, waking him up from his daydreaming. "The referee has asked you to restart the game! Come on!" The Turkish man pointed at the impatient referee in the middle of the pitch.

"Uh... Ah! Sorry about that!" The goalkeeper got up from the ground quickly, looking a little bit sheepish. However, he also didn’t forget to say something here. "If you can, Oz-san, please don’t let him get a one-on-one situation against me again. At least, try to bother him, limit his space, or do anything that could slow him down, okay?"

If anything, this made Ozan Kabak worried more. This was the first time he heard Higo say something like that, as even when the boy fought against Robert Lewandowski, he was still able to stay calm. The fact that Higo was so tense showed that Erling Haaland had something dangerous in him, and honestly, this only made the Turkish defender feel more nervous.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the time to chat around about it. No, the referee had already checked his watch again, and if those two didn’t go quickly, they could be punished with a yellow card for delaying the game for too long. After Weston got one, it would be bad if anyone else collected another yellow card that quickly.

Higo himself moved quickly, putting the ball on his six-yard box before clearing it as far away as possible.

BANG!

He let the ball fly so far, not even aiming it properly. It was fortunate that the striker right now, Daniel Caligliuri, managed to win the aerial duel against Lukasz Piszczek, giving Schalke the first chance of the game.

Still, Higo couldn’t care less about that right now. No, his mind was still being bugged by Erling Haaland’s abnormal situation, wondering what he should do right now.

’Trying to test him more will be absurd. No, if he could get even one point against me, the frontline wouldn’t be able to tie the score. Still, I have to test it and try to observe everything carefully. If not, I would never understand how he would do that.’

So many scenarios were flying inside his head, and his brain turned into mush as the boy kept calculating all the pros and cons of every little plan that he made. Unfortunately, before he could make any decision, Borussia Dortmund had already made another move, and this time, it was no less dangerous than before.

"FUCK! Juan, go back! Go back!"

"Captain, try to help cover that spot! Don’t let him send a cutback to Brandt!"

"Shit! Another one-two pass?! How could it be done so fucking easily?!"

It all came from another counterattack scenario, and this time, Raphael Guerreiro, the Portuguese wing-back, overlapped so far that he entered the penalty box so easily. Behind, Juan Miranda was trying to chase, but with him panting so heavily, coupled with the fact that the Spaniard was already two steps behind, everyone could see that this attack was impossible to stop.

’Fuck it! He is going for a cutback pass! I have to move first!’ Higo gritted his teeth as he started shifting his body away from the goal.

However, right after that, a vision suddenly came into his mind, giving him an idea of what would happen next. Usually, Higo wouldn’t even think twice before following it. Unfortunately, what Haaland did to him earlier still left a lingering effect here, as he doubted, even for a single second, his ability.

’Is it really going to be like that? Would I dare to risk everything just for that vision?’

That thought only appeared for one second before it ebbed away so quickly in the next second. However, that was enough, because the moment Raphael Guerreiro took an action, shooting the ball to the near post side instead of sending a cutback that would be intercepted by Higo...

BAM!

The boy froze on the spot, couldn’t even move to anticipate that. Higo was so lucky that the ball went wide, only hitting the side of the net quite violently. However, at that exact second, he could feel like his heart was jumping out of his body.

’For fuck’s sake... This is not good...’