Chapter 748: A Decisive Counterattack! Stealing the First Goal!

"Yes! Nice pass, Higo!"

On the right flank, Nassim ran a little while, his eyes following the ball in the air. Of course, he also paid attention to his surroundings, but the closest one to him, Matt Hummels, was still guarding the center, while Achraf Hakimi had already gone too far to the front line to help the attack.

With a little touch of his toe, the Moroccan winger controlled the ball perfectly, taming it into his left foot before he started accelerating forward.

"Achraf! Recover! Recover!"

"Captain, slow him down! Don’t let him cut in!"

This time, it was Dortmund’s chance to show off why they were the best defensive team in this country. Instead of panicking like a bunch of fools, the three defenders on the backline moved coordinately, covering the whole ground for Nassim to go while also waiting for the other teammates to recover from the failed attack earlier.

This suffocating defense would make any ordinary winger give up completely, slowing down the tempo first before moving the ball back to the midfield.

However, Nassim Boujellab was a brave and imaginative young man, and in his very first game with the main team, there was no way he would settle for anything ordinary. So, he did exactly what Matt Hummels was trying to prevent him from doing, challenging the man with a cut-in move to run diagonally toward the middle.

Matt Hummels himself was taken aback for a second before he started moving back slowly, not wanting to bite the bait here. He knew that the moment he charged in, Nassim would change direction immediately, and the space behind him would be so empty that it could lead the team to disaster.

Still, Nassim didn’t really need that. What the boy wanted was to get everyone’s attention on him, and the moment all eyes shifted here, someone moved in sync with him, trying to break through the flank to sneak into the half-space area between two defenders.

’Well, nice run. Here is your reward!’

Thud!

Nassim delivered a scalpel-like pass that sliced through Manuel Akanji and Lukasz Piszczek’s defensive spaces, and there, Daniel Caligliuri suddenly popped out of nowhere, receiving the ball perfectly.

"Shit!"

At least, that was the common reaction from all the Dortmund players when they realized that someone managed to escape from their grasp.

Daniel Caligliuri himself didn’t do much here. He just pushed the ball diagonally to get closer to the middle, and when the goalkeeper was trying to cover the space in front of him, he pushed it once again to create more space before finally executing it himself.

BAM!

Even though Dortmund’s goalkeeper tried his best, he still couldn’t reach the ball at all. It went into the back of the net, giving Schalke their very first goal of the last couple of months and also this league’s first goal in this lockdown era.

"OH! Yes, Cali!"

"Come on!"

While the others were rushing at him, Daniel Caligliuri just shrugged nonchalantly as if it wasn’t a big deal. Still, everyone could see his excitement here, as he hadn’t scored a lot this year. The man was the main striker last year before getting injured for a long time, so this goal was truly in time to boost his morale.

Meanwhile, on the back line, Higo also clenched his fist tightly, hugging Ozan Kabak and Bastian Oczipka to celebrate this goal. He had a reason to be happy here, since once again, the goal started from him.

Even though he wasn’t the type of modern sweeper-keeper that the coach hoped he could be, at least the boy always managed to make the right decision, followed by an accurate action to help the team get into an advantageous situation.

The boy also didn’t forget to give Nassim Boujellab a thumbs-up even from afar.

"Yeah, as expected of the Moroccan Magician. He could always turn even the smallest chance into a big one." He grinned widely, appreciating his Moroccan friend more.

Of course, that only lasted for a while, because after that, Higo’s face turned solemn. How could he not, when all the Dortmund offensive players were eyeing him like he was helpless prey waiting to be pounced on. That, or he had just offended the whole group here.

It wasn’t just because they became more eager for a goal to tie the score here. No, all the guys with the yellow jersey around noticed that the attack came from Higo, so the best revenge here would be bringing him down and killing him in the process.

Knowing that he had just painted his back as a big target, the boy winced inwardly, muttering, ’Damn, this is going to be a problem. Oh, well, as long as it is not Haaland who goes at me, I think I will be alright.’

Unfortunately, he could throw away that useless hope instantly, as right after the game was restarted again, the Norwegian striker was moving like a beast, trying to destroy anyone in front of him. Not only that, but the rest of the Dortmund team also noticed the man was on fire, willing to give the ball to the striker.

This made Ozan Kabak and Bastian Oczipka struggle a lot, as they were clearly not Haaland’s match here. No matter how hard they tried, they were neither stronger nor quicker than him, and the Norwegian man took advantage of it to the fullest to break down Schalke’s whole defense by himself.

Hell, the most outrageous one here came in the 41st minute of the game, when Raphael Guerreiro tried to send a diagonal through pass to get Haaland to the penalty box. The Norwegian striker saw this clearly, and he burst so quickly, leaving Schalke’s two defenders in the dust.

When Ozan Kabak tried to pull a professional move by grabbing the striker’s jersey, he didn’t even budge. He used sheer power to drag Ozan Kabak with him until the Turkish defender fell to the ground, and right after that, Higo couldn’t help but curse when he realized that it was another one-on-one situation against Haaland.

’FUCK!’