Chapter 760: The End of the Game

All the Schalke players didn’t just go back after the game was over.

1-4

This was the score that they usually suffered when they were defeated by Dortmund, and yet, now, it was they who inflicted that pain here. It was a rare occasion when they could beat their annoying neighbor, and since no one was sitting around the yellow wall on the stand, they took their sweet time to celebrate this win.

Higo himself joined for a moment, singing and jumping with the rest of the team from excitement. This was the feeling he missed the most about football: winning the game in a decisive manner after working hard for the whole 90 minutes.

However, when the boy saw some of the Dortmund players sitting on the ground, he remembered quite well his interaction with Thomas Muller after the game against Bayern was over, and the boy didn’t know why, but his feet seemed to lead him to approach them.

"Hey, good game." He came to Erling Haaland, who was still sitting on the ground while looking at Schalke’s bench helplessly.

The boy was stunned for a second before he snorted incredulously. "What good game? You destroyed us fair and square here; I even started to think that you would be in my nightmare today, blocking my shot and preventing me from having a good sleep."

Higo barked out a laugh while patting the boy on the shoulder. "Nah, it is real, though. I didn’t even feel the same pressure from Robert Lewandowski compared to when I fought you today. He might be the best striker in the world right now, but soon enough, I am sure you will be there as well."

In Higo’s mind, this kind of flattery didn’t really mean that much, since his football knowledge was quite limited. Hell, he couldn’t even name any other strikers that played outside of Germany, so his words couldn’t be used as a standard here.

Still, coming from a talented goalkeeper like Higo, Haaland was quite flattered by the praise. "Thanks, I am sure you will also become a big player soon enough."

They stared at each other in silence for a moment before two big grins formed there, and those two teenagers dabbed each other with laughter. At this point, they had already forgotten about the result earlier, somehow becoming the best of friends with each other.

"Come on! No need to be that humble! When we saw the news about your 9-goal record, everyone on Team Japan was so green with envy!"

"Bah! Who cares about that record?! The most important thing is advancing to the next round, you know?! Your team even gets to the final without you being the regular, for God’s sake! It seems Japan is going to be stronger in the future!"

"We didn’t win, anyway! Ukraine was a beast that day!"

"They might be good at that tournament, but where are those players now?!"

From all the Schalke players who were busy celebrating to Dortmund players who were just grieving a moment ago, everyone had the corner of their lips twitching at their interaction. No one thought that the two youngsters who were just enemies a moment ago would hit it off this quickly.

If Higo noticed their reaction, he would just let out a little shrug here, trying to act innocently. I mean, who could blame him when Haaland himself was a bundle of joyful personality? It was so easy for Higo to get closer to the Norwegian striker as, outside of the pitch, the boy was the definition of a positive vibe.

Unfortunately, at the end of the day, their teams had a heated rivalry against each other, so it was not a good idea to interact too closely with the players. Those two boys might not notice it, but the two teams’ captain couldn’t just let something like this go.

"Erling! Come on, what the heck are you doing there?!" Marco Reus waved at the boy impatiently.

"Higo, this is not the place where you can make a friend! Come on, the Boss has been waiting for us!" Omar Mascarell also stepped forward to drag Higo out of his little gathering.

For a moment, the two captains stared at each other in still silence, with the temperature dropping instantly. Even Higo himself couldn’t help but shiver at the sudden change here. ’Yeah, it is as if they forgot that we are already in summer, right?’

In the end, those two just gave a polite nod to each other before dragging their own youngster to get back to the locker room. Higo just followed along, not daring to say anything else, and it was until the moment Marco Reus and Erling Haaland disappeared from their sight that Omar Mascarell finally broke the silence with a long sigh.

"You brat! You sure know how to cause trouble for the team, huh?" The captain smiled wryly.

"Trouble? What trouble?" Higo blinked confusedly.

Unfortunately, the Spaniard didn’t buy that innocent act. He just snorted before slapping Higo on the back of the head. "Don’t play stupid like that. You have been a regular in Bosch, so you should know what our people think about them. What do you think they will say if they see their beloved goalkeeper acting buddy-buddy with Dortmund’s striker?"

This time, it was Higo’s turn to be silent.

Oh, the boy knew that his interaction with Haaland could cause him a problem, but the boy always thought that maintaining animosity even after the game was over was a stupid idea. After all, no one knew what would happen in the future. I mean, who could guess that they wouldn’t become teammates three or four years from now?

Unfortunately, the fanaticism that the supporters showed was sometimes the opposite of how much time they spent using their brains. They didn’t care about logic, only about the sentiment. So, it was better that he would avoid something like this in the future.

"Anyway, don’t think too much about it." This time, Omar Mascarell patted the boy on the back with more enthusiasm. "We have won 4-1 against Dortmund! The difficult job is done, so it is time to party!"