Chapter 767: Stealing the First Goal?!

Higo himself didn’t blink when he saw the ball was coming. No, his clairvoyance ability had already given him a vision of this scene, and since it wasn’t Erling Haaland who took the shot, the boy didn’t have any reason not to trust the image inside his head.

BAM!

He didn’t flinch, not even moving a step here. The shot came straight to the middle, and all the boy needed to do was raise his hand, blocking the ball completely. As a result, it bounced upward, flying far to the back of the goal.

"ARGH!" That Augsburg player who wanted to test his luck groaned in regret when he saw the ball was blocked. "Fuck! Almost!"

"Don’t mind, Lowen! Don’t mind!"

"Yeah! We will have another chance later! Let’s focus on the game first!"

The other Augsburg players tried to encourage that man even though they themselves also clicked their tongues when they saw the shot was blocked. They knew that Schalke would be a difficult opponent to face, especially their goalkeeper, so they still had a glimmer of hope that they could surprise the home team with a quick goal here.

Higo himself didn’t stay idle on the back. Even though he made the save look easy, that didn’t mean the goalkeeper liked to do it over and over again.

"Captain, Morita-san, keep an eye on the second ball!" He shouted, reminding the midfielders who should be the first filter to the opponent’s attack. "Come on! The game has begun! Wake up and don’t fall asleep again!"

Those two jerked a moment before nodding furiously. On the back, Higo’s command was absolute, and daring to object here would only get them to the bench in a heartbeat.

Soon enough, the game continued with a corner kick, and this time, Weston McKennie cleared it quickly. This also ended Augsburg’s attempt to score a quick goal here, as they slowed down the tempo immediately.

Higo could let out a relieved sigh for a moment, since the next ten minutes were spent with both teams fighting for dominance in the midfield. So many clashes, contacts, and fouls happened there, and besides the very first minute of the game, neither goalkeeper had anything worth doing, just redirecting the possession here and there and helping with the ball distribution.

The first chance for Schalke was finally on board in the 15th minute of the game, when somehow, Nassim Boujellab managed to get through two defenders on the flank and attack the channel area quickly. Instead of shooting directly, though, with a difficult angle that he had, the Moroccan winger was smart enough to send a cutback to the middle, where Daniel Caligliuri was standing straight in front of two defenders.

BAM!

Unfortunately, it seemed that Caligliuri’s shot flew far away into the sky, as the striker failed to hit it with his best technique.

"FUCK!" The man cursed, his eyes widening, as if he himself couldn’t believe that such a great chance would be missed like that. "FUCK! Sorry, Nassim! That’s on me! That’s on me!"

Nassim himself just smiled wryly while his eyes were staring at the ball outside of the pitch. The boy also wanted to curse as all of his effort was wasted in such a ridiculous way, but Caligliuri’s apology was genuine enough that he didn’t have the heart to bring it up right now.

Also, this was still the beginning of the game, so there was no need to be angry with just one chance here.

Still, after this, the defense on Nassim’s side became tighter than ever. At least two players were always in the vicinity, ready to pounce on him whenever the Moroccan boy had the ball. Then, if that was not enough, one of their defenders would also shift toward that side of the flank, ready to provide support and act as a backup when those two were not enough to stop him.

It seemed that one game was enough to make all the other Bundesliga teams wary of him, and Nassim was flattered when he knew that he received this much attention from the opponent. Well... That was if only he wasn’t that frustrated, as this was basically him being locked down on the right side of the flank.

Of course, this would also bring more opportunity for Schalke.

Somehow, Augsburg players forgot that before Nassim Boujellab arrived here, Schalke’s most dangerous player was always the one in midfield, the quiet sniper that could send the ball everywhere with ridiculous accuracy.

Four minutes after Nassim’s attack, Morita didn’t even make any exaggerated movement that would put him in the spotlight. He just did a quick one-two pass with Todibo close to the center line as if he was about to wait for Nassim to break through, but in the next second, everything changed.

BAM!

The boy launched a long, diagonal pass immediately, catching everyone off guard.

"FUCK! JED! Move back! Move back!"

"Rani! What the fuck are you doing?! Get ready for a duel!"

For a moment, the left side of the Augsburg side was in shambles, not expecting Morita to switch sides this decisively. They were also too focused on the ball in the air, not expecting that from the blind spot, someone had already made a run and jumped in front of them.

BAM!

Yeah, somehow, Benito Raman managed to steal a spot there, snatching the ball away from two eyes in front of him. However, since the distance was too great from the goal, instead of aiming straight at the goalkeeper himself, the Belgian winger just redirected the ball to the center of the penalty box.

There, Caligliuri didn’t even blink or think, just letting the ball fall in front of him before turning around and shooting the ball directly with his right foot.

BAM!

Augsburg’s goalkeeper tried his best here, but his vision was blocked by his own teammates. As a result, even with him diving toward the ball, his reaction was still too late, and the man could only watch helplessly as the ball slammed the back of the net quite violently.

Schalke 04 1-0 FC Augsburg