Chapter 885: Another Incident?!

Well, the next twenty minutes went with Schalke completely encircling Mainz in their territory, not giving the home team any chance to fight back. Hell, the ball only came back to Higo or Stambouli a few times, and the rest of the time was spent basically with the goalkeeper being jobless, not having anything to do.

Not that Higo wouldn’t enjoy it, of course, since the two penalties in the first half were a little bit too much for his nerves. It was always good to slow down a little bit, not having to focus too much on the game.

’Yeah, no wonder Manuel Neuer enjoys being with Bayern Munich the most, right? The job is easy, and after that, I still get a fucking bonus for the clean sheet. Should I start thinking of which big teams I need to join in the future?’ Higo mused, his loyalty starting to get shaky.

Of course, that was just a thought in the flashpan, not something he amused himself with for too long. No, right now, his focus was to finish the game as quickly as possible, wanting to get back home soon.

Still, the game went at a slow tempo since that goal in the early moments of the second half. Schalke didn’t rush things up, building their attack slowly and patiently. Under Morita’s guidance, no one made an unnecessary judgment that would lead the team to lose possession.

Hell, right now, everyone was on the same frequency. It was better to not advance further rather than moving too fast and rushing thing up that would end up in them losing possession.

As a result, the game went into a boring territory here, with fewer shots and chances from both teams.

Mainz itself didn’t seem to be bothered with being down by one goal. No, while some players still tried to put pressure, none of them were willing enough to chase the ball too far, especially when the midfielders like Bentaleb or Omar Mascarell decided to recycle possession back to Higo on the backline.

Based on their action here, it looked like they treated the game like it was still a draw, and they just wanted to park the bus to maintain the score until the end.

Of course, Schalke was happy to let them do that. While they would be ecstatic for the second goal, even 1-0 was still enough to get them back to the top 5 again, getting them back on the winning track after the draw against Stuttgart last week.

For a moment, it looked like the whole game would be just like this, with Schalke spending most of the time maintaining their possession. However, once the game entered the 78th minute, something finally happened.

It all started with Bastian Ozcipka, who wanted to lift the ball to the box, letting Mark Uth fight for the aerial duel there. However, their defender managed to win the duel, and another player cleared the ball as far away as possible.

It fell into the middle of the pitch, where Benjamin Stambouli was the last player for Schalke on the backline.

However, the easy ball that should’ve been controlled without a problem like this somehow became a source of disaster. No one really knew whether it was from exhaustion or a moment of slip inside his head, but Stambouli failed to get the ball on his feet, and in return, it bounced straight in front of him before getting behind the French man.

Then, like a cheetah that had been eyeing its prey for a long time, Karim Onisiwo, Mainz’s striker who had just entered the game in the second half, pounced out of nowhere, chasing the ball with the speed that no one could expect.

"FUCK! WHAT THE HELL, BENJY?!"

"MALICK! GET BACK! SLOW HIM DOWN!"

In that exact second, after everything seemed to slow down, panic suddenly descended, creating chaos everywhere.

All the Schalke players rushed back frantically, trying to get back to their own positions. Stambouli was the same, gritting his teeth as he tried his best to get back on his feet as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, Karim Onisiwo was a player who was famous for his speed, and since he had just entered the game in the second half, his stamina was still full, leaving everyone in the dust.

Only Malick Thiaw remained, and while the young defender was decent enough with his speed, Higo still couldn’t help but worry. The goalkeeper lowered his stance, getting ready to act if he was needed to rush in.

"Malick! Don’t foul him! Just put enough pressure, don’t try to kill him!" He shouted while sweating like a bullet.

Malick Thiaw was almost good at everything, except that he was a little bit clumsy in a situation like this. That was why Higo wanted to make sure that no foul was made, especially as Karim Onisiwo was getting closer to the penalty box.

’It would be a fucking joke if we suffered three penalties in a game.’ Higo murmured secretly.

Unfortunately, this worked like a fucking jinx.

Somehow, Karim Onisiwo, with his 188 cm of height and 87 kg of weight, was so fast and strong that even Malick Thiaw himself failed to make him budge. No, the shoulder charge that he tried only made the young defender bounce away, and the only way for him to get back on the track was to make a tackle.

However, that was when Karim Onisiwo used his brain to the max here.

The man took advantage of Malick Thiaw’s extended foot, letting himself get hit by it straight in the middle of the penalty box. The contact wasn’t really that much, in hindsight, just a gentle one, as if a person got stumbled by gravel or something like that.

Still, that touch, coupled with a little bit of acting just like the two incidents earlier, mixed everything up to create the biggest drama of the game here.

BRUGH!

The man fell, and right after that, he screamed as if his life depended on it.

"ARGH! REF! THAT’S A FUCKING FOUL! AARGH!"