Chapter 887: Higo, A Miracle Worker!

In hindsight, stopping a penalty was never an easy job. No, with only around 12 meters of distance, no one being able to help the goalkeeper, and the goal that seemed to get bigger at that exact moment, the chance to stop a penalty was just around 12 to 18 percent.

That meant normally, a goalkeeper would only be able to stop one in six.

That was why it was never easy to be in that position. Stopping one penalty was not an easy job, and saving two was almost impossible. However, three? That was like asking for the biggest miracle in the world, not something that would happen more than 10 times in the whole of football history.

However, if there was someone who could be associated with miracles, it would be none other than Higo.

His clairvoyance, an ability that should never come to this world, warned the boy where the ball would go, at what speed, and even how high it was, and in that exact moment, the boy moved instinctively, following the guidance from whatever higher being that allowed him to access the future.

’Fuck! I can get this!’

BAM!

Even though the shot itself had decent power and speed, Higo had already moved beforehand, and the route itself wasn’t that far from the middle. As a result, he managed to block the ball away, letting it go to the flank side without anyone being able to get the second ball to threaten Higo again.

"FUCK YEAH!" This time, unlike the first two where Higo could still be casual about it, the boy roared wildly, punching the air as he celebrated the save like crazy. "COME FUCKING ON!"

Then, the others followed, as they all rushed toward the boy with a hug and even crushed their body into his.

"Fucking hell, Higo! This is so fucking abnormal!"

"God! You are a fucking God today!"

"This is insane! Three penalties?! Are you fucking kidding me?!"

No one could hide their emotions right now, as everyone treated this save as if it was the game-winning one that allowed them to get the World Cup trophy or something like that. The depressing air from losing Malick Thiaw from the red card itself was gone at this point, replaced with pure, unadulterated joy among all the Schalke players.

Of course, Karim Onisiwo, the one who executed the penalty, was so stunned and dumbfounded right now. The man looked at where the ball went after it was blocked, and honestly, it looked like he still failed to process everything here.

It wasn’t just him; even all the Mainz players around also looked at each other with the same helpless expression. However, it seemed that they weren’t too shocked about this, all probably thinking along the same lines.

’Yeah, it seems we are not destined to win today’s game...’

Well, how could they not, when everything seemed to point in that direction? Even though some of them were not religious people, at this point, after missing three penalties in a fucking game, they all started to believe that fate was real, and they were never meant to win the game today.

That was probably why, even with so much help from the referee, they still failed to put the ball in the back of the opponent’s net.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have any time to process their feelings right now. No, the game still had to continue, and with only 10 minutes left to go, they started to exert more power, still wanting to earn something.

At least, even though they were so depressed right now, the players were still realistic enough to see the advantage that they had here. After all, with Malick Thiaw being out of the frame, they would have a one-player advantage on the pitch, and they would be stupid to not try about it.

Frohling himself also made a quick change after this. He knew that his team needed a reinforcement on the back, so the coach took out Fabian Reese, the winger who hadn’t really done that much today, and replaced him with Salif Sane, a Senegalese defender who spent most of his time as a bench warmer.

Higo frowned a little when he saw this. After all, he had several experiences playing with the man in the training session, and Salif Sane was never the best defender on the team.

He was tall and heavy, but his movement was slow, and he couldn’t jump high to win the aerial duel. His game reading ability was just subpar, not really enough to be in the first team.

Honestly, even with the man being 31 years old already, his level was only on the second team, and if only Frohling had a better bench player right now, he would’ve used him already at this point.

Still, with only ten minutes left, facing a depressed and exhausted Mainz team, it should be enough for the man to come and help them survive.

True enough, his presence alone was enough to block so many aerial duels that threatened the penalty box, what with him still having the stamina to jump. However, Mainz also tried his best to attack from another direction, wanting to get the goal that would tie the score.

From left, right, a through ball, a killer cross, and even a long shot, they had done everything, and yet, none of them were close enough to get Higo to lose a point today.

Of course, Schalke also didn’t stay quiet here. Even though they had already decided to move back and defend themselves since they only had ten players on the pitch, sometimes a threat or two could still appear out of nowhere.

Then, the decisive action finally happened in the 87th minute.

Starting with another failed attack from Mainz that Sebastian Rudy stopped, the fullback sent the ball toward Morita in the middle. The Japanese midfielder didn’t control the ball for too long. No, he just glanced slightly forward, and in the next second...

BAM!