Become A Football Legend-Chapter 35: First Game

FWEEE*

Lukas sat on the bench as the referee’s whistle blew to start the match. frёeωebɳovel.com

He was on the bench once again as the first match of the season kicked off.

At this time, unbeknownst to him, this wasn’t just the first match of the Regionalliga season, it was the match he introduced himself to the 29 Eintracht Frankfurt die-hard fans who took time out of their busy day to come support the reserve team in an away match.

This group of people will forever be grateful, though, as they would witness the debut of the greatest human to ever play the beautiful game.

* * *

The referee blew his whistle for half time and the scoreboard displayed the score as the players all walked down the tunnel to the dressing room.

Stuttgarter Kickers 0 - 0 Eintracht Frankfurt II

For Lukas, it had been quite a boring game to watch. His team spent most of the half chasing the ball. There was no coordinated pressing, the passing was inaccurate, the attempted shots were wide off goal — like the team hadn’t returned from the break yet.

Coach Dennis barged into the

"What is with that performance? They are running us ragged. Where is the intention on the ball? Why are you guys only passing sideways? Where are the forward runs? I thought we improved after our game against Dortmund.

This is no longer the preseason friendlies, this is the league. And you all know the senior team coach will be watching this match. Unless you wanna play for the reserves for the rest of your career, you guys should wake up!"

Coach Dennis lectured the players sternly. It was his first official match as the team’s coach, and he would love to start his job with a win.

He looked at Lukas, his eyes lingering for a second, but didn’t say anything to him.

After the break, the second half started. And as if to slight the coach for his half-time lecture, his team seemed to play even worse than in the first half.

This time, Stuttgarter punished them ruthlessly.

In the 50th minute, a long ball forward from the Stuttgarter Kickers left back beat Eintracht II’s whole defense which was pushing upward without any motive.

The pass created a one-on-one situation between the Stuttgarter center forward and the Eintracht II goalkeeper.

The center forward did not miss.

GOAL 1 - 0

The goal seemed to have been the wake-up call the team needed. Their passing was now more accurate, they defended better, and it seemed they were coming back into the game. Especially after a Stuttgarter player was shown a red card for dangerous foul play in the 63rd minute.

Three minutes after the red card, however, Eintracht II was down 2 - 0 after a botched clearance by the Eintracht goalkeeper landed on the lap of the Stuttgarter center forward who ruthlessly volleyed it into the goal.

Lukas watched the match unfold without looking away from the field even once.

The second half had surely been more entertaining than the first.

He raised his head to look at Coach Dennis standing at the touchline. Dennis had his arms folded as he tapped his feet to a rhythm only he could hear. He was completely focused on the pitch.

Lukas knew his time would come, if not in this match, maybe the next one.

But it didn’t take long for his time to come.

"Lukas, warm up, you’re up in 5 minutes."

Coach Dennis’s words were conveyed to Lukas by the assistant coach.

Lukas stood up immediately and went to warm up.

In the largely empty stands, the few away fans were gathered in one spot as they tried to cheer their team.

The second goal had been a huge blow to the fans’ morale, with the home crowd getting even louder. The only positive for them, so far, was that they had one extra player on the pitch due to the red card.

But their team just looked disorganized, and unable to capitalize on the advantage.

"This match is over. New season, same team."

"I could mention a thousand more productive things I could have done with my time than sit here and watch us play like shit even with a one-man advantage."

"Guys, this is a new manager, let’s give him time to instill his tactics into the team before we start judging."

The away fans chatted among themselves with occasional claps when their player did something remotely impressive.

Then a man who was wearing the Eintracht Frankfurt home shirt pointed to the touchline where a young boy with the number 36 jersey was receiving final instructions from coach Dennis.

"It seems they are bringing in a new player. He wasn’t in the team last season."

"Maybe it’s a promoted player. Hopefully, Riederwald will finally give us someone to work with."

"He looks so young, we’ll see if he’s any good."

The ball went out for a throw-in and the referee blew his whistle to halt the play for the substitution.

The fourth official’s board went up.

#27 out. #36 in.

Lukas briefly patted the back of his departing teammate before darting onto the field and slotted right into the midfield position. During training, he had always trained as an attacking midfielder due to his ability to both pick out accurate passes and also finish.

His first professional match with adults even when considering his present and past lives. He had a calm expression, already looking over his shoulders to see where everyone was, but his mind was anything but calm.

He had lived with a buried dream in his previous life, and this was his first most significant step in making that dream a reality.

The match resumed. A throw-in by the home team’s left back.

It was a long throw towards the center line to move the ball away from their final third.

Stuttgarter’s #6 and Eintracht’s #8 both jumped to win the ball. The ball was headed by the Stuttgarter player and was directed towards the left wing.

And just when the winger thought the ball was his, he relaxed, waiting for the ball to get to him.

The ball, however, never made it to his leg.

It was in front of him, then it wasn’t.

Lukas was already sprinting down the field with the ball. He carried it for about 20 meters before raising his head.

He could hear the shouts from the wingers as he approached the final third of the home team.

The left back who had taken the throw-in was now hounding Lukas, trying to nick the ball away.

Lukas slowed down, he took one look up to see the striker making a run, he took a deep breath, and with one swift motion, he rolled the ball with the studs of his right boot to evade the left back’s tackle, and with the same right foot, executed a trivela cross into the penalty area.

There were 5 players in the opposition box — 3 defenders and 2 forwards. The ball, however, was pinpoint accurate.

The Frankfurt center forward leaped, as the ball met his head. The ball came at him with enough power and spin. All he needed to do, was direct the ball into the net. He might as well retire if he couldn’t do that.

With a glancing header, the ball was directed towards the left corner.

The goalkeeper was rooted to his spot as the ball nestled in the back of the net.

"GOALLLL!"

The 20+ away fans, went crazy as they hugged each other. It was a borderline useless match, the stands were empty, no broadcasting or commentary was provided, not even a single local media representative in sight, yet the fans were still overjoyed.

"Oh my God! What a pass!"

"Finally, the academy has given us a decent player."

"His first touch, and he creates a goal? I hope it’s not a fluke."

Back on the pitch, the players mobbed the goal scorer who was pointing at Lukas.

As they walked back to restart the game, Lukas whispered to the striker

"Stay high, you’ll get another ball."

The game resumed.

Lukas’s substitution seemed to light a spark in the team, now with only one goal to cover and having a one-man advantage, they were playing with purpose. And in the heart of every attack, there was one constant — Lukas.

As the game went on, his initial nervousness was nowhere to be found. His heart rate was elevated, but only because he was running a lot. Almost all attacking sequences, flowed through him.

With Lukas conducting, Eintracht Frankfurt II was banging on the door. In the 75th minute, a through ball from Lukas put the left striker, who scored the first goal, face-to-face with the goalkeeper with acres of space. But he fired the ball into the evening sky.

The home team’s defense was looking impossible to crack, they were determined to hold the lead till the end. But they were facing a legend in the making, they couldn’t stop the force forever.

And Lukas made the last 10 minutes of the game, seem like it would never end.

A/N: First Chapter of Vol 2. This will detail his journey to the first team and also his performance in his debut season. It will end with the ending of the 24/25 season, so it’ll take quite a while (I’m thinking 120+ Chapters.) But like I said in the previous Chapter, there’ll be a huge time skip in the next few Chapters to round up the reserve team time that’s why I’m only calling the players by their numbers instead of introducing everybody. I’m sorry if it feels weird not calling names.

Still, hope you guys enjoy.

See ya tomorrow

Have a lovely day/night

-Writ.

New novel 𝓬hapters are published on fre ew𝒆bnovel.com