Chapter 154: Panenka

Guaita had spent years waiting for an opportunity of this magnitude.

At twenty-three years of age, he had come through Valencia's youth ranks and bided his time behind César Sánchez, an ironclad veteran who rarely picked up injuries and almost never gave up the starting shirt. Guaita had made only sporadic cup appearances. He had waited patiently on the bench through cold evenings and long travel days, looking for his opening.

Now César was down the tunnel with a straight red card, and Guaita stood under the floodlights at the Mestalla in a Champions League knockout match, facing a penalty kick in front of fifty thousand of his own fans.

It was the kind of scenario backup goalkeepers dreamed of. If he turned this shot away, he would keep the aggregate tie breathing and become the hero of every morning paper in Spain. He wanted that moment so badly that his fingers trembled slightly inside his gloves as he bounced along the white line.

He locked his stance and watched Mateo place the ball on the penalty spot.

Jones hovered along the edge of the eighteen-yard box, positioning himself to sprint in for a rebound. He glanced at Guaita and leaned his head toward Huntelaar. "Look at the kid in goal. He is overthinking this whole thing."

"What makes you say that?" Huntelaar asked quietly, keeping his eyes on the referee.

"Check out his feet," Jones whispered back, pointing subtly. "His weight is already leaning toward his left. He's totally convinced himself which corner he's diving into before the whistle even blows."

Huntelaar narrowed his eyes and saw it for himself. Guaita had unconsciously shifted his weight to launch to his right, fidgeting on his heels while waiting for the referee's signal.

Mateo noticed the exact same tell from the penalty spot.

He had spent hours studying goalkeeper tendencies under pressure. Guaita's shoulders were rigid, his posture giving away his plan the way young keepers often did when the stakes overwhelmed their composure. He was preparing to dive early and aggressively to his right corner, committing to the movement before Mateo had even taken a step.

The referee scanned the edge of the penalty area to ensure everyone stayed clear of the arc. He caught Guaita's eye, received a quick nod, and blew the whistle.

Mateo began his run-up.

Every single visual cue in his approach projected pure, unadulterated power. He accelerated with long strides, planted his left boot deep into the grass, and cocked his right leg back as if intending to blast the ball through the net into the top corner.

Guaita bought the fake completely. He launched himself forcefully off his left foot, extending his full frame through the air toward his right post, fully committed to stopping a bullet.

Mateo decelerated his swing at the final millisecond.

Instead of driving through the leather, he slipped the tip of his boot under the ball and scooped it upward with a gentle flick.

The ball rose softly into the air, floating straight down the middle of the goal into the empty space Guaita had just abandoned.

It hung under the stadium lights in a slow, weightless arc before dropping neatly over the goal line and bouncing into the back of the net. Guaita remained airborne two yards to the side, looking back over his shoulder in total disbelief as his outstretched gloves grasped at thin air.

A Panenka penalty, in an away Champions League knockout match, with fifty thousand hostile supporters whistling at him. The teenager had chipped it down the center with the effortless calm of someone tapping a pass during a light training session.

The entire Mestalla fell into stunned silence.

Hat-trick.

The official UEFA graphic flashed across the stadium screens before the broadcast commentators could even pull up the statistics: youngest hat-trick scorer in the history of the European Cup and Champions League. The previous milestone had belonged to Raúl González, who had scored three goals for Real Madrid against Ferencváros in 1995 at 18 years and 113 days old.

Mateo was 17 years and 10 months.

He had eclipsed the record held by his own senior teammate by nearly four full months.

Up in the commentary booth, Tom Warrick gripped the edge of the desk, his voice cracking with pure excitement.

"A Panenka penalty to seal a European hat-trick! Away from home! You cannot be serious!"

He caught his breath as the camera cut to the stunned stands, letting out a disbelieving laugh into his headset.

"In the knockout stages of the Champions League, fifty thousand fans screaming in your face, and he just dinks it down the middle like it's a Sunday morning in the park. Seventeen years old, ladies and gentlemen. Just absolute, utter arrogance in the best possible way. Incredible."

Mateo turned his back on the furious supporters behind the goal, jogging toward the Schalke bench with a stone-cold expression. He reached over his shoulders with both thumbs, pulling his jersey taut to point straight at his name and number.

His teammates swarmed him from every direction.

Manuel Neuer sprinted forty yards out of his box, reaching Mateo first to aggressively ruffle his hair with a pair of oversized keeper gloves. Huntelaar crashed into him with a bear hug, followed closely by Jones, who was doubled over laughing at the cheekiness of the chip.

Anthony Annan leaped straight onto Mateo's back, wrapping his arms around his neck and shouting over the noise. "A Panenka to complete a hat-trick at the Mestalla! You absolute madman!"

Mateo laughed, steadying Annan's weight as the rest of the squad piled in. "Had to make sure it went in!"

"Yeah, well, don't get too comfortable scoring all of them yourself," Annan grinned, sliding back down to the grass. "You still owe me that assist you promised before kickoff."

"We still have twenty minutes left on the clock, Anthony. Keep making the runs."

"I am definitely holding you to it," Annan chuckled.

"Assuming Magath doesn't pull both of us off in five minutes to save our legs," Mateo pointed out with a grin.

Annan chuckled as the squad jogged back toward the center circle in high spirits, taking their time to reset their lines while holding a four-goal aggregate cushion.

Over on the touchline, Unai Emery stood motionless with his arms folded across his chest, watching the Schalke players celebrate. He remained standing, silent and subdued. There were no adjustments left to make. His starting keeper was sitting in the dressing room, his squad trailed 4-0 on aggregate with ten men, and the teenager he had studied for weeks had just finished off a masterclass.

Across the technical area, Felix Magath caught Emery's eye and offered a brief, respectful nod from one professional manager to another, acknowledging the reality of the match before taking his seat in the dugout.

Behind the goal, the deafening whistles had died down entirely.

The home supporters sat in stunned silence, watching the slow-motion replay of the chipped penalty replay across the giant screens. They had arrived at the Mestalla expecting to take control of the tie, only to watch a teenager take apart their defense and break European records on their own pitch.

Near the front row, a young kid in an oversized Valencia jersey leaned heavily against the advertising barrier, wiping tears from his cheeks as the reality of the scoreline set in.

Mateo jogged past the technical area and stepped into the center circle, placing his hands on his hips to wait for the referee's whistle.

The whistle blew.

Valencia pulled all ten men back into a compact, desperate block, focusing entirely on damage control for the final twenty minutes of a tie that had slipped completely out of their reach.

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