Chapter 1029: Defending the Lead!

In fact, it wasn’t just Benito Raman who was shocked and in disbelief right now. No, even Hoppe next to him was so dumbfounded, his eyes glancing from his teammate to the opponent’s goalkeeper quickly.

The surprise here came from two directions. The first one was that he didn’t even see Benito Raman sneaking from the far post to deal with that ball, and the second one was that even with all that effort, no goal came to Schalke’s side from this chance.

Even though it was just one chance and they could get another later, this didn’t diminish the fact that their infamous Blitzkrieg attack failed at the last second, bringing down the mood of the striker slightly.

"Eh! Don’t worry about it! We can still have another chance!" Morita shouted, trying to lift the mood.

Well, at least his words managed to snap them out of their mind immediately to focus back on the game.

While the last attack failed to give the team a goal that they wanted, it still gave them another opportunity, which was a corner kick. Now, Morita stood in front of the flag, raising one hand while also waiting for the referee to blow the whistle.

Unfortunately, Schalke was never a team that was famous for their corner kick. No, if anything, they had never scored a single goal from that scheme this season, the lowest in the league.

Even though they had Morita, who was infamous for his amazing accuracy, the team lacked a strong presence that could win any duel in the crowd, and this time, the same happened again for them.

Even though Morita lifted the ball well to the far post, Stambouli couldn’t take advantage of that, only managing to head the ball way too weakly, and it got cleared by the opponent’s defenders.

It didn’t take long before the possession was back to Wolfsburg again, and now, after Schalke was done with their Blitzkrieg attack, it was time for the home team to take over the game.

Their two fullbacks became more aggressive at this point, transforming into true wingers. As for the wingers themselves, they dropped deeper into the penalty box with Wout Weghorst, becoming another focal point to receive the cross from that side.

They also put their focus heavily on that wing side, often creating an isolated 1v1 situation against Schalke’s fullback.

Even though Sead Kolasinac and Bastian Ozcipka often shrank back to the middle since that was the most crowded place, they still had to pay attention to the wing, especially since Fabian and Benito Raman got beaten so easily there.

Fortunately, neither the home team’s cross nor final pass managed to reach the players on the frontline.

Higo’s command on the defensive end managed to deflect all the threat outside of the most dangerous area, and while some attacks still got through Higo’s side, the boy was able to handle it perfectly.

Hell, Wolfsburg even made a substitution regarding this matter, putting Daniel Ginzcek, who was also a progressive dribbler, on the front line.

This made their attack more dynamic and dangerous, as his movement alone could open up some spaces in Schalke’s territory.

The man also proved that in the first five minutes since he came, he made so many combination plays with the others while also getting rid of anyone who dared to mark him in an isolation play to send the ball to the penalty box.

This time, Higo was also getting forced to react, having to save more dangerous shots from the opponent.

The most dangerous one came from Wout Weghorst, who got a chance after a wild ball fell straight in front of him. The man was so close to the six-yard box, and with Stambouli not ready to stop him, he tried to push the ball to the back of the net that Higo protected.

The goalkeeper managed to deflect the ball with his feet, and it bounced toward the goal, giving the boy a slight heart attack before the post made the biggest save of the game.

The home team’s attack somehow became more dangerous as time passed, and they even put seven to eight players in Schalke’s territory so that they could put pressure whenever the away team wanted to control possession.

Still, the more they held the ball and threatened Schalke’s side without getting any result that they wanted, the more anxious they became.

Some players tried to rush things up, making a reckless play that only ended up giving possession away to Schalke’s side.

Of course, Higo accepted the charity, using this as a way to waste more time. He showed off all of his talent to be an actor, rolling to the ground and clutching the ball tightly no matter how easily the opponent’s attack arrived at his side.

This definitely rubbed the opponent’s skin the wrong way, as they started complaining and pulling a rougher confrontation in the penalty box whenever Higo was getting involved in one.

"Ref! This has been his fourth time today! This has to be stopped!" Maximilian Arnold complained quite harshly as he pointed at Higo, who hadn’t gotten up after catching a simple ground ball from Wout Weghorst.

The referee was also helpless in this situation. After all, Higo was always playing on the borderline, wasting time without even crossing his line to get a warning.

True enough, once the referee was about to warn Higo, the boy had already risen from the ground and passed the ball, ignoring the stinging glare from all the Wolfsburg players around him.

For a moment, everything looked good enough for Schalke’s side, and Frohling had already started tightening the team’s defense as well. He put two more defenders from the bench, replacing Benito Raman and Ao Tanaka, who gradually slowed down due to a lack of stamina.

However, what he didn’t expect was that the disaster finally struck the team when, in the 79th minute of the game, chaos descended and destroyed the team’s defense in just a heartbeat.