Chapter 773: Augsburg’s Attack!

Meanwhile, all the Augsburg players somehow let out a big sigh of relief, finding themselves managing to escape from disaster by a miracle here. They all knew that if the ball got into the back of the net, they would never be able to recover for the rest of the game.

After all, two goals might still be possible even though it was difficult, but three goals? Against a team whose defense was still at its best performance? No, that would be too much to hope.

Now that the storm was finally over, it was their time to launch a counter here. However, the Blitzkrieg attack from Schalke earlier was a little bit too much to handle, so somehow, Augsburg players slowed down the tempo unconsciously, wanting to have a little bit more time to take a deep breath.

Not that Schalke players would mind, of course. They just launched the Blitzkrieg attack to test their luck and want to make the opponent wary of them, but truthfully, their approach in this second half was simple.

They would only defend their own territory and probably launch a quick counter here and there, but they would also not seek too much possession, wanting to play it safe. Not only that, if the opportunity arose, the players would also start playing a little bit of drama, wasting more time to make the opponent more frustrated.

In their mind, while 2-0 was already a secure result, everything could still happen in the middle of the game, so making sure that the opponent couldn’t fight back was a more important result than trying to find the third goal.

Still, this state didn’t last long, not when Augsburg had already put two more offensive players on the pitch for this second half. It would be a waste if they didn’t take advantage of that, so the away team started to exert their muscle here.

Their first chance arrived soon in the 52nd minute, when their new winger on the right side, Jan Moravek, managed to beat Juan Miranda there. The Czech winger used his superior speed and stamina to force a way to get through the byline, and before the ball could cross the line there and go out of bounds, he used his toe to redirect the ball, lobbing it to the penalty box.

Thud!

"Shit! Oz! Get ready!"

"Shut the fuck up! Let me do my job!"

Poor Ozan Kabak and Bastian Oczipka; they were clearly at a disadvantage here, facing two tall strikers from Augsburg. In the end, it was Florian Niederlechner who managed to get the ball, beating Ozan Kabak once again in the aerial duel to send it to the goal that Higo protected.

BAM!

Fortunately, Ozan Kabak’s defensive movement was still good enough here. Even though he lost, the Turkish defender still managed to shake off his opponent’s balance, making the header float higher than necessary. Higo just jumped lightly with both hands in the air, making sure that the ball was out of his reach.

"FUCK!" The striker cursed, having both hands on his hips in disbelief. "It floats?!" It seemed that the man still hadn’t realized what happened, finding that his header should have gone down to the goal.

Higo himself couldn’t care less about it. He rushed toward Ozan Kabak, who was still lying on the ground, helping the Turkish defender get up quickly. The boy also didn’t forget to show his appreciation here. "Good defense. At least you didn’t lose embarrassingly right now." His tone was full of teasing.

Ozan Kabak just felt the corner of his lips twitching speechlessly at the boy in front of him. "Since when did you learn how to be sarcastic like that, Higo? Is that Bastian who taught you how to do that?" He complained in a grievance tone.

"Hey, you cannot blame me without any proof like that!" Bastian Oczipka chimed in when he overheard the conversation.

Higo snorted once again, getting the ball from outside of the pitch before kicking it far for the goal kick. There was no need to play it short and go for a possession game here. The best approach was to make sure everything was safe and sound, not putting their own territory in self-inflicted danger.

After this, Augsburg got another chance, with Eduard Lowen managing to get through both Omar Mascarell and Weston McKennie in the midfield area. The attacking midfielder escaped with his agile dribble, and right before Ozan Kabak could get to him, the man sent a through ball that pierced through Schalke’s defense.

Thud!

"SHIT! It gets in!"

"Bastian-san!"

"I get it!"

This time, it was the new striker from Venezuela, Sergio Cordova, who got the ball inside the box. However, Bastian Oczipka also moved quickly, sliding through the grass to block the shot to the far post.

The opponent managed to avoid it, but getting the ball was never Oczipka’s main purpose here. No, he just wanted to shut down all the space to the back post, leaving the striker with only one route to take a shot.

BAM!

As a result, in the end, Higo didn’t even need to use his clairvoyant ability, just covering the near post before using both his hands to block away the ball. The power might be decent here, but since the route was easy, Higo didn’t even sweat at all.

"YES! Good job, Higo!" Ozan Kabak, who got fooled by Eduard Lowen, roared immediately at the goalkeeper. "Nice save! Damn, you really are our guardian angel here!"

The boy just felt his eyes twitching before he helped Oczipka get up from the ground. "Nice defense, Bastian-san. At least, better than someone who likes to rush forward recklessly and still get fooled even though he has been warned before." His tone was laced with sarcasm.

Ozan Kabak just rubbed the back of his head awkwardly while Oczipka laughed his ass off, finding the boy’s words to be quite funny. "Anyway, nice save as well, Higo! Without you on the back, my tackle wouldn’t mean anything!" He praised the goalkeeper genuinely.

This little interaction was witnessed by all Augsburg players in the box, and they were all speechless.

’You mean we couldn’t get a fucking goal against a bunch of clowns like them?! Are you fucking kidding me?!’