Chapter 909: Nassim Comes In!

For anyone who had never followed Schalke’s journey this season and only heard what Higo said, they would think that the boy didn’t like Frankfurt here, finding himself laughing at the home team’s disallowed goal and connecting it with what happened earlier in the game.

Still, even though it was the case, no one would blame him for thinking so. After all, the disallowed goal from Morita in the first half was indeed too tight, too harsh to be called on the boy. This was like perfect karma for Frankfurt, getting their goal disallowed in a similar scenario.

However, no, that was not what Higo meant by karma.

It was the fact that so far in this season, the team had been on the disadvantageous side when it came to the VAR decision. From the game against Bayern, Mainz, to today, there would always be one decision that gave them a big advantage, and this was probably the first one that the referee sided with him.

That was why he called this karma, since the team had always suffered in the past.

Still, the goal was a good wake-up call for Higo. This reminded him that his clairvoyant ability wasn’t invincible, and it could be overwhelmed by the opponent’s play like this. He focused his attention immediately back to the pitch, now looking at everyone on Frankfurt’s side warily.

’Yeah, that situation was bad. I ignored the image flashing in my head because of what was in front of me. That couldn’t happen again today, or I would be so screwed.’ He took note of himself.

It wasn’t the first time something like this happened, and Higo would always evaluate himself once things started to cool down. The boy was fortunate that it didn’t happen that often, but when his concentration on what came next slipped in that exact same second, it would be hard for him to react in time.

A moment later, the game was finally back again, starting from a free kick for Higo since it was an offside from Frankfurt’s side. This disallowed goal was enough to make the home team tilt, as they started to get impatient in their approach.

Now, they pressed a little bit too hard, making too many unnecessary fouls that killed their own momentum.

"CALM DOWN! CALM DOWN!" Adi Hutter, their head coach, screamed at the top of his lungs when he watched this. "WE STILL HAVE TIME! DON’T RUSH THINGS UP! SLOW DOWN A LITTLE BIT!"

Ironically enough, Schalke was more than happy to comply with that instruction. The slower the tempo was, the more they could frustrate their opponent to death, especially when the three players in the midfield were still as strong as ever.

Seeing that his team was stuck, Adi Hutter finally made two bold moves.

He changed Amin Younes, who hadn’t done great today, with Luca Jovic, his prepared super-sub, and after that, Nassim Boujellab came in as well, replacing Erik Drum as the right wing-back to add more gunpowder.

The latter one, especially, had a special arrangement from the head coach, as the Moroccan winger got dragged by Adi Hutter before he could come onto the pitch.

"You are quite familiar with their game, so focus on targeting their weakness. Don’t try to do anything fancy, but strike when it hurts them the most. Remember, efficiency before anything else."

Nassim Boujellab nodded solemnly before he came onto the pitch. His heart was beating fast as this was his first appearance in a while after being sidelined in the last couple of days, and the winger knew exactly why the head coach decided to put him on today.

’Yeah, he wants to use my experience playing with Schalke so that I could exploit my former team. It is a cruel tactic, but this is also professional football. I have to get ready for it!’

Once the Moroccan winger stepped in, Higo’s gaze turned solemn, knowing what his friend was capable of.

"Sead-san, make sure you don’t get too close to him, and leave some space in your defense so that you can turn around quickly. His change of pace is incredible; don’t get caught in that trick." He couldn’t help but remind the left back.

Sead Kolasinac looked at Higo strangely, as this was probably the first time the goalkeeper came specifically to remind him. Still, the man didn’t take things seriously, just looking at the young winger who had just come to the pitch with no concern.

In his mind, the man thought, ’I have faced some of the best wingers in the world, so why would I be that worried against a young winger like him? I am sure Higo is exaggerating right now.’

Unfortunately, the slap in the face came so quickly in the next minute, when a stepover move from Nassim Boujellab was enough to catch the Bosnian defender off guard.

Sead Kolasinac was ready to move to the left side, wanting to push Nassim toward the flank. However, he didn’t expect that the Moroccan winger would escape to the other side, cutting into the penalty box immediately.

"Fuck! This is bad! This is bad!" The Bosnian defender cursed as he tried to turn around and chase the boy.

However, Nassim didn’t stop just like that. No, he saw Benjamin Stambouli and Malick Thiaw shift their position toward him for a moment, and in that exact same second, the boy made eye contact with Luca Jovic, who tried to find a good position far on the other side of the flank.

The eye contact was so obvious that those two defenders caught it, and they shifted back toward that side of the flank unconsciously, expecting Nassim to send the ball there. It only happened in a split second, but this was enough for Nassim to change direction quickly, turning sharply to the penalty box and face Higo directly.

Seeing this, Higo’s face turned ugly, as he couldn’t help but curse, ’Fucking hell, guys! I told you to pay attention to him, for God’s sake!’