21st minute of the first half.
The stadium turned into a cauldron of excitement.
Leaving the humiliated Gerrard behind, Ho-young began to surge forward.
Taaak!
[Ho-young's trademark, he knocks the ball ahead and charges forward!]
[Meireles closes in from the left. Sliding tackle!]
Tap, tak.
A short and simple two-touch sequence.
Ho-young burst past the halfway line in an instant and escaped Meireles's pressure with nothing more than a light touch on the ball.
It was the moment the first line of resistance, Meireles, became nothing more than a scarecrow.
Caught off guard, he shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Cover in front!!"
At that urgent cry, the heart of Liverpool's defense, Jamie Carragher, rushed over to close the space.
Even in a desperate situation, Liverpool were still showing very compact and well-organized collective defending.
But Manchester City were no different.
James Milner on the left and David Silva on the right narrowed the gap and became Ho-young's two arms.
His right arm was Silva.
"I'll give it to you!"
Tap.
And on the opposite side was James Milner.
"Hey!"
Tak!
"Thread it through!"
Taaak!
"Nice!"
"Keep going!"
The three of them exchanged accurate, quick passes and completely bypassed Jamie Carragher.
Ho-young's knock-and-run started again as the return pass came back to him.
Taaak!
"Y-you...!"
That was the moment Lucas lunged in from the front with a two-footed tackle.
But then.
[H-he flew! Ho-young!!]
Ho-young took off.
He had used the Cuahtemina.
Also known as the frog jump.
But it was slightly different from the original.
Ho-young had not jumped with both feet at the same time. Instead, he trapped the ball between the heel of his left foot and the front of his right foot, then sprang upward as if he were stepping into the air.
The usual Cuahtemina, which uses both feet together, has the weakness of limiting the movement after landing, causing a large delay before the next action.
But Ho-young had compensated for that and created a new form of skill move.
It looked as though he were pedaling a bicycle in the air, except the pedal was a football.
It required the technique to control the ball while airborne, but Ho-young could do it because he had that kind of ball sense.
And then, the moment he landed.
[Aurelio comes in with a tackle from straight ahead!]
Once he had leapt past Lucas, Fábio Aurélio came flying in with another tackle.
If it had been an ordinary Cuahtemina, he would have been caught for sure, but because Ho-young had almost no limitations after landing, he was able to spin straight into a 360-degree Marseille turn.
Whirl!
Then came the knock-and-run.
Taaak!
After beating every defender, only goalkeeper Reina remained in front of Ho-young.
[Ho-young, it is a one-on-one chance!]
[Reina! He rushes off his line!!]
Without the slightest hesitation, Ho-young shaped to shoot.
It was the moment Reina threw his body to the right.
Tap.
"...!!"
A shooting feint.
Instead of a shot, it was a chipped pass toward the left.
Carlos Tevez was standing there with complete ease, and the goal in front of him was wide open.
Reina threw himself back, but the net was already rippling.
It was Manchester City's opening goal.
[Gooooooooal! Manchester City smash it in! Carlos Tevez!]
[My word. How are we even supposed to describe that? Every part of the move was astonishing. I feel like that skill we just saw is something I have never witnessed in my life.]
[Yes, it looked like a circus performance. Using the Cuahtemina in an actual match is already difficult enough, but Ho-young dribbled through the air with the ball trapped between his legs. And then he made the landing look completely natural and smooth. What on earth is that? What are we supposed to call it?]
"Wow. Crazy..."
Even Tevez, who did not really speak English, ended up blurting it out in English.
The play had been so astonishing that his mind had gone blank.
"Nice, Tevez!"
"Uh, uh... nice!"
He high-fived Ho-young first, but even then he still looked dazed.
Cold sweat was pouring down his face.
He had never received a pass like that in his life.
He was not even sure whether he was allowed to be happy, so he could not even celebrate properly.
All he had done was linger up front and tap the ball into an empty net.
To exaggerate a little, even a newborn baby could have scored that.
It went beyond being spoon-fed. It was practically like having glucose injected straight into his veins.
"You're the best. You're the absolute best."
Tevez pulled Ho-young into a fierce embrace.
After that, David Silva, James Milner, and the other players ran over as well, hugging each other as they celebrated the goal.
That was when cracks began to appear in Liverpool's defense.
Only 5 minutes after conceding the first goal, Manchester City found another chance.
It was the 25th minute of the first half.
[David Silva drives down the right flank.]
[Ho-young! Ho-young is cutting into the box. The cross has to come in now!]
[Silva delivers it!]
[Ah, Škrtel blocks it with his body. Manchester City win a throw-in.]
[Yes, it is a good position. They can immediately work a combination and swing in a cross from here.]
And indeed, Manchester City did not take the throw-in quickly. Instead, they set up in a shape for a set-piece routine.
Ho-young moved into the box, while David Silva and James Milner came closer to the throw-in area.
To anyone watching, it looked like they were preparing a combination before sending in a cross.
At once, Steven Gerrard shouted.
"Carroll! Get into the box!"
"Okay!"
Andy Carroll.
A giant target striker standing 193 centimeters tall and weighing 90 kilograms, famous since his youth days for his exceptional heading.
His task was to mark Ho-young, the best aerial threat in Manchester City, and Škrtel was also expected to join him in a double-marking effort.
But then.
"...?!"
"Where's he going?"
Amazingly, Ho-young moved back out of the box.
"What, are you scared of me?"
As Andy Carroll ran into the box, he sneered and taunted him, but Ho-young merely twitched his lips and silently kept moving out.
At the same time, he gave Andy Carroll a sideways glance.
[Andy Carroll]
[Possessed Talents: Heading of the Aerial Bomber (U), Fantastic Positioning (A+2), Excellent Work Rate (A-), Space Penetration That Catches Opponents Off Guard (A-), (More...)]
(You may covet one talent if the conditions are met.)
(Condition 1: Win the match)
(Condition 2: Win 5 aerial duels)
(Condition 3: Record more than 10 kilometers of work rate)
'Impossible.'
No matter how good his positioning and physicality were, it was difficult to deal with two giants over 190 centimeters tall at the same time.
So he moved outside the penalty area.
And the place he went to was right in front of Micah Richards, who was preparing for the throw-in from outside the touchline.
"You're trying that?"
"Yeah. Get inside and keep moving around the far side of the goal. I'll send the ball to Kompany, so you need to drag the players out."
"Okay."
After receiving the ball, Ho-young stepped far back and quickly got himself set.
If play was delayed on a throw-in, it could result in a booking, so he had to move quickly.
[Hm? It looks like Ho-young might take it.]
[Do they have some prepared routine for this?]
[My cautious guess would be that he throws it to David Silva, receives the return pass, then cuts inside and curls a shot toward goal.]
[Oh, that does make sense. Then let us see...]
'That bastard got scared.'
Andy Carroll, who had come in to mark Ho-young, curled up one corner of his mouth and stepped back out of the box.
'There's no point in me staying here. It's better to be outside and block the shot. If this is how it's gone, there's no way they're going to play for a cross now.'
That was what Carroll thought.
And the moment he stepped back outside the box.
"...?!"
Whoosh!
"What the hell!"
[...The, the ball!]
[It's flying in!!]
The ball left Ho-young's hands and flew at tremendous speed.
The target was inside the penalty area.
The distance was over 40 meters, but there was more than enough power.
And whereas a normal throw-in lacks power and travels in an arc, Ho-young's throw-in flew on a trajectory almost like a straight line.
A catapult in the literal sense.
It was the result of diligently training Rory Delap's throw-in talent for the last few days.
Of course, he still did not handle it as skillfully as Delap, but when it came to raw strength, Ho-young was second to none, so in power and speed there was not much difference.
The ball Ho-young launched flew in as fast and as accurately as a cross.
And then.
Thud!
It struck the side of Kompany's head perfectly and was sucked into the goal.
It was Manchester City's completely unexpected second goal.
[Gooooooooooal! It's a goal! Ho-young sends it in with his hands, and Kompany heads it in! They did not use their feet at all!]
[My word. What on earth have we just seen? Is that player secretly doing shot put on the side these days? Or maybe javelin?]
[Ah, I think an alien must have been raised in some extraterrestrial facility. The Etihad Campus needs a full inspection. Ha ha... What exactly is that player?]
"Ho-young!"
"Hooo!"
Kompany ran over to Ho-young and celebrated with him together.
The second goal had come after just 25 minutes of the first half.
With the trophy drawing one step closer, the players were going wild.
"We're winning this!"
"Liverpool aren't anything special either, are they?!"
And at the center of it all, Ho-young gathered the players around the halfway line, put his arms over their shoulders, and said,
"It's not over yet. Stay focused, everyone. If we're going to win, we win properly."
"That's right, stay focused to the end. It's only the 25th minute."
Then they shouted one final chant together and burned with determination.
"We are City!"
"City!"
"We are City!"
"City!!"
2-0.
And the match kept growing more and more heated.
Peeeeep!
The first half ended 2-0, with no further goals.
For Liverpool, that was at least a relief.
After conceding the second goal, Ho-young's touches on the ball kept increasing, midfield control passed entirely to Manchester City, and in the end Liverpool even lost control of the aerial battle and kept allowing chances.
A complete disaster.
Fortunately, Reina produced miraculous saves to prevent further damage, but there was no room for comfort.
Manchester City's relentless pressure would continue in the second half.
They needed a turnaround.
To stop Ho-young, they needed some ingenious solution nobody had thought of.
But.
'Damn it.'
There was no such method.
Back in the dressing room, the only thing Steven Gerrard could say as captain was this.
"Don't be afraid. We can play better than this. Believe in yourselves. Effort and passion never betray you."
That was the moment, as Gerrard was trying to revive the players' will.
"Everyone, gather round."
Manager Dalglish had entered the dressing room.
Rather than criticizing them, he encouraged the players while quickly explaining the tactics they would use in the second half.
The principle remained the same, stopping Ho-young.
The difference was that this time it would be even rougher, and all 11 players would keep their eyes on Ho-young at all times.
"We have to stop Ho-young from getting into dangerous areas. That's the only thing you need to remember."
The priority was to prevent Ho-young from reaching dangerous zones.
And there was one more thing.
"Suárez."
"Yes."
"I'm trusting you."
Gerrard, Kuyt, Meireles, Andy Carroll, Lucas, they had all been beaten.
Now only Suárez remained.
Then Dalglish continued.
"Treat this as if it's the last match of your lives. This is war. And in war, you fight until you are on the verge of death. Sportsmanship? That won't win you the match. We have to be more aggressive in the second half. Go out there and fight violently for the fans."
"Understood."
Luis Suárez's eyes changed.
He bit down hard on his lower lip and ground his teeth.
And a moment later, the second half began, the half that would decide the fate of both teams.
(To be continued.)