30th minute of the first half.
The moment Manchester City scored the opener, the whole world was turned upside down.
A lot of people had already been paying attention before kick-off because it was being called the greatest Manchester derby ever, and even the estimates so far were said to have surpassed El Clásico.
Online communities across the world also exploded.
Manchester City's fans, whose numbers had recently grown from 2 million to 10 million, made a huge fuss, while United's hundreds of millions of supporters were on the verge of fainting.
[Ah, come on! Does that even make sense? Is he really human? No, what he did earlier can't even be explained with words. How is that any different from dodging a bullet? It's enough to make Muhammad Ali rise from the grave and ask for a sparring match.]
└Is that because his dynamic vision is good, or because his reaction speed is fast?
└Both. One without the other means nothing.
└As a die-hard United fan, this is pissing me off. I hope Ho-young pisses off to La Liga as soon as this season ends.
└This is the worst... I absolutely cannot stand seeing City win the title.
└Damn it, Ho-young. Are you even human?
Even after producing a play that unbelievable, not a single word about doping came up.
That was because the player who had undergone the most doping tests in the world was Ho-young.
That was exactly what frustrated United's fans the most.
On the other hand, City's fans were showing a completely different reaction.
[Look at Ferguson's face turning red lol]
└60 minutes before Fergie's retirement lololol
└Tsk tsk. So his final season is really going to end without a trophy. Wasn't Ferguson already planning to retire after this year anyway?
└Ho-young is ending managers' careers lol
It was not just online.
The Theatre of Dreams, Old Trafford, had long since turned into hell.
The scene unfolding there was enough to make even the thought of celebrating disappear.
"Booooooo!"
"You bastard! You prick! You son of a bitch!"
This was a match with the title on the line.
Manchester United failing to win the league was still something they could somehow understand.
It was not as if they could win it every single year.
But Manchester City winning it was something they could never bear to watch.
Leaving aside the fact that they were local rivals, they had never even truly considered them a real competitor, so the idea of handing the champion's throne over to that club was unimaginable.
Had they not been a mid-table side just three years ago?
"Damn it! We can't hand that place over to those beggars!"
To hand over the champion's throne.
That meant the owner of England would become Manchester City, and the owner of Manchester would become City as well.
In other words, even if they ran into a City fan in Manchester Square, they would no longer be able to stand proud with their shoulders back.
Their fury was not directed only at Ho-young.
"You useless idiots! You can't even stop one snot-nosed brat?!"
They had conceded only one goal so far, but the crowd hurled abuse at the United players as though even that was unforgivable.
Some even went further.
"Wooooo! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"
A drunk spectator even tore off his shirt and invaded the pitch.
Of course, it was a situation everyone had more or less expected, so the security staff were able to move immediately.
But then.
[It did feel like we might see something like this today. And here it is. The security police have come in, so this should soon...]
[Uh, uh oh!]
As if he were a former sprinter, the intruder shook off the police and sprinted onto the pitch.
It turned into a ridiculous scene, with several officers forming a cordon and chasing after him.
It almost looked like United's defenders trying to deal with Ho-young.
"Wooooooo!"
"Stop right there!"
"Wooooooo! I'm going to kill you!"
In an instant, the field had descended into utter chaos.
But one surprising thing was that he ran to the left rather than the right.
His destination was not Manchester City's half, but United's.
He stopped in front of Rio Ferdinand.
Then he shouted in Ferdinand's face, spraying spit as he yelled.
"You stupid bastard! Sort yourself out before I kill you!"
The reason he was furious was not Ho-young, but United's defending.
"Use your head, your head!"
It was like throwing oil on a fire.
Nemanja Vidić, who had quite the temper himself, stepped in aggressively and pressed his head forward, but Rio Ferdinand held him back and the situation was settled for the moment.
By then, the police had arrived and dragged the man away.
Soon after, the match, which had been briefly halted, resumed.
With the first half ending in a rather flat fashion, both managers became extremely busy.
The home dressing room in particular had turned into hell.
"You idiots. So you've gotten complacent, have you? Has the Premier League trophy stopped meaning anything to you now?"
Alex Ferguson barked furiously while chewing his gum.
He was not a manager who blamed his players for no reason.
But when the players failed to carry out what he had asked of them, this was what happened.
1-0.
Objectively speaking, it was not a bad scoreline.
How many teams in the world had managed to concede only once in the first half against Ho-young's Manchester City?
But in Ferguson's eyes, it was nowhere near enough.
He was the kind of manager who knew very well the difference between what could be done and what could not.
The players could definitely have done better.
"If I were to point out every mistake you lot sprayed around in the first half one by one, even 10 minutes wouldn't be enough. You stupid bastards."
Meanwhile, the rest of the players, as always, stayed tight-lipped like men who had swallowed their tongues.
Ferguson was a godlike figure who could control Manchester United however he pleased.
And he had every right to be.
The idea of rebelling against him here was unimaginable.
If they wanted to stay under the best manager in the world for a long time, then in moments like this, the correct answer was simply to let it go in one ear and out the other.
"Rio! Focus!"
"Ah, sorry."
No, when he was speaking, they had to focus completely on his words.
That was why the players were so tense.
No one knew when the next arrow would come flying at them.
There was not a single player who had escaped being cursed out by him.
"You think you deserve your wages after playing like that? It's the first time in my life I've seen a back line worse than City's. If you're going to play like that, why don't you just go stand in their half? I never dreamed you'd be worse than a green kid like Kompany. Useless washed-up bastards."
"...!!"
The faces of Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidić, and Patrice Evra, the four men in the back line, flushed red.
Ferdinand and Vidić in particular looked ready to explode.
Being compared to the relatively inexperienced Kompany was one thing, but this was the one part they could not stomach.
Washed up.
That word flew at them like a dagger and stabbed straight into their hearts.
And yet they did not answer back.
If anything, it only provoked them further and set their competitive fire blazing.
Used the wrong way, it could easily sour the mood and backfire, but Ferguson was a craftsman when it came to this.
He awakened each player in exactly that way.
He did not just lash everyone equally while grinding them down.
Those who needed the stick got it without mercy, and those who did not were given the carrot.
Then, with only two minutes left until the end of halftime, he gathered the players together and spoke in a serious voice.
"Hundreds of millions of people around the world are watching your play live. I can guarantee you, a chance like this may come only once in your life."
After saying that, Ferguson pointed at John O'Shea.
"Gary Neville comes off, John O'Shea goes in."
"Understood."
A stage that might come only once in a lifetime.
He meant to show through Gary Neville that any player who failed to do his part could be stripped of his chance at any moment.
Then Ferguson continued.
"It is always fantastic to watch you lot play well. That's one of the reasons I've stayed healthy all this time. Do you agree, Neville?"
"Yes."
"Then who is the best player in the world?"
"..."
Gary Neville could not answer right away.
His head was saying Ho-young, but his mouth could not.
Because he knew very well that the team's morale could rise or fall depending on his answer.
It was then.
"Ho-young is good. So good that even people who know nothing about football can see it."
"..."
The players lowered their heads.
A bitter mood settled over the room.
But then, right at that moment.
"But to the Red Devils, you are the best players in the world."
That was the finishing blow.
The finishing blow that set the players' competitive spirit ablaze.
And as if by magic, the atmosphere in the team immediately began to improve.
Ferguson then glared fiercely at the players one by one and continued speaking.
There was about a minute left until the second half.
"What are you all standing around for? Aren't you going out there to lift the trophy?"
The players' morale surged without end.
[Yes, the second half has begun.]
Five minutes into the second half.
United's momentum was visibly coming back to life.
They kept the 4-2-3-1 and pressed forward aggressively.
[Fierce battles are breaking out all over the pitch.]
[The movement of Manchester United's players looks far lighter now. At the same time, they're being extremely aggressive. At times like this, Manchester City need to be especially careful about avoiding injuries. When players get fired up like this, that's when injuries are most likely to happen.]
Bang!
Sure enough, only 10 minutes into the second half, an injury occurred.
It came from a collision between James Milner, one of City's driving forces, and John O'Shea, who had come on in the second half.
Tweet!
It happened while contesting a header, and with both players too eager, it turned into a rough physical clash.
John O'Shea's lip was split open as well, but in the end James Milner came off worse, making a substitution unavoidable.
Naturally, it spilled over into a mass confrontation.
The match grew more and more overheated before the referee finally stepped in and barely brought things under control.
[Scenes like this are not uncommon on the day of a Manchester derby. But today it looks even rougher than usual.]
[In the end, James Milner is coming off. Ronaldinho comes on in his place. It looks like they're going to keep the same 4-2-3-1 shape.]
The earlier-than-expected substitution gave Mancini a headache.
But even for him, it was not a choice he could avoid.
There were hardly any players with experience on a stage this big.
At the same time, he could not bring on Robinho either, because that might damage the team's atmosphere.
The game was increasingly tilting in United's favor.
And exactly 10 minutes later, Ferguson ordered another substitution.
[Luís Nani comes off, Park Ji-sung comes on.]
[With Nani having been tightly marked in the first half and having spent a lot of energy, bringing on Park Ji-sung, the 'Oxygen Tank,' is a good decision. That's Ferguson for you.]
When the tide was turning, Ferguson had no intention of missing his chance.
And his substitutions brought good results.
Park Ji-sung's tireless work rate injected energy into the entire side, and at the same time, United strongly pressed City and began to control the match in their favor.
Of course, a high work rate is not always good by itself.
Just because you study a lot does not mean your grades will necessarily improve.
But United had one thing that made the difference.
Competitive spirit and fighting spirit.
The talk in the dressing room had made them show their will to win without letup.
The miracle Ferguson created.
It might only just be beginning now.
(To be continued.)