Become A Football Legend

Lukas sat on the bench, his expression blank as his eyes followed the ball on the pitch while he occasionally sipped from a bottle of water.

* * *

Earlier that morning, Lukas arrived at the underground parking lot of the hotel where they had spent the night in Heidelberg — about a 20-minute drive to the Hoffenheim stadium where the match would be held.

He was there early as usual, stepping into the team bus that would transport them to the training ground provided by the home team.

"Are you still sleepy?" Larsson asked as Lukas sat beside him, grunting.

"Not really," he replied. "My legs are kinda sore, though."

"From yesterday's sessions? It wasn't that difficult, was it?"

"Yeah, it wasn't."

"Who's talking about yesterday's sessions? De Bruyne wanted to kill me today."

"I'll be fine in a couple of hours," Lukas responded as he closed his eyes and lay his head back on the headrest while the bus took off.

In the back of the bus, coach Toppmöller was seated beside assistant coach Buck and a few other coaching staff members as he watched Lukas sit down, clearly tired.

"You think he hasn't recovered from the last match?" Buck asked Toppmöller.

"He was superb in yesterday's session."

"Maybe the fatigue is only just setting in... Should we change the starting lineup?"

The coaches had already decided the starting lineup for the match against Hoffenheim, and Lukas was undoubtedly in it. The current situation, however, was making Dino Toppmöller rethink his plans.

After a few minutes of contemplation, gears turning in Toppmöller's head as he adjusted the formation in his mind, he finally spoke up. "Swap him for Götze, and bring Uzun into the attacking midfield area too," he whispered to his assistant as he scribbled something down in his booklet.

* * *

"You get the feeling there's something lacking in this Eintracht Frankfurt team. They are seeing a lot of the ball, but they aren't producing much at the top end of the pitch," O'Hagan said.

It had been 20 minutes since the start of the match, but Lukas's team hadn't had a single shot on target.

Hoffenheim, however, had two already.

"A casual pass by Skhiri gives Hoffenheim the ball in a dangerous position. Bischof to Kramaric. Kramaric to Moerstadt down the edge of the penalty box. He cuts it back for Moerstadt. A shot! Oh, wonderful save by Kevin Trapp. You can hear the fans applaud their team. They know a chance is coming. Frankfurt has to stop losing the ball in dangerous areas. Three passes were all it took for almost a perfect counterattack."

Toppmöller watched the match intently from the technical area, occasionally screaming instructions at the top of his lungs.

"What's wrong with this attack?" he thought as he saw Götze lose the ball while trying to find Ekitike. He turned back and looked at the bench.

A teenager in a red and white training bib was watching the game intently. His eyes were glued to the ball, sometimes wandering into the spaces he felt he could have exploited if he was in the game.

As Toppmöller walked back to his seat, the whistle blew to stop play while huge jeers came from the home fans.

He turned back immediately and saw Ekitike on the floor inside the opponents' penalty box with one of his boots off, and without even going to his assistants to see what had happened, ran straight to the 4th official to ask for a penalty.

The referee on the pitch put one hand to his ear for a few seconds, then with his hands in the air, made a box sign before jogging over to the touchline.

With his assistants shielding him, he watched the screen to see the angle the VAR wanted him to see. And there it was: Ekitike trying to make a run into the box, Akpoguma trying to keep up with him and inadvertently catching him on the Achilles as he fell down in pain.

"Ohh, that's a nasty one on Ekitike. He was caught right on his Achilles. That's got to hurt. Thankfully, it looks like he's up, though. In my opinion, even if it was a mistake, it's still a foul in the box. Will it be given? Yes, it is. PENALTY for Eintracht Frankfurt in the 24th minute."

The boos in the stadium magnified after the referee pointed to the spot to signal a penalty. Ekitike was already with the ball while guarding the penalty spot from the Hoffenheim players.

"Ekitike to take the penalty. You can hear the whistles from the home fans. Will he let them throw him off? NO! Finally, Frankfurt are in front. Hoffenheim has done a good job of keeping them out of their goal so far, but football can change in the blink of an eye. Ekitike makes it Frankfurt one, Hoffenheim nil."

Lukas clenched his fist tight as the goal was scored, although he kept his expression as neutral as he could.

Toppmöller just clapped a couple of times before he went back into serious mode. He knew the match was far from won.

And his worries were looking like they might come to fruition.

Immediately after the restart, Hoffenheim launched an attack on Frankfurt that saw Hložek volley the ball straight towards the top right corner.

Trapp was beaten completely, but the crossbar came to the rescue.

A few minutes later, Kramaric stole the ball from Knauff's misplaced pass and put Moerstadt through on goal. It looked like a certain equalizer, but Trapp showed why he was captain.

He went low fast and spread his body as wide as possible. His left foot nicked the ball on its path to goal, causing it to deflect out for a corner kick.

The first half ended with the 1-0 score. But from the first goal until the end of the half, Eintracht Frankfurt only managed three shots on goal, and only one on target.

In the dressing room, coach Toppmöller was animated — furious.

"What kind of passes were those?!" he asked as he glared at his players. "We train... we work... every day! And you guys put on such a sorry performance against a team fighting relegation?! It is a disgrace!" He then turned to the players as he reprimanded them one by one. "Ansgar, if there is no ball on for a forward pass, it's okay to go sideways or backwards; you don't have to force the play. Larsson, stop letting Kramaric find those through balls to Moerstadt; they will punish us soon enough if we don't plug that alley. Mario... Mario... You're the most experienced player on this squad, what's with the rookie mistakes and the casual passes? I need your 100% in this game."

His eyes landed on Lukas, who was passing the hydration drinks to the starting players.

"How are you feeling, Lukas?"

"I feel great, coach. I was just a bit tired from the long journey this morning. I am more than ready now," Lukas responded as he looked at his coach.

"Should I put him in already? I need him on the pitch as soon as possible," he thought.

He concluded against it for now. "We'll see how they come out looking in the second half before I decide who to replace him with," was his conclusion.

Back out on the pitch, the players jogged out while Lukas walked back to the bench.

"Eintracht Frankfurt leads by the solo penalty goal from Ekitike, but Hoffenheim has not been lacking either. They ended the first half on the ascendance, and I'm sure they'll want to carry that momentum into this second half. Still no substitution for either side. I must say, I am surprised."

The second half started with the referee's whistle and Moerstadt kicking off. Contrary to what Toppmöller expected — that his team would get better after he pointed out their flaws during the locker room talk — they got worse.

In the 51st minute, Kristensen was hounded off the ball by Jurásek. Three passes later, and Hložek was slamming a volley towards the near post.

Trapp used a strong left hand to palm the ball out for a corner.

"Dan, you get the feeling that Hoffenheim won't be out of this game for long now. Even with Eintracht in the lead, there's a sense of aimlessness when they get the ball in attack. Götze has been unable to find the passes we have come to expect from him. The young Uzun is good, but from the few games we've watched the youngest player on the squad — Lukas Brandt — play, it is obvious he is the better player of the two," Oliver Faßnacht, the co-commentator, said.

"I will go one step further, Oliver. Since Marmoush left the squad, Lukas Brandt has been the best player on the team. I don't know why Toppmöller didn't start him. One thing I know for sure, though, is that he's not on the bench because of lack of form.

If the match goes on like this, you'll expect us to be seeing him sometime soon."

"Tell Luke to start warming up," Toppmöller muttered to his assistant, as if he could hear the commentators.