Become A Football Legend

He was already getting to the penalty arc and looked to shoot from there, but Komenda had already recovered and was ready to block the lane again, so he just used his studs to roll the ball backwards and got out of the way.

Lukas heard the shout from Uzun when he was still at the edge of the box. He looked and saw him sprinting down the middle towards the penalty arc, so he sneakily used his hand to signal for Uzun to slow down.

So when Lukas got to the penalty arc, Uzun was about a couple of meters behind him.

One back-pass and one curler later, and it was 3-1 to Eintracht Frankfurt.

"Oh beautiful goal! Uzun curls it around Komenda and Dähne into the bottom corner. Wonderful set-up from Brandt, beautiful finish from Uzun. Frankfurt's teenagers linking up once again for this goal."

Uzun was doing his celebration when Lukas hooked his hands around his neck. "Great finish, bro."

Uzun looked at him, "You, man. It's always you," he responded as he faced the crowd and pointed at Lukas.

The game resumed soon and Kiel decided to stay in a low block. There was still time, enough time for two goals. But coach Rapp knew if they conceded again, then it was a wrap.

He organized his team to just defend, and launch counterattacks instead of trying to beat Eintracht in the midfield like they were previously doing.

Frankfurt piled on the pressure. Uzun, Götze, Ekitike, Brown, Lukas—all hitting shots on target that were either deflected, blocked, or forced Dähne into making brilliant saves.

In the 84th minute, Lukas took a short corner from the right side to Götze. Götze to Uzun. And Uzun returned the ball to Lukas just at the edge of the penalty area.

Lukas, with his first touch, slammed the ball with the inside of his foot.

It had an almost perfect dip and curl as it evaded the block from Porath and headed straight to Dähne's top right corner.

"BRAAANNDDDTTT— OH WORLD CLASS SAVE BY DÄHNE!"

The ball, which seemed destined for the top corner, was tipped over the bar by the Holstein Kiel goalkeeper for another corner as Lukas had his head in his hands.

"Not my day, huh?" he muttered as he jogged over to the other end to take the next corner.

He had been on the score sheet in every match he'd played for the first team except his debut against St. Pauli where he had 2 assists.

He whipped the resulting corner. An in-swinger towards the far post.

Tuta got his head to it, but it sailed just slightly over the bar.

Harder: "Frankfurt want a fourth, but Kiel is adamant on capping their goals at three. They only have to hold on for 5 minutes plus stoppage time."

Volz: "Yeah. The goal difference could become very crucial in the relegation battle. Playing the third-placed team and only losing by two goals, if anything, is a sign that they won't let their opponent blow them away."

Just as the commentators said, Kiel refused to concede again. Four yellow cards in the final five minutes, with two coming from fouls on Lukas.

"Thankfully it doesn't seem like the injury is affecting him mentally," Toppmöller thought as Lukas picked himself up and stomped his studs into the ground after the referee gave a yellow card to the Kiel player.

He had, obviously, gotten the go-ahead order from Dr. Plachel before Toppmöller included him in that day's match squad, but Toppmöller was still afraid Lukas would have some lingering fears or hesitations when he's being tackled due to his previous injury.

Rather than that, Lukas was avoiding unnecessary tackles, but wasn't afraid to put his body on the line when the situation called for it.

In the fourth and final minute of extra time, Lukas got the chance to put his name on the score sheet.

A pass from Bahoya, who had come on for Ekitike in the 90th minute, found Lukas in a bit of space just inside the penalty box by the right edge.

Immediately the ball was sent his way, three Kiel players were already closing him down. Before they closed down the angle, Lukas took a touch to his left and blasted the ball straight down the goalkeeper's near post.

Zec tried to block the shot, but was a little too late as the ball whizzed past his outstretched leg to the bottom right corner.

Dähne threw himself to the ground quickly as the ball scraped his finger, but the power pushed it out of the way.

BANG*

The goal frame was rattled as the ball slammed against the right post and came back into play.

"Dähne pulls off another great save!"

Bahoya was the first to get to the rebound, but his shot went well wide of the target as the referee brought the whistle to his lips.

"There we have it. A comfortable win for Eintracht Frankfurt. Larsson with the opener. Tuta put them two goals ahead. But Porath's goal threatened to make life difficult for them. However, after the introduction of their wonderkid, back from injury, the situation stabilized as he set Uzun up for the third goal to re-establish the 2-goal lead.

From that point onward, Dähne pulled off save after save to keep his team trailing by only two goals and keep Lukas Brandt from the score sheet.

Only 3 points currently separate Frankfurt and Leverkusen. Although there's still a wide gap between them and league leaders Bayern, whom Frankfurt face in the Allianz Arena next week. They will be glad to collect anything from both that game and the one against Leverkusen a week after that."

The commentator made his closing remarks as Lukas and his teammates shook hands with the opposition team members before walking around the pitch to applaud the fans.

Can Uzun was voted as the player of the match and Lukas congratulated him wholeheartedly. He played very well the entire game and both scored and assisted, although the assist was later not credited to him due to the ball deflecting off a Kiel defender's head before landing for Tuta's volley.

* * *

⁠♪ I mean what I speak, I do as I say

I hustle, I grind, don't get in my way

I'm pimping my hoes, I'm checking my foes

As I spit at police and duck my P.O.'s

I ain't going to court, you can call a judge

Tell him kiss my ass 'cause I ain't gon' budge

And I ain't going back to lock up

You try and the Glock'll pop up ⁠♪

Lukas lay on the LTC gym floor as the music bumped through the walls. He had just completed 18 km in one hour on the treadmill.

By the end, he could barely move a muscle. Every breath scraped like sandpaper, and the taste in his mouth was sharp and metallic, as if he'd been sucking on iron. It coated his tongue and throat, impossible to ignore, the kind of taste that only came when he had wrung every last drop out of himself.

He stared at the system window hovering above his face.

[Speed and Endurance Special Training in Progress

Rest time: 00:29:58]

He had 30 minutes to rest before he had to move on to the next session.

This was what he had been going through ever since he started the training.

He was steadily running. Both on the treadmill, underwater, on the pitch under different weather simulations— with and without the ball— he kept on running.

He could hear his heart beat through his chest and could not even think about another thing except running.

It made all the previous training he had done, both in the LTC and in the real world, look like child's play.

"Just two days until the match against Munich... I've currently gained 2 stat points for both my speed and stamina. By the end of this special training, I might reach my current limit," he thought as he remembered the thought about the date.

The team would have one last tactical training session as they've been working extremely hard all week to prepare for their visit to Bavaria.

"Bayern Munich, huh? I really can't believe I'm playing FC Hollywood in two days," he thought as he forced a smile.

The amount of popularity/notoriety Bayern Munich had among football fans in Germany—which was virtually every single German—could never be understated. And Lukas, who had only returned from the future for about 8 months, was now expected to be one of the first names on the team sheet against such a club.

It was an achievement that just dawned on him as he was sprawled on the floor looking at the system window with its timer, which seemed to count down a bit too fast.

His lips curved upwards, ever so slightly, as he congratulated himself.

[Rest Time: 00:04:59]

With five minutes left, Lukas forced himself to sit up on the floor. His thighs moved up and down like they had gained a pulse, his hamstrings stretching and contracting as he touched his toes slightly.

"Argh! Let's do this!"