AC Milan's head coach, Leonardo Araujo.
Until a few years ago, he had been a scout for the club. After discovering talents such as Kaká, Thiago Silva, and Pato, he strengthened his position within the team. He then became technical director, and this season, he took over the reins from Ancelotti.
His career had been on a steady rise.
However, he had several concerns.
According to the original plan, Kaká was supposed to be sold to Real Madrid, and the transfer fee would be used for a rebuild. But negotiations fell through, and the rebuilding process never even began.
With the club recording an annual deficit of 100 million euro, the maximum transfer budget available for next season was around 80 million euro.
At a time when player valuations were skyrocketing, that amount was nowhere near enough for a proper rebuild.
Still, there was some breathing room thanks to selling Gourcuff to Real Madrid last year.
They extended David Beckham's loan and brought Andriy Shevchenko back on a free transfer, as he had been playing the role of a joker in key moments.
Paolo Maldini also postponed his retirement and committed to the team for one more year.
As a result, the team's average age rose even higher, but this was the best they could do.
Perhaps it had even worked out for the better.
If Kaká had been sold to Real Madrid, this season might have collapsed entirely.
At present, Kaká had scored 17 goals in Serie A, ranking second in the scoring charts behind Di Natale. He was contributing immensely to the team.
Milan's position in second place in the league was largely thanks to him.
There was, however, one problem.
He did not mesh well with Ronaldinho.
Their chemistry was fundamentally incompatible, making coexistence nearly impossible.
Time had not solved the issue, and now they found themselves facing this situation ahead of the Champions League quarterfinal.
To make matters worse, their opponent was none other than Real Madrid, giving Leonardo a serious headache.
Then a piece of good news arrived.
[Ho-young Suffers Right Ankle Injury, Set to Miss Champions League Quarterfinal First Leg]
It was a stroke of heaven-sent luck.
He would recover in time for the second leg, but if he missed the first, Milan had a real chance to win.
Cristiano Ronaldo was still a formidable threat, but this Real Madrid side lacked the experience of last season after releasing many veterans.
Moreover, the first leg would be at home.
This season, AC Milan had not lost a single home match.
Taking all factors into account, if they won the first leg and managed the second carefully, reaching the semifinals was entirely possible.
"We have to build as much of a lead as possible in the first leg."
Leonardo prepared various tactical plans for the match.
Fight with the resolve to die, and you will live.
It was a declaration of all-out determination.
The match began the next day at San Siro in Milan.
As expected, Ho-young did not feature.
With renewed momentum, Milan dominated possession from the start and steered the match in their favor.
"AC Milan are setting up a suffocating shape and exchanging razor-sharp passes."
"They are leaving no space whatsoever. Real Madrid are struggling. Guti, who has stepped in as playmaker in place of Ho-young, needs to unlock this, but he is being completely shut down by Ambrosini and Flamini."
"He does not look in good condition. Perhaps it would have been better to start Yoann Gourcuff."
In the end, it was Leonardo who smiled first.
Thud!
A stunning goal born from Seedorf's long-range strike and Kaká's incisive run.
Milan took the lead.
Scolari had no choice but to substitute the slow Mertesacker and bring on Raúl Albiol.
"Albiol does not look in great condition either. I wonder if he will be okay."
Watching from the bench, Ho-young felt concerned.
The other players sitting nearby did not seem worried at all.
"There is still plenty of time."
"We can definitely turn this around."
"Of course. They are old. In the second half, we will have the advantage."
"And Ronaldo will produce something."
Despite conceding first, the bench remained relaxed.
Gonzalo Higuaín, as talkative as ever, kept chatting nonstop.
"Hey, Woo."
"What?"
"Take a good look. There is a monster over there. In the second leg, he might crush your bones."
The man Higuaín pointed to was Milan's midfield engine, Gennaro Gattuso.
AC Milan's defensive midfielder and one of the fiercest competitors in world football.
"He is the number one player forwards need to watch out for. What do you think? Just looking at him makes you nervous, right?"
Ho-young could not deny it.
Gattuso's thick beard and rugged appearance resembled a violent Roman gladiator.
There were even jokes that if you came out of a duel with him with your bones intact, you were lucky.
He was full of fight and strength, and his temper was just as fiery. There had been incidents of him grabbing a coach by the collar or handling opponents ruthlessly.
"It feels different from seeing him on TV."
His mere presence was intimidating.
It was like a raging bull had been let loose on the pitch.
"Even past his prime, he is still like that?"
Indeed.
Though past his peak, there were days when he ran wild like this.
Like Guti on one of his good days.
When in form, he could cover the entire pitch alone and deliver a terrifying performance.
His physical resilience was astonishing. There had even been a time when he completed a full 90 minutes despite suffering a torn cruciate ligament.
"Look, Ronaldo cannot move at all. He is completely shut down."
"This is bad. Ronaldo is invisible out there."
Gattuso alone was sweeping across midfield and the defensive line, erasing Ronaldo from the game.
Whenever Ronaldo tried to break through, Gattuso cleverly committed tactical fouls to halt the momentum.
"He knows exactly how to deal with Ronaldo."
"Of course he does. Think of how many players that monster has taken down. So be careful too, Young. You might be next."
"Higuaín, do you think I would lose?"
"I do not think you would lose, but I do not think it would be easy either. If you manage to beat Gattuso, I will buy you a Ferrari."
Smirk.
Ho-young curled the corner of his lips and began carefully observing Gattuso's movements.
Second half.
While Ronaldo struggled, Higuaín came on as a substitute and equalized alongside Raúl González.
If the match had ended there, it would have been perfect.
But when Kaká went off and Ronaldinho came on, the flow shifted once more.
Raúl Albiol, who had excellently coordinated the defense to contain Kaká's pace, was completely toyed with by Ronaldinho and repeatedly made mistakes.
Leonardo had perfectly exploited Albiol's weakness in changing direction.
When Filippo Inzaghi scored to make it 2-1, Scolari replaced Albiol with the more agile Lassana Diarra.
But another problem arose.
Midway through the second half, Leonardo introduced Beckham and Pato simultaneously, switching from a 4-3-2-1 to a 4-4-2.
Ronaldinho and Beckham whipped in fierce crosses from both flanks, while Inzaghi's positioning and Pato's penetrating runs produced another goal.
Pirlo kept firing long-range shots, pushing Real Madrid to the brink.
The problem was that Real's defense lacked experienced players.
Only Casillas, scrambling everywhere and producing miraculous saves, kept the deficit from growing beyond three goals.
The final score was 4-1.
AC Milan's victory.
Immediately after the match, brief player interviews were held in the mixed zone.
Andrea Pirlo, who recorded one goal and one assist and was named Man of the Match, headed to the press conference with Leonardo. The other players passed through the mixed zone, each offering a comment.
"It is a night to celebrate!"
"Milan is eternal!"
"A perfect victory. I want to share this glory with the fans."
"Real? Nothing special."
"Victory!"
Each player spoke with pride.
They looked like gladiators returning alive from the arena.
Among them, one man stood out in particular.
Gattuso stormed through, shouting in a rough voice.
"Just one word."
No question had even been asked, but in his excitement, he grabbed a reporter's microphone and spoke.
"We were excellent. Every Milan player defeated every Madrid player one by one. The coach as well. Our coach was better and smarter than theirs. But do you know what is truly frightening? We will be even better in the second leg. We will write a new history at the Santiago Bernabéu."
Contrary to his fierce appearance, he spoke in a solemn and serious tone, stroking his thick beard.
"Hey, Woo."
He was addressing Ho-young.
He even switched to English so it would be clear.
"Next time, you."
A declaration of war.
Following the unexpected result, countless articles flooded Italian and Spanish media.
[Tuttosport Adriano Galliani, "Still not coming to AC Milan?"]
[Sport Mediaset AC Milan President Berlusconi, "Massive transfer funds to be invested next year, the second golden era begins."]
[Football Italia Gennaro Gattuso, "If Ho-young plays in the second leg, I will make sure he cannot even collect his bones."]
[Mundo Deportivo For the second leg, AC Milan to deploy the Maldini, Nesta, Thiago Silva, Zambrotta iron wall. Real Madrid's chance of a comeback below 5%.]
[Marca A chain of upsets. Is Real Madrid collapsing like this? Is it all President Calderón's fault? Growing backlash from the socios.]
[AS Coach Scolari, "Everything went wrong. But we will create a miracle in the second leg."]
[Sporto Karim Benzema, "If I had played, I would have scored at least two."]
There was no shortage of talk.
Meanwhile, the atmosphere at Valdebebas grew suffocating.
There, Scolari made a bombshell announcement.
"On April 7, we will give everything in the second leg of the quarterfinal. If we fail to advance, I will resign at the end of the season."
Considering the transfer investment Real Madrid had made this season, it was inevitable.
He called it a resignation, but it would effectively be a dismissal.
Surviving the notoriously impatient Real Madrid board would be impossible.
There was one issue.
El Clásico was scheduled for April 10.
"We will boldly forfeit El Clásico."
An unavoidable decision.
They were already leading the league by seven points, so dropping three would be acceptable.
What mattered was April 7, the second leg of the quarterfinal.
Ho-young trained without a word.
Gennaro Gattuso.
As everyone said, he was no easy opponent.
Very few in the world had defeated him head-on.
Ordinary grit and determination were not enough.
"The best option is to avoid him intelligently and target his weaknesses."
That was the solution.
But Ho-young wanted a direct confrontation.
Gennaro Gattuso.
A man he had always wanted to face at least once.
And.
"In terms of strength, I am not inferior either."
The talent taken from Adriano.
Innate Strength of the Football Monster (SU).
That was not all.
He now possessed so many talents that some were omitted from the display window. A total of twelve SU-grade talents, three U-grade talents, fifteen S-grade talents, and around fifty talents overall.
Powerful Cannonball Mid-Range Shot (SU), Unstoppable Heart (SU), King's Curling Shot (SU), Perfectly Balanced Both Feet Achieved Through Effort (SU), Instant Ball Cutting of the Black Octopus (SU), No-Spin Shot of the Transcendent Crack (SU), Ibracadabra's Acrobatic Kick (SU), Defensive Positioning That Builds a Wall of Lamentation (SU), El Niño's Line Breaking (U), and more.
In the upcoming second leg.
To complete a great comeback, he intended to use them all.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)