Chapter 41

The final of the UEFA Europa League will be held at the Westfalenstadion in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. This was the home stadium of Dortmund in the Bundesliga. After the league awards ceremony, team manager Bill Albert He personally led the team to Germany.

The opponent in the final, Alaves, arrived at the destination first and checked into a local five-star luxury hotel. After everything was settled, the head coach Abdul Stam immediately called the coaching staff to discuss tactics.

Alaves also reached the final of the Europa League for the first time, so the whole team attaches great importance to it. Although the head coach Stam is unknown, he has worked in the mid-range teams of La Liga and Bundesliga all year round. This season he even led Alaves. Weiss made it all the way to the final stage, which is enough to show his level.

Although Genk is from the second-tier Belgian League One in Europe, they have just eliminated the strong Liverpool, so Stam did not dare to be careless. They came to Germany early and adapted to the venue here and weather.

"I have carefully studied the two battles between Genk and Liverpool. Nagi Mina is the key to Genk's victory, and the level of others is weaker." Stam analyzed: "The five goals in the two rounds were all made by Mina finished, although the other team members also got some opportunities, but their ability to grasp them is not strong."

Assistant coach Rosendo Pochek nodded and said: "So we want to contain Nagi's attack? But how to do it, even Liverpool's defense can't do it?"

Stam said: "Containing Mina is not realistic, our defense is relatively weak, so I plan to have an offensive battle with Genk, we have a lot of talents on the front line, Harvey Moreno, Ivan Alonso , Jodic Cruyff are strong strikers, and Antonio Carmona in midfield is also an experienced veteran."

"With so many people, can't they compare to Mina's scoring efficiency alone? No matter how many goals he scores, we should just have one more than him."

"We attacked from the beginning and caught the opponent by surprise. The 45 minutes in the first half were the key. As long as we can get the lead and then defend, I believe that Genk's fighting spirit will soon dissipate."

Stam then added: "As for Mina, we can't completely ignore it. Let Cosmin Contra go to mark him closely. I believe it will also cause him some trouble."

On the other hand, Genk was also ambitious. They have already passed the strongest opponent Liverpool, and now they are also greeted by the new team in the Europa League final. The team manager Albert believes that they will definitely be able to defeat their opponents and win the club's history. On the first Europa League!

For the rich teams, the UEFA Cup is a bit insignificant. They care more about the Champions League competition, but for the middle and lower reaches of the five major leagues, as well as European second-tier teams like Belgium, the UEFA Cup is still very attractive.

Needless to say, the fans of Alaves in La Liga organized a team of nearly 5,000 people and came to Germany to cheer for their beloved team. The Belgian fans were even more crazy, not only fans of Genk, fans of many other teams were also ready to come to the scene to cheer for Genk and witness the glorious historical moment of the Bundesliga team.

Belgium paid close attention to this event. Belgian King Albert II even brought his royal family to watch the game in person. This made the German government attach great importance to the security of the game and dispatched nearly a thousand security forces.

Nagi, as the first Japanese to stand on the stage of the Europa League final, the domestic media also gave great affirmation and comprehensive coverage. CCTV Sports Channel will start live broadcasting the day before the final, broadcasting the real-time pre-match In addition, many professional football commentators and retired celebrities were invited to review Nagi's battles along the way and analyze his performance.

At the same time, a large-scale interview team is also on its way to Germany. They will follow up and report the situation on the spot and bring first-hand news to domestic fans.

This was the biggest event in Japanese football this year besides the World Preliminaries.

In the eyes of everyone, the game finally kicked off. Both teams played their main players. Genk formed a regular formation of 442, Nagi Mina and Jason Aldridge were at the front, and Alaves Arrange a three-five-two reinforced midfield formation.

After the opening, Alaves played a wave of attack. In the 3rd minute, midfielder Alonso made a through pass and tore through Genk's defense. Moreno caught the ball in the penalty area and hit the goal. At the critical moment, Gareth- Barry stood up and snatched back the must-have goal in front of the goal.

The Belgian fans at the scene let out bursts of exclamation, and did not breathe a sigh of relief until the ball was completely cleared, applauding for Barry's wonderful performance.

But Alaves' attack finally paid off. In the 19th minute, Moreno and Cruyff Jr. staged an exquisite cooperation at the front of the penalty area. The continuous lateral passing and crossing made the Genk defenders in the penalty area into chaos. Moreno made the last shot and opened the scoring for Alaves.

Stam on the coach's bench waved his fist excitedly, everything was as he expected, Alaves, who was attacking with all his strength, was not afraid of any opponent. He looked at Genk's coaching bench next to him, and saw the head coach Antonis sitting on the bench without any anxiety on his face.

Is it pretending to be calm? Stam secretly thought, when you see the second and third goals conceded, see if you can still look normal.

Antonis is not pretending to be calm, but the current form is not good for Genk, but Nagi's role can be highlighted after Alaves's aggressive attack during this period.

In addition, Antonis has seen this backward situation too many times, and Nagi will not disappoint him every time, and I believe he will never be this time.

After the goal, Alaves was obviously relieved, and the offensive slowed down unknowingly, which gave Genk a chance to counterattack.

In the 31st minute, Genk took control of the ball and launched an attack. Barry in the midfield passed the ball to the left. Aldridge received the ball at the front of the penalty area and wanted to cross it to Nagi in the middle, but Alaves hoarded the ball in the penalty area. Heavy troops, the ball was intercepted in advance.

After stealing the ball, Alaves did not launch a quick counterattack, but decided to control the ball under his feet, and then slowly organize the attack. Contra passed the ball back to another defender, Jarrod Deco.

Unexpectedly, Aldridge, who caused the loss of the ball at this time, countered on the spot and wanted to make up for the mistake he made. Deco was a little flustered under his pressure, and he wanted to kick the ball to the midfield.

As a result, the ball was not kicked hard and was intercepted by Barry in the frontcourt. He happened to see Nagi withdrawing from the penalty area, and there were no defenders around, so he passed the ball decisively.

Nagi looked at the ball passing from the cross, and suddenly there were many ways to attack in his mind. If he stopped the ball and attacked again, he would be easily defended tightly. Most of his teammates had already started to return to defense just now. Support is definitely not enough in a short time.

Facing the rolling ball, he shot straight away, and the ball flew out with a whoosh and blasted into Alaves' gate.

"Mina shot a cold arrow, hit the goal, and the goal scored!! In the 32nd minute, Mina used a world class to equalize the score for Genk."

"Alaves' backcourt clearance made a huge mistake and passed directly to Genk's Barry. After Barry crossed to the middle, Mina shot directly from a place 30 meters away from the goal."

"The angle and the power of the ball was fantastic and the keeper tried to save it but the ball went right past his fingertips and into the goal."

Only 7 minutes later, Barry in the frontcourt passed the ball to Nagi on the right. Nagi slammed past the defensive player in front of him with a continuous spiking feint like fried meatballs, and was about to dribble the ball into the penalty area.

At this time, the Aravis defender who was being shaken pulled Nagi's clothes hard behind him, causing him to fail to move forward. "Beep~", the referee's whistle also sounded at this time, and a penalty was given to Genk. A free kick in the front field.

The free kick at the front of the penalty area can directly threaten the goal. After discussion among the Genk players, it was decided that Nagi would take the freekick. The live broadcast camera was also aimed at Nagi, who was standing not far from the penalty spot, and gave him a shot. close up.

The voice of the on-site commentary also sounded at this time: "As we all know, the quality of Mina's free kicks is very high. There are many times when Genk scored directly from Mina's free kicks to kill the game."

"We can see that Mina is standing next to the penalty spot. It seems that this kick should be taken by him. Alaves is facing a big enemy. The goalkeeper keeps running around the goal to observe and direct the wall. Standing, it seems very tense."

When the referee's whistle blew, Mina ran up alone and hit the goal directly. The ball flew high, crossed the human wall, and fell rapidly after entering the penalty area. The Alaves goalkeeper thought the ball was hit high, but unexpectedly will suddenly fall.

He jumped up and tried to throw the ball with his right hand, but he couldn't reach the ball. The ball scraped the lower end of the crossbar and flew into the goal.

"goooooooooooooooal! In the 39th minute, Mina opened the goal of Alaves again. He made a high-quality free kick. We can see that the ball has an obvious tendency to fall in the air."

"Mina scored twice to help Genk reverse Alaves 2:1. One of their hands has already touched the first Europa trophy in the club's history!"

After seeing the team's reversal, the head coach Antonis no longer pretended to be deep. He jumped up from the bench with his hands clenched and danced excitedly. He knew that Mina would never disappoint.

On the other side, Stam covered his forehead with his hands. Although he was prepared in his heart that the team might fall behind because of Mina's fierce attack, he still felt it when he saw the rest of the game. A trace of anxiety.

The first half of the game ended with Genk taking the lead. In the locker room, the players were very relaxed. Aldridge proposed to celebrate with champagne, which made everyone burst into laughter.

Nagi felt a little worried in his heart. He clapped his hands and said, "Brothers, our battle is not over yet, so don't be careless."

Coach Antonis said at this time: "Yes, we can't be careless. In the second half, the team defended, and then Nagi restrained the opponent's mind in the frontcourt. As long as one more goal is scored, the victory will be established. "

After all, he began to explain the tactics of the second half, making everyone pay special attention to Alaves' attack after the opening. After withstood that period of time, the dawn of victory is not far away.

Changing sides to fight again, as Antonis expected, Alaves broke the boat at the beginning and attacked Genk's backcourt fiercely. Their aggressive pressing made Genk's defense very uncomfortable and became precarious.

Although everyone has tactical arrangements, the leading situation still makes them feel slack. In the 51st minute, Alaves directly intercepted the ball in the backcourt of Genk. Moreno scored in the penalty area and equalized the score. He also staged Scored twice.

One minute later, Genk kicked off the ball in midfield, and the ball was immediately intercepted by the pressing Alonso and passed to the penalty area. Cruyff Jr. scored another goal for Alaves.

From leading to falling behind, Genk only took 6 minutes, which made the players on the field fall into a dream. To make matters worse, a minute later, Genk's drive was intercepted again, and Alonso sprinted long distance, like no one, and followed him back just as his shot was about to cross the line. Nagi blocked the ball out of the baseline.

Nagi loudly reminded the players to come back to their senses and devote themselves to defense. He frowned, he didn't expect Aravis' counterattack to be so resolute and violent.

More importantly, they succeeded in overtaking the score and relying on the mistakes of Genk's defensive players. This will undoubtedly increase the pressure on the players. If they cannot adjust in time, they may collapse.

The head coach Antonis also thought of this. He stood on the sidelines and shouted for the players to return to the defense. As long as Nagi attacks, there is still a chance for everything, but if Alaves really scores another goal, I am afraid it will be suspended.

After taking the lead, Alaves did not stop attacking. They continued to press Genk with high intensity, intending to smash all Genk's offensive opportunities.

The situation on the field seemed to be a bit weird, the leading side spared no effort to press, while the trailing side could only gradually shrink, and Nagi also had to retreat frequently to defend.

Sweat had completely soaked Nagi's clothes, he was panting heavily, just now Genk got a chance for a sideline kick, and he was able to take a rest with a drink of water.

In the past 30 minutes, he frequently ran around on both ends of the offense and defense, and the turbulent situation in Genk gradually stabilized. Because the teammates saw Nagi working so hard, the frustration and panic in their hearts gradually disappeared. , the state will return to the initial level of the game.

It can be said that Nagi reversed the inevitable collapse with his own strength, but there is really not much time left for Genk.

"Genk threw the ball to Barry in the midfield, let's see how the ball is handled, Barry used a beautiful smash to evade the pressing defender, no mistakes."

"After Barry went straight to the defense line on the right, Mina quickly started to advance, and Contra's return to defense was also very fast, blocking Mina's body."

Nagi and Contra formed a one-on-one near the bottom line on the right. He used a large pendulum to dribble past others, pretending to go down to break through, but actually cut inside with the ball.

This time the pendulum tilted his body exaggeratedly, and he easily deceived Contra, but it was not without cost. After running for nearly 90 minutes, Nagi felt that his knees could no longer bear it, and he felt a burst of pain.

But he still gritted his teeth and broke through the penalty area. Before the opponent's other defensive players could make up the defense, he raised his left foot and volleyed. , flew into the net!

3: 3! At the end of the game, Nagi performed a hat-trick and saved Genk again!

"Mina hit the goal from a small angle, and the ball flew into the goal of Alaves from the dead corner of the goal!"

"This is Mina's 22nd goal in the UEFA Europa League. His number of goals is the best in the scorer list."

"He will become the youngest winner of the Golden Boot in the history of the Europa League, and just a few days ago he also became the youngest winner of the Golden Boot in the Belgian Bundesliga."

"All the fans at the scene, all the audience in front of the TV, let us give Mina another warm applause to congratulate him. And we who can witness history will also feel extremely honored at this moment."

"Mina has proved his potential on the stage of the Europa League. We look forward to him appearing on the top European feast and shocking the world again on the stage of the Champions League."

After scoring the goal, Nagi did not run to celebrate, but stood still and gently softened his knees. Carl Beth, who was flying over to jump on him, immediately stopped his behavior and asked anxiously: " Nagi, are you okay, do you need to call the team doctor?"

The other teammates around also asked concernedly, Nagi smiled and waved his hands: "It's nothing serious, there are still a few minutes, let's work harder and try to end the battle as soon as possible."

After finishing speaking, he slowly ran back to his own half. Every step he ran, there were bursts of severe pain. His senses clearly told him that the injured part needed to stop moving in order to recover, but he did not intend to do so. In this game, I will go to the hospital for a while.

However, he is still very anxious in his heart. After the injury, his speed and dribbling will be affected. If the game is dragged to overtime, it will be a lost situation for him and Genk.

"The battle must be resolved within the regular time!" Nagi's eyes showed determination, he had already worked so hard, how could he be willing to fail.

In the following time, Nagi was still running to look for opportunities, but his speed was no longer fast. Several times, because he couldn't get rid of the entanglement of the defense, he could only pass the ball.

Aimee Antonis stood on the sidelines and frowned. Judging from the series of situations just now, what happened to Nagi? He was also worried about overtime. Get to know it well.

Stoppage time in the second half was short, just three minutes. In the 93rd minute, Barry sent the ball to the right in the frontcourt, Nagi endured the pain and quickly inserted, and finally got the ball before the defense, but Contra followed closely behind him to interfere.

Nagi resisted Contra with his remaining strength, but he kept making small movements, pinching Nagi's waist with his left hand, and pushing him slightly with his right hand.

If it was Nagi in a healthy state, he might ignore these movements and directly break through, but now his speed is greatly reduced, and he can't get rid of the defense. Contra's pushing made him lose his balance and fell to the ground.

"Beep~" The referee's whistle sounded in time, and the referee on duty, the German Diehl Gehmann, quickly ran to Contra, showed him a yellow card warning, and awarded a penalty for a set kick in the front field.

The set ball was near the wing, and the angle was too small to hit the goal directly, so Alaves breathed a sigh of relief and quickly arranged defenses in the penalty area.

Nagi touched the knee of his left leg and gave the ball to Aaron Abigail to take the penalty, while he lay in ambush in the penalty area. He moved Abigail and Barry aside, and said, "Abigail, I will attract the defense at the front point later, and you take the penalty at the back point, and Barry will fight for the top and kill the opponent."

Barry said: "Isn't your header well practiced? Do you want to try for the big four?" Nagi smiled wryly and shook his head, he couldn't jump up at all.

After discussing the tactics, the three of them settled their positions. Sure enough, as Nagi expected, the defensive attention in the restricted area was attracted by him.

When the referee blew his whistle, Abigail started to run, and Nagi also started to run in the penalty area. Seeing this, several Alaves defensive players quickly followed, and the defense line quietly tore open a gap.

But Abigail's ball was a little low, and he still couldn't completely bypass the defensive player to the back point. The defensive player in the middle, Gurley, jumped up and hit the ball, trying to push it out of the sideline.

But he didn't head straight, and the ball flew towards the goal. The goalkeeper was standing a little to the right at this time, and he was staring at Nagi One step late.

Own goal! In the 93rd minute, both Alaves defender Gurley and the goalkeeper made a huge error, which caused irreparable consequences.

No one thought that this goal battle would end with an own goal, which was a real lore. When Alaves kicked off again, the referee German blew the whistle for the end of the game sound.

Genk won the first Europa League trophy in history! And they won the league championship earlier this season, which is a real double crown!

The players and coaches on the bench rushed into the stadium excitedly, and the Genk fans in the stands played a large slogan "We are the champions". Even King Albert II in the VIP seat stood up and applauded Genk.The Cup Belongs to the honor of the Belgian First Division.

Gurley, who scored an own goal, knelt down in pain, covering his face with his hands, and the players next to him were comforting him. Football is so cruel sometimes. Whenever this classic game is mentioned, this own goal will be mentioned.

Alaves coach Abdul Stam did not expect that Alaves did score one more goal than Genk, but lost the championship. He could only smile wryly Shake hands with Antonis and congratulate him on another great achievement.

When Aaron Abigail lifted the Europa Trophy, the entire Westfalenstadion applauded for Genk's wonderful performance, and the live cameras and all reporters and media eyes focused on this group of creatives. players of history.

As the absolute core, Nagi, the best player in the Europa League and the best team player in the Europa League, did not celebrate in front of the stage at this time. He silently moved to the side, watching his teammates revel, with mixed feelings in his heart.

After tonight, all the players in Genk will go their separate ways, and it will be difficult to get together again. Barry and Chivu's loan period expires, they will definitely not stay in the team, Beth may stay, Aldridge has performed well in the league, there is no shortage of team poaching, Abigail has been in Genk for many years, this season May retire later...

Head coach Aimee Antonis quietly came to his side and stood side by side with him: "How does it feel to win the championship?"

"This feeling is so enjoyable, I'm sure, I don't want to lose even more." Nagi said with a smile.

"Yeah, winning all the time can make people addicted, but losing all the time can also make people numb. Please keep this desire for victory, Nagi, I believe you will become a great player."

Antonis is also interested in leaving. He has led the team to win all the honors that Genk can win, such as the Belgian Cup, the League Championship, the Europa League Championship. As for the Champions League title, it is not of Genk's size. The club can get their hands on it.

He will become the legendary coach of the Genk club, just like Nagi will be the legendary player of the Genk club.