Even before kick-off, the match had already drawn intense attention.
[The flawless striker and the flawless attacking midfielder face off with their team's pride on the line!]
Shevchenko and Ho-young had long been compared to each other.
They were similar in that both carried their teams on their own, and they also had in common that they were legendary players representing their national teams.
Of course, if you compared their current ability, Ho-young held an overwhelming edge.
Shevchenko was 34 this year, an age that could be called the twilight of a footballer's career.
Even so, he was enjoying a second peak this season, scoring plenty of goals.
In truth, most people already expected which team would win.
Even the bookmakers' odds showed that Manchester City had an overwhelmingly high chance of victory.
Despite that, the reason people were so interested in the match was the symbolism of the duel between the two.
Andriy Shevchenko, the flawless striker of the older generation who had now become a legend.
And Ho-young, the flawless attacking midfielder of the current generation.
It was a clash of the century that they might never get to see again after today.
But then.
"Hm?"
"What is this? Why is Young over there?"
As soon as the match began, the Etihad Stadium filled with confusion.
Ho-young had been deployed not as an attacking midfielder, but as the lone striker.
[Manchester City's formation is the usual 4-2-3-1, but the player positioning is unexpected. Ho-young is up front as the striker, Ronaldinho is the attacking midfielder, and David Silva is on the right wing. Robinho is on the left flank.]
[Just looking at it is terrifying. It is a setup that really makes you wonder what manager Mancini is planning.]
Ho-young had been used as a striker because of Tevez's minor injury.
Even so, there was no way Mancini could send Adebayor out in a match this important.
As Ho-young stepped onto the pitch, he exchanged a handshake and a brief greeting with him.
"I am looking forward to a good match."
"I look forward to it as well."
[Andriy Shevchenko]
[Possessed Talents: Flawless Striker (T), Finishing of the Flawless Striker (SU), Cold Composure (S), Outstanding Positioning (S-), Genius Dribbling (A+3), (More...)]
(You may covet one talent if the conditions are met.)
(If you covet a T-grade Title, you may acquire part of its sense. However, you may only covet it after turning 18.)
(For S-grade or higher, you must fulfill the hidden conditions before coveting it.)
(Condition 1: Win the match by 3 goals or more)
(Condition 2: Score more goals than Andriy Shevchenko)
(Condition 3: Maintain better finishing than Andriy Shevchenko in this match)
(Hidden Condition: Opens when you covet at least one talent)
The Ronaldo of Eastern Europe.
It was a set of talents that fit that nickname perfectly.
'So today it's finishing.'
They were not easy conditions.
Even if he had aged, Shevchenko was still a player with outstanding finishing ability.
Of course, Ho-young could keep his finishing at 100% if he scored with 1 shot and then stopped shooting, but he had no intention of doing that.
There were several other talents he could covet in today's match as well.
'If I score 5 goals or more in one match, I can satisfy Ronaldinho's Hidden Condition 1, and if I receive 3 assists, I can even get David Silva's unique talent.'
Both were difficult conditions, but today David Silva and Ronaldinho were supporting him from behind, so there was a chance he could succeed.
In other words, this was a match where he had to put on a goal festival.
[And Dynamo Kyiv, facing Manchester City, have come out in a 4-1-2-1-2 formation. Up front, they are using Shevchenko and Artem Milevskiy as a two-striker partnership, while on the left and right they have Yarmolenko and Gusev, both strong crossers. At attacking midfielder, Roman Eremenko, known for his superb long-range shooting, has been selected.]
[Looking at the lineup, they clearly intend to attack. It looks like we are in for an open match.]
The attacking tactics Dynamo Kyiv had prepared were simple.
First, Yarmolenko and Gusev, positioned on either side, would move widely from the second line and cover a broad area to maintain balance in midfield.
Second, defensive midfielder Vukojević would distribute the ball wide, allowing crosses into the center to create goals.
Third, they would use Shevchenko's outstanding positioning and the height of Milevskiy to score.
And if the defenders cleared the ball, attacking midfielder Roman Eremenko would go for the second ball with a long-range shot to finish the move.
That was the extent of the tactics Valeri Gazzaev had prepared.
There was no answer in simply defending against Manchester City, so he had chosen to meet fire with fire.
The intention was good, and the concept was good as well.
The biggest problem, however, was that they could not actually carry out the tactics they had prepared.
[Yaya Touré's pass reaches Ronaldinho. Ronaldinho crosses the halfway line and slowly begins to drive forward.]
[Vukojević steps up to press!]
Defensive midfielder Vukojević tried to apply heavy pressure, but Ronaldinho calmly kept the ball while dribbling.
He had recently started taking better care of his body, and his form had been improving because of it.
There was no way he was going to give the ball away easily.
[Ah, he will not lose it to the very end.]
[And now he calmly switches it out to the right. David Silva receives it.]
[At the same time, Yeshchenko closes him down!]
Right-back Yeshchenko stabbed a foot in as if he had been waiting for that exact moment.
But Silva was the same.
As if he had already predicted this moment, he slipped his body away to the side and escaped the pressure with ease.
[David Silva's trademark. He shields the ball while rotating his body outward!]
The La Pelopina Turn.
It was a technique used to spin away on the outside and escape pressure, one of the reasons David Silva was so good at beating the press.
It was not as flashy as the Marseille turn or the scoop turn, but it had the advantage of letting him evade pressure quickly and efficiently.
It was not something you could do just by being good at changing direction or controlling the ball.
Like David Silva, you had to instinctively understand the timing and the situation of the turn to use it freely.
[David Silva escapes the pressure and passes back to Ronaldinho.]
[Dynamo Kyiv have tried to apply a structured press since the match started, but they have achieved absolutely nothing. If anything, they are only wasting energy.]
Even with Ho-young staying up front, Dynamo Kyiv were being completely overrun in the midfield battle.
Manchester City were not the mediocre upper-mid-table side they had imagined.
In the span of just a few months, they had become a strong team.
[This is remarkable. The players simply are not losing the ball. The instability they showed just a few months ago is nowhere to be seen now. Their chemistry is excellent too.]
That soon showed itself in the result.
While David Silva and Ronaldinho orchestrated play from the second line, Robinho burst forward and tore open the flank, and in that gap David Silva pushed higher up to shake the right side.
On top of that, Ronaldinho was planted firmly in the middle, so Dynamo Kyiv could not help but be thrown into confusion.
And then.
[Ho-young makes his move inside the box!]
To make matters worse.
Because Ho-young kept tearing through the penalty area, they could not relax for even a moment.
He was a disaster in human form.
"Do not lose track of his movement!"
"Chase him like you are following him to the ends of the earth!"
"You cannot take your eyes off him for even a second!"
Centre-backs Mykhalyk and Khacheridi were tailing Ho-young like mosquitoes chasing after him, but simply following what they saw was never going to be enough to stop him.
Swish.
"Hah!"
Ho-young's movement was close to art.
He changed direction in an instant as if ignoring inertia itself, then immediately found invisible empty space and positioned himself there.
The body balance (S-) and superior agility (S-) he had recently developed made it all even smoother.
And on top of that, his perfect positioning.
"Yeshchenko!"
The defender who had lost Ho-young shouted desperately, but reacting after seeing that movement was close to impossible.
It was not as though they could predict his route either.
They could not even understand why he was standing there in the first place.
No, there was no need to make it complicated.
Wherever it was, the place where he stood was the best possible spot to score.
Thud!
[Goooooooooal!]
[Ho-young! He turns Silva's pass straight into a goal! Manchester City take the lead!]
That was how the first goal came.
And the second goal came in the same pattern as well.
Just 3 minutes later.
Thud!
[Gooooooal! Ho-young smashes in his second goal!! Silva's killer pass lands right at Ho-young's feet!]
[Before that, the link-up between Ronaldinho and Robinho was excellent too. It is exactly the kind of pattern you know is coming, but still cannot stop.]
Ho-young's positioning made Ronaldinho's playmaking even more dangerous, and Silva's killer passes elevated Ho-young's finishing.
They were producing a perfect performance through pure synergy.
The score was 2-0.
And the clock had only just reached the 7th minute of the first half.
[This might actually be the best combination Manchester City can put out right now. Ho-young becomes this terrifying when he can focus only on attacking. If striker had been his main position, he might already have broken the record for most goals in a season.]
[Yes, this is a match that is a joy to watch. It is enough to make you happy knowing we can watch nearly 90 more minutes of football like this.]
There was no sign of Manchester City's relentless attack slowing down.
The crowd grew louder and louder, and the players' momentum kept rising.
Dynamo Kyiv had no answer.
Dropping back defensively would not help them win the match either.
Fighting on like this was at least a way to preserve even a 1% hope.
And then, around the 9th minute of the first half.
[Gareth Barry and Yaya Touré exchange passes. They form a triangle with Ronaldinho.]
The two defensive midfielders, who had been building from the back, pushed forward and launched a fierce assault.
Because of that, Dynamo Kyiv's players became distracted by the midfield.
Manchester City immediately took advantage of that and attacked both flanks.
Delivery crosses from Kolarov and David Silva came in from both sides, and less than 3 minutes later, a decisive chance was created.
That soon turned into an aerial duel between Ho-young and the defenders.
[The cross hangs up toward the far post! Yeshchenko goes up!]
[Khacheridi is with him too!]
Bang!
"Ugh!"
"Argh!"
The two defenders each grabbed one of Ho-young's arms as they tried to stop him, but Ho-young's body, rising into the air, barely moved at all.
Instead, Ho-young overpowered both of them with tremendous strength and met the ball with his head.
And then.
Thud!
The header went straight into the net.
It was a hat-trick in roughly 12 minutes.
And it did not end there.
15th minute of the first half.
Ho-young stole the ball with a tackle as a defender tried to clear it and scored his fourth goal, then for his fifth, he beat three defenders in succession before finding the net.
Just before the first half ended, he scored his sixth from a free kick, then was substituted for Adebayor at half-time.
By the time the second half was over, an 8-2 scoreline, like something out of baseball, was lit up on the scoreboard.
Ho-young, resting on the bench, received a valuable reward for today's victory.
The list was as follows.
[Merlin's La Pelopina Turn (U)]
[Wondrous Creativity (SS)]
David Silva's trademark La Pelopina Turn, the move of the man called Wizard Merlin.
Ronaldinho's Wondrous Creativity.
No extra time was needed to covet them.
And then came the moment he obtained Shevchenko's talent as well.
[The synthesis of Finishing of the Flawless Striker (SU) and Peerless Finishing (W+3) has succeeded.]
[Absolute value of 'Peerless Finishing': 22.00]
[Your talent has reached the limits of humanity.]
[If the conditions are met, it may be promoted to 'Transcendent Finishing (TS)' according to its absolute value.]
Flawless.
If the Shevchenko of his prime had been a flawless striker, then the current Ho-young was the striker itself.
And the moment when he would surpass even that was drawing closer and closer.
(To be continued.)