I AM the Football Star

”Roar!”

After scoring, Lande threw his head back and howled at the sky.

”It’s Lande! He’s completed his own redemption!”

”Just now San Remo’s goal came directly from Lande’s foul, and now Lande has made up for his mistake with a goal of his own!”

”One–one, aggregate three–three, Paris Saint-Germain hold the edge with two away goals!”

”The match has gone back to where it started, and now the pressure is on San Remo.”

”Over the past two or three years, Lande has shot up out of nowhere and been absolutely eye‑catching. From Lyon to Paris Saint-Germain, he’s already grown into one of the very best new‑generation centre‑backs in France.”

”Rumour has it Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barça, Chelsea, Bayern and other giants are all interested in bringing in this young centre‑back.”

”But on Paris Saint-Germain’s side, they probably won’t want to let him go. He still has three years left on his contract with Paris Saint-Germain, so Lande will stay there at least two more years before making a decision.”

”Can he, in that time, join Miguel, Stiepelman and the others in helping Paris Saint-Germain finally break through in the Champions League? This year, it looks really close. Let’s wait and see!”

After that, neither side scored again, and eventually they headed into halftime.

Halftime over, the two sides went at it again.

With Miguel dictating play, the ball’s circulation slowed down a lot.

Miguel was deliberately suppressing the tempo.

In fact, in the first twenty minutes of the first half, Paris Saint-Germain’s approach was extremely risky.

They were already leading thanks to their goal‑difference advantage, and had absolutely no need to go all‑out attacking San Remo.

But Boe was in such insane form that he kept surging forward in excitement, which handed San Remo a ton of attacking phases.

In ball sports, the number of attacking phases is one of the most important factors.

The original idea behind ball‑control tactics was to deny the opponent the ball; if they don’t get touches, they naturally can’t create any threat.

Barring own goals, zero attacking phases inevitably means zero goals.

Paris Saint-Germain aren’t a perfect ball‑control side, but Miguel’s dribbling, bursts and shielding are very strong; he can single‑handedly drag the tempo of a match down.

Of course, this approach carries risk.

The danger isn’t so much in opponents tackling Miguel—that’s bound to happen sooner or later.

Even someone like Mateo, constantly on the ball, will eventually be dispossessed.

The real danger lies in whether... your teammates can understand your intent and back you up.

Understand that you’re controlling the speed of ball circulation, and that without a really good chance, you’re going to prioritise passing back—that’s the first point.

Fill the area around you with enough passing options, support you, and once the opposition do tackle you, immediately counter‑press so they at least don’t get a chance to break—that’s the second point.

Because the threat from counterattacks is far greater than the threat from positional attacks.

But this second point is hard for Paris Saint-Germain to fully grasp.

Because up to now Paris Saint-Germain have been a team built on dual‑wing attacks.

What does dual‑wing attacks mean?

It means when Miguel hits trouble on his side, he shifts the ball to Boe’s flank, and Boe takes over the dribbling and breakthroughs.

And at that moment Miguel usually has already drawn away San Remo’s main defensive focus.

That makes perfect sense.

But in doing so, the speed of ball circulation doesn’t actually slow down, and Paris Saint-Germain’s number of attacks doesn’t drop. Accordingly, San Remo’s number of attacks doesn’t drop either.

What’s more, Paris Saint-Germain don’t particularly like crowding around Miguel as passing options.

Everyone prefers to drift over to the other side and look for chances, waiting for Miguel’s pass to come.

Miguel has the ability to play the ball out even when surrounded by multiple players.

Conflict has erupted!

Within Paris Saint-Germain, the split between their tactical concepts and actual playing habits is getting bigger and bigger.

Some players do understand what Miguel’s trying to do, but they can’t carry it through, because what Miguel needs is almost the whole team supporting him, constantly recycling possession around him.

Right now he’s only got half the team near him; the other half, once they get the ball, immediately launch attacks down the left, going at it full tilt, looking wildly dangerous.

On the surface, Miguel increasingly can’t open up the game, while Boe looks better and better, more and more threatening.

Even the commentators are saying Miguel should hand more of the ball over to Boe today; Boe looks like he could blow up San Remo’s entire right flank!

But is that really the case?

You’ve blown past Canyes, but haven’t you noticed Lu has already dropped back to play as a genuine right‑back?

Beating a player like Canyes, who’s essentially a right midfielder, over and over—does that really count as tearing apart their entire right side?

Bang!

Miguel lost the ball again.

This time, since part of the Paris Saint-Germain team had already pushed up to attack, the gaps were bigger.

Camihong, who’d been getting battered by Miguel all game, finally snapped.

You’re just picking on the nice guy, aren’t you?

Well this nice guy is about to lose his temper!

Bang!

After winning the ball, Camihong drove forward directly, even giving Miguel—who was rushing back to defend—a shove.

Miguel’s as thin as a noodle; when he’s attacking, he relies on his technique to offset his lack of physique, denying opponents any chance to make contact.

But when he’s defending, the downside of being skinny and frail is fully exposed.

Camihong went through as if no one were there, with Fernandez pulling wide, looping back as an option.

The two of them kept playing one‑twos down the flank, actually carrying the ball all the way from their own box to the edge of Paris Saint-Germain’s area.

Camihong shaped as if to drive to the byline, and Paris Saint-Germain’s right‑back went with him.

Fernandez then planted himself just behind that right‑back, darting straight into the channel towards the byline.

Camihong slid the ball through to the line.

Fernandez exploded forward, caught up with the ball before it went out and whipped in a low cross!

Bang!

Fernandez tumbled off the pitch.

But the ball zipped straight across from the left towards the Paris Saint-Germain six‑yard box.

Their first centre‑back was a little slow, and the ball rolled right past his feet.

Lande had Talista pinned, but didn’t dare stick out a foot.

He was right in front of goal; if he swung a leg to break out, there was a high chance he’d knock in an own goal.

Top‑student Lande could at least do that bit of physics and probability.

Letting the ball flash across the goal with nobody touching it was the best outcome.

But would Talista ever accept that?

He went at it with everything, arms and legs, even using his hip to drive into Lande’s back.

Even though Lande was braced solidly, Talista still managed to squeeze out a sliver of space.

That’s the price Lande pays for being 1.91 metres tall and also possessing exceptional speed for a centre‑back... his weight doesn’t go up, so his physical duels aren’t truly elite.

Talista, on the other hand, is a full‑on beast‑type striker!

Bang!

Talista’s toe got to the ball, the trajectory shifted, and it smashed into the side netting of Paris Saint-Germain’s goal.