Chapter 37: A Slap in the Face
"Galatasaray, move forward!"
"Die, you Spanish bastards!"
"Hakan, tear apart their defense, go for it!"
"Haha, led by a kid still sucking on his mother's breast—no wonder they're a bunch of cowards!"
The Galatasaray fans in the stands were fired up as they watched their team relentlessly press Mallorca back into their own half. In their eyes, those cowardly Spaniards had already been firmly suppressed by their team, and scoring was just a matter of time!
What bothered them was Mallorca's strong defense—almost eight players were involved, tightly packing the penalty area and surrounding spaces, making Galatasaray's offense look quite difficult.
"Are you cowards only good at being turtles? Haha, come out here! If you don't dare, go crawl back into your mama's arms and suck your thumb!"
"Spanish teams are all cowards! Even worse than the Italians!"
Listening to the insults from the stands, José just sneered. It was all so childish. They were shouting loudly, but in the end, football is about how well you play with your feet. Galatasaray was indeed aggressive, but so far, they hadn't created many good shooting chances. Hagi was being tangled up by Mallorca's two veterans. Against their rich experience, Hagi's skills and awareness were rendered less effective, and he barely had a chance to touch the ball.
Galatasaray had created some opportunities on the wings, but although they had tall players in the box, Mallorca's aerial defense was also strong. Aside from Nino marking Hakan?Suk, Nadal's positioning and Franco's interventions managed to shut down most of the crosses. Franco, standing 1.88 meters tall with excellent jumping ability, was a goalkeeper with a large reach. Though still young and inexperienced, he didn't lose focus in such a dense defense.
The Galatasaray players, however, were quick-tempered. If they had remained calm in the beginning, they might have had more success in their attacks. But now, after failing to break through, all three of their center-backs had moved forward to join the attack, leaving massive open spaces at the back.