The German side celebrated loudly. Scoring two goals in eleven minutes against the team housing Blue Lock's number One Ace had filled Bastard München with overwhelming joy.
This match was hyped to be the one of the most intense clashes in the entire Neo Egoist League. But Bastard München was just a single goal away from ending it and Manshine City have yet to respond.
Menser jogged past Kunigami on his way back into position. "Keep it up. Don't give him space to breathe."
------
"You look disappointed," Ness said to Kaiser.
"On the contrary." Kaiser grinned. "Now, all I need is to score my own goal to win so I can steal the spotlight from the wannabe Protagonist."
"Give it time," Hiori said while returning back to his position. "Murano's still winning his individual moments."
That part was true.
Murano read and blocked Yukimiya's fake-and-cross. He read Isagi's pass and cut it out before it arrived. He rose above two defenders to clear the ball from the danger in the penalty box.
A few of the Bastard players actually laughed believing the outcome was already decided.
The psychological pressure was sinking into the rest of Manshine City. Frustration was rapidly rising. The physical play was turning downright ugly.
After scoring their second goal, Bastard München came out with a suffocating full-on press.
On the next defensive transition, a Bastard midfielder tried to step directly into Murano's path to obstruct his line. Without breaking his run, Murano elbowed directly into the Yukimiya's chest, sending him to the ground to break free.
FWHHH-T!
The announcer's whistle blew immediately.
"YELLOW CARD! NUMBER 10, MANSINE CITY!"
He turned back to his team as Bastard Munchen lined up for freekick.
-------
Later on when Manshine finally received the ball, they circulated the ball deep into their own half, drawing the German defense forward before passing it back to Murano.
The second his foot touched the ball, four Bastard Munchen jerseys closed in on him.
Murano executed a fast one-two with Chigiri, but as he received the return pass, his eyes looked downfield.
'There.'
Gin Gagamaru was positioned slightly too far off his line.
Dashing toward the halfway line, Murano feinted a wide pass toward Nagi, throwing the defense's center of gravity to the right. Instead of passing, he slammed his left leg through the ball, unleashing a long-range lob from over forty yards out.
Gagamaru scrambled backward, his body twisting in mid-air as he lunged with everything he had.
The tip of Gagamaru's fingers grazed the underside of the ball. It was just enough to tip the trajectory, sending the ball flying over the crossbar.
Murano sighed, visibly frustrated. Bastard Munchen's Kurona retrieved the ball off the resulting sequence.
Under heavy pressure from Nagi and Boey, Kurona kicked it back to Gagamaru to reset the play.
Gagamaru gestured with both arms, demanding Bastard München to push deep into Manshine's half before launching a long goal kick toward the center circle.
The ball flew to the halfway line where Isagi was lurking. But Agi out-jumped Isagi, leaping high to direct a powerful header down into the open space.
Murano was already on the move, picking up the loose ball.
BUT...
Before he could accelerate, Michael Kaiser closed the distance, blocking his path.
"We finally clash!" Kaiser grinned.
"Can you keep up?" Murano challenged him.
Murano executed a series of blinding stepovers, searching for an opening, but Kaiser kept up with Murano's pace.
Seconds later, Ness arrived from his flank, trapping Murano in a 2-on-1 double-team.
Murano thought of a great idea.
He flicked the ball up lightly, pulling off a rainbow flick that lifted the ball squarely over Ness's head.
As Ness spun around in panic, Murano didn't wait for the ball to land. He aggressively drove his body into the space directly behind Ness, positioning Ness's body as a shield between himself and Kaiser.
Kaiser reached out to tackle, but his path was completely obstructed by his own teammate's back. Using Ness as a wall, Murano glided past the two of them while keeping the ball airborne the entire time without it touching the grass once.
"What the...?!" Ness gasped.
"Don't get in my way, NESSS!" Kaiser screamed.
Ness came on to help Kaiser but ended up being used by Murano to fend off Michael Kaiser.
The moment he broke free from the trap, three more German defenders charged on him from all directions. Grim charging from the left, Isagi cutting off the right angle, and Menser stepping up head-on.
Nagi, Chigiri, and Reo were all open, screaming for the pass.
Murano ignored them all.
His scavenger eye activated for the first time, naturally blurring his teammates and then seeing the opponents as training dummies with predictive motion.
He saw a long thread that formed a path from the ball to the goal.
Guides his movement to maneuver around an opponent to reach the most dangerous point on the field, THE GOLDEN ZONE. This is enabled by his scavenger eyes and chronoception working together, Manjiro perceives the slight pauses and openings in an opponent's movement as a literal "thread."
The Scavenger Eye was the evolved form of Xavi's exceptional vision and Predator eye.
Activating the Scavenger Eye requires immense concentration and constant pressure and distress. And thus it cannot be activated at will.
He charged straight into Menser. Just as the defender readied for impact, Murano lowered his center of gravity and shoulder barged, blowing through Menser and sending him crashing onto the turf.
He was near the d-arc of the penalty box now.
Suddenly, Rensuke Kunigami came flying attempting a ruthless slide tackle to completely wipe him out.
Murano didn't waver.
Just before impact, he kicked the ball upward and then leaped into the air alongside it, effortlessly evading Kunigami's contact mid-flight.
While hanging in the air, Murano knocked his left leg back and then...
BOOOOM!
Murano's own style of volley, traveling with so much power it quickly slid into the back of the net before Gagamaru could even react.
Murano landed on his feet, the net behind him still shaking from the force of the shot.
"How does he do that?" Saramadara wondered.
[MURANO'S AIR-STRIDE VOLLEY]
BASTARD MUNCHEN: 2 MANSHINE CITY: 1