The week between the Bayern triumph and the upcoming match against Mainz 05 was one of the most grueling and transformative of Mateo's young life. It was a period of deliberate, self-imposed exile from the very thing he loved, a necessary sacrifice for the sake of a greater, more stable future.
While the first team traveled to Marseille and back for their European fixture, his world shrank to the pristine, sterile confines of the Dortmund training center.
His days were governed by the relentless, watchful eyes of Andreas Beck, the club's conditioning specialist, and the cold, hard logic of the "Blueprint for a Body," the System's comprehensive recalibration program.
Mateo's body had betrayed him, or rather, it had outgrown its own programming. The sudden, late-stage growth spurt that had pushed him from 175cm to a solid 180cm was a gift of physical potential, but a curse to his finely tuned muscle memory.
