CHAPTER 98: WORLDIE

"Sané on the move. He beats Kristensen, takes on Collins, great cut back for Kane at the edge of the box. HARRY KANE— GREAT SAVE BY TRAPP! He was at full stretch, and he had to get a touch in, that ball was heading into the bottom corner. But Bayern have a corner and a chance to regain their two-goal lead."

Olise strutted over to the right corner flag to take the corner as the Bayern Munich players, including the four defenders, gathered inside Eintracht Frankfurt’s box. The only players outside Frankfurt’s penalty area were Musiala and Sané right at the edge of the box.

Lukas watched the group as he sneakily stepped backwards to the edge of the box.

He could feel it, something crazy was about to happen.

Olise launched the corner, an out-swinger that landed in the middle of the six-yard area, and Trapp jumped to punch the ball.

He mistimed his punch, however, as the ball scraped the side of his gloves and bounced in the midst of a host of bodies who all stretched to get the first touch.

Larsson, fortunately for Eintracht Frankfurt, got the all-important first touch as he toe-poked the ball out of the box.

Sané rushed to collect the loose ball just outside the penalty arc, but as he swung his boot, all he could hit was the air right above the pitch.

The ball was gone.

Lukas had picked his pocket cleanly from behind, and was now running towards the center of the pitch, literally unmarked!

Musiala was the closest to him, but Lukas had so much head start, he was never going to catch up unless Lukas slowed down.

As Lukas got to the halfway line, he glanced up and saw Neuer running back towards goal. The sweeper keeper had wandered all the way out of Bayern’s final third when they won that corner, and was now scrambling back while silently praying Lukas wouldn’t hit a worldie from midfield.

At that moment, however, God turned his ears away from Neuer.

"Hit it," Lukas muttered to himself as he saw Neuer getting to his penalty area.

And he listened to himself.

BANG.

Without hesitation, Lukas steadied himself just a step past the halfway line. He let the ball roll into stride, then angled his body ever so slightly to keep balance. With his eyes locked on the empty frame, he struck through it cleanly with the top of his instep — just where the laces meet the ball, the part made for both power and lift.

The connection was crisp, sending the ball soaring in a perfect arc. For a moment, time seemed to hang with it in the air. Most of the crowd had their hands on their heads as the white blur curved toward goal, Neuer still retreating, helplessly glancing upward.

The ball spun high into the evening sky, carrying with it every ounce of daring from that strike. Neuer sprinted backward, his long strides eating up ground, but even he knew he was chasing a shadow.

The away end, located beside where Eintracht were attacking for the second half, erupted. Some 6,000+ fans in jubilation even before the ball dipped under the crossbar and rested in the back of the net.

"OH MY WORD! OH MY WORD! LUKAS BRANDT HAS JUST SCORED A WORLD-CLASS GOAL! From the middle of the pitch, with nothing but instinct and the laces of his boot, he has punished Neuer’s adventure out of goal with a strike that will be replayed for years to come! He has brought silence upon the Allianz Arena!"

Lukas wheeled away to the away end with his arms outstretched as they went crazy for him while his teammates flooded on him from behind.

After shaking and hugging a few teammates, he turned to a camera behind the advertisement board, pointed right at it, blew a kiss, and made a heart sign with his hands.

"Brandt with a lovely celebration for the viewers at home! Wonderful goal from the youngest goalscorer in the history of the league. He’s made it 3-3 at the Allianz Arena. And it’s still only just over 20 minutes plus stoppage time worth of football to be played. This game is far from over."

Lukas took a look at the giant scoreboard before the game was restarted:

70:34

3 - 3

There was still enough time for anything to happen, but for the next 20+ minutes, nothing much happened — in terms of changing the scoreline, at least.

Bayern piled on the pressure, as usual, but they just couldn’t break down the back five Toppmöller switched to after Lukas’s second equalizing goal.

Eintracht Frankfurt hadn’t had a single shot on target since the third goal, but Trapp had faced over five shots on target and many more blocked shots over the same period.

Lukas was a core part of the front line of that defense. Closing passing lanes, tackles, disrupting play, all at the edge of his own box. There was nothing he hadn’t done in this match.

In the 3rd minute of the 5 minutes of added time, a slight crack formed in the back line.

Kane was with the ball outside the penalty area and sent it to the left flank for Coman, who came on for Olise about ten minutes ago.

Uzun and Brown, both substitutes, were tasked with marking the Frenchman, but Uzun was just a second too slow in closing Coman down.

And in games of this magnitude, a millisecond is all it takes for you to be beaten.

Coman hit the ball down the line and slipped through the gap between both players and immediately put a pinpoint accurate cross into the danger zone.

"Kingsley Coman beats his man and puts a great cross into the box. Too many bodies in such a congested area. It lands at the far post for Gnabry— GOALLLL! Serge Gnabry has won it for Bayern Munich in the dying minute! Not the cleanest of contacts, not the prettiest of goals, but the ball is in the back of the net, and that’s all that matters to the fans!"

The stadium exploded with cheers as the fans celebrated Gnabry’s goal. This game had been so much tougher than they ever anticipated.

Toppmöller put his hand on his head as a bitter smile crept up his lips while Kompany hugged his backroom staff and the players on the bench celebrated with each other.

This game was supposed to be a relatively easy walk in the park, especially with the talisman for Eintracht Frankfurt’s draw in the first fixture, Omar Marmoush, now out of the club. But what they had just witnessed was a completely different beast.

About a minute after the restart, "FWEE FWEE FWEEEEE!" The referee’s whistle blew to bring the match to an end.

"Goals, goals, and more goals. This is definitely a game of the season contender. Bayern opened the scoresheet with a goal in the opening 20 minutes. Then a beautiful free kick from Lukas Brandt brought Eintracht Frankfurt back level just before the end of the first half. Bayern were ruthless at the start of the second half with a goal from Ito and then a mesmerizing run by Musiala to put them 3-1 up.

But just when you thought it was over, this young man, Lukas Brandt, proved once more that it wasn’t. A run of his own to set Ekitike up for Eintracht Frankfurt’s second goal and a wonder-strike from the middle of the pitch to drag them back level.

They made Bayern dig deep for the three points today before Gnabry snatched the lead at the death.

It’s full time at the Allianz Arena, Bayern Munich 4, Eintracht Frankfurt 3. Have a good evening everyone."

The commentator rounded up while the players shook hands with each other.

Lukas was sitting on the pitch, inside his own penalty area, his eyes tearing up slightly as he thought about the game.

This was the first match in his senior career that he had played to the end and not won. Granted, it was against a side like Bayern Munich, it did not make losing feel any better.

"Come on, get up, you did great today," Larsson said to Lukas as he grabbed his hands and pulled him up from the ground. "Look over there," he pointed to the opposite end of the pitch where the away fans were gathered. They were all applauding him while some waved the club’s flag.

The applause grew louder as Lukas walked the length of the pitch to where they were, as even some of the home fans joined in the applause. They could tell they had just watched a star in the making, with some already envisioning him donning the Bayern shirt — something that seems almost inevitable for any star player produced by the Bundesliga.

And they weren’t the only people thinking that.

Up in one of the executive boxes in the Allianz Arena, two white-haired old men in their early 70s watched on as Lukas applauded the away fans.

"I guess you’re also thinking what I’m thinking, Herb," the older-looking of the two said as he looked at the man sitting beside him.