Barak, the best protagonist of football tragedy, won five runners-up in a year.

　　Austrian newspaper June 30th (correspondent Chen Weisheng Wu Kaishan) When the score on the big screen of Ernst Hapl Stadium in Vienna was finally fixed at 0-1, Barak sighed. He strained his calf two days before the game, but he still went to the battlefield in the final. Barak had only one thought in his heart, and that was to change the fate of the "Millennium second child". However, after struggling for 90 minutes, he suddenly found that the past six years were just a "reincarnation" for him-after 2002, Ballack once again became the "four Asian kings" in various competitions in 2007-2008. If you add the English Community Shield Cup at the beginning of the season, Ballack won five runners-up in a row, leaving an unprecedented sad mark in the history of football.

　　The culmination of individual football tragedy

　　Barak is a tragic figure. In 2002, playing for Leverkusen, he missed the World Cup finals in Korea and Japan because of the accumulated yellow cards. He could only witness the team being "ravaged" by Brazil on the sidelines. As a result, he only won the runner-up in the World Cup, the European Champions League, the Bundesliga and the German Cup in that season.

　　In the past season, Ballack fought with Chelsea in all major stadiums, but all of them failed, and three of them lost the championship in a cruel penalty shoot-out, namely, the Champions League and the Community Shield Cup lost to Manchester United, and the League Cup lost to Tottenham Hotspur. In addition, in the Premier League, Chelsea also scored the same points as Manchester United, and only finished second because of the lack of goal difference.

　　Before the opening of the European Cup, some people were worried that Ballack would win the runner-up again, which would bring his "football tragedy" to a climax. "I don’t care so much." Barak said firmly at the time, "Who doesn’t want to win more trophies? But I won’t be obsessed with this. " Having said that, Barak has not won any World Cup, European Cup and Champions League so far, and he certainly has high hopes for this European Cup. However, fate still seems to be playing tricks on the 31-year-old midfielder. Although he led Germany to the final again, he had an accident before the game.

　　The German Football Association issued an announcement on the evening of June 28th, Austria time: "Barak was injured in his right calf and missed the last two training sessions of the team before the game. Whether he can participate in the final may not be announced until the last minute." Before the 2006 World Cup, Barak also strained his right calf. Before the final of this European Cup, Germany once again held its breath for this "famous leg".

　　"The only thing we can do is to wait for the development." German coach Loew said, "Medical staff are racing against time to get Ballack to participate in the final." On Saturday evening, Loew even announced that Ballack’s replacement would be borowski, but only a few hours later, news came out from the German camp that Ballack was not knocked down by injury and he would appear in the starting lineup against Spain.

　　The passing success rate is the lowest in the team.

　　Since Klinsmann unexpectedly appointed Ballack as captain four years ago, it is the 44th time that he has worn the armband of the German team. However, this time against Spain, Ballack failed to play a leading role. In the competition, Barak was obviously not as excited as in the previous games. He was like a "target" in the German team formation, with the purpose of attracting the opponent’s firepower, but it was the "little pigs" Weins Tiger and Podolski who really rushed up.

　　In the five games before the final, Ballack ran more than 57 kilometers on the field, which was the highest in the team. But in the first half against Spain, Ballack’s running range seemed to be much smaller, and he basically only swam in the left front court. When the opponent turned from defending to attacking, he just ran back to his own half slowly and stood in his position. In the game, almost every time Ballack took the ball, the German fans at the scene applauded to express their encouragement, but he seemed to have heavy footsteps and even lost his aim in passing the ball. Barak’s passing times (30 times) and success rate (67%) were actually the worst in the whole game. He shot only once with threats. In the 59th minute, Little Pig made a ball for Barak in the restricted area, and Barak just stood in the same place and volleyed the ball off the post, which was almost the most outstanding performance of Barak’s whole game.

　　Blood spattered on the court again.

　　Ballack, who was injured, added a new injury in the game. Shortly after Torres scored, Ballack broke the corner of his eye in a fight. After two minutes of treatment, Barak returned to the court, but two minutes later, the referee found that Barak’s eyes were still bleeding, so he had to go to the court for treatment again. When he ran back to the court again, the German fans gave thunderous applause, and their hanging heart could finally be put down for a while.

　　In the second half, the players of the German team, who were technically at an absolute disadvantage, began to strengthen their physical confrontation and frequently fell to the ground to tackle the ball. Barak played an exemplary role in this respect. Even though he often couldn’t get up for half a day after shoveling the ball, he continued to tackle the ball on the ground without hesitation next time. This strong fighting spirit inspired every German team player to do their best, and the passion of more than 20,000 German fans was completely ignited. Unfortunately, the efforts of the Germans did not pay off in the end, and the score of 0-1 was finally fixed.

　　In the strong music, the players of the Spanish team began to spray champagne on each other, while most of the players of the German team gathered far away in the middle of the stadium to cast envious eyes on their opponents. "Little Pig" turned his head and sat on the lawn, unwilling to see the Spanish celebrating. Barak, on the other hand, stood motionless with his waist crossed, and his figure was particularly lonely under the illumination of the stadium lights.

　　What could be sadder than being close to the champion five times in a year and all falling short? When the Spaniard held the trophy around the field to celebrate, Barak, who had been standing still for a long time, finally came to his senses. He grabbed Ram next to him, comforted his teammate in a low voice, and then took the lead to greet the German fans in the stands. Behind Barak, the other players of the German team stood up in a sparse way. They played a banner with the words "Thank you", which was originally prepared for the celebration ceremony after winning the championship, but it was also very appropriate at this moment. Barak, the "5 th Asian King", is only 31 years old this year. With the support of fans, he may one day reach the highest podium in international competitions.

Editor: Li Erqing