Football's Desperate System Begins in Istanbul

May 25, 2005, Istanbul. Midway through the Champions League final, Liverpool trailed AC Milan 0-3. In the locker room, sweat, grass clippings, and something suffocating. Gerrard's armband was crooked and Carragher's eyes were red. Seventeen-year-old Walker Morse sat in the corner, No. 17 Jersey folded on his knees. He has simulated this scenario 437 times in the system and memorized the location of each mistake and the node for reversal. But the system didn't tell him the smell of the locker room at this moment, or the light in Gerrard's eyes when he stood up. "Three to zero outside, they are singing. Do you recognize it?" No one answered. Ashley Cole smashes water bottle: "Fuck you!" In the second half, the score was tied at 3-3 within thirty minutes. In the 85th minute, Walker sprinted 35 meters at full speed from the right back position and volleyed with his left foot for a winning goal. 4-3. He glanced down at his right ankle—the edge of the bandage was oozing red, and no one knew he had run the entire game with the injury. Liverpool's fifth Champions League, the trophy belongs to Liverpool, there is no need to return it. But this is not the end. Walker knows the tragedy of Kiev's goalkeeper in 2018, and even more so the city's half-century decline. His system is bound to the revitalization blueprint of an entire city. Football is just the starting point, the real battlefield is outside the stadium. The other 999 time travelers only know how to hoard superstars and spend money. He was walking a path they couldn't understand. "The real game is off the court."