By
Tara Menon,
author of the novel Under Water.
She is Associate Professor of English at Harvard.
In the 88th minute of the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinal between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid earlier this year, Luis Díaz scored a blinder. His teammates ran to celebrate. Or most of them did. Michael Olise instead rushed to collect the ball from the back of the net. Strategically, this made no sense: Bayern was now up 5-4 on aggregate, and all they had to do to secure their spot in the semifinals was see out the few remaining minutes of the game. But Olise is not given to pragmatism.
