Chapter 10- Manchester Derby

The game was depressing. Honestly the rain just completely threw us off, and we could tell City was feeling the same way, even if this was a quarter-final. I put my hand up like a T after asking Bruno's opinion and walked up to the referee. 

"Ay up ref! The players aren't feeling it, not even the blues, we might need to wait a bit!" 

"Yeah okay!" 

The whistle blew and we went back into the locker rooms and waited for the rain and hail to pass, we had played barely ten minutes before the weather got too extreme. Eventually, the sun broke through the tiny square windows of the locker room and we walked back outside again, the grass was damp, but the conditions were however much better. The mentality was now back up to 100. 

We kicked off once more and this time we ran like hell, for real, I have to say, the Gegenpress is one heck of a tactic, but it had loopholes, and that's exactly what we were planning to exploit using our long-ball tactics, the ball eluded me for the first few minutes, passed around between our defenders, until Casi, played a beautiful curled pass towards me and I instantly thread the ball past Rodri, to Bruno who ran forward, comprehending the message. 

Bruno threaded a pass to Rashford, who cut back and weaved in closer to the penalty area, trying to get the ball past the defenders eventually gave up and tapped the ball to me, I passed the ball through Ruben Dias's legs towards Garnacho who claimed the ball in the penalty box, he was about to score, but no, the attack was ended by a crushing tackle and Garnacho was on the floor, clutching his shins. 

It was a two-footed tackle and a foul was called, John Stones was given a yellow card for the rash challenge, and for us, an enticing free kick. I stepped up to the penalty spot and walked back. the number seven on my back seemed to be weighing me down, what would he do? 

I took a deep breath in and looked back, and that's what lightened my nerves, my mates, smiling at me and nodding their approval, this was a cakewalk for me if it wasn't under so much pressure. Ederson stared into my eyes, attempting to find the inner meanings of my soul. He was trying to scare me, but I only had eyes for the ball in front of me. if I thought about it any further, there would be no point in taking it so I ran in for the shot:

Running Forward...

Approaching the ball...

Leaning back and bringing the foot up ready to smash...

BANG!

WHOOSH! 

SMASH!

I watched as my shot aimed for the top bins and clattered against the post, I ran forward, securing the ball spinning it past the keeper's reach, and rolling the ball into the net, I did it I scored in the Manchester derby!

I slid onto my knees and didn't have enough momentum to keep sliding and fell, flat on my stomach, earning laughs from my team as we piled together in celebration of the goal.

There were twenty minutes left of the first half and we were trying to keep possession as much as possible, hold them off until we could rest, regroup, and strategize. Bruno, Casi, and I tried to thread the ball onto the flank numerous times but we were failing to open up space, which meant that the whole team was beginning to get frustrated slightly.

That's when we had the final chance of the first half, within two minutes of injury time, I stole the ball from the feet of a youth player who was filling in for Kevin De Bruyne, who was out with an injury, and I shot past Rodri who ran behind me in a desperate bid to catch up, but I was too fast, Bruno opened up and I saw the thread, the ball landed neatly at Bruno's fast feet and was almost instantly passed to garnacho who'd dribbled for a bit before lobbing the ball and switching play to Rashfor who threaded the ball to me and I watched as Rasmus ran alongside the City backline and I threaded the ball right into the space in front of him. 

I watched as he accelerated onto it, every fiber of his being going into this attack...

A powerful kick...

The clang of a post...

And the whoosh of the net as the ball rolled into the goal! 

The whistle went almost immediately and we celebrated on the way to the locker room, but some stares from the City team, told me that this match was far from being over!