Chapter 36: Against Us

The atmosphere at Old Trafford was very lively as the fans of both teams just couldn't wait for the match to kick off, but before that could happen, the captains of both teams had to make their way to the match officials for the coin toss.

Manchester United ended up winning the coin toss which meant that they were going to be the ones to start the game from the kick-off spot.

"It looks like it's just about time for the kick off but before that let us take a quick look at the formation and lineup from both sides." Tony articulated.

Manchester City were starting the match with their standard four-three-three formation, and just like he made clear to the players when they talked about tactics, he wasn't planning on holding anything back.

Manchester United were also starting with the four-three-three formation but it was the reverse of City's in midfield at least because they were playing with a defensive midfielder and two central midfielders.

Their attack wasn't really as deadly as City's but they knew what to do whenever they got the chance.

In the center forward position was the thirty years old German player, Felix Hans. With eleven goals to his name so far this season, he was doing quite well.

Their right wing was occupied by Jonas Tevas, a twenty-six-year-old Portuguese player and then finally on the left wing was their most dangerous player, Emino Alves, a twenty-two-year-old Brazilian player.

It turned out the rumors Gregory heard were true, their number one Pivot Jack Alexander was on the bench, and starting ahead of him was a player named Sponet Dri.

The match was set to kick off now as Jonas could be seen standing over the ball in the kick-off spot.

"The referee hasn't given the signal yet but I can feel a lot of pressure building up," Tony commented.

There was no exaggeration there, the atmosphere was giving off a lot of pressure and Axel was starting to take the hit.

The air was also very cold, and with those two combined, his body was starting to tremble a bit and in order to shake that feeling off, he started jumping. 

It didn't take long before that high-pitched sound pierced through the air, and as soon as Jonas heard it, he quickly sent the ball rolling to Paul.

"There's the whistle, and we are on the way." 

"With this freezing temperature, I can't believe it's not snowing yet," Axel muttered under his breath before quickly rushing after the midfielder.

Paul saw him coming and quickly sent the ball rolling to Jonas before he could get close enough to him. 

Jonas had Andrea right in front of him, and after making an attempt to get past him, he sent the ball rolling to Emino on the left flank.

Maxi quickly rushed in from the side to take the ball off his feet but the winger used that to his advantage to quickly cut past him with a nutmeg. 

"Emino doing what he does best."

Now that the winger was through, he spotted Felix making a run forward and quickly sent the ball rolling to him.

"Felix."

The striker thought no one was close enough behind him because of how he broke free from the midfield but letting his guard down was a mistake. 

Someone was right behind him, and the next thing he knew, the ball was swept off his feet under a challenge that left him on the floor. 

After winning the ball, Axel knew he couldn't hold onto it for long because Paul and Arlan were onto him so he made the right call by pushing the ball to Pierre who quickly sent it flying out toward the right.

He was looking for Merino and he succeeded in finding him.

However, the winger was in a tight spot so he ended up pushing the ball to Maxi who quickly linked it up to Andrea near the kick-off spot.

As soon as the midfielder got hold of the ball, Axel zoomed past him while quickly raising his left arm for a second.

There was no one in the way so Andrea quickly sent the ball rolling to him before anyone would get in the way.

"Axel."

However, Paul was right behind the youngster while Sponet was right in front of him.

'He's not as dangerous as Jack.' He said subconsciously before deciding to take him on while still keeping up his pace.

Just as the two got close enough to each other, the youngster feigned moving to the left with the ball before suddenly switching to move past him from the right.

He succeeded in deceiving the midfielder and was almost through when the defensive midfielder suddenly pulled his leg in front of him aggressively.

There was no avoiding that as Axel crashed into the leg before crashing to the floor. 

"Oh, Axel's on the floor."

"That was obviously a foul."

It didn't look like Axel suffered any pain from that challenge but that was obviously a foul that the referee wasn't going to overlook it.

Sponet didn't get booked though so he proceeded to give the youngster a hand up. 

"It's the first free-kick of the game but it's not in a good enough spot for City to take proper advantage of the opportunity."

But it still happened on United's side so they still had to set up a wall of some sort.

Andrea was standing over the ball now with most of the players from both sides lurking inside and near the edge of the box.

As soon as the midfielder heard the whistle, he quickly sent the ball flying toward the box in an attempt to find any of his teammates inside the box.

He was trying to find Tacky specifically, but Andriano was there to clear the ball with a header.

"Cleared!" 

The ball was sent flying toward Arlan who quickly sent it flying toward Jonas with an overhead kick just before the ball could hit the floor. 

The winger had Davi marking him but with a touch of his head on the ball, he was able to get past the fullback.

"Uh oh, looks like City are suddenly behind here, it's a counterattack!"

Jonas quickly took off down the wing with the ball while everyone else were trying to cover up from behind and Davi hot on his trail. 

Well, not all of them were exactly behind because Felix and Paul were a little distance ahead with Paul and Pierre hot on their trail to prevent this from turning into a disaster.

"Jonas is still moving, this could be their chance!"

The four got into the box before the winger could, and while the center backs were trying to close all the spaces, he quickly sent the ball rolling to Felix.

"Over to Felix can he put it away!?" 

Paul quickly stretched his leg to stop the striker at that moment but Felix was fast enough to push the ball back with his backheel and Paul made no mistake in burying it through the top right bin while Moreno was glued to a spot. 

"Oh, what a strike from Paul! I was not expecting that!"

The midfielder took off to the sidelines screaming at the top of his voice with Felix right behind him.

The home fans were screaming at the top of their voice now while a couple of Manchester City players had dejected looks on their faces.

The atmosphere was really heating up with that goal and City were the ones slowly drowning in it.

"It's been less than fifteen minutes since the match kicked off and they're leading, Manchester is slowly turning red, I wonder if we'll see any blue paint soon," Mike commented.

While the home team were still celebrating, Axel had both of his hands on his waist with his gaze on the sky.

'Our game plan was counterattacks but they used it against us first.' He sighed.