Chapter 35: Red Or Blue

The day was finally here, the highly anticipated Manchester derby was finally going to happen and the viewers from all around the world just couldn't wait to see what color Manchester was going to be painted at the end of the day.

Axel made the short trip to Old Trafford with the rest of his teammates and now they were all on the pitch warming up for the match.

While Manchester United players were busy doing their own thing on their side of the pitch, Axel and his teammates were doing a shooting practice to test Moreno from twenty-five yards out.

"Alright, here I go." Andrea declared before slowly taking two steps backward.

As soon as he stopped moving, he took a deep breath before quickly closing up on the ball.

He got to it before anyone knew it and fired it toward the goalpost with a power shot.

He aimed for the top right-hand corner because he wanted to beat Moreno by all means and that looked like it was really going to go in despite the goalkeeper going after it, but in the end, it ended up hitting the crossbar before flying over.

"You should work on your accuracy before applying that much shot power," Merino suggested before kicking up the ball beside him to start joggling it. "That said, I really thought that was going."

"Yeah, me too." Axel nodded.

"Well, it's your turn, Axel," Merino remarked before he sent the ball flying to him.

Axel stopped the ball with his leg before bringing it down to trap it under his foot.

"Show us what you can do differently."

The youngster responded with a nod before turning his gaze to the goalpost where Moreno could be seen jumping on his goal line. 

'Merino is quite different today, he doesn't usually speak this much. I guess even he gets fired up when threatening teams are involved.'

He gave the ball a little push forward with his right foot before slowly taking two steps backward.

'If it's an empty goalpost then there's no way in hell that I'll miss from here, but with a goalkeeper, things are very different. I have to find the proper angle to beat him from while also considering the right amount of shot power to make sure he fails to get to it on time. And with all these considered, my accuracy takes a big hit, and my chance of sending it to anywhere other than the goalpost increases.'

With that page of thought now closed in his mind, he took a deep breath before quickly closing up on the ball. 

As soon as he got to the ball, he pulled his right foot back and connected it with the ball as soon as it came flying forward.

His teammates expected him to go for the top but what he was really aiming for was the bottom right-hand side.

The way he kicked the ball made it look like a power shot but it wasn't as powerful as Andrea's.

The youngster made sure to place it as close to the post as possible, and with that placement, Moreno failed to get to the ball on time, his fingers were just a few inches short as the ball rolled straight into the goalpost. 

"Woah, nice kick, Axel," Merino said with a proud look on his face as he walked up to him.

"Yeah, that was quite the shot, I think we should start leaving you to take some free kicks," Peterson commented.

'Well, a good amount of my goals came from free kicks when I used to play for the B team.'

"Well, that's the coach's call to make and I don't think I'm better than Merino at the moment."

"Woah, emphasis on the 'at the moment." Maxi chimed in from behind. "Looks like he's planning to take your spot soon."

To that remark, Merino let out a sigh before turning to face Maxi.

"If that's what he's aiming for then he should go for it, after all, we get better when we know there's competition." His eyes shifted to Axel as he said that.

"Yeah, I'm sure Sergio would try to do everything to get his spot when he comes back and finds out that a seventeen-year-old has replaced him," Maxi remarked before bursting into laughter.

"I think he already knows what the situation is," Peterson said.

The conversation slowly died down as the players returned to what they were doing but Axel was sitting on the sidelines now with his gaze on the goalpost.

He was thinking of that shot and how far he managed to stretch Moreno, he didn't show it but he was a bit impressed with himself seeing the ball go in like that.

'Moreno is a great goalkeeper with wonderful reaction time and reflexes, but just like every goalkeeper and footballer, in general, he has a weakness, I've been watching him make saves for a while now and it's hard to notice but his reaction to ground shots is a bit slower compared to when it is placed up there for him so my best chance of beating him was going low.'

With all of that thought processed in his mind, he slowly turned his gaze to Manchester United's side of the pitch.

'Their goalkeeper has a similar weakness but he's just as good as Moreno so it's hard to notice. However, that's not…'

He wasn't able to finish that thought process because he made eye contact with someone at that moment.

A player with bright blue eyes just like him, he seemed to be about his age and had fluffy blonde hair.

The player he was looking at now was United's newest signing, Arlan Stock, the eighteen-year-old who just joined the Red Devils from Ajax.

He was the one to break the eye contact, and as soon as he did that, Axel slowly looked away. 

"Hmm."

_________ ________

The match was about to kick off now as both teams made their way to the pitch in their match kits and their hands locked with those of the mascots.

The atmosphere was really getting tense as the fans of both teams cheered them on. 

Manchester United were in their normal red home kit while Manchester City were in their black away kit.

The commentators said their introductions before jumping straight to business.

"This is quite the interesting match-up we have today, isn't it, Mike?"

"Yeah, I wonder if Manchester will be red or blue today."