8 Chapter 8- Brighton second half

There was tension inside the locker room and when no one entered the room except the players, we were all quite surprised. We waited, for a manager to walk in and talk, I saw Bruno looking at me, and he rushed over and plopped down onto the bench next to me.

"Hey, Adri, the team needs a leader right now!"

"So go do your job captain!"

"Come with me, I may be the leader, but you have been the core and heart of the team since you arrived!"

"Fine, but don't let me do all the talking!"

The captain and I stood and moved into the center of the team, Bruno began to speak first, "What we need now lads is to win this game get another goal, and wait it out to the finish, and I thought where to look for when it came to Inspiration, and then, Why not give our little CR7jr have a chance?!"

My eyes widened in shock, what the hell Bruno? I specifically asked not to speak too much, oh for God's sake, I can't appear weak in front of the other lads, I steeled my mind and took a deep breath in, it was like I was getting ready for a free kick.

"When I came to this club, I was Shit! I couldn't open the field up like I can do now, I couldn't thread the ball like I can do now, I couldn't smash the ball like I can now! Does anyone know why I was able to improve so much? YOU. YOU guys are the ones who turned me into the player I am now, Bruno's passing, Casi's defensive plays, Raphael's jockeying lessons, and breaking targets with Rasmus and Marcus, this is what turned me into who I am. YOU. So how can I watch YOu crumble, we have to stay strong together. Right here! Right Now! The captain is right, just one more goal, just one more perfect run, that's all we need, so let's go out there and kick some balls!"

The locker room erupted in cheers of "Aye" or "Yeah" as I went to sit back down. We began relaxing again, there were only around five minutes left until the second half began, and that was when Ten Hag decided to walk in.

"I have an announcement, the new, Vice-Captain of Manchester United, the youngest one ever, is, Adrian Randin, or as we affectionately call him ADRI!"

The locker room once again erupted in cheers, it was like we won the game already and I looked at the manager, he was truly smart and cunning, what better time to tell this than now, we had 10x the mentality than we had at the end of the first half, and when we walked into the tunnel I couldn't help but feel, this was well and truly my home.

We marched out onto the field beaming with smiles radiating the pitch lights back into the stands, we were in too much of a good mood to lose, the Brighton squad was looking at us like we were dumb or summat. We had a few subs on now, Garnacho came off and Elanga went on, Harry Maguire, the loose canon came on, but I thought the hate he got was way too much.

We started with the ball this time and Rasmus called me over for kick-off, he passed it to me and I looked for options, Maguire was pressing high and I passed the ball to him, I pointed at Rashfor who was open and Maguire executed a wonderful pass to him, the player was top notch, he just needed some insights I would say.

Rashford, skilfully weaved between the Brighton midfield, leaving Grob, Lallana, and Mitoma, far behind and threading the ball neatly to Rasmus, who then had to cut back due to the appearance of a freight train in the shape of Brighton defender Lewis Dunk, Rasmus, leaned out of the way of the tackle and the loose ball was collected by Casi, possession was still ours.

Casi ran forward with the ball and with a stroke of genius he nutmegged Grob and threaded the ball to Bruno who lobbed it onto the right wing which was virtually unmarked, Elanga rushed up forward, dodging and weaving, seeing an end to this dribbling where we might lose possession, I rushed forwards, accelerating beyond Mitoma's man marking and just as I lined up with the defender and was almost offside, Elanga executed a stunning through ball, which I raced onto.

This sudden burst of speed however meant that controlling the ball was hard and I soon faced an impossible angle to shoot from, I had barely any options until I noticed Bruno running down the middle, I pulled my leg back slightly and dug it into the bottom of the ball, executing a high chip, over the head of the keeper, I immediately blocked of the defenders with my body and watched as the captain effortlessly volleyed the ball into the top corner.

The feeling was insane, a thousand kilograms of weight was lifted off me as we ran to the corner flag once more, this time smashing into the advertisement boards as a group hugging, Bruno and I at the center of the massive cuddling match. It was a team goal, the best one I've ever seen scored I would say. What a Goal!

I could hear the commentators up in the stand, they were shouting at the top of their voices, "AND IT'S ADRI! NO, IT'S A CHIP, IT'S OVER THE KEEPER, HGE'S BLOCKING WEBSTER, BRUNO FERNANDES GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Our last chance of the game came when there were five minutes left on the clock, I had just received the ball from Elanga and was moving in from the flanks and trying to get past when suddenly, I felt like a truck hit me in the legs and I cascaded to the floor when I tried to get a look, I saw Grob standing over me, I heard the whistle and a red card floated over my face. I had to stand up.

Bruno threw the ball to me and I understood, this one was up to me, no strings attached, pass for a chance at scoring or shoot, both options came with risk, but I wanted to try and score, so I took the initiative, laying the ball down on the line drawn by the ref.

There was slightly less pressure than in the arsenal game and that helped, everything felt lighter, and I felt my leg lean back to distances I'd never been able to go before, my cleats reaching my head as I leaned back and smashed the ball, all while rolling it off my boots in a fashion o get it to curve the way I wanted.

It curled left, an arc of destruction, the keeper looked ready to punch it away, but the ball changed direction to the right, causing Verbruggen to dive, but this was his dire mistake, this shot was known as the S-ball, the ball would curl in the air up to four times, but this one was three, I could tell by my kick, and as Verbruggen hit the floor he realized he messed up, all he could do was turn his head and hope the ball curled out, but it didn't, the ball went left again and stuck itself in the top corner, continuously spinning for a few seconds before landing.

"GOAL!"

I ran to where the manager was on his knees celebrating and knee slid, into an embrace and all the other players joined in, it was our way of thanking him. The whistle blew for full time and Brighton players were on the floor or had their heads in their hands. We took a lap of the pitch and I saw a child, the same one that asked me for an autograph the other day, I pointed at him and said, "I told you mate, we'll win it all this season!"

<*Hey guys please leave a review if you can, tell me what want to add, and keep reading find out about Adri's national team situation, Brazil or Portugal, is it not either of them?*>

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