Expect The Unexpected (Alexia Putellas x OC)

Chapter 14

Emma and Stuart focus on the defensive talk during the break and I feel like we'll have a really hard time in this second period. Our defenders are exhausted already from giving their lives on every ball, every run. Sophie is about to die in the middle, and the Barca girls didn't look too tired. I shake those thoughts out of my head, and we go back to work.

The first fifteen minutes are quite okay, but we don't play. We are hiding from the ball, sending long balls in front even if we know no one will be there. And of course, when you don't respect football, football punishes you. Mapi Leon sends a beautiful ball in the middle of the box and Aitana cuts it perfectly sending the ball to the top corner. I don't move seeing how far the ball is from me, and I can only see it touching the net. 1-0. The Camp Nou roars, and we look lost.

"Come on, girls!" I yell. "Heads up!"

We restart the game with fear, and I don't like that at all. On a long ball to Mariona, Millie finds herself against both Mariona and Alexia in the air at the edge of the box. Suddenly, we can hear the three of them yell in pain and everything stops. I run to them and see Millie is bleeding above her eye, Mariona is touching the back of her head, blood filling her hands, and Alexia is rolling on the ground, touching her knee. Oh no. I gesture to the medics to urge, and the referee agrees quickly allowing them to come to Mariona and Millie. I go to Alexia and check on her.

"What is it, Ale?" I put my hand on her shoulder softly.

"My knee, Jayden, my knee..." She sobs.

"Alright, calm down, what did you feel?" I ask.

"I don't know, I don't know." She is panicking.

"Calm down, Ale." I try to make her look at me. "Ale, look at me, you're having a panic attack. You need to breathe and focus on whether you are hurt or not. And don't panic because of the memories, just listen to your body..."

"I..." She tries to breathe. "Can..." She starts calming down. "Can you help me? I need to walk, to test it..."

"Sure." I extend my hand for her, and she stands. "Go on, take your time."

"Can you hold me?" She pleads and I nod.

She leans on me and tests her knee quickly understanding it was the fear talking more than a real pain. She sighs in relief and hugs me tightly.

"You're back for good, La Reina, don't panic." I kiss her hair quickly and the crowd cheers.

"Thank you." She looks at me with a puzzled expression. "What happened to them?"

"Bad head against head." I state.

"I hope they'll be fine." She gulps hardly.

"They will, they are strong." I reassure her.

Alexia goes to her physio, and I walk back to my goal. Millie and Mariona are both subbed off, Claudia Pina entering for Barca and Maren for us. Emma takes the opportunity to make another substitution and Erin comes in for Sophie. The Camp Nou applauds her widely as the rumor of her signed contract is everywhere in the press.

"Show them, Erin!" I point at her, and she smirks.

At least, she is confident, I love that. The game restarts and the injury break allowed us to rest and therefore to be more clinical and dangerous. Sam scores but it's refused for two centimeters by the VAR. Five minutes later, Caroline Graham Hansen is sent by Lucy in deep and as she is dribbling Magda in the box, the Norwegian falls on the ground. The referee blows. Penalty.

"She dived!" Magda yells. "That's not a penalty!"

"We'll check on the VAR but for me, you touch her, captain." The referee says and I see Lucy walking to me to take the ball.

"Don't you dare save this one." She glares at me.

"She dived." I growl.

"It's Caro, she never dives." Lucy winks at me and takes the ball.

I clench my jaw as the referee confirms the penalty and gives a yellow card to Magda. I focus on one thing, the ball. Alexia decides not to take it, which surprises me. I see Caro still on the ground, so she won't take it probably. The only one I see with the ball in her hand is still Lucy. Wouldn't she like to test me on it? I look at her full-of-challenge face and chuckle madly. I feel my face turning into a dark and cold one. We know each other by heart. She will play with my mind until the end and then, shoot powerfully on one side on the ground. Let's hope I'll choose the good side. The stadium goes silent for a second and the referee whistles. I see Lucy starting her run, and my gut tells me to go for my right side. Once Lucy shoots, I dive on the right and see the ball coming my way. I manage to land on the ground before the ball goes under me and I protectively hug the ball. I did it. I stopped her penalty.

"Get in, kid!" Maren yells in victory.

"That's what you get for trying her on!" Stuart shouts from the bench.

I take my time to get up and smirk widely towards my English teammate. Better luck another time, Luce. The rest of the game is essentially an attack-defense, we don't see much of the ball, but the Barca players are frustrated and shoot too quickly never really bothering me. There is always a foot, a leg, a head on the trajectory. Our entire team is giving their full body to this game. It's now the 89th minute and the fourth official announces 7 minutes of added time. Thank you, Mariona and Millie...