Harbinger Of Glory

The whistle followed almost immediately as Salah stopped and looked toward the referee, but Leo was already getting back to his feet.

He didn’t wait for the Liverpool players to reorganise and sent the ball to Bennett.

”Bennett!”

The left-back heard him and played it forward, and once more, Carlo was already moving down the flank.

He took the ball in stride and drove forward, with Trent Alexander-Arnold tracking him from the inside.

Carlo carried it another few yards before suddenly slowing, and with him, Trent slowed.

Carlo looked inside, then outside before looking ahead at what was in front of him.

Seeing so much movement was enough to make Trent hesitate as he thought of what the winger was trying to look at, but Carlo took advantage of that small stop.

He moved into the space instead, drawing Trent with him, before slipping the ball toward Leo, who had moved forward and Leo, without even taking a touch of the ball, glanced up.

Then the outside of his right boot wrapped around the ball.

It bent away from Konaté’s position after the latter tried to get to it and failed, and then into the space behind him.

”Oh, that’s clever!” Tyler said, but that wasn’t the end of it.

Jake was already moving, and that saw Van Dijk immediately shift across.

Konaté, beaten by the pass, turned and sprinted back toward his own goal, covering for Van Dijk and trying to get between Jake and the cross if it would come back. Jake had other ideas.

With no care for the player marking him, he carried the ball into the box with Van Dijk coming across his left shoulder.

The Liverpool captain tried to match his stride, but Jake put his arm across him and fought to hold his position.

For a moment, it looked as though Van Dijk might still get there as Jake stumbled slightly, but he forced himself to stay upright as the ball sat up for his left foot.

His weaker foot, but he hit it anyway.

The shot flew towards goal and smashed into the outside of the side netting.

”OOOOOOHHHH, that was a very nice effort,” Martin Tyler groaned, same as the Wigan fans in the stadium, but down the pitch, the assistant referee’s flag was up.

”Still, it wouldn’t have counted as the assistant’s flag is raised!” Andy Gray came through a moment later as Jake shook his head and turned back towards his goal.

He lifted one hand and gave a thumbs-up towards Leo in appreciation of the pass.

”Good ball,” he called as Leo nodded and jogged back into position.

There was no time to dwell on it.

Liverpool had already collected the ball and were preparing to restart.

”Jake was a fraction too eager to get beyond that Liverpool back line, but that was a good chance.”

Gray agreed.

”Good idea from Wigan, though. Calderon spotted the run early, but Liverpool escaped.”

The ball was back with Alisson.

The goalkeeper took a few steps forward before sending a long kick toward Núñez.

Whatmough moved underneath it, but Núñez got there first and headed the ball down into the path of Szoboszlai.

The Hungarian was hungry and already running onto it.

His presence so far had almost been negligible in the game, and he was eager to change that.

Tiehi stepped across, but Szoboszlai touched the ball around him, and all around, the Liverpool supporters immediately rose.

Leo turned and began tracking back, but he could only watch as Szoboszlai carried the ball toward the edge of the Wigan penalty area, with Tiehi chasing from behind.

Mac Allister was moving into support, while Díaz drifted toward the left side of the box, but Szoboszlai looked up, ignored all those runs.

There wasn’t much space, but he made some anyway.

He took a touch to set himself up and then another to set the ball onto his right foot before he followed through.

”IT’S SZOBOSZLAIIIIIIIIIIII!” the commentary roared as the shot travelled across Ben Amos and toward the bottom far corner.

He stretched, looking to get to the ball but didn’t need to make the save as the ball skipped just wide.

”Oh, nearly!” Tyler called. ”Szoboszlai has gone very close there.”

The Liverpool supporters groaned as Amos turned toward the post and watched the ball disappear behind it.

And after that, Whatmough immediately looked toward Leo.

”Don’t let them get comfortable. Don’t slow down or stop chasing!”

Leo nodded at that and turned away.

”We are now close to the half hour mark, and despite what the scores say, this game hasn’t been boring at all,” Martin Tyler said as the ball was cleared from th corner flag area by one of the ball boys.

”No, it hasn’t. Both sides have been adventurous, but you wonder when a goal is coming,” Andy Gray continued as Ben Amos set the ball down on the spot in his goal.

The game restarted, becoming marginal as both sides looked like breaking the deadlock a few times in a few minutes.

That was when Whatmough received the ball near the centre circle.

He looked past the forward line and saw Leo settling into space.

He dragged his leg back and let go of the ball immediately, and right on cue, Núñez immediately closed from behind while Szoboszlai came across from his right.

Leo looked boxed in, certain to lose the ball as his teammates started calling for him to clear, but then as he moved to take hold of the ball, he turned to his side, using his back to shield the ball away from Szoboszlai before letting the ball pass right in front of Núñez’s lunge.

The ball stayed close to his foot through it all, and suddenly he was through the gap between them.

”Oh, expertly done to escape the pressure. This boy is reactive,” Martin Tyler called on the broadcast as Leo moved across the halfway line, the ball in tow as the home fans cheered on.