Harbinger Of Glory

In the tunnel, Leo stood leaning against a wall with his eyes on the floor and his thoughts somewhere else.

He remained that way until sudden movements made him look up, and when he did, he saw Virgil Van Dijk was ahead of him, calling his teammates forward, resolutely.

”Come on boys,” he repeated as the Liverpool players rallied behind him, but it wasn’t only him.

Salah went past and so did Alisson, the two certainly exchanging some keen words about the next half from the look on their faces.

Because of the whole narrative surrounding the game, he hadn’t even thought too much of them before the game kicked off, but now it was like a history class all over again.

Players whose careers had been written into the history of the game walking by in a tunnel under a stadium in Wigan, and for a moment Leo watched them and thought about the distance between where he had been and where he was standing right now.

It had always been like this for a while, but it seemed like he was getting used to their presence.

When Wigan had met Manchester City in the FA Cup final some months ago, Leo had been so full of excitement that he went red before the game.

The thought sat with him until Jake’s thumb appeared in his peripheral vision, pointing toward the tunnel exit.

”You planning on watching the second half from here?”

At that, Leo snorted and pushed himself off the ball before following the exiting stream of bodies making their way back onto the roaring pitch.

...

”Welcome back, folks,” Martin Tyler came through on the broadcast once again, as the teams emerged into the afternoon.

”And it’s the second half of this enticing fixture at the DW Stadium. If you are just joining us, which I doubt, it’s Wigan two, Liverpool nil, and forty-five minutes left to find out whether this is the day the record ends or the day it grows by one more.”

”The first half belonged to Wigan, Martin Gray said.

”Thoroughly. But Liverpool at half-time with a point to prove is a different proposition from Liverpool in the opening exchanges when the game is still finding itself.”

”At the moment,” he continued, ”we just have to wait to see what these two sides have for us!”

Down the pitch, Jake walked and stood over the ball before glancing at the official beside him, who had his hands to his ear.

He stared a bit at the referee, wondering when he would get this underway, but he didn’t have to wonder for long as a moment later, the referee brought his whistle to his mouth, and then let the shrill sound of it invade the DW pitch.

As the game restarted, Tyler clocked the positional changes almost immediately as Liverpool settled into their new shape.

”Klopp has made some adjustments at half-time. Trent has moved inside, and Liverpool have changed the way they’re setting up.”

But there was little time to say more.

Wigan had the ball again, and they were keen on it.

Leo received it in midfield, took one touch and moved it on before Mac Allister could close him down.

When he got away, Reyes came short, returned it first time, and then moved away, settling into another position to provide an option.

Liverpool pressed, but Wigan kept it away.

Leo got the ball once more in another instance, switched it toward the opposite side, and Carlo took it in stride before laying it back inside.

Liverpool chased the ball without getting close enough to win it, and the pattern continued.

Liverpool got so close, but it was never enough.

The clock reached forty-eight minutes.

Then fifty before it hit the 52nd minute mark, and through all this, Liverpool still hadn’t managed to keep possession for long enough to build anything.

Every time they tried to step forward, Wigan found another pass, keeping the round object out of reach.

At that point, it was feeling like Wigan could play like that forever since they were already two goals up and weren’t keen on risking it, until Joe Bennet finally tried something different.

He looked up and lifted the ball over Liverpool’s defensive line, or at least tried to, because Szoboszlai read it in time.

He stepped across, rose above the challenge and headed it clear, and for the first time in several minutes, Liverpool truly had the ball, and they didn’t linger on it too much.

Szoboszlai fed Mac Allister, who turned and found Díaz on the left.

The Colombian took one touch, and that instantly sent him past Seriki and then toward the byline.

Seriki kept up, but Díaz pushed the ball slightly ahead as he caught up and whipped a cross toward the far side of the box before the full-back could recover.

Amos came off his line, and both hands went up for the ball.

He caught it cleanly and then looked ahead where the Liverpool players were already turning to press.

Amos looked up a bit more keenly and found that Reyes was free.

Without thinking too much, he hurled the ball toward him.

But as Reyes stretched to control it, the touch ran away from him and there to pounce on it immediately was MacAllister.

The Argentine turned and drove straight through the middle, not even waiting for support, but then just as Tiehi stepped across, Mac Allister shifted the ball onto his right foot.

Then, without a moment’s thought, he struck.

”It’s Mac Allister!” Andy Gray shrieked on the broadcast as the shot travelled low through the traffic.

Amos dropped quickly, and by some performance, his gloves reached the ball to push it around the post.

Immediately, the away crowd responded with a roar.

”That’s better from Liverpool,” Tyler said. ”Much more purpose about that attack, and Amos has had to make a very good save.”

Gray came in immediately.

”That’s what Klopp wanted. Win the ball, move it quickly and get a shot away. They’ve finally put Wigan under some pressure.”

Amos got back to his feet and looked across his defence as the Liverpool players began walking toward the corner.

”Mark up!” he said and pointed toward the penalty area.

”Don’t lose anyone!”

Trent collected the ball and carried it toward the corner flag, and for the first time, Liverpool had something worthwhile again.