Harbinger Of Glory

What the fuck indeed, because it wasn’t just this fan who was trying to comprehend what had just gone on!

On the pitch, the players were still trying to understand it themselves.

The replay appeared on the broadcast as the corner was shown again, but it didn’t help, as a lot of minds still wondered how the ball had gotten through all of the obstacles that had been in its way!

”Look at this again,” Carragher said.

”Onana sees it all the way, but look at the movement. It starts outside the target, bends back toward the goal, and then drops underneath the bar.”

The replay ran again, and Carragher shook his head.

”You can train corners all week. You can put someone on the near post, someone on the far post, have the goalkeeper ready. Nothing is stopping that, and sometimes, you just have to hold your hands up in surrender”

Drury returned.

”And perhaps the strangest thing of all...Leo simply watched it go in!”

”Perhaps even he knew he had witnessed something rather special.”

Inside the executive box, Jonas had sunk further into his seat.

The replay played again on the television beside the glass.

He watched the ball bend.

Again.

And again.

And again, and at the last, his lips parted slightly.

”Unbelievable.”

He said so and couldn’t even be annoyed.

A few metres away, Gianna had completely lost it.

”OH, MY GOD!”

Vittoria’s hands flew over her mouth.

”HE DIDN’T!”

”HE ACTUALLY DID!”

Gianna grabbed Vittoria by both shoulders.

”HE JUST SCORED FROM THE CORNER!”

”I don’t even know what I just saw!”

”YOU SAW THAT!”

”I know!”

They both turned back toward the pitch, with Gianna still laughing in disbelief.

Away from them, Jonas closed his eyes for a moment as the noise continued.

”Who even are they?” he muttered to himself as down on the pitch, the pile finally began to break apart.

Leo pushed himself upright, still laughing as Jake grabbed him by the shoulder.

”What the hell was that?”

Leo looked toward the goal and shrugged.

”I don’t know, bruv.”

”Did you even mean that?” Reyes came in as Leo shook his head!

”It’s in the back of the net, isn’t it? That’s all that matters.”

Jake walked away, still shaking his head.

”Forget it,” he said. ”Let’s just close the Goal of the Season competition because nothing is beating that.”

Ezra nodded, agreeing with Jake for once.

”Not even close.”

Leo laughed again, but then, as if reminded, he turned toward the supporters behind him.

His fingers caught the Wigan badge on his chest and pulled it forward.

Then, under the gazes of the Manchester United fans, he held it there for a moment and then kissed it, and the supporters could only stare back at the act of cruelty that Leo was performing.

On the touchline, Dawson stood with both hands on his head and his whole attire ruffled from the earlier celebrations.

He watched Leo kiss the badge and couldn’t help but grin.

”This kid.”

He lowered his hands and watched his players begin walking back.

Behind them, the Manchester United players remained scattered around their half.

They all had looks that suggested that they too had been caught off guard, but what was done was done!

”Twenty-four minutes gone,” Drury said quietly as the camera followed Leo back toward halfway.

”And Old Trafford has witnessed something it will not soon forget.”

He paused as the noise continued around the stadium.

”Manchester United had the lead, but now Leo Calderon has erased it.”

”It’s one all and a lot more still to play for, here at the Theatre of Dreams!”

......

While the stadium tried to return to the state before Leo’s goal, the internet kept adding fuel to the fire!

The clip of Leo’s goal got clipped, almost thousands of times within the first few seconds, and within three minutes of being posted it had more views than most football content gets in a week.

Within five it was being shared faster than the numbers could keep up with.

One such fuel of this whole franticness was Mark Goldbridge’s livestream!

And if one were to tune in, his face said everything before his words did.

”How is that going in?” he said, pointing at his screen.

”Someone tell me how that is physically going in. What are we supposed to do against that? What is the defending meant to be? Where do you even stand?”

He leaned back and then immediately came forward again.

”And this is a player our youth setup looked at and decided wasn’t worth keeping. This kid. This specific kid is doing this at Old Trafford. They looked at him and were like, ’Nah, we are okey dokey!’”

He shook his head.

”What the fuck even is this club! You know what, I’ll say it. You’re too good for us. He’s too good for us. I don’t even want to be angry because what is the point.”

Elsewhere online, the reactions came from every direction.

At this point, the Premier League should just be cancelled. Hand Wigan the trophy now and let the rest of us go home.

And I thought I had a chance of going pro!

Other teams spending 100 million on players and Wigan’s 18-year-old midfielder is scoring direct from corners at Old Trafford. Chelsea fans, I feel for you!

This was what United thought they were getting when they signed Sancho!

....

Back inside Old Trafford, seven minutes had passed since the goal and the home end still hadn’t properly recovered.

The noise that had filled the ground after Hojlund’s goal had been replaced by something considerably flatter, the sound of a stadium that has had the air taken out of it and hasn’t yet found a way to refill.

”The ground is still quiet,” Drury observed on the broadcast, and Carragher couldn’t help but laugh!

”They haven’t recovered,” he said. ”And honestly, can you blame them? You go one nil up, you’re singing, you’re celebrating, and then that happens. Something like that can make a person question things.”

Down the pitch, Leo received the ball in the middle of the park and pushed forward, banking further on the momentum and the energy that goal had brought him.

Just as it looked like he’d slip a pass in for Carlo, McTominay came across and put himself through the tackle with a certain desperate energy and caught Leo’s shin rather than the ball.

Michael Oliver’s whistle came immediately, and the yellow card followed without much deliberation.

Leo got up from the grass, brushed his knee off, and as he did so, his name began echoing louder and louder!

Calderon. Calderon.

He looked up at that section of the stadium, and the voices got louder, the Wigan supporters leaning forward in their seats, asking for more and from how the game was going, it didn’t look like they were going to be denied that!