Chapter 349: Group Stages (ko-fi Coolvamp) 4/4
The small-sided game dissolved afterward into the usual post-training atmosphere.
Players walked around catching their breath, grabbing water bottles, joking with each other while staff members reset cones across the pitch.
Marmoush was still laughing about the goal as he walked beside Lukas.
"You see?" he said while pointing at him dramatically. "I told them."
"You tell everybody everything," Lukas replied.
"Because I’m right."
Nearby, Matheus Nunes was still shaking his head.
"That nutmeg was disrespectful."
"It wasn’t intentional," Lukas lied immediately.
"That makes it worse."
A few players laughed at that as they walked back toward the sideline.
Then Haaland suddenly appeared beside Lukas carrying a water bottle.
The striker nudged him once with his shoulder.
"That pass," Haaland said.
Lukas looked at him. "What about it?"
"I want it too."
Lukas laughed slightly.
"The Marmoush one?"
"Yes."
Haaland pointed toward him immediately.
"If you see me running, don’t hesitate. Just play it."
Marmoush instantly looked offended.
"Wow."
Haaland ignored him completely.
"I’m serious," he continued while looking at Lukas. "Most players wait too long before passing. By the time they release it, the defenders recover."
Lukas nodded slowly.
That was true.
"But you," Haaland continued, "you play early."
Then he pointed toward his own chest.
"I like early."
Marmoush shook his head dramatically. "See? Now I have competition for assists."
"You already had competition," Doku replied while passing by.
As the conversations continued around them, Lukas noticed Guardiola finally moving from the sideline.
The City manager walked slowly across the grass toward another group of players.
Then toward him.
At the same time, Cherki drifted over too after finishing his conversation with Bernardo Silva.
Guardiola stopped directly in front of both of them.
For a second he simply looked between them quietly.
Thinking.
Then he started speaking.
"When both of you receive here," he said while motioning loosely toward the inside channels near the edge of the final third, "you cannot stand on the same line."
He pointed first toward Cherki.
"You like drifting toward the ball."
Then toward Lukas.
"And you like attacking space after receiving."
Both nodded slightly.
Pep immediately crouched down and started drawing invisible movements on the grass with his finger.
"If Rayan comes short," he said, "then Lukas attacks behind the midfield line immediately. No waiting."
He pointed again.
"And if Lukas drops deeper, then Rayan must stay higher between the defenders."
Cherki listened carefully now.
Guardiola continued.
"Too many attacking players make the mistake of moving toward the same spaces because they want touches. But space is more important than touches."
He looked directly at Lukas.
"When you turned Bernardo earlier..."
Pep mimicked the movement briefly with his body.
"...that space opened because everyone else moved away from you first."
Then he looked at Cherki.
"You see football quickly."
Then toward Lukas.
"And you attack football quickly."
He nodded once.
"That combination can destroy teams."
Neither player spoke immediately.
Not because they were nervous.
Because they were trying to absorb everything.
Guardiola kept talking, now gesturing toward different zones of the pitch while explaining rotations, pressing triggers, half-space positioning, body orientation before receiving, when to attack the back line versus when to slow the tempo.
It wasn’t dramatic.
It wasn’t emotional.
But listening to him explain football felt different somehow.
Precise.
Like every movement had purpose.
Eventually Guardiola stopped and looked between both teenagers again.
"You are young," he said calmly. "So you will make mistakes."
Then he shrugged lightly.
"That’s normal."
"But if you understand space early..." he continued, "...then everything becomes easier later."
For a moment nobody spoke.
Then Guardiola simply nodded once.
"Good session."
And just like that, he walked away again toward the rest of the staff.
Leaving Lukas and Cherki standing there silently for a second afterward.
Cherki finally looked sideways toward Lukas.
"He talks about football like a scientist."
Lukas laughed quietly.
"Yeah."
Then he looked out toward the pitch where Guardiola was already correcting another player’s positioning from thirty yards away.
And for the first time since arriving—
he properly understood why so many players became obsessed with playing under him.
* * *
Manchester City opened their Club World Cup campaign at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia against Wydad Casablanca.
The atmosphere around the stadium had surprised Lukas a little.
Even hours before kickoff, large sections around the stadium were already flooded with sky blue shirts despite being thousands of kilometers away from Manchester. American fans mixed with traveling supporters while club media crews moved around constantly capturing footage for the tournament coverage.
Lukas arrived with the rest of the squad dressed in club training gear despite not being eligible to play yet. FIFA registration rules meant he could not officially be added until the knockout stages once the secondary registration window opened on June 27th, so for now, he remained an observer.
An observer only officially.
Because in training, he was becoming impossible to ignore.
Every session between matches seemed to push the conversations further.
The first few days had been curiosity.
Now players were actively looking for him during drills.
Actively involving him.
Pep Guardiola never praised him openly in front of the squad, but Lukas noticed the manager lingering around his groups more often during tactical exercises, correcting his positioning personally, explaining rotations in greater detail than usual.
Against Wydad, City controlled the game from the beginning.
Phil Foden scored after just two minutes, arriving into the box late after a quick combination near the edge of the area, and from there the result never really looked in danger. Doku added the second before halftime after another fast attacking move down the flank, and City calmly managed the game afterward despite Rico Lewis being sent off late in the match.
From the stands, Lukas watched everything carefully.
Not just the football itself.
The spacing.
The tempo.
The little habits.
When Rodri dropped deeper, how the fullbacks reacted. How Haaland constantly occupied both center-backs even when he barely touched the ball for minutes. The way Guardiola barked instructions even at 2–0 up.
By the time they flew out afterward, Lukas already felt himself mentally adapting to the system.
The second match took place at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta against Al Ain.
By then, Lukas had settled more comfortably into the rhythm around the squad. The initial awkwardness had disappeared almost completely. He ate with the players now naturally, joked with them during recovery sessions, and spent long stretches talking football with Gündoğan, Marmoush, Cherki, Foden, and occasionally Haaland.
Training intensity also kept increasing.
And every session seemed to create another moment.
A disguised pass.
A ridiculous first touch.
A finish from an impossible angle.
At one point during a rondo, Bernardo Silva stopped the drill entirely just to laugh after Lukas somehow escaped pressure between three players inside a space that practically did not exist.
"Yeah nah," O’Reilly had said afterward while shaking his head. "That’s not normal."
O’Reilly was just breaking into the first team and started featuring regularly at left back, although he was a midfielder, and is considered one of the more technically gifted players in the squad despite his young age, but even he could tell there were levels to this.
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