Chapter 428: Chapter 35: Allianz Vs Red Devils II
Wednesday, September 20, 2023
Allianz Arena
First Half — Live
The Allianz was already rising before the shot had even come, because the home end recognized the trap closing a half-second before United did.
Demien’s hand was still out, still pointing to the safer side, when Kimmich stepped across the lane and the ball that Lindelöf had played was suddenly wearing a red shirt going the wrong way.
The noise built through the stadium in one continuous wave, climbing past the point where United had time to reset.
Kimmich didn’t hold it. He shifted it forward first time, and Musiala was already turning onto it before it had fully arrived, his first touch spinning him clear of the space where Casemiro should have been standing.
Kane dropped off the front line into the pocket between United’s midfield and back four, calm and unhurried, and Sané was already curving in from the right, bending his run inside before the ball had even reached Musiala’s foot.
Demien reacted before most of his own teammates did, but he was starting from the wrong side of the play, his weight still carrying toward the lane he’d tried to protect.
「LEGENDARY SKILL ACTIVATED」 「Fabio Cannavaro — Wall」
It didn’t put him where the ball was going. It sharpened the picture in front of him, and his first step went toward Kane, because Kane was the one holding the ball together.
Then his head snapped toward Sané as Kane slipped it inside, and his body changed direction so fast his studs tore two lines through the grass, but Sané already had the half-yard he needed.
Sané took one touch across his body and drove it low, the strike coming off his boot before Demien had closed even half the distance back.
Onana got a glove to it, stretching low to his right, and for a moment the ball seemed to catch on his fingers — but it kept rolling, and it crossed the line just inside the far post.
THWACK — TSHHHK.
The net rippled and the Allianz exploded, red and white flags snapping up across every tier of the home end.
BAYERN MUNICH 1 — 0 MANCHESTER UNITED Leroy Sané
Onana stayed down for a second with one glove pressed flat into the grass, his head bowed. Martínez turned back toward the space the pass had come from, his arms spread in frustration at nobody in particular. Bruno threw one arm out and shouted something at the referee that went nowhere.
Demien stopped near the edge of the box, chest still heaving from the sprint that hadn’t been enough, and he didn’t look for anyone to blame.
He’d read it. He still hadn’t reached it.
The system surfaced while Bayern’s players piled on top of Sané near the corner flag and the Allianz shook under the noise.
「GOAL CONCEDED」
「Bayern Munich 1 — 0 Manchester United」
「MISSION STATUS」 「Midfield Collapse Prevention: At Risk」
Demien didn’t argue with it. He looked once at the Bayern players jogging back toward their own half, then at his own teammates spreading out for the restart, and he closed the panel before Bruno reached him.
He wasn’t looking at the system. He was looking at the space Bayern had just attacked.
The restart didn’t settle anything.
Bayern pressed with more hunger now, the crowd whistling every United touch and roaring every step Bayern took forward, the whole stadium leaning into the lead.
Bruno wanted to lift the tempo immediately, pointing forward twice and demanding the ball quicker than United could safely give it, and Casemiro gestured for him to hold, one flat hand pressing down through the air.
Demien read the shape opening behind Bruno and dropped five yards deeper instead of chasing the ball forward, protecting the space Bruno’s urgency had left uncovered.
Bayern blocked him harder now too.
He moved once to receive, and Goretzka followed him step for step. He shifted again, and Kane angled his body to cut the pass back to him before it could even be considered. Onana looked for another option and found the picture narrower than it had been ten minutes earlier.
United lost their rhythm for a few minutes — not a collapse, but a wobble the whole stadium could feel building.
Bayern went at the far side next.
Kane dropped away from Martínez and dragged him out of shape, Sané pulled Dalot inside toward the ball, and Gnabry started moving on the blind side where nobody was tracking him yet.
Demien saw it, but he was central, and the ball was already being worked wide before he could close the distance.
「LEGENDARY SKILL ACTIVATED」 「N’Golo Kanté — Everywhere at Once」
He started the recovery sprint early, covering ground that shouldn’t have been coverable, but the rest of United didn’t disappear from the picture around him.
Casemiro slid across and pointed at the runner. Martínez twisted his whole body to block the cutback line. Reguilón tracked a second runner on the far side without losing his shape.
Gnabry reached the lane and squared it low across the face of goal, and Demien got there just ahead of Kane, sliding his boot in to cut the pass off before it could reach the far post.
The ball deflected away off his shin, bounced twice, and rolled behind for a corner.
「MISSION UPDATE」
「Midfield Collapse Prevention: Unstable」 「Pressure-Release Actions: 1/5」 「Bayern Pressing Traps Identified: 2/3」 「Clear Chances Created: 1/1」 「Bonus Objective: Pending」
Demien bent over for one breath after the clearance, hands on his knees, and then straightened before Bayern could take the corner, because the next phase was already coming and there was no time to stay bent over it.
United survived the corner, and after it Demien stopped trying to chase every fire that Bayern lit.
He started fixing the spacing instead.
"Wider, Diogo!" he called, pointing Dalot out toward the touchline before the ball had even reached that side. "Wait — let it come to you," he told Bruno, one hand flat in the air to hold him back from jumping too early.
When Onana looked up from the back, Demien pointed toward Martínez rather than calling for it himself, steering the pass away from the central lane Bayern kept sitting in.
「TRAIT ACTIVATED」 「Press Resistant」
「TECHNIQUE ACTIVATED」 「First-Touch Set — RARE」
「LEGENDARY SKILL ACTIVATED」 「Toni Kroos — Metronome」
Onana played into Martínez, Martínez found Demien between the lines, and his first touch opened his body before Musiala could close the last stride, the ball already gone into Bruno before the press could reset around him.
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