this is me trying

Chapter 5 - Destiny and Fate

"Oh yeah," I said, nodding my head.

"And then they have the English trinity of Ella Toone, Alessia Russo and Mary Earps."

"Oh yeah," I then said.

"And they also have that Spanish girl. She's their real steal," Lucy said, so casually, while drinking her coffee.

"Who?" I asked.

"Ona, Ona Batlle."

"And she's a...?"

"Right back, I think," Georgia said.

"Okay, cool. And she's good?" I asked.

"Very," Keira responded. "A lot of people are saying she's too good for UNited and deserves to play in the Champions League with teams like Barca and Lyon, but United won't let her leave, for any price."

"Really?" I asked, intrigued.

"Yeah. they signed her when she wasn't too big, but now, that girl could go anywhere, if only she could." As Keira said this, she looked down at her drink, and I knew, deep down, she felt the same. She could go anywhere, but she, similarly to Ona Batlle, could not. She was contracted, signed, and no one would ever want to let Keira Walsh go. She was too good. Way too good.

When we arrived at the stadium, we went into our locker room and started getting prepared for the game. We got changed, and put our training tops on, before heading out to warm up.

"As we warmed up, I looked over to where United were, and saw her. Saw Ona Batlle. As I watched her with the ball at her feet, I could tell instantly that she was good. She looked so natural with the ball, as if it wasn't a separate entity but rather a part of herself. She mesmerised me, and as I stared, I felt a ball come flying at my feet.

"Oi!" Hayley said, waving her arms. "Stop checking out the competition." I chuckled slightly, kicking the ball back.

"I'm not," I replied. "I'm just looking." She smiled at me, and we continued to warm up, before heading back inside for the final words from Gareth.

The starting lineup was announced, and it was interesting, but it would have to work. We knew that there was no way around it. We were struggling with the amount of injuries with our squad, and if there was any way to prove our depth, today was the day.

I was playing in the central midfield, while Georgia was a part of the backline. Keira was back from injury for the game, playing in the DM, and Lauren, and Janine were up front.

When the game kicked off, neither team was too settled. I was playing in the midfield, against Jackie Groenen, Katie Zelem and Ella Toone, all of whom are intimidating in their own right. I knew I had to push past my insecurities this game, and play with freedom.

Throughout the game, I tried pushing us forward. I would try passing wide to Janine and Lauren, hoping for one of them to work their magic. Nothing was working until the 38th minute, where I saw a through ball to Lauren, who then crossed it into Bunny, who popped up and headed the ball past Mary Earps and into goal. We were leading in the Manchester derby, and I was so excited. I gave a thumbs up to Lauren and Bunny before heading back to our kick off positions.

I looked over to see the United defence circled together, Ona in the centre of that, trying to talk their way through what just went wrong. But I knew exactly what went wrong. While Ona was covering Lauren, Maria came to help, but that only left a blindspot behind her, which Bunny filled, giving her enough space to head it in. It was simple, but also an easy mistake to make.

We were leading at the break, 1-0.

In the second half, United scored. Twice. Lucy Staniforth scored in the 72nd and Alessia Russo in the 75th. They scored two goals in three minutes. That was not good enough. Not from us. I wouldn't let us lose this game. I couldn't let us lose it.