A/n: This one is kinda long, sorry for the delay🫶🏽
——————
This is it, the day we've been training months for. We're on the way to the stadium at the moment and we watch as Barcelona fans chant, letting off red and purple clouds from the smoke grenades.
I put my headphones on to drown out the sound of the Barcelona fans that line the streets as a look down at them as they lined the streets virtually the whole way to the stadium.
The team bus soon came to a halt and I looked out the window. We were here.
I paused my music and I could already feel the tense pressure and I hadn't even gotten off of the bus yet.
We were met by a small minority of our fans at our entrance, as I got off I had my eyes set on just getting inside to be honest because I was feeling quite nervous but out of the corner of my eye I saw a girl with a piece of cardboard in her hand that read 'Good luck Astrid' in Norwegian. I instantly stopped walking and turn the opposite way to walk towards her and she began to cry.
"Oh no don't cry..." I leaned over to give her a small hug.
"Du liker hennes største idol," (You're like her biggest idol,) her mum smiles.
"No way! If you come to find me after the match, I'll give you my shirt," I tell her and she looks up at me.
"Really?" She sniffs as I pat her hair down.
"Hold up, lemme get a picture with you and don't forget the sign." She budges up next to me holding the piece of cardboard as her mum takes the picture.
"There you go! I'll see you after the match," I hug her one more time.
"Tusen takk Astrid," (Thank you so much, Astrid,) She beams unable to control her excitement.
"No problem, see you," I wave finding my teammates that's had also stopped to talk to fans so we can walk inside. We watched as the photographers snap m. M m. Love photos of us entering the stadium.
It wasn't hard to find where our changing room was because we could already hear the music blasting so we just followed the music.
I had to go straight in and get changed because I spent like 10 minutes out there which left me little time to get changed for the warm-up Ihnomon the pitch.
I took the team tracksuit off and put on the drill shirt and shorts. Last week I went to design the boots that I'd be wearing for the match in particular and when I looked down in the boot compartment they were exactly there how I'd pictured them to be.
"Ohh they're so nice, you weren't kidding!" Chloe noticed me putting them on.
"Yeah, I spent like 4 hours in Stockport last week customising them," I tell her.
"Wow they got it done quick," she says in shock.
"To be honest I was worried they weren't gonna get it done in time at one point," I told her and she began to chuckle.
"Well judging that we're now the only ones here, I think we should get going," Chloe realises so I finish tying up my boots and follow her out the door.
As we stepped out from the dugout, we saw the stadium begin to fill up with fans filling the vacant seats by the second.
I just stayed in a circle doing rondos with a couple of the girls before going back into the changing rooms to have our pre-match talk with our manager Gareth Taylor before we go back out onto the pitch.
It didn't take me long to get dressed so I spent most of the time sat thinking about how I wanted this match to turn out.
Once we were all dressed, Gareth entered the room holding a notepad.
"Right, I'm gonna keep this short and sweet because we haven't got huge amounts of time," He began, "Today will forever be remembered for not only being one of the most significant games in women's football history but it'll also be the day we will either smile to look back on, or it may very well be the opposite but however today turns out to be, I want you to walk out there and play your fucking best 90 minutes you've ever played because this is the moment that'll sum up your career so far, yeah?" He begins to clap his hands and we all join in.
"C'MONN WE'VE GOT THIS!" I start to encourage the girls as we head to the tunnel.
We're met by our tiny little mascot kids and the little girl I had was so sweet as she gave me a tiny hug.
I bend down to her and say, "Are you ready?"
She nods slowly and I let out a small chuckle holding her hand.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the finalists of the 2023 women's champions league, Manchester City and FC Barcelona!"
This was it. It just honestly felt so surreal to be in this moment as we stepped out into a fully sold-out stadium.
It was clear who our fans were and Barcelona's were due to the distinct colours in our kits.
The champions league anthem began to play as I looked down at my little mascot whose hand was intertwined with mine.
"We've got this okay," I smile rubbing her back as she nods.
We all form a line side by side as usual with the four referees being the ones to divide our team from Barcelona.
Once the anthem had come to an end we all began to clap as did the rest of the stadium.
That was the mascot's children's queue to leave the pitch as I beamed playfully ruffling the little girl's hair as a smile formed on her face as she walked away.
Then we one by one shook each of the referees' hands along with the Barcelona players.
They began to call out the Barcelona lineup followed by ours as the cheers could be heard with each name called.
At that time, Hillary our photographer decided that we could use this short amount of time for a team photo before the final and so we did.
Once the photo was taken, we huddled up for a team talk.
"Listen...this is a moment that we'll almost never forget, I want us all to make the most of it and make sure we take that trophy home because every single one of us deserves it, so let's win this the city way!" Our captain Steph told us.
We all began to disperse across the pitch as I began to adjust my hair in its place.
Once Steph had come back, she told us that we'd be kicking off the match meaning I'd start with the ball.
Eventually, we were given the all-clear and the whistle was blown.
I made my first pass to Lauren so that I was able to find a pocket of space to lure the defensive midfielders into attack creating space for Chloe to run into.
Lauren takes a touch and is aware of my making a run down the left wing so she can make a long ball pass to me which I was able to receive and control before taking it further down the wing with a Barcelona defender hot on my heels and as I got to the 18-yard box I was faced with the same defender forcing me to pass back to Khadija who had followed my run.
She passes it back out wide and back to the right wing where Chloe can drive into the box on her own with defenders following her closely so her first thought was to find me so she passed it back to me and I was able to have a shot was it was an easy save for their goalkeeper Sandra Paños.
———————
Not long later, it's in our half and our goalkeeper Ellie plays it wide to Alex who is able to play it up to Laura but she's forced to pass back to Alex as she's now been put in a three-on-one situation, but Alex it's tackled moments after gaining possession leaving the Barcelona player an immense amount of space to have a shot within the box, and so she does and it just brushes past Ellie's fingertips and into the goal.
I lower my head in frustration once again adjusting my headband.
"Shit," I curse under my breath.
——————
It's now the second half and we are losing 2-0 as Lucy Bronze scored the second goal around the 40th minute.
At halftime, it was dead silent in the changing room although people did try boosting the morale and of course, Gareth had a short talk with us about our defensive shape and how it was looking.
Khadija managed to regain possession as she took it down the wing able to outpace the right back effortlessly.
She crossed it into me and I made a quick touch off it and it was in the back of the net. I run to the net picked up the ball and ran to the corner of the pitch as our fans roared and I looked back to our bench to see them all cheering.
It wasn't long before Steph scored a header from a corner and we were now back in the game.
We were playing more like ourselves now and with that came another attempt from me as I tried to curl it into the bottom corner but it was deflected of Popp's shin.
It fell into Chloe's possession as she let off a shot as did Khadija it fell to her but I was able to scramble it out and put it away you could hear our fans roaring across the stadium as I knee slid across the ground before coping Erling's famous meditation celebration while my teammates one by one got over to me hugging me so hard I couldn't breathe.
———————
The score is still 3-2 and we're in the last minute of the 8 minutes of stoppage time given.
Barcelona have just been given a corner and we could only pray that they didn't concede against us from this. Even the goalkeeper came up and into the box but it wasn't enough as Alex was able to head it out wide and with that, the final whistle was blown.
At that moment, my body just fell to the ground as I cried.
"Astrid we've done it! We've won the fucking champions league baby!" Alex and Chloe rush over to me and the rest of the team follow.
I sit up and wipe away my tears of happiness. "Fuck, we really have!" I stand up and walk over to the fans.
They had to have 'Freed from Desire' playing in the background as we all began to sing along,
"My love has got no money, he's got his strong beliefs, my love has got no power, he's got his strong beliefs, my love has got no fame, he's got his strong beliefs,"
Soon our managers and staff began to join in as we all sing with the fans.
"Freed from desire, mind and senses purified!" "Freed from desire!"
"Na-na-na-na-na, na-na,"
We all began to move our arms in synch, jumping around and chanting with each other.
"I'm happy to announce winners of the 2023 women's champions league...Manchester City!"
After finally composing myself I went over to my Norwegian teammates who play for Barca to try and comfort them.
"Ingrid..." I walk over to see her with a blank face.
"Hey, congrats you guys did well out there," she forced a smile.
"Thanks, you too," I pull her up off the ground to hug her.
"Just know I will not be sitting next to you on the team bus anymore," She jokes.
"Oh please you snore anyway," I laugh.
"I'll catch you later," I smile walking away to hug Caroline who didn't feel like talking at the moment so after I hugged her I just left to go back to my team, but that was short-lived as I was called aside for a quick post-match interview.
"Well let's hear from the goalscorer who got that first goal and also the winning goal for Manchester City, Astrid Haugen," "Astrid, where do I start, congratulations, I can't begin to imagine how you must be feeling right now, talk to me about that?" The microphone is pointed towards me.
"Honestly, none of this feels real," I laugh, "But truthfully, I went into the match with one goal and I achieved it, yeah don't get me wrong when we were two nil down, that was tough but that first goal was enough to get the morale our team needed in the second half,"
"God I can old begin to imagine what was being said at halftime," The journalist chuckles.
"Yeah, Gareth and Steph had been the key reason we got this far in the tournament," I praise the two.
"Congratulations again, how will you celebrate tonight I hear that your partner's team are winning 1-0 back in England and it's halftime for them, so if you both manage to bring home trophies, I can only begin to imagine the celebrations in your home."
"Yes, definitely we are going to go all out because this doesn't happen every day," I laugh.
"Of course, but thank you for your time, Astrid, well let you go and celebrate with your teammate and have a lovely evening,"
"Thank you bye," I wave walking away.
I was given my Norwegian flag and I wrapped it around my shoulders as I walked back to the rest of the team.
———————
Our team formed two rows as we clapped the officials to receive their medals.
"Ladies and gentlemen our runners-up...Barcelona!"
We watch the despair on their faces as they went to collect their medals instantly taking them off once received.
"And now, give a warm round of applause to Manchester City...winners of the 2023 Women's Champions League!"
Steph leads the line as we go one by one to collect our medals and kiss the trophy.
"I must say, Astrid, those goals were magnificent," One of the board officials said handing me my medal.
"Thank you," I nod
Steph collects the trophy and brings it over to the platform we're all standing on
We all drumroll as a chorus of 'oohs' can be heard and as she lifts it we start cheering and the sparklers and blue and white confetti is dispersed around the stadium grounds.
We went back into the changing rooms to put on our comfortable hoodies and tracksuits with some trainers or whatever but I was one of the first out there taking pictures with some of the fans until I found the little girl from earlier. I'd brought my shirt out to give to her and when I do she broke down in tears once again.
"Really, thank you so much, Astrid!" Her mum said looking down at her daughter.
"Honestly, it's no problem, I know growing up I'd dreamt of meeting my favourite play and getting their shirt so it's the least I can do," I smile.
"Thank you again," her mum nods.
"Of course," I beam walking over to the other side of the stadium to meet some more fans.
I didn't stay out there for long because I'd run back into the changing rooms so I could catch up on the last couple minutes of Erling's match.
It was still 1-0. I guess all we could do was wait.
@Astrid.Haugen9
●○○○○○
○●○○○○
○○●○○○
○○○●○○
○○○○●○
○○○○○●
Liked by chloekelly, kylewalker, lucybronze and 2,746,038 others
astridhaugen CHAMPIONSSS 💙🤍💙🤍
view all 3863 comments