🎶 C'Est La Vie — Khaled 🎶
"But Martina, they're trying to make me look bad in front of all of Spain" I whined to my PR rep over FaceTime a few hours before the first Supercopa game. Real against Atlético.
"No, you're not. Spain is completely in love with you, the sad paparazzi pictures from after your return paint a very different picture and the public is not stupid. Listen, Vicky: Ana - she's trash. But you: you're a million dollars. We're going to be like the royals." Martina said and I looked at her with a confused face.
"Never complain, never explain. Continue with your life, go out with your friends, have fun, go to all sorts of events and just try to smile, I know it's hard, but you can't let them put you down and make you question your real value. Stand above this pettiness." she explained.
"Do you think he loves her?" I asked sadly, my head still full of that picture of Ana and Pablo from the tabloids, but she ignored my question.
"What's up with this Luis guy?" she asked instead.
"Nothing. We're friends and nothing more." I replied.
"Good. Very good. He's handsome and well-established in society. Listen, Vicky, I know this is incredibly hard and the betrayal from two people you loved must be so hurtful and I can't even imagine. No one would want to be in your shoes. But you're a woman with a brain and exceptional abilities - you can't let those two drag you down. Focus on your job and deliver, this is the only thing you should worry about. And when you come back, we'll talk about your book deal." she said and I nodded. She was right. It was my time to shine and I wasn't going to back down because of Pablo's pathetic PR machine. We said goodbye and I started getting ready.
While I was rushing downstairs to the lobby to get a cab to the stadium, I ran into Luis, who was talking to some board member.
"Someone looks ready to ace her job" he chuckled. He had probably seen my sad look and was trying to build me up.
"Who do you reckon wins?" I asked.
"Ouf, I'm saying Real" he replied.
"Great, I'm saying Atletico. Loser buys the winner opera tickets" I chuckled, remembering what Martina had said.
"Opera tickets?" he asked confusedly, but then he started laughing. "Ah, I know what you're doing: you want to be the classy girl going to the opera with your handsome cavalier."
"Ooooooor, I just really like classical music. Carmen is currently on the calendar" I said and winked, before making my way outside.
📍 King Saud University Stadium
vicky.hernandez Let's get this party started! Madrid vs Madrid 🥳 #supercopa2024
kike_hrnndz Move! That place is for wheelchairs and not your photo shoots 🙄
ireneee.grc Miss you at the office 😭
paolahrnndz omg you'll see toni kroos 😍
Replying to paolahrnddz:
vicky.hernandez Yeah, he looks even better irl!
Replying to vicky.hernandez:
luislaporta I thought you liked younger guys?!
The game started off with an early lead from Atletico and I wildly tapped everything along on my computer as the game unfolded. I watched the pitch while my fingers worked over the keyboard - I was going to edit the article back in my hotel room, but this way I'd have less work afterwards. Real answered quickly and equalised with a header by Rudiger, it was back to square.
The situation with Pablo hadn't taken the culer out of me, and innerly, I was rooting for Atletico just because I just hated Real. But this was my first article as a football reporter and I needed to do well, no, I needed to do better than all the other journalists. I was going to be judged way harder than them because of my background and I wanted to prove the bad voices wrong. I know what it takes to be a good journalist and even though I didn't want this job, I was going to do the best out of it.
Madrid shot another goal, but their opponents reacted quickly too and Griezmann scored the equaliser, making him his club's all-time top scorer. And it was just the 37th minute - if it continued like this, it was going to be one hell of a game. The second half started off as intense as the first, and after the first substitutions, there was a messy goal for Atletico which in the end turned out to be an own goal. However, Real reacted again, equalising with a shot into the net from Carvajal. The game went to extra time, and I was definitely pointing out the outdate of this practice - with all the games and minutes players had to spend on the pitch nowadays, they should go straight to penalties instead of raising the chances of injuries happening for thirty more minutes than needed.
But this game was just... everything. Joselu went for a header and put Real in the lead. There were mere minutes to go until the end and even Atletico's goalie ran into the other half to help, but that turned out to be a mistake as their opponents got the ball and were able to shoot it into an empty net. That sealed the Blancos' 5-3 win in this derby.
When the final whistle blew, I obviously stood up and clapped. Even though I hated them to my guts, today they had won fair and square, my culer heart couldn't say anything. I waited a few minutes and then headed down to the media zone, hoping to catch a few comments from players or even the coaches. I somehow managed to have a short chitchat with Carvajal, he surprisingly remembered me from the Nations League final and... probably also from being Gavi's girlfriend, now ex, from when I had attended Spain's game in Norway. After collecting a few more comments here and there, I took a taxi back to a hotel and immediately got back to my room to finish my article and send it in just in time for editorial deadline.
The next morning, I woke up and walked down to breakfast. The tension was thick, one could sense that no one was ecstatic about the prospect of possibly facing Real in a final, especially given the team's current form and the result of the last Clasico. Luis didn't fail to remind me that I had to invite him out for an evening at the opera, and before I could forget it, I bought our tickets for Carmen next week while chewing down my scrambled eggs.
After lunch, I managed to get a small interview with Marc Guiu under the strict eyes of the Barca PR woman that had been there when they made me sign my NDA, I think Sonya was her name. Her attitude was annoying me so much that I snarled "Don't worry, I'm over footballers" at the end of the interview to her, leaving a very baffled Marc behind.
Luis had offered to drive to the stadium and also sit together, and I gladly accepted. Martina's "Live your best life" echoed through my mind and I hoped that we were getting pictured. We arrived at the VIP tribune and each greeted people we knew and introduced the other to people one didn't know.
📍 King Saud University Stadium
vichernandez.updates Victoria and Luis Laporta arriving at the Barca vs Osasuna Supercopa game tonight! They're sitting together too!
user1 Shouldn't she be working?!
gavicky_fp Are they holding hands? 🥺
Replying to gavicky_fp:
vichernandez.updates I don't think they were!
user2 He's very handsome damn
When we had sat down, I pulled out my laptop and opened the Word document where I had already written the introduction to today's match. To say that I was nervous was an understatement. The resonance to my article about yesterday's game had been mixed. There had been a lot of positive comments, but also many negative ones. "It's obvious a woman wrote this", "Barca whore" or "ISIS should have kept you" were just a few of those and now I finally understood what online hate really meant. But if terrorists couldn't bring me down, some internet trolls wouldn't be able to either - I brushed away those thoughts and concentrated. The head of the sports department and the chief editor had both personally written messages to me, expressing their satisfaction with my work and that were the only opinions that mattered.
"Score bet?" Luis asked me as the players were warming up.
"1-0 Barca." I replied.
"I'm feeling optimistic and saying 3-0" he said with a grin on his face, at which I shot him a weird look, trying to find out if he was being serious, which he apparently was.
They were definitely the more threatening team in the first half, but the ball didn't want to find its way into the net and we went into the break goalless.
"To be a fly on the locker room wall right now..." I sighed.
"He's going to shit them together hopefully" Luis mumbled, looking gloomy.
"Yeah, your 3 goals aren't exactly lurking around the corner" I chuckled.
The second half got under way and to be honest, it couldn't get much worse performance-wise than the first. Some moves were just ridiculous and Luis looked like he wanted to cut everyone's salary. But *freaking* finally, Lewandowski did his job and got the ball into the net, putting Barca in the lead. The more minutes passed, the more Osasuna got desperate, but Barca managed to hold on to the tight lead. And during injury time, Lamine settled the rendez-vous between Real and them on Sunday with what I'd call a perfect goal. Simply amazing and it was a statement win after so many struggles.
"Well, I'm off to work" I announced as I packed up my stuff, ready to get to the media downstairs. I needed to find Lamine to congratulate and interview him, Lewandowski definitely too, that guy was getting grilled by me after his disappointing first half, maybe I could even find Raphinha for some words on his injury.
"Have fun and see you tomorrow" he said as Luis hugged me goodbye. I quickly walked the stairs to the entrance waving at some of the people I knew before I disappeared into the corridors of the stadium.