Become A Football Legend Chapter 394: Kick Off

The official team news had been released.

Lexi immediately unlocked her phone and opened her football app.

"There it is."

The Manchester City lineup appeared on the screen.

She barely glanced at the goalkeeper or the defence before her eyes found the right wing.

BRANDT 17.

Lukas’ picture, wearing the Manchester City shirt, sat on the right side of the front three.

"He’s starting!"

Lexi turned the screen toward Joanna with a huge grin.

"Your boyfriend is so good-looking."

Joanna laughed.

"Of course he is. He’s my boyfriend."

The two burst into laughter together.

As Joanna looked across the row once more...

She noticed Jane looking down at her own phone.

But this time...

She was smiling.

* * *

An hour later, the Etihad Stadium had become a wall of noise.

The stands were now almost completely full, blue scarves raised high across three sides of the ground while the travelling Manchester United supporters answered from the away end with sharp, defiant chants of their own.

The pitch looked immaculate under the afternoon light, every blade of grass cut into perfect lines, but beneath the polish there was a tension that belonged only to derby day. Players from both teams had already completed their warm-ups and disappeared back into the tunnel, leaving the noise to build in their absence until the whole stadium seemed to tremble with impatience.

Inside the tunnel, Anthony Taylor stood at the front with the match ball tucked beneath one arm, his assistants positioned beside him as the mascots shuffled nervously in front of the two teams.

Manchester City stood to one side in sky blue, Manchester United to the other in red. Haaland rolled his shoulders. Bruno Fernandes adjusted his captain’s armband. Ruben Dias stared straight ahead without blinking. Lukas stood a few places behind his captain, Bernardo Silva, his eyes fixed on the strip of green visible beyond the tunnel mouth, listening to the roar outside rise and fall like a living thing.

Then the officials moved.

The mascots walked out first, hand in hand with the players, and the moment both teams emerged from the tunnel the Etihad exploded. Cameras flashed from every corner. The Premier League anthem faded beneath the noise. City and United walked side by side into the light, two halves of the same football city meeting again with pride, pressure and three points on the line.

Peter Drury’s voice carried over the broadcast with the kind of gravity the occasion demanded.

"Manchester, for the next two hours, belongs to this. The streets may still be moving, the pubs may still be full, the arguments may still be waiting, but all eyes now turn to the Etihad Stadium. Blue against red. Guardiola against Amorim. Current serial winners against against the old giants. Bragging rights, momentum, memory and pride all gathered under one roof. It is the Manchester derby."

Gary Neville allowed the stadium noise to breathe for a moment before speaking.

"You can feel it, Peter. This is different. These players know what this means."

The camera moved down the United line first, catching Ruben Amorim standing near the technical area, arms folded, expression unreadable.

"Manchester United line up in Ruben Amorim’s 3-4-2-1," Drury continued. "Altay Bayındır starts in goal. The back three are Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt and Luke Shaw. Noussair Mazraoui and Patrick Dorgu operate as the wing-backs, with Manuel Ugarte and captain Bruno Fernandes in midfield. Ahead of them, Amad Diallo and Bryan Mbeumo support Benjamin Šeško, who leads the line."

The camera then swept across the Manchester City players, lingering briefly on Guardiola before finding the starting eleven.

"Manchester City, meanwhile, begin in a 4-1-4-1. Gianluigi Donnarumma starts in goal after his deadline day acquisition from PSG, with Abdukodir Khusanov, Ruben Dias, Joško Gvardiol and Nico O’Reilly across the defence. Rodri anchors the midfield. Ahead of him, Jérémy Doku starts from the left, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva operate through the middle, Lukas Brandt begins on the right, and Erling Haaland leads the attack."

The broadcast cut to Lukas as he shook hands with one of the United players, his expression calm but focused.

Drury’s tone shifted slightly.

"The last time Lukas Brandt faced Manchester United, he was wearing the shirt of Eintracht Frankfurt. That night at Old Trafford, in a Europa League semi-final that stretched into extra time, he snuffed out United’s dreams of winning the Europa League, and he announced himself properly on the European stage. A few months later, he is here, starting for Manchester City under Pep Guardiola, facing Manchester United again in a very different shirt and with a very different weight on his shoulders."

Gary Neville added, "The talent is obvious. What everyone is waiting for now is that first real Premier League moment."

"And perhaps this is the stage for it," Drury said. "He has not yet reproduced in England the numbers he produced in Germany, whether for Frankfurt or for the national team, but the international break reminded everyone of what he can do. Two matches for Germany, two goals and five assists. He returns to Manchester in form, in rhythm, and now he starts in the derby. Haaland has made a habit of punishing Manchester United. Foden knows this fixture as well as anyone. And Brandt, still searching for his first decisive Premier League contribution, could hardly ask for a bigger canvas."

The handshakes ended.

The players lined up near the centre circle for the pre-match formalities, and after the handshakes, the stadium announcer’s voice asked for silence. A tribute appeared on the big screen for Ricky Hatton, the boxer who had passed earlier that day. The noise that had been shaking the stadium moments earlier slowly faded, replaced by a heavy stillness as players, staff and supporters bowed their heads together.

For one minute, the Etihad was silent.

Then the whistle sounded to end the tribute, and applause broke out across the stadium, beginning in one stand before spreading everywhere.

In the stands, the blue end roared as Haaland stood over the ball beside Bernardo Silva. Across from them, United’s front line waited just beyond the centre circle, Šeško bouncing lightly on his toes while Bruno Fernandes pointed and shouted instructions to those behind him. On the touchline, Guardiola stood with his hands in his pockets. A few yards away, Amorim watched in silence.

Anthony Taylor checked both goalkeepers, glanced at his assistants, then brought the whistle to his lips.

One sharp blast.

"And we’ve kicked off the 197th Manchester derby. Will this city be blue or red for the next few months, 90 minutes to find out."

Bernardo Silva tapped the ball backward.

The Manchester derby was underway.

Bernardo Silva rolled the ball backward from the centre spot, and immediately Manchester City surged into United’s half with the kind of aggressive intent that told everyone inside the Etihad they had not come to feel their way into the derby.

Khusanov received the kickoff pass near the halfway line, took one touch to settle himself, then looked diagonally across the pitch and clipped a long ball toward the left side of City’s attack, where Haaland, Doku and Foden were already pushing high against United’s back line.

Lukas watched from the right flank as Haaland jumped to win the header.

He was left alone as the action was happening at the opposite end of the pitch, but even then, he knew this was going to be a good evening.