#it’s time for his first manchester derby
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Would you please do an Esme Morgan x reader, where her teammates are meeting her girlfriend for the first time. Maybe Esme's teammates are prepared to be protective of Esme and give R older sister speechs until it turns out she's just as soft and sweet as Esme.
I told you | Esme Morgan
“So Es, when are you going to bring your secret girlfriend to meet us?” Alex’s scouse accent filled the food hall as the Man City girls ate their lunch.
“I’ve managed to get her tickets to the match against United next week.” Esme replied and all the girls smiled, knowing they could finally meet you.
You, the girl who Esme couldn’t stop talking about.
“I can’t wait to sit down and talk to her. She best be ready for it. I’m gonna tell her that if she ever hurts you or a single hair on your head, she’s dead. I know I’m known for breaking my own nose, but I’m also just as good as breaking other peoples’ noses.” Alanna spoke up and a light hum of agreement was heard throughout the team.
“She’s dead if she hurts you.” Jill agreed, a stern and serious tone in her voice.
“She is so sweet, please don’t scare her away. She means so much to me. I can’t lose her.” Esme defended, a smile appearing as she thought of you.
“As long as she treats you right, then it’s fine.” Steph added and all the girls nodded in agreement.
“She does, I promise. Tell them, Hempster.” Esme commanded, knowing Lauren had met you since Lauren and Esme shared a house.
“She is. She’s just like Esme.” Lauren stated before adding more in. “They’re perfect for each other.”
“We’ll see.” Alanna
————————
“Hi, baby.” You greeted Esme as she opened the door.
“Hi Y/N bear.” She responded, bringing you in for a hug and a kiss.
“I bought these for you.” You told her, showing her the bouquet of flowers. “And I also bought this for you. I walked past it in tescos and I thought of you.” You explained, showing her the small stuffed teddy bear.
“Thank you so much, baby.” Esme said, nearly in tears at your thoughtfulness. She pecked your lips once more before letting you walk in.
After a movie and cuddles on the sofa, Esme tensed up remembering the conversation with her teammates earlier.
“Y/N, baby, you know you’re coming to my match on the weekend?” Esme started and you hummed in response, pressing a kiss to her head. “I told my teammates and they really want to meet you. Of course, it’s up to you. And you don’t have to give me an answer now but it’s—”
“Es, take a breath, love. It’s fine. I promise. I love you and if getting to love your means I have to go through your teammates, then tell them to bring it on. I love you so much, Esme, and that means that I’d do anything for you.” You told her, stroking a loose strand of hair behind her ear before placing a soft kiss on her lips.
“And by the way, the whole team thinks you’re going to hurt Esme so be prepared.” Lauren laughed as she watched the whole thing from the other couch.
You just looked at Esme, confusion written on your face, as Esme shrugged whispering that she’d explain it to you later.
————————
After an eventful Manchester derby, the nerves started to kick in as you waited to meet all Esme’s teammates.
To city’s luck and pure talent, they won the derby 3-1, managing to get the ball past Mary Earps 3 times.
As soon as the match ended, Esme made her way to you.
“Essy bear, you played so well. I’m so proud of you.” You said, enveloping her in a hug.
“I only played 15 minutes.” Esme pointed out, a smile wide on her face, identical to the one on yours.
“I know but you didn’t let any balls past you.” You told her, taking a piece of grass off her forehead, and kissing the place it was in.
“I’m so glad you’re here.” Esme admitted and you rested a hand on her cheek, gently rubbing your thumb over it.
“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Now where’s them teammates of yours? I’ve been preparing myself to take them on.” You joked and Esme let out a soft giggle, taking your hand in hers as she led you down to the pitch.
“Y/N!” Lauren cheered as she spotted you walking towards the team.
“Hi, Hempster. Well done on the win.” You said to her, bringing her in for a hug.
“Thanks, Y/N.”
“Hempster, don’t go stealing my girlfriend now.” Esme warned as you and Lauren still hugged.
Esme tickled your sides as you laughed and clung onto Esme.
“Es, stop it.” You giggled, as Esme planted kisses on your face.
“Why? Can I not kiss my gorgeous girlfriend?” Esme asked, a grin taking over her face.
“Of course you can but not when you’re all sweaty.” You said, placing a final kiss on her lips.
The whole team watched from afar, realising that they were all wrong about their thoughts.
You really were another Esme.
“Gonna introduce her, Es?” Chloe asked, and Esme nodded.
“Everyone, this is my girlfriend, Y/N. Y/N, this is the team.” Esme introduced you and you smiled at the whole team.
“Hi everyone. I’ve been so excited to meet you all. Esme’s constantly talking about all of you and it’s so nice to finally get to meet the people she’s been talking about. Congratulations on the win as well. It was such an exciting match to watch.” You said, a smile on your face the whole entire time.
“Maybe I won’t be breaking your nose any time soon. It’s nice to meet, Y/N.” Alanna greeted and your eyebrows furrowed at her statement.
“Breaking my nose?” You asked, confused.
“I thought you were gonna be some drug dealing alcoholic that was gonna break Esme’s heart.” Alanna explained casually and you nodded in understanding.
“I can assure you that I’m not. And before you all have talks with me, I’m not going to hurt Esme. I’d rather die than ever hurt Esme. Esme is my whole heart, I couldn’t be without her.” You told them all as Esme’s heart warmed.
“I couldn’t be without you either, Y/N.” Esme said, leaning down to place a kiss on your cheek.
“Right, we get it. You two are madly in love. It’s nice to meet you, Y/N, welcome to the team.”
“I told you she was another Esme.” Lauren spoke up, grinning at her teammates.
You had a huge smile on your face, and so did Esme.
You had been welcomed into the team although you couldn’t kick a ball to save your life.
And Esme was so happy that you had been accepted by her family, and the fact that she had you in her life.
#woso community#woso x reader#woso#woso imagine#womens football#woso fanfics#esme morgan#esme morgan x reader
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stuff that happened in the 2022/2023 football season that should send us into a coma but we’re too desensitized:
1. the whole ass world cup in the middle of the season. what was that
2. manchester united sacking ronaldo and announcing a sale of the club in the middle of the world cup
3. ronaldo getting dropped at the world cup and his replacement scoring a hattrick immediately after
4. keeping up with the belgians (world cup edition)
5. keeping up with the belgians (courtois saying he doesn’t respect kdb after stealing his missus)
6. ronaldo stans beefing with a little moroccan girl
7. the kingdom of saudi arabia buying newcastle united and then telling the premier league that they didn’t and the premier league going “oh okay if you say so”
8. megan thee stallion being romelu lukaku’s date to lautaro martinez’s wedding
9. pique cheating on shakira and then shakira releasing a diss track about it
10. shakira figuring out pique cheated on her because someone ate her strawberry jam and pique doesn’t eat strawberry jam
11. apparently the girl pique cheated on shakira with (clara) cheating on pique with pep
12. wagatha christie libel case
13. real madrid dropping a video accusing barcelona of fascism and the government of cataluyna getting involved
14. the pope coming out as a manchester united fan
15. the one napoli fan that basically made zielinski strip on the pitch
16. mount vesuvius park shutting down because napoli fans wanted to fake an eruption as a celebration
17. frank lampard taking everton into a relegation battle, getting sacked, and then taking chelsea into a relegation battle
18. on that note: chelsea were in a relegation scrap and finished 12th
19. mourinho lost his first ever european final to sevilla europa league black magic
20. whatever the fuck borussia dortmund did on the last day of the bundesliga season
21. anthony martial’s ex wife chasing his first wife down a french motorway with a baby in the passenger seat
22. psg suspending messi because he took an unsanctioned trip to saudi arabia and then unsuspending him two days later because they didn’t want people talking about geopolitics
23. the absolutely bizarre messi apology video released by psg
24. spurs refunding their fans’ tickets after being embarrassing
25. pep’s heartbreak over the fact julia roberts is a manchester united fan
26. chelsea scored one goal in the month of april
27. chelsea and spurs had six managers between them and won one match combined between march and april
28. mourinho fighting anthony taylor after the europa league final
29. milan derby in the ucl for the first time since 2005
30. luis enrique saying he’s cool with the spanish players having sex during the world cup as long as they’re not having orgies
31. luis enrique saying he doesn’t have sex anymore unless his wife wants to
32. man city charged with 115 counts of financial doping and trying to get the barrister in charge disqualified because he’s an arsenal fan
33. mourinho wire-taping himself to catch referees being corrupt
34. ryan reynolds and mac from it’s always sunny in philadelphia buying a football club and that football club getting promoted
35. pele died rip
36. women football awards sponsored by shein and klarna having a category for “male football ally of the year” and it’s just random men that went to one (1) women’s game
37. barcelona negreia case (how do you say calciopoli in catalan?)
38. infantino saying he feels gay, african, like a migrant worker, disabled, arab, and qatari
39. infantino saying he was oppressed as a child because he was ginger and italy is not safe for gingers
40. david alaba’s father in law getting arrested for being one the leaders of a far right group plotting to overthrow the german government
41. richarlison being tumblr’s it girl for a month and then not scoring a goal for the next four
42. juventus being in the middle of another corruption scandal and being docked points because of it
43. two teams getting investigated by the british government for playing football the weekend the queen died
44. gavi getting a yellow card in the first minute of a football match
45. pogba’s brother was arrested by french authorities for being part of a group-organized extortion attempt against pogba
46. richarlison getting a tattoo of neymar’s face and neymar paying him 30k to get it removed
47. iker casillas coming out, puyol implying they had a thing, and both of them retracting it in the most misha collins way possible.
48. sane and mane fight
49. zlatan retired from football
50. barca withholding about 50 million in wages from their players and somehow frenkie still didn’t want to join manchester united
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hi! can i request a leila ouahabi fic where laia exposes that reader is her celebrity crush in a man city video and it blows up online and reader sees it, they start talking and then start dating!
celebrity crush - leila ouahabi
leila ouahabi x reader
description: in which leila says you’re her celebrity crush in a q&a video, how will you react when you’re in her rival team
warnings: suggestive if you squint
a/n: hiii, hope you enjoy the way i approached this, thanks for the request!
⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆
you and your girlfriend, leila have to thank the manchester city and manchester united media teams for your relationship blossoming out of silly, mutual crushes.
you play for manchester united, being signed to them for over 6 years, you first met leila during a derby match in 2022. you have to admit, she left quite a good impression, first of all - she was gorgeous, she carried herself well and was an amazing player, you couldn’t help but feel intrigued by her.
leila found you extremely attractive, and so, during half time, she asked lauren hemp about you with flushed cheeks. lauren was your national teammate, she immediately smirks at the girl asking for you. “she’s a good friend, ouahabi, what, do you need me to put in a good word?” leila’s eyes widen, “no no no” she protests with a nervous laugh, “i just think she’s a good player” she rubs the back of her neck sheepishly. “hm okay” lauren says unconvinced.
you played in the midfield, occasionally, leila would come up to defend you when the ball was in play, always placing a gentle hand on you. you couldn’t help but grow a little distracted but snapping out of it when you realise the situation. that doesn’t mean you don’t miss the contact when it’s gone.
the game had finished in a draw, girls on both of the teams having frustrated expressions. you walk around the pitch, shaking hands and exchanging small conversations with the people you knew. you ran up to lauren and jumped on her, giving her a tight hug. “hempo!” you exclaim with a bright smile, you hadn’t seen her in a little bit. esme bolts over to wrap you both up in a hug, the three of you jumping around in a circle. you laugh as you all pull away, catching up with your teammates about random parts of their lives.
lauren couldn’t help but notice leila lingering with laia in the corner, watching them whispering. she excuses herself for a second and grabs leila despite her protests, pushing her into you, causing you to stumble forward, esme catching you. “woah” you laugh, turning around and making eye contact with the brunette.
“oh hey, leila right?” she nods and smiles at you, surprised when you pull her into a quick hug. “great game, had me panicking a couple times, i have to say” you grin at her and she smiles back brightly (she didn’t need to know exactly how she made you panic) , “you’re really good, you had me panicking a bit too” she says, matching your energy. you hear ella calling for you and you turn.
“well my rivals, lovely to see and meet you, but duty calls” you tap the logo on your heart and individually pull the three into a hug, saving leila for last, you were immediately engulfed in her scent, vanilla. how did she smell good after playing a full 90 minutes? - she was thinking the exact same thing about you. you send her another quick smile before running off.
there wasn’t a day that didn’t go by where the both of you didn’t think about each other constantly. immediately following each other on social media the day of your interaction.
—
you hadn’t seen each other in a while, only on derby days. every time you saw each other, it was just enjoyable, the two of you got along really well, embraces getting longer, and conversations came more freely and comfortably.
you had a day off for once, deciding to sleep in..well you tried, until your phone was blowing up with notification after notification. you immediately think the worst and see that everyone is telling you to check twitter, seeing that you're trending. you let out a sharp exhale before clicking on your name.
the first video had leila on the front and you quirk your brow, pressing play:
interviewer: “leila, who is your celebrity crush?”
leila smiles shyly and rubs the back of her neck and pauses for a moment.
leila: “well i have someone on my mind”
she teases
interviewer: “could you share it with us?”
leila lets out a chuckle, nodding her head with a soft smile
leila: “now don’t kill me for this but (y/n) (y/l/n) in manchester united is very cute, i like her a lot”
interviewer: “is this like a friend crush?”
leila: “oh definitely not, it’s a regular one”
she smirks at the camera, sending a small wink.
your throat goes dry, the girl you had been crushing on felt the same. embarrassingly, you watch the video again, smiling shyly at hearing your name come from her mouth. you hate to admit that you replayed the video multiple times that day.
—
you arrive at training the next day and are immediately teased as soon as you come in. mainly lucia, knowing the girl personally from her national team. “enough” was definitely used by you at least 100 times in reply - but not without your bright, pink cheeks on full display.
it seemed to have completely slip your mind that today was media day. you groan as you get pulled for a q&a video, already knowing what was coming.
interviewer: “i’m sure you know what questions we're going to ask you?”
you nod your head with a smile and a laugh, gesturing them to continue
interviewer: “who’s your celebrity crush?”
you smile shyly, feeling your face get warmer by the second. letting out a laugh, you lean forward, using one of your hands to cup the side of your mouth.
(y/n): “between you and i, leila ouahabi, i like her a lot, she’s very cute and talented”
you lean back cheekily, proud of yourself for making the bold move back, you definitely need this girl’s number instead of flirting over the internet
interviewer: “and is this a friend crush?”
the interviewer mocks the manchester city interviewer
you let out a bright laugh, wiping a few tears of laughter out of your eye.
(y/n): definitely, definitely not, a regular one for sure
you hold out a phone gesture to your ear and match leila’s wink at the camera
and of course, the video absolutely blew up, both of them getting edited together and posted literally everywhere. leila saw your video and had the exact same reaction you did, replaying it constantly throughout the day just so she could see your pretty face say her name so sweetly.
you made the move and asked lauren for leila’s number and immediately texting her.
from: (y/n)
hello my crush
from: leila
ahh hello my crush!
from: (y/n)
can i see you soon?
from: leila
you can see me whenever you want, amor (love)
the two of you had started texting, calling and facetiming for weeks, meeting up in manchester to go to lunches and other small dates. your ‘friendship’ was really just the two of you flirting and touching each other, it quickly developed into a romantic relationship, both of you decided to debut it during another derby day.
both of your teammates had known all about it, constantly prying into the both of you for details. and so, 20 minutes before you’re supposed to line up in the tunnel, you go and meet your rival team girlfriend. you knock on their change room door and esme answers it. “why hello!” she smirks at you, “ouahabi, it’s for you” you see your girlfriend perk up in the corner, her beautiful smile gracing her features. she hurriedly walks up to you, placing a hand on your waist and closing the door, directing you down the hallway in an empty spot.
“mi amor (my love)” she smirks, her eyes flickering between yours and your lips. “hi pretty girl” you move to place a kiss on her cheek but she moves her head quickly so you kiss her lips. she grabs the back of your head with one hand while the other squeezes the flesh of your waist, you cup her face with your hands and run your thumbs over the apples of her cheek. she gently pushes your back onto the wall and kisses you more passionately, her tongue infiltrating your mouth and pulling you closer so your chest was flush with hers. she dips her head to place a three kisses on your neck before pulling back to take in your appearance.
“so pretty” your lips were kiss swollen with blown out pupils as you smiled up at her. “you’re so pretty” she places a kiss on your nose and whispers in your ear, “be a good girl and let us win, bebé (baby)?” she presses a kiss to the tip of your ear. you grip onto the collar of her shirt and bring her towards you, “let us win and i’ll make it worth your time?” both of you look at each other challengingly, your competitive sides coming out.
“now you’re not my girlfriend, you’re the enemy, go away!” she lightly shoves your shoulder, but not before giving you another quick peck on your lips, “aw really?” you mock her with a pout, “yes really, i still have a crush on you though” you laugh at her words, sending her a wave and a wink before walking back to your change room, leila shamelessly checking you out as you walk away, only you could make her heart beat out of her chest in a manchester united kit.
—
the game was going well, you and leila played professionally for your teams and not letting your relationship come into play. manchester united were in the lead by 2-1. leila was marking you with a hand on your waist, you lightly press into her with your back before running from her and shooting the ball towards the net, securing another goal and making the score 3-1, your team huddle around you to congratulate you on the goal, you return to your position but not without leila squeezing your bicep as you walked past her. the final whistle blows just two minutes after your goal.
you exchange hugs and smiles with your teammates and make your round with the city girls. finding esme and lauren and giving them tight hugs before they push you towards you awaiting girlfriend. she opens her arms out to you and you step into her warm embrace. your arms thread around her neck as you holds you round the waist, lifting you off the ground and smiling when your legs wrap around her.
you look down at her with a soft smile, “sorry, baby” she shakes her head lightly at you, “you deserved it with that goal, mi amor (my love), i believe you said something about making the win worth my time?” she smirks cheekily at you, slightly breathless from playing a full 90 minutes. “oh did i?” you act confused before she lightly pinches the side of your stomach, letting out a laugh together. she places you on the ground but the two of you don’t remove yourselves from the embrace.
“can i say congratulations?” she questions, smiling when you nod at her. she places a finger under your chin to point your head upwards at her and places a sweet kiss on your lips. you smile into it when you hear the number of fans and your teammates cheering for the both of you. she pulls away reluctantly, keeping it relatively tame for both of your sake, knowing the two of you got carried away quickly and frequently.
“i’ll see you later?” she whispers against your lips placing a quick peck there, you hum at her words, mind gone completely hazy and only focusing on her. she smiles at you, pulling you into another quick hug before waving goodbye sadly - the both of you would meet with each other in about an hour.
every second you spend with your girlfriend, you feel eternally grateful for the manchester city and united media teams for making you both so bold.
⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆
liked by lauren_hemp and 44,232 other:
leilaouahabi: my celebrity crush everyone, @/yourname
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yourname: my celebrity crush is hotter
↳ leilaouahabi: mine’s hotter
↳ yourname: do you want to make a bet?
↳ leilaouahabi: name your price bebé (baby)
lauren_hemp: this was all me, you’re welcome
↳ yourname: thanks hempo!!
↳ esme.morgan: what! me too!
↳ leilaouahabi: thanks es!
#woso#woso community#woso fanfics#woso one shot#woso x reader#woso imagine#leila ouahabi#leila ouahabi x reader
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One Love (3)
Hi guys!
So another Luna one as some of you asked. You can find the request here, here (You have now your jealous Ona!), here, here too and some part of here.
TW : Jealousy, mention of Vilda the asshole, harassment.
PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5
_____________________________________________________________
Throwback June 2023
When they started dating, Lucy didn’t know about what was happening in the Spanish Federation of football. At least with the women’s teams. Ona didn’t say anything to her at first, scared about the repercussions Lucy would have if some of the big bosses knew that she knew. Lucy was playing in Spain and it’s scared Ona to imagine that they could do something to her too.
Lucy knew that some things weren’t perfect, Alexia told her more or less that her ACL’s injury was caused because of the way they push them in training. But because of Ona’s silence, she thought that things were better now. That those people realize how bad they were when Alexia got hurt. She didn’t know how much she was wrong.
In June 2023, when Ona goes back to the national team, they were dating for five months. It was a long-distance relationship, but it went great and both of them were already kind of whipped with each other. They managed to keep her story away from the public for now, only their close friends knew about them. That of course include a lot of their teammates. Lucy playing in Spain with a lot of Ona’s teammates in her national team and Ona playing in England with a lot of Lucy’s national teammate’s, it was obvious that they will know about them.
But outside of that, they weren’t a lot of people. Sarina Wingman knew, Lucy had to face her when she came back in Manchester to watch Ona play the Manchester’s derby. But Ona made swear to everybody not to say anything to someone close to the RFEF.
So, when Alexia wrote to Lucy this night asking her if she talked to Ona, the English woman was a little lost. And worried. Not the one liking messaging, Alexia called her soon after Lucy answer her that they called this morning and that she’s waiting for her call right now.
“All good Capi?” Lucy asks, lying down on her bed.
“Yes. I mean… Look I don’t know what you know about what’s happening in here?”
“What do you mean?”
Lucy frowns, sensing a strange feeling in her stomach. Ona told her that she was opposed to play for the team as long as their managing was shit, but when she told her she will go back, Lucy thought that it suits her like this. She’s not the one to force the other to talk to her.
“About the… management?”
Alexia is whispering and Lucy sits on her bed, knowing the blonde is trying not to be heard. She explains what Ona explained to her and frown even more when Alexia sighs softly. She’s not sure now that something was wrong with her girlfriend, and she hates it.
“Look, just call her. She seemed off all day, but she won’t say us anything.”
So Lucy just say goodbye to Alexia before hurrying to call Ona. It took a long time for Ona to respond. She asked for a video call but when Ona answered, she’s facing a black screen.
“Hi Princesa” Lucy says, frowning.
“Hola” Ona answers.
Right after that, Lucy knows that something is up. Ona’s voice is muffled and not like her usual.
“Why can’t I see your pretty face?”
There are some seconds of silence before Ona’s answer, the brunette searching for a logical explanation. When she realizes that she can’t find one, she just improvised.
“I just got out of the shower.”
“You literally answered without a bra last time?”
Lucy raises her brow and she knows that Ona can see her. There is some more silence and Lucy just can’t take it anymore.
“Ona what’s happening? Are you hurt or something?”
“No! No, it’s nothing like that.”
Ona’s denials are virulent enough for Lucy to understand that the Spaniard is telling her the truth. But it does mean that there is something else.
“So turn the camera please”
Ona sighs a little and there is some noise when she takes her phone to turn it on her face. Lucy scan her immediately, looking first for a black eye and after any visible injury. But there is nothing. She spots however Ona’s red and swollen eyes.
“Babe what’s happening?”
The worry is very well audible in Lucy’s voice and Ona just shrug. The English woman can’t explain how much she wanted to be with to be able to hug her.
“Nothing. I just had a bad day” Ona mumbles.
She sniffs and lie on her bed, under the cover, taking her phone with her. Lucy doesn’t lose a second of that, not questioning for now why Ona is in her bed before diner. She has other concerns for now.
“Want to talk about it?” Lucy gently asks.
But Ona just answers in silence, shaking her head. It was bad, Lucy thoughts. Ona usually don’t have any problem to talk about her feelings to Lucy.
“Just watching and talking to you make me feel better.”
“You know that between you and I, people probably think I’m the sweet talker?”
Ona snorts and roll on her side to have a better look of her girlfriend. She doesn’t say anything else, so Lucy doesn’t too. She just look at Ona’s tired and anxious face. She looked at that face for long minutes the mornings when she wakes up before Ona. Which is almost every one morning to be fair.
“You want to take a nap?” Lucy finally asks.
“No. Can we just… stay like this?”
Ona seems so small asking this question that Lucy want to cry. And jump in the first plane to protect her girlfriend against God knows what.
“Of course, Princesa. Do you want to know a secret?”
“Yes?”
It raises Ona’s curiosity and a sparkle of something is soon shining in her eyes.
“I made a reservation for a small vacation after the World Cup.”
“Where?” Ona asks softly.
“Menorca. Would you want to come with me?”
“I would love it” Ona answers. “After the World Cup?”
“After the World Cup” Lucy confirms.
But suddenly there is some more tears in Ona’s eyes and before she knows it, they are drowning her cheeks. Her breath became hard to take and Lucy panic, almost calling Alexia to help her.
Lucy’s voice sounds far away for Ona, but she still can concentrate on it.
“Ona, baby breath please. Breath for me.”
Lucy repeats herself as a litany, but it seems to take effect gradually since even if she continues to cry, Ona seems to find a more or less normal breathing. She manages to talk, her words interrupted with her sobs.
“It’s just awful Luce. They keep pushing us to be better, but it seems like they don’t want us to be. They swear things would change when they ask me to come back so I did, but it’s worse than ever and people now think that I’m a traitor because I came back. I just have to do what they say because otherwise they punish everyone in the team. We didn’t have lunch today because Eva wasn’t able to finish her twenty laps of the football field in the time they gave her.”
Lucy is stunned, not knowing what to answer to that. And I must be the first time ever that the woman is speechless. But now that she has begun, Ona seems like she can’t stop talking.
“They chose what we can eat or not and change it almost everyday and they have not fucking sense. They made me eat pancake yesterday for breakfast and today I just had fruit because I’m apparently to fat! And then –“
“They told you you’re fat?”
Lucy seems shocked by what she just heard, but Ona only laughs with no joy.
“That is nothing. You should hear what they tell us every day.”
Lucy keeps silence a little bit, still under the shock. But then she remembers Ona’s eyes when she called and decide to try her luck. Ona is wiping her tears quite aggressively when Lucy asks her a new question.
“What happened today?”
Ona takes time to wipe her cheeks before taking a shaky breath. She seems exhausted and Lucy wondered how she could keep all that for herself.
“They keep telling I suck at everything I did. When I went back to my room to change for training, Vilda came in my room to shoot at me for about everything. He said that if we take one more goal because of me, he would make sur that I won’t be able to play for Barcelona.”
Lucy feels her stomach fell. She knows that Ona didn’t come back to Barcelona for her and that it was her dream to be back home. But Lucy being there was the big cherry on the cake. And she won’t lie, being able to be with her girlfriend everyday after being in a long-distance relationship feels like heaven.
“He can do that. Does he think he’s God or something?”
“I don’t know. He has a lot of friend everywhere”
Ona seems defeat and take a tissue to blow herself.
“You should talk about it to Alexia or Irene.”
“He told me not to talk about it to anyone, otherwise my friend would have trouble playing too.”
Ona insists on the “My friend” and Lucy frowns.
“Was he talking about me?”
“I don’t know. But I didn’t say anything about us Lucy, I swear”
More silenced tears are falling from Ona’s eyes and Lucy feels her heart break a little.
“I believe you Princesa. But how the hell could he knows?”
“I don’t know. I asked Ale if she thought it was possible they tapped our phones, but she said no.”
“Good thing we never tried phone sex”
Ona laughs in the middle of her cry and she’s smiling when she wipes more tears on her cheeks.
“You’re way to old for that, Lucia”
“Oi don’t be mean now?”
Ona laughs softly one more time, before taking a deep breath to try to calm herself. Her head is spinning from all the crying and her eyes are a little sensitive. Even if it’s at her depends, Lucy is happy to her the younger woman laughs.
“Nobody’s going to stop you to play at home next season, Ona. Your contract is already signed. And, for the record, they have no power over my license. And you play amazingly those days, he won’t be able to do anything. It’s going to be ok, I promise."
“Yeah”
It’s the only answer from Ona, but she looks at little happier than before. In another hand, Lucy’s mind is always processing with all she just learns about the different abuses happening is the Spanish camp.
“How the hell did he entered in your room anyway?”
The question surprise Ona at first, but then she imagines herself at Lucy’s place and she understand. Ona bites her lip before shrugging.
“They have a spare key for all the rooms.”
“I’m sorry?”
It was getting worse at everything Ona says, Lucy thought.
“They say it’s for keeping an eye in our environment and make sure it’s healthy. Before Covid we were two in our rooms, so it was better but now… It’s really scary to be honest. That’s partially why I can’t sleep very well.”
“I need to talk about it to Sarina”
“No! Lucy, please, don’t. And don’t talk about what I told you to Alexia, please.”
For the first time tonight, Lucy lies to Ona. Because she definitely talk to Alexia about it, sincerely scared for her girlfriend’s sanity. Of course, Alexia was angry about all the things Ona heard this day, the other wasn’t really surprising for her. Lucy talked about it to Sarina too, but only because she seemed so horrified the morning after that the Dutch Woman was concerned about her defender.
“I need to know something more, Ona. And I need you to swear to tell me truth.”
“Okay?”
Ona is looking at her reluctantly, knowing that the question would be asked about what she just said to Lucy.
“Did someone… I don’t know how to ask that” Lucy sighs before trying again, but Ona cuts her soon after.
“No one touch me the way you’re thinking.”
Lucy raises her eyes back on Ona, not saying anything. Ona sighs once again, whipping at her eyes for what it looks like the thousand time.
“When I told about it to my brother, that’s the first thing he asks. They pushed me before, but nothing like that.”
********
Now.
Lucy still thinks about that night, sometimes. When they play against each other at the Final, she knows that Spain must win for another reason that the achievement. They need the eyes of the world on them, to the big authorities to look after them. It didn’t happen the way they hopped though, all of them being called even after they all said that they won’t come back until things changes for good.
They were forced to come even after Vilda’s termination, but this time Lucy was with Ona when she received the call. She was able to hold her against her, to rub her back when her girlfriend was in a multiple conversation with some of her teammates at the same time.
She was able to run her a bath, make her diner and stroke her hair to help her falling asleep that night. She was here for her and that’s all she ever wanted.
It’s easier now for Lucy to let Ona go to international break, things are getting better. And they still win everything, making her be in her WAG era. Which she loves a lot to be fair. Even if sometimes she faces some other girl interested in Ona, like that night after the Finale of the UEFA National League.
“I like this one, what do you think?”
Lucy’s mind was way too far away from present, and she focused again on her girlfriend, scrolling on her computer. They were looking for a new house, wanting to leave that apartment to be able to have a garden for their dogs. They are clean and sweets, but sometimes it could be easier. And having more rooms when Lucy’s family come to Barcelona would be great too.
She was looking at Ona sitting on her sofa while she searched for their maybe future house, and she doesn’t know why she thought about this memory. They had way more happier moments or Peggy 18 memories on it.
Lucy leans on Ona, taking advantage of their proximity to brush her lips against Ona’s neck. She feels the goosebump on her girlfriend’s skin and smirks when Ona shot her a look of advertisement.
“She seems great” Lucy answers after reading it. “Do we really need a swimming pool though?”
Ona only smiles and shrug, taking her computer back to check the location of the house. It was between their training ground, her parent’s house and isn’t far away from the downtown. They would be far away from the airport though.
“Just imagine how much fun Alfred and Alzira would have?”
Lucy’s eyes start shinning and Ona knew that she picked the right argument. She kisses her cheek, getting closer to her. They were looking for a house for some weeks now, visiting some without having a spark for any of it. Ona has real hopes for this one.
“I’m calling this office now” Ona decides, standing up from the sofa.
“Wait!”
Ona frowns at Lucy’s exclamation, looking at her when she stands up too. Then Lucy takes her by her hips and kiss her hard, taking her by surprise. Ona let a whimper escape her lips before kissing her back. But soon, Lucy suddenly lets her go.
“Now you can make that call” Lucy smirks before leaving her to go to the kitchen.
“That woman” Ona mumbles, after the ten seconds more than necessary to cool her down.
********
The house was amazing and all they could hope for. They saw it two times, asks Ona’s father and Abuelo to come to see it with them too, just to be sur. But they confirm that it’s amazing. Ona’s a little sad that her brother is currently in Austria with his girlfriend, he was always here when she moves out usually. He even took some days off when she left for Manchester to help her in her new flat.
Ona was actually showing pictures to Alexia on her phone, even if they were in a night with other people. She is way to excited with their new project to be able to shut up. And Lucy is watching her with a tender smile. She’s almost as excited as Ona to be honest. She already had drawn plenty possibilities about how they could put their furniture in the different rooms in the house.
“I’m happy for you. You deserve all this happiness.”
Lucy turns when a hand pats her shoulder, smiling at Irene. Ona and Alexia were now talking in a too fast and too excited Catalan for her to understand, Mapi joining them soon after.
“Thanks. Who knew the woman I was looking for just left Barcelona when I was coming in here?”
Irene smiles and shrugs. She saw Lucy going down after her breakup with Keira, even if it was a mutual decision. Her love story with Ona was a little bit unexpected, but now she can’t imagine them with someone else.
“Life made things good for you. You were meant to be, but maybe you had some things to live separately before being together.”
“That’s exactly what Ona said” Lucy smirks.
“What a wise woman she is.”
Lucy laughs slightly with Irene before finishing her drink. The end of the season is coming so they are a little less strict about their alcohol consumption. It’s still only a beer, though.
Even if they made a point of not sticking to each other all night, they definitely can’t help but gravitate unconsciously around each other. Ona soon realizes that a woman is looking at Lucy with way too much interest for her proper liking, but she just bites her lip in silence for now. But it only lasts two minutes before she goes to Lucy once again, being able to listen to the conversation. They are talking in Spanish, Lucy’s progress coinciding with Ona’s arrival in her life.
As if nothing had happened, Ona leans on the table as she approaches Lucy, her gaze briefly resting on the table. It is beautifully laid out, offering various drinks or snack.
“It’s a great project. If you need help with your house, I can give you my number” was saying this way to pretty blonde.
“We already have all we need, thank you. Right Princesa?”
Ona just nods and send a forced smile to their interlocutor. The blonde let her gaze going down and up on Ona, but not in a really good way. Ona arches her eyebrow at her, not really into the mood to be belittled by a random stranger.
“Yes. We are more than perfect.”
The blonde’s jaw tight slightly, understanding the double meaning easily. Lucy does seem to understand the tension between Ona and the other woman, she understands too really quickly the blonde’s flirting attempts. That is why she called Ona “Princesa”, something she usually doesn’t in public. In particular since Ona called her accidentally “Cutie” in front of everyone and they needed months for them to forget this.
“Oh really? Can’t see why, but anyway…”
Ona almost chokes in her glass, but Ona starts to feel her cool go away. None of the three women realize that Mapi is right them, listening to the conversation with conflictual feelings. If someone were hitting on Ingrid the way this stranger is hitting on Lucy, she will probably be dead. But the Spaniard is also curious to see how Ona will handle the situation.
“What do you mean?”
The question is asked with harsh, but Lucy can’t blame Ona for it. She opens her mouth to say something but the blonde talks before she can. Ona isn’t looking at her, anyway.
“What I mean and maybe it’s good for you to hear, is that it’s very sad and almost disappointing to see a woman like this being with someone like you.”
Lucy is stunned by what she just heard, Mapi makes a move to interrupt what she heard, but Ona is faster. Grabbing a glass full of gazpacho, she throws the red liquid perfectly onto the woman’s face.
“I hope there is chili in it, otherwise that will be disappointing. Stay the fuck away from my girlfriend and find yourself someone at your height. Maybe a roach or something. “
“Vamos Amiga” laughs Mapi, before shutting her mouth when she crosses her girlfriend’s eyes.
Ona, for her part, turns her heels and takes the direction of the exit door, moving away from the stage. One second late, Lucy follows the movement but easily catches her at the door.
“Ona” Lucy calls her, the door closing behind them.
But the brunette is still walking, so Lucy has to take her arm in her hand to stop her.
“Ona!” Lucy tries again.
“What?!”
Turning on her heels again, Ona faces her girlfriend, her pretty face full of anger. Lucy does not know if she already saw her as angry as she is right now.
“Don’t tell me I shouldn’t have do that, you know perfectly what she was doing, way before she starts insult me or insinuate that you deserve more than me!”
“I wasn’t going to say that” Lucy answers calmly.
Her ton surprise Ona enough to stop her boiling anger and jealousy immediately. She looks at Lucy like she wants to be sure that she’s not lying to her. But she’s not, even if her eyes are shinning with some things Ona isn’t able to name.
“She was a bitch to you, you wanted to say something but you got ahead of me.”
Ona silently looks at her for more seconds before Lucy takes advantage to her arm always in her hand and draw Ona against her. The Spaniard let her do it, enjoying Lucy arms encircling loosely her waist.
“You’re hot when your jealous” Lucy whispers, her lips in Ona’s hair.
Ona rolls her eyes, cuddling closer to her girlfriend. She knew that Lucy would talk about it, and she cannot reproach it to her.
“She was drooling looking at you” Ona grumbles.
“I know. And I’m sorry you have to see that, but you know I would never be interested in anyone other than you, right?”
Lucy seems genuinely anxious about Ona's answer, but the Catalan knows that Lucy isn't that kind of girl.
“Course I know” Ona answers with an evil smile “Otherwise you would have been the one covered in gazpacho.”
_____________________________________________________________
I gave up proofreading, I’m sorry for the mistakes ♥
#woso imagine#ona batlle#woso fanfics#ona batlle imagine#ona battle#ona batlle x lucy bronze#lucy bronze imagine#lucy bronze#lucy bronze x ona batlle#luna
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AUDERE EST FACERE.
↳ "I want us to be brave, to be aggressive. To play like Tottenham Hotspur. All I care about is this football club. Tottenham Hotspur Football Club is the most important thing."
Push and run football AKA 'make it simple, make it quick', the mother of Total Football, as designed by Arthur Rowe / Rowe meets Puskás and passes on his philosophy / Ange Postecoglou talks about the inspirations behind his footballing philosophy / Bryan Gil on Tottenham's style of football / Cormac McCarthy, 'The Road' / Tottenham 2-1 Sheffield United / Tottenham 2-1 Brighton & Hove Albion / Tottenham 3-3 Manchester City / Tottenham 2-1 Liverpool / Fall Out Boy & Elton John, 'Save Rock And Roll' / Ange Postecoglou mic'd up at Celtic training / Ange Postecoglou on compromising on his attacking style of football / Tottenham playing a high line against Chelsea despite being only 9 men on the pitch / Bill Nicholson / Ange Postecoglou waves to the crowd and his family after winning against Liverpool at home in his first season of the PL, caption from the fan song 'I'm Loving Big Ange Instead' sung to the tune of Robbie Williams' Angels, created by thevoiceofspurs / Young Sheldon, Season 4, Episode 1: 'Graduation' / Tottenham players celebrate after winning against Liverpool at home / Ange Postecoglou on Tottenham weathering a major injury crisis and suspensions leading to players playing out of position / Son Heungmin on Tottenham's underdog comeback victories / Son Heungmin on the feel of the new stadium before the UCL match against Man City, 2019, 'No Filter UCL' / Stray Kids ft. Tiger JK, 'TOPLINE' / Off the Shelf Ep. 20 ft. Brennan Johnson / Lord of the Rings: Return of the King / James Maddison's 'FEARLESS' tattoo on the side of his neck / Ange Postecoglou on Tottenham's chances of clinching the title in the 23/24 season / EDEN, 'love; not wrong (brave)' / Tottenham players link hands and run toward the South Stand in celebration after winning 2-1 against Sheffield United, both goals scored in injury time / Lao Tzu / Pape Sarr runs into the Tottenham fans' arms after equalising against Brighton, 2024 / Destiny Udogie points to the club's badge over his heart after equalising against Brentford, 2024 / James Maddison on Ange Postecoglou encouraging the players to play his way in the first North London Derby of the 23/24 season / To Dare is to Do, fan tifo, at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium / Dejan Kulusevski on playing for Tottenham under Ange Postecoglou
#web weaving#tottenham#spurs#tottenham hotspur#football#in the end it is always about BRAVERY. tottenham hotspur and BRAVERY!!!! it's in our dna from the inception of this club#i will probably make a web weave about that at some point but yeah the connection btwn rowe & puskas & ange makes me go insane#and madders' fearless tattoo naaaaah this guy was made for us#basically just shocked with the way that ange fits us 100% tbh#not quiiiiiite satisfied w this but physically cannot look at this anymore#but yeah this is kind of an homage to the players & ange#rahul.txt
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𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐮𝐬 - 𝐫𝐮́𝐛𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐬
・𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲: 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐲𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐬
( 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐟𝐟 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐮𝐛𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞? 𝐘/𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐣𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐮𝐛𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐩 )
𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞: 𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐲 𝐫𝐮𝐛𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭.
To say she was nervous would be an understatement, yes, she had been an integral part of the women's team of Manchester City for three years now yet each time this day comes - she always feels a bundle of nerves settle in her abdomen, this wasn't just any match day, this was the Manchester Derby, and she wanted to be as integral and helpful as she can to the team, and also to perform at her highest ability as her boyfriend of two years, Manchester City's defender Rúben Dias would be in attendance with two of his teammates, John Stones and Kyle Walker, the pair she had met during several joint events.
The atmosphere was intense as she stepped out from the dugout to the roaring of fans who cheered for her, her boyfriend included - as he stood up, clubbing his hands with a proud smile, shouting " You go baby ", the mere sight coupled with the fact that he had worn her jersey was definitely helpful in lessening the nerves she felt.
The match soon began, with everyone sitting at the edge of their seats, chanting for each side to take the lead.
Rúben was definitely nervous for her, he'd seen first hand just how much effort she had put for the Derby especially after the International break, John pats his back. " Relax mate, she's got this "
Kyle nodded, " Yeah, she's on fire "
" I know, but I can't help it " Rúben sighs, " I don't want anything bad to happen "
The first half went goalless which granted the teams enough chance to regroup then step out for the second half which proved even more fruitful than the first half as around the 58th minute, Y/N effortlessly ran through the defense to score what could possibly be the most graceful goal possible to give Manchester City the advantage as the stadium erupted in cheers, Rúben nearly jumped from his seat as he clapped as hard as he can for his girlfriend who was surrounded by her teammates that celebrated her.
However, just as the good times had rolled, the bad times were soon to follow - around the 68th minute, Y/N was aiming for a second goal only to be tackled by one of the opposition team's defenders, the tackle had proved to be violent as Y/N fell on the pitch clutching her leg with a pained expression across her features, Rúben stood up in alert the minute the medical team ran to her for assistance, he looks at John and Kyle who were just as concerned, John practically pushed him. " Go, go .. "
_
Y/N had been taken to the hospital in which after the operation, she'd been told that she will be out of competition for about 6 to 9 months at best, the mere fact had sent her mind into a spiral, how can she really survive these months without playing, yet that was the thing about football, it's always been and always will be unexpected - she'd been nothing short of thankful that Rúben was by her side, he'd even went as far as to move some of her stuff to his home so that he can keep an eye on her at all times after training.
Case in point, tonight after the first month of physiotherapy had passed - Rúben had went above and beyond tonight, the minute she set foot in the house, he picked her up in his arm, starting the night with a relaxing shower in which he'd mostly been the one to clean her up then he helped dress her up much to her dismay.
" I'm not a baby " She grumbled despite complying to him.
He chuckles, " You're my baby, now ... " he picks her up in his arms and steps out of the bedroom to the living room where he placed her on the couch, " I'm going to set the dinner plates while you watch tv ok " he said then pressed a kiss to her forehead.
" Ok " She nods with a smile, " I love you "
He smiles widely, " I love you too princess "
Around fifteen minutes later, he returns with a tray for her, placing it on the table, then he sat down much to her confusion. " Rúbes, where's your dinner plate? "
" I'll eat later, I want to feed you " He said with a soft voice.
" Rúbes, I can feed myself! " She whines.
" I know that, but I want you to rest as much as possible, I'll eat in a bit. Now, open that pretty mouth of yours " He playfully lifts the spoon up to her mouth, " come on, let the airplane land "
She laughs, " You've been waiting your whole life for this huh "
" How else am I supposed to be the best boyfriend if I don't get to take care of my girl? " He smirks.
He spent the next few minutes feeding her until the plate was empty, " See, now that wasn't so hard " he chuckles, lifting the tray in order to take it to the kitchen.
Y/N tilts her body and says, " Rúbes "
" Yes princess " He responds.
" Bring your dinner over here and let me cuddle you, please " She said with a small voice.
He chuckles " I was coming anyway ", he grabs the tray and walks over to the living room, he then sits on the couch close to her to allow her to rest her head on his chest while he used his free hand to eat.
" I love you " She said, " I'm grateful you're taking care of me "
" Always baby " He smiles. " Besides, you've endured me in my hard times and it is my duty to make sure you're ok, I love taking care of you, the same way you'll take care of our babies in the future "
Her eyes softened, " You want to have kids? "
" Of course I do, you're my woman, whether you like it or not. and the future mother of my babies, just think about it " He sighs with a smile, " A boy and a girl, the girl will not be as beautiful as you but also talented in football, the boy will be a heartbreaker like me, also talented in football but if they wish to do other things, we will support them "
" You have it planned it out? " She laughs.
" Since the day I saw you " He kissed the top of her head, " I want to take on the whole world with you "
" I want that as well my love " She smiles, shuffling closer to him.
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Long distance
Summary: being in a long distance relationship with Erling and you surprise him at the Manchester derby
It was hard for you and Erling
You both met each other when Erling first started playing for Dortmund in 2019 and soon after he asked you to move in with him and of course you said yes.
Everything had been perfect between the both of you until Erling had a call up from Manchester City.
He wanted you to follow him but you couldn’t quit your job and he understood that. So you both agreed on a long distance relationship.
Present day: 2nd October 2022
You missed Erling, as soon as you’d heard the biggest game of the season was coming up, the Manchester derby. You booked plane and match tickets to go and watch Erling play. This would be the first you’ve seen him in a few months and you didn’t want to admit you was nervous
you couldn't wait to see erling, after almost three months of being apart, and you were looking forward to surprising him after the game.
the game itself was incredible, and you loved seeing erling play for the first time in what seemed like forever. even better is that he played absolutely phenomenally, getting a hat trick and two assists.
after the match had ended and all the fans had left the family’s of the players walked out onto the pitch to greet and congratulate everyone
You and Erlings dad, Alfie, waited for him to exit the tunnel, excitement running through your veins. he walked out with Phil after getting their photo taken for the mc instergram. erling not even recognising you at first, phil having to give him a slight nudge and point you out to him.
as soon as erling's eyes landed on you, his face broke out into a huge grin, he ran to you, dropping his match ball in the process. when he got to you he scooped you up into his arms, you wrapping your legs around his waist, as you clung onto him, not wanting to let go.
Once he placed you on the floor, he cupped your cheeks, pressing a long passionate kiss on your lips
“What are you doing here? You didn’t tell me you where coming” his eyes looking all over you, taking you all in, as if you would disappear any minute.
“i missed you so much, you know."he breathed out, wrapping his free arm around your shoulder, pressing a kiss to the top of your head.
“How long are you in Manchester for” he questioned
“As long are you want” you told him
“What”
“Oh sorry, i forgot to mention. I quit my job to become an author” you smile shyly
“That’s great! Wait does that mean you can live with me” at that moment Erling a face lit up
“Only if you want me to” you replied
“I would love you to” he said with no hesitation
“I love you Erling haaland. i missed you, too. it's been horrible, not being able to be here for you."
“And I love you y/n y/l/n, well, you're here now, and you've got quite a few people to meet, so come on," he said, grabbing your hand, ready to introduce you to everyone.
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4th December 1745: saw Charles Edward Stuart Jacobite army reach Derby.
Many believe that the Jacobite that this could have been a pivotal ,moment doting the ‘45
It was a long march under the leadership of Charles Edward Stuart - also known as 'The Young Pretender' or Bonnie Prince Charlie. The journey was part of their bid to reach London and overthrow the incumbent monarchy of George II.
Altrincham a small town south of Manchester, and not too far north of Derby was about as far south as the Jacobites ever reached in their campaign. They eventually turned back. It is arguably the greatest ‘what if’ in Scottish history
If you can find a copy, the best account of the ’45 is by David Daiches in his magisterial Charles Edward Stuart: The Life and Times of Bonnie Prince published in 1973.
On 3rd December 1745 word reached Derby that a nine or ten thousand strong Jacobite army was about to arrive.e newly formed Derbyshire Blues, under the command of the Duke of Devonshire, decided to retreat fifty miles to Retford and left Derby to its fate.
True enough the following day the Jacobite army entered Derby, having marched south from Carlisle on 18th November. The entry of the army into the town was carefully planned to give the impression that Charles did indeed have 9,000 men, though the true number was a lot less. At eleven o’clock in the morning the vanguard, consisting of some thirty horse entered the town and ordered quarters for nine thousand men. In the afternoon the life-guards and some of the principal officers on horseback arrived and this was followed by the main body through the course of the evening; entering in detached parties to make the army appear as numerous as possible. The capital was said to be in panic and the Bank of England in chaos as neither Cumberland's or Wades armies were well placed to tackle the Jacobite army.
The next day, 5th December, the Jacobites called a council meeting in Exeter House to decide the best way to proceed. They were now only 125 miles from London, just six days march and while Charles wanted to continue south and take on London many were against this decision. With the two government armies behind them and a third army defending London some Jacobites were worried they didn’t have enough support. They had not gathered many men on their route south and the long-promised French help had failed to materialise.
Lord George Murray argued that during their march south they had seen more enemies for their cause than friends and he feared being penned in on three sides. He argued that even if the Jacobite army defeated the Government armies on the day, they would undoubtedly lose men and be unfit to face a second battle. If they were defeated so far from home then the reality was they would be captured and likely sentenced to death. The Prince was forced to admit he had no promise of support from English Jacobites and no idea when or if the French would invade.
The first pic is by English artist Tom Colley over a hundred years later, the next is the Bonnie Prince Charlie statue, Derby.
No matter what side you suppoert, I think it is a disgrace that we do not have a statue in Scotland of the Prince, and likewise there are very few to another of the Stewart monarchs Mary Queen of Scots.
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between the lines | prologue
rúben dias x original female character [+18]
synopsis: isabella is a sports journalist covering the premier league. she has sworn to never get involved with a football player. that is, until she meets a handsome portuguese defender.
warnings: incorrect journalism references; timeline of events are not faithful to real life; i have never been to england; mutual pining; romantic comedy; minors dni.
masterlist | next chapter
Prologue
“You were at Wembley yesterday?”
“Yep. And I’ll be covering the final as well. Manchester derby!” Victor raises his pint glass in my direction as I sit down. Victor, Sebastian – our other friend at the pub table – and I were ESPN spanish correspondents, covering the Premier League. This has been my first season in England; After leaving Spain a few years ago, right after college, I worked practically everywhere that matters: Italy, France, Germany. Coming to England was bound to happen eventually.
“Well, I’m kinda covering a final too. I’ll be at the Etihad on Wednesday.” I brag to my fellow coworkers. Manchester City will be playing Arsenal in what is the most anticipated game in the Prem this season, it’s a head-to-head, title decider kind of match. And I’m lucky enough to be working in it.
“Damn, I wish I got that game.” Victor whistles.
The beautiful coincidence of it all is that my older brother, Carlos, has been living in Manchester with his wife Sienna for the past 3 years, and last year they welcomed into the world my first niece, Lucía. I don’t have a big family, in fact, it’s just Carlos and I now. So, when I heard that I was going to be an aunt, the move to England felt more like a blessing and less like my bosses back in Spain cutting costs on reporters.
“Honestly I can’t wait to use the term ‘bottled’.” Sebastian says grinning and I immediately answer, throwing a french fry at his overall direction.
“You’re a Tottenham supporter, Seb, shut the fuck up.”
“Alright, no need to get personal, let’s all calm down.”
After spending monday night at the pub, as usual, I go back to my – mind you – charmingly decorated studio apartment. That’s my favorite part about constantly moving, getting a new place in a new country turns my life into a blank canva. I can be a totally new person every time. This time I went with a ‘earth tones’ palette for the decor. I’m an earth tone apartment type of woman now. It 's exciting.
As I lay in bed, I found myself unable to sleep. The problem is that the cause of my insomnia has an Instagram profile. In all of my years working with football I have never been so attracted to a player like this. It 's revolting. It 's humiliating. I’ve lost count of how many times I had to interview him this season, and every single time I was blushing like a complete idiot. And it keeps getting worse. Rúben Dias has made me lose sleep for weeks in a row now. So I open the Insta app once again and stare at his ridiculous topless pictures for way too long trying to calm myself down. I tap my own belly, now filled with beer and french fries, and laugh at myself. It’s never ever going to happen, I really need to get over myself.
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aren’t you a new football fan? celebrating like you’ve won the fucking world cup after one arsenal win lmfao. i’m not a city fan but don’t get used to assna wins when you lot lose the league to city again. embarrassing behaviour
hi anon! let's clear the air, yeah?
first of all, yes! i am a new football fan, i just started watching seriously after the world cup, and i am also a new arsenal fan. however, i still care very deeply about the sport and my team's successes in said sport! that is what being a fan is all about <3 just because i didn't grow up watching european football doesn't mean that i have less of a right to enjoy it then you do! also, it is the most popular sport in the world with billions and billions of fans globally, and out of the entire sport, the english premier league is the most viewed league in the world. of football, but also of any sport. so you can't really gatekeep it, sorry!
second of all, i'm aware that this was only a regular matchweek, not the world cup. but there are two important caveats to that those being:
who we were playing
and
the fashion in which we won
for who we were playing, it's not a secret that outside of the spurs and the north london derby, manchester united is one of arsenal's biggest rivals and has been since the start of the premier league when they were competing against each other for titles and trophies. i won't go into premier league history with you, i am just a new fan who knows nothing after all, but you should know that beating a rival is always exciting, especially when you are competing against them for points and jockeying for the title to compete with man city. every win is important, and winning is better when it is against a historical rival team.
for the fashion in which we won, it was a close game until the very end. rashford scoring in the 27th minute, and odegaard answering back 35 seconds later. the teams were trading chances and possession, there were good chances and var calls that went either way, it was a close game where the teams were fighting hard. and then, in the 95th minute, rice scores an absolute screamer and it was truly scenes at the emirates. gabi jesus caps it off with a 101st minute beaut, and arsenal win the game. winning in the last 3 minutes of regulation time, with a bonus goal over 100 minutes into the game is exciting! it was thrilling to watch, and seeing a team that i support win that emphatically in that dramatic of a manner was so much fun. its an exciting thing to watch and its ok to be excited when there's a win like that!
it also isn't just one win, this has just been our best win this season (imo)! we have only played four games, and we have won three and drawn one. so that is three wins actually, i am just celebrating this one the most, again, because of who we won against, how we won, and how we played to secure the win.
if the bit about "not getting used to arsenal wins" (i don't think you can call them assna when they came second in the premier league last season, and this season they haven't lost and they're in the champions league, right? but what do i know i'm just a new footy fan <3) is about the post where i said i forgot how good it feels to watch my team win, i don't think you understand what i have been through in the past 12 years as a sports fan. my hockey team has been on a losing streak almost this whole time, and we have been one of the flops of the league for awhile. just take a look at these gorgeous statistics from my favourite hockey team (that i have been a fan of since i was two, thank you very much)
do you want to talk losing? i know about losing. i know about losing for a long time, in an embarrassing manner. if you want more examples from football, from january to april 2023 i watched psg play every week. that was embarrassing losing in football for real. i might be new to football but i'm not new to sports, and i have to be perfectly honest: coming second is not losing. and what happened today wasn't a loss at all! in fact, it was the opposite! it was a win!
idk about losing the league to manchester city, it seems to me that arsenal has a good system with talented players that can ball out. we will see what comes, as the season is long and there are many other competitions for arsenal to compete in, but i have faith in the gunners and i believe that they can win! (and ill let you in on a little secret: that's what being a fan is all about <3)
i'm not sure if the embarrassing behaviour at the end is for my behaviour or arsenal's behaviour, however i am not being embarrassing, i am just being a fan, and arsenal certainly wasn't embarrassing with their performance today. idk what you're seeing, but bestie i think you might be blind <3
thanks for coming into my inbox anon, hope this cleared everything up for you! next time, let's let people enjoy things yeah? i try my best to be positive on here, i'm hardly ever a hater and i like to spread joy. why don't you take some of that energy alright? alright. hope you enjoyed your stay <3
ps: arsenal definitely are winning the world cup :)
#anon asks#well this wasn't what i was expecting but here we are#truly don't understand hate anons like let people enjoy things damn.#also idk why you're so defensive of it you're definitely a city fan lmao
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hi bri!! some anon asks for u!!
- favourite snack?
- best comfort thing to do after a harrowing loss in football (sending condolences 💕)?
- what is your favourite football-related memory?
*jumping up and down while clapping* yay!!!
Fave snack: depends on where I am tbh 😵 if I’m in the UK, probably Tyrell’s mature cheddar and chive crisps or Scottish tablet. If I’m back in the States with my family, it’s gotta be tortilla chips and queso. That shit is the nectar of the gods and I miss it so much.
What comforts me after a devastating football loss (also, thanks for the condolences bestie, ily 🥹😭💜): usually I’ll watch some of my favorite comfort footy vids, like Bayern’s summer games. I’ve got a whole ass playlist on YouTube devoted to all the beautiful game content that makes me smile, and that usually helps me remember the good times. I also love a good snack, so I usually I’ll whip up a plate of bacon cheese fries for myself (one of my go-to comfort foods). And if comfort footy videos don’t work, I’ll either watch a movie or, more recently, I’ve been binging Watcher’s puppet history with Shane Madej and Ryan Bergara, which I can’t recommend enough for when you need a good laugh.
Fave football-related memory: this is a tough one, because I’ve got a few 😅 my first football memory’s gotta be in the mix: Wayne Rooney’s thrilling Manchester derby bicycle kick. That was my very first club football match and the one that, needless to say, made me fall in love with Manchester United. I’d also say the whole of the 2014 World Cup. It was the first WC I watched all the way through, and I think I’m still chasing the high following that tournament gave me. I had so much fun watching it and talking about it with my family, and I don’t think I’ve ever felt heartbreak like when the USMNT got eliminated. But I loved watching the two finalists, Die Mannschaft and Selección Argentina, so that softened the blow quite a bit 😂 discovering my love for Bayern and the 2022 World Cup final definitely make the list as well :)
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Do you think Jamie may have had a prior, more typical loan period? With Cole, you mention the possibility of multiple loans and if Jamie had a loan in the 18/19 season, his age at the time of loaning makes more sense. I tend to put his birthday in the first week of 1997, which would make him about six months older than Cole at the time of hypothetical loaning. And purely theoretical and for fun, any favourite Championship club to send him to?
This is referring to things from my earlier loan ask, so linking that here.
Interesting! There is nothing in the show to indicate that Jamie did go on an earlier loan, but also nothing to indicate he didn't (aside from the fact they never mention it.) But it's definitely a possible idea, because this is very much a real thing. Sometimes players go on several years worth of loans, one after the other to a few different clubs. And you're right, Richmond could be the last in a series of loans for Jamie that started when he was younger.
Man City currently have some of their young contracted players on loan to clubs in lower leagues, players who haven't had any appearances in the senior side. They've currently loaned to Sheffield United and Burnley (both recently promoted to the Prem with the help of City loanees playing in the starting line up,) Blackburn Rovers, Preston North End, Coventry City, Stoke City. Bolton Wanderers is a League One club they loan to. A number of the boys on loan are in the position you are talking about, where they've had two or three loans in a row. Taylor Harwood-Bellis for example has been at Blackburn Rovers, Anderlecht in Belgium, Stoke City, then Burnley this past season. Or Tommy Doyle, who has been at Hamburger SV, Cardiff City, then Sheffield United. (As discussed in the earlier post, he wasn't allowed to play against Man City when Sheffield faced them in the semi-final of the FA Cup.)
There's nothing to really imply that Jamie did bounce around on loan, it does feel like it's something they would tell us. But it absolutely is a possibility and could make for a really interesting idea in a fic. I don't know if I have a club preference for an earlier loan for Jamie but City tend to loan to Northern clubs these days and I'd probably keep Jamie in the North, within an hour of Manchester or something. I'd probably put him in a smaller, slightly more boring city or town, somewhere less huge and vibrant than Manchester. He's very urban and I would probably remove that from him for story reasons. I'd probably dig into what clubs were in what league for the 18-19 season, and who was managing what clubs or playing for them, and see if there was something interesting in "real football" that I wanted to connect Jamie to. Maybe Bolton, because they were managed by Phil Parkinson that season and I know his personality from Welcome to Wrexham. Though, they were also relegated at the end of that season, so maybe not. That doesn't look so good for Jamie's "rising star" story.
Actually I think my answer is Derby County. They did okay in 2018-19. Mason Mount was on loan to them that season from Chelsea and he's one player Phil Dunster has said Jamie shares the playing style of, so say we get rid of Mase and send Jamie to Derby in his place. Then we have Scott Carson, who is currently the very old (for football) Man City third goalie, who never plays any games but is a massive figure in their dressing room and and in training, he keeps people very happy and high spirited, he's always talked about as being an amazing guy who everyone loves. He was Derby County's starting goalie during that season.
And the manager of Derby County that season was Frank Lampard. I don't believe he exists in Lasso-verse, I think he and John Terry both don't exist and instead are replaced by Roy and Some Other Guy that Roy famously had a Chelsea partnership with. Because we know Roy was the long term captain like Terry, that's what his homecoming moment is based on in 3.02, John Terry coming back to the Bridge when assistant managing Villa. But he was a defender whereas Lampard is the legend in Roy's position, box to box midfielder. So instead of Lampard and Terry, there was Kent and… That Guy. But that fake guy who was Roy's really good friend? He can be the manager. We would have Jamie playing under Roy's Old Mate and fishing for Roy stories, and maybe having some level of friendship develop with Scott Carson that he would carry back to City, once Jamie returns to City after Richmond.
Edit: Lampard, in real life, played his final Premier League season for Man City (14-15) so Fake Lampard may have been aware of Jamie even from that time, Jamie would have been 18 and just signed the senior pro contract. Lampard then went on to play his final season of football full stop in America, so maybe that's where Roy got that idea that he says to Ted in season one, from his old friend Fake Lampard. Lots of fun connections between Jamie, Roy and Fake Lampard!
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Meu Amor | Chapter 1
Summary: "I don't have time for boys, Taylor. Especially not football players. I want to make the most of this opportunity. Who knows the doors it can open for me."
"The ones of Rúben Dias' house are already open" she says with a smirk.
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When an unexpected promotion at your job as a journalist for Sky Sports, may end up not only changing your professional life, but also your personal one.
Author's note: I got the inspiration for this story while watching a basketball game and seeing a Spanish journalist who is married to one of the players. She has to work during many of his games, sometimes even having to interview him, and both of them always are super profesional.
The idea of writing it with Rúben is all thanks to my friend Ana (hi 👋🏻), who has been obssesed with him since the end of last season, and sending me photos and videos daily. You can thank her for it 😅
Thank you very much for reading, and I hope you like it! 💜
Next chapter
Masterlist
“Ok, guys. I’ve got good news and bad news. Where should I start?”
“Bad news always first.”
“John had a fall last night while training, injured his knee pretty badly, and will be out for the rest of the year.”
“Oh my God, is he alright?”
“He is in a lot pain, but he is having surgery today. He told me not to worry, that he will be fine. But as much as it sucks, his bad news lead us to the good ones. One of you will be covering for him, and the lucky one is… Taylor!”
“Me? But what about Manu? Shouldn’t he be the one covering for John since he is his assistant?” Taylor asks.
“I was going to tell you once he came back from his holidays, but nevermind. He has accepted an offer to join the Champions League team. It’s less work, and that way he can help at home.”
“So that means that Taylor and I are the new John and Manu?” I ask.
“Exactly. Congratulations girls! Your first game will be the Manchester derby. Hope you enjoy it!”
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“Relax, girl. We’ll be ok and totally nail this, trust me” Taylor says, putting a hand on my leg and trying to make it stop moving.
“Oh, I’m not nervous. Well, maybe a bit. What I am the most, is excited” I reply. We are finally doing pitch side work, and I can’t wait.
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I finished my journalism degree two years ago. While most people knew the field they wanted to work in, I wasn’t sure, I liked too many things. But one day, after seeing a female journalist covering a football game, I said to myself: maybe I can do that too. I sent a curriculum to Sky Sports, and God knows why and how, they called me back.
I expected to spend most part of my time doing things for others, from getting coffees to ordering files. Just as you see on movies. But to my surprise, they had me join the Premier League team as an assistant.
During my first year, I helped transcribing the notes others took during games, turning them into articles for the website. They were articles about the smaller teams, those only their fans care about, but I was writing and my name was there.
One day, one of the guys I worked with had to cover for someone from the Big 6 team, aka, the most important clubs in the country, the ones everyone watched on tv. It was a Manchester United – Liverpool, and we weren’t watching it from home. We were at the stadium, sharing our spot with journalists from all around the country, seeing it all first hand. And I fell in love with it. This was what I wanted to do. To actually live the games and share that with those at home.
For some reason, Taylor read the article I wrote that day, asked around… And the following week I was working as her assistant and becoming part of the Big 6 team. I wasn’t writing anymore, but just being by her side during meetings and helping wherever I was needed, was enough. An all this was finally paying off, making me go back to Manchester and to the actual pitch side.
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“I’m going to the bathroom before we start. Can you make sure everything is ready and that no one ruins our spot?” Taylor says.
“Sure, don’t worry.”
We are at the Etihad, Manchester City’s stadium, the game starting in 20 minutes. The players are already warming up, and Taylor should be doing her live in just a bit. After that, we’ll stay close to the benches, taking notes during the game, reporting back during the halftime, and doing the interviews once the game is over.
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“Taylor, where are you?” I mutter, checking my watch for the 10th time since she left. If she doesn’t come back soon, she’ll miss the live.
As I turn back to look at the pitch and make sure that everything is alright, I see a guy just in the middle of our set. Great.
“Excuse me, sir” I say, walking towards him. “This is a tv set, you can’t be here.”
Nothing, he doesn’t move. He is typing on his phone, the world around him gone. I let out a sigh and try to talk to him again, this time closer. He is way taller than I expected, and his back is huge. Like two times mine. No, maybe three.
“Sir. Sir, this is a tv set, you must move” I say, raising my voice. But nothing. “Sir, please” I say again, touching his arm. Even though he is wearing a jacket, I can feel his bicep. And just as his back, it is huge.
“Oh, hi” he says, starting to turn to look at me.
“Hi, sorry” I say, my hand staying on his arm for longer than it should have. “This is a tv set and we should be having a live any minute now. You must move somewhere else.”
“Yes, yes, I’m very sorry” he replies, his eyes fixed on me.
“Ok, thank you” I say, clearing my throat. Why is he looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?
“Mr. Dias, hello!” Taylor says behind me. Finally! “Such a pity that you aren’t able to play today.”
“Yeah, I know. But please, I already told you. Call me Rúben” he says. Do these two know each other?
“Yes, my bad. Sorry. Could we get you for a halftime interview? Are you watching the game from the VIP area or here next to the bench?” Taylor asks him.
“Yes, of course. And I was going to watch it from upstairs, but I’ve changed my mind” he says, looking at me.
“Oh, great. Then if they give us green light, we’ll see you later.”
“Looking forward to it” he smiles.
“Who was that?” I ask Taylor as I watch him leave. Though before he completely disappears among the crowd, I see him turning around to look back at me, giving me another intense look from head to toe, one that makes me blush a bit. Or a lot.
“Rúben Dias.”
“That’s him?”
“Of course that’s him! You are the most thorough person I know, you check every single detail, and you didn’t recognize him? Him? Last season’s best player?”
“You know Manchester City isn’t my cup of tea” I shrug.
“And Chelsea isn’t mine and I still know all their players faces. Anyway, you should start to pay more attention to him. You’ve definitely caught his” Taylor winks.
“Me? What? No!”
“He only had eyes for you! And he looked at you on purpose when he said that he had changed his mind about from where he was going to watch the game.”
“That was just a coincidence.”
“That was not a coincidence and you know it.”
“That… Ugh, Taylor, we are here to work, not to flirt with players. And we have a live in…” I say, checking my watch “2 minutes! C’mon, we need to get ready!
“Fine, fine” she says, rolling her eyes.
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“He fancies you.”
“Taylor, please don’t start again. My head hurts” I say, closing my eyes and trying to find a comfortable position on my seat. We still have an hour left until the train makes it to London, and a nap would do me wonders.
“But it is the truth! He is super serious with his job, something he has in common with you. And he always gives his 100% and puts all his focus on it, even if he isn’t playing. But today? Today he couldn’t stop looking to the side, to where you were. And during the game, I also caught him looking at you a few times.”
“He was just probably looking at the pitch, at his teammates.” Though I must say I also looked at him a few times, and he wasn’t paying attention to the game. He was looking at us. At me.
“Seriously, girl. One of the hottest guys on the Premier League only had eyes for you today. You should be ecstatic!”
“I don’t have time for boys, Taylor. Especially not football players. I want to make the most of this opportunity. Who knows the doors it can open for me.”
“The ones of Rúben Dias’ house are already open” smirks.
“I’m serious, Taylor. You’ve been working for longer than a decade. I haven’t. I need this to work out.”
“I know. And I’m sorry. I promise I won’t play matchmaker anymore and will focus on our job. Unless he sends me a dm asking me for your number or something. That’s the only exception.”
“Fine” I say, giving up. “You need to tell me how you two met, tho.”
“We’ll leave that story for another day. Now try to rest, I’ll wake you up when we make it back to London.”
And as I close my eyes and try to sleep, my mind chooses to relive everything that has happened today. Especially the moments that involve him. Rúben Dias.
#ruben dias#ruben dias x reader#ruben dias fanfic#ruben dias imagine#ruben dias x y/n#football fanfic#football imagine
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All The Quizzical Ladies
Been trying for the past ten minutes to come up with a lyric or pun-based title to let you all know that this is the first University Challenge Grand Final contested by two female captains (something like All the Quizzical Ladies, maybe, but I don't think that's very good). What I could do instead is tell you that here, as I have just done. That's probably easier than shoehorning in some hamfisted attempt at humour.
One of Tayana Sawh and Suraiya Haddad will become only the eighth female captain to lift the University Challenge trophy, and the first since Hannah Woods in 2016. This is the 53rd series of University Challenge, and there have been more winners called John (13) or David (10) than there have been winning female captains.
Sawh is joined by James Hall, Ali Izzatdust and Jacob Finlay. They have defeated four Oxbridge colleges along the way, and Manchester in the semi-final, saving their most impressive performance to date for this clash against the northern institution.
This is the thrid time UCL have made the final, but they were beaten on both previous occasions, by Corpus Christi, Ox in 2005 and Manchester in 2013. Hoping that it won't be third time lucky for their cross-capital rivals are Imperial who are looking for a record fifth Uni Challenge crown (this being a first London derby at this stage since Imperial won their maiden trophy against LSE in 1996).
Assisting Haddad on this front are Justin Lee, Adam Jones and Sourajit Debnath. They have knocked out three Oxbridge colleges, along with quarter-final wins over Sheffield and Manchester. They come into the final with a slight edge in terms of their scoring, but this kind of statistical forecasting has not served me well in the past.
The key buzzer-battle will be between Messers Lee and Izzatdust, who have lead the way in starters for their respective teams. But this too fails to tell the whole story, because I can remember key buzzes from all of the other members too.
So here we are, thirty-six episodes into a series which has had it all - two tiebreakers, a new host, a new studio. a new question screen and we need Jungle, I'm afraid - ready to face, for the last time, our first starter for ten.
Sign up for The University Challenge Review
Izzatdust kicks off the final with a question featuring the phrase interpretatio germanica, and UCL took a hat-trick of bonuses on the medieval Egyptian ruler Baybars. The perfect start.
A neg from Lee put Imperial below zero, but Hall couldn't capitalise with one of his trademark guesses, and a neg of his own allowed Debnath in with urea. A full set tied the game at twenty each.
At the third time of asking Hall gets on the board with Lubaina Himid, but UCL's lead doesn't last long, with Lee cruising through the first picture round on The Canterbury Tales. A second on the trot for Lee, an early buzz of Armenia, put Imperial in front for the first time.
Elia Kazan from Debnath extended their lead, and he backs up his starter with a perfect set of bonuses on video games, requesting a nomination from his captain each time with a gentle flick of his finger. Firewatch, Tunic, Disco Elysium. Imperial are forty clear.
This becomes fifty, and then one hundred, as Debnath, Lee and Jones take advantage of a few UCL slip ups. Lee knows the music starter too, Faure, and Imperial are starting to run away with this. It is somehow like they've been saving their best performance for the final, and you can only feel sorry for UCL, who are helpless as buzz after buzz goes against them.
The execution on the bonuses is also solid, meaning that the gap has been stretched beyond closing before UCL are able to get in a buzz of their own. Brutal, relentless quizzing from Imperial. Their dominance forces UCL into risky buzzes, which unfortunately don't pay off, dropping them further back. It is definitely the right tactic to go early with a guess when the deficit is pushing one fifty, but it doesn't work on the night.
When Lee buzzes with Berengaria after three or four words of the starter, it signals the spiritual end of the game. The gap is too big, and Imperial are playing too well to drop this now.
When UCL finally get started again they are two hundred points behind, but they are not disheartened and fight on till the very end, with Hall, Izzatdust and Jones taking great pleasure in a few excellent buzzes.
What at one point looked like it could have been a historic drubbing turned into a very respectable slugfest, in which one team merely outclassed rather than decimated the other. Imperial 285 - 120 UCL
A third title in five years cements Imperial's status as a University Challenge dynasty. It is also their fifth title overall, a new record which sees them stand alone above Manchester and Magdalen.
For UCL a third Grand Final defeat, which is heartbreaking, but they had no answer for Lee and his eight starters tonight and can take immense credit for the little flourish they had to close the match.
Tom Stoppard presented the trophy to Imperial on a roof, and talked about how much he enjoys the show, which is always nice to see, though I don't know why they did it on a roof.
And that's it for another series.
Congrats to Imperial, to UCL, and to you, dear reader, for making it the end of this post. If anyone deserves a trophy its you.
(Lucky for you, such a trophy exists. If you subscribe on this site you'll be ready for the next series when it starts in July! And if you subscribe to my Patreon, you'll get access to two series-worth of retro reviews, which detail the quarter-finals and onwards of older series)
Thanks for reading, and see you soon. Goodnight.
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A Manchester Affair (Rúben Dias): Chapter 7
Chapter 6
Chapter 8
Masterlist
Wattpad
September turned out to be a stupidly busy month. Matches every 3 or 4 days meant everyone was exhausted.
Lucía still managed to hang out with Rúben more than she expected at first, but she guessed those were the perks of literally living in the same place.
There weren’t other dates outside of their apartments, because of how busy the schedule was. But he definitely went out of his way to try and make every one of their meetings feel like one.
The more time they spent together, the more comfortable she felt in his company. The walls she had built around her were falling slowly, which was exciting. Maybe she could finally really be there for him. But he wanted more and he wanted it now.
Their conversations started to be longer. He would talk about his family, his childhood, his time in Manchester, …everything. There was no part of his life she didn’t know something about. Lucía, on the other hand, still couldn’t open up completely to him. Anyone could see she was just sharing the surface details. Winning a gymnastics competition aged 7, moving to Germany when she was 18 or that one anecdote she always told about her first night out in Amsterdam. It wasn’t the same, at all.
But she could see the progress. The problem was that Rúben wouldn’t be able to see it. And his frustration was obvious. So to the already big fear of potentially falling for him, and maybe being hurt again, she had to add the fear of him getting tired of her and moving to someone else who was emotionally available now. Who knew how long she was going to make him wait?
And then came the Manchester derby. The preparation for it was unlike anything Lucía had seen since arriving at United. The distance between the teams had been huge in the last couple of years, and the results from last year still stung. So the players and the staff were taking this match extremely seriously. It almost felt like a final. But there would be no trophy afterwards. Though bragging rights sometimes felt like one.
“Check her for microphones!”, said Rapha when she entered the canteen.
“Pardon?”
“Don’t you live with the entire City squad? We need to check that they aren’t using you as a mole”.
Everyone laughed at that, including her.
“They can try but they won’t be getting anything from me. I’m loyal”.
And she was honest. Lucía and Rúben had even decided not to mention the match to each other.
Something else she occupied her time on was meeting Claudia. They had visited each other's houses, gone shopping and watched movies, just to name a few things they did together. It was great to have a female friend in Manchester to talk to. She loved all her other friends but there were certain things only a girlfriend could understand. Boy talk was one of them.
Claudia had tried to get her to talk about any potential guys she might like. But Lucía kept telling her there was no one. It was much easier than trying to explain something she herself didn’t understand.
“Well”, said Claudia while they were having a coffee break in the middle of their shopping spree. “You could meet some of mine and Diogo’s friends and maybe you’ll find someone you like”.
“Yeah, maybe”, she said, not wanting to say that she had technically already found one of his friends and that she liked him, very much.
**
When Sunday arrived, she sat next to Scott on the bus on their way to the Etihad. But when they arrived there, he got out first and she waited for a couple of seconds. She had learnt from her time at Ajax that being seen too many times in a row with a player just meant rumours being created. And she could do without those.
Today felt like a big day. But what she didn’t know yet was that it wouldn’t just be a big day because of football.
On her way to the pitch, she saw Pep and ran to say hello to him.
“Hey!”
“Oh, hi! I was hoping I could see you before the match and wish you luck”, he said, after a quick hug.
“Same. Good luck, rival!”
“We’ll go back to being friends in two hours, right?”, he asked, laughing.
“We’ll see”.
“You and your fraternizing with the enemy…”, said Scott, shaking his head.
“Blah blah blah”.
“You’re such a brat”, he said to her, putting his arms around her shoulders and leaning down to repeat the word brat in her ear. To anyone looking from far away, it might have looked more like a kiss.
She couldn’t control the laughter and when she finally got free of his grasp, she ran to the pitch so he wouldn’t be able to catch her again.
Had she turned around just for a second, she’d have seen Rúben looking at them both. And not liking what he was seeing.
**
Saying that the match was bad would be an understatement. Not only did United concede more than once in the first half, again, but Varane got injured too, which was too much for Lucía if she was honest. Given what her job was, she ended up caring more about an injury-free match than about clean sheets.
But it wasn’t until the second half that she was really worried about what could happen. Scott managed to score one for the team. Not that it was going to matter much, since they were already 4-0 down but he nonetheless did a little gesture towards her when he walked past the bench. Not the right mood for a big celebration, but the fact that he remembered dedicating the goal to her made her smile.
Rúben had not started the game, which had surprised Lucía. He didn't mention it to her but she guessed that was part of their not talking about the match deal. And during the second half, he was warming up a couple of times, just in case. It was then that Scott ran for the ball and got out of the pitch and bumped into Rúben. Scott made a quick gesture with his hand as if to say sorry, but it was for nothing. Lucía couldn't believe it when she saw Rúben pushing Scott and making him fall.
The referee ran towards the both of them to separate them, and so did their teammates. No one understood Rúben’s anger but Lucía had an idea why he was acting like that. And she was not happy about it.
The match ended with a terrible result for United and she was dreading going into the dressing room and facing the players and Erik.
“Friends again?”, said Pep when they hugged.
“Don't talk to me for a couple of weeks".
And that only made him laugh.
When the players were approaching the tunnel, she tried comforting them. One of the last players to get there was Scott.
“Your neighbour is a fucking dick”, he said to her, which made her close her eyes and sigh.
“It was a very intense match”.
“Don’t excuse him. There was no reason for him to do that. He wasn't even playing and his team was humiliating us. And when I asked him for an explanation, he just looked at me as if I was supposed to read his mind or something. What an idiot!”
“Yeah, it wasn’t his finest moment”.
Erik’s post-match talk was so brutal for the players but so sad for Lucía. She could tell how much he was hurting after that result and it made her hurt too.
When she finally got the chance, she got out to get some fresh air and saw Rúben getting out of his dressing room as well.
“Hi”.
Hearing her voice, he turned. He shook his head. “Not here”.
#ruben dias#ruben dias imagine#ruben dias x reader#ruben dias fluff#ruben dias fanfic#ruben dias fanfiction#footballer imagine#footballer x reader#footballer fluff#footballer fanfiction
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Y'all ain't ready for this one 🤪
Lichantony - Back To Me Part 1
Summary - A two part series about how Antony comes to live with Lisandro and his girlfriend upon his first arrival at Manchester United.
It was the hardest decision in my life to leave Ajax. It was the team that helped launch my international career and Amsterdam had grown to become my home. However to play for Manchester United was a dream come true, an opportunity impossible to miss out on. I left for England with only one regret and that was not having the courage to ask Antony to come with me. Or at least consider it. I knew that the United scouts had eyes for more than one player on the Ajax squad. But I was afraid. Afraid that by asking Antony to come with me I might have faced his rejection. After all at Ajax he had Neres, his fellow country man. The two of them had become like brothers. So why would Antony ever choose me over him?
Weeks passed as I settled down in England, my new country, with my new team and my new teammates. There was alot of new things to get used to, however, I was finally beginning to feel like a real premier leauge player. I enjoyed game days the most but the training sessions with the squad were enjoyable too.
"Did you here that the club is opening their wallets to bring in another new player."
"Really, who?" I asked Luke Shaw as the two of us played touch with the ball. The others were doing the same around us.
"Yeah, he's a winger I think. Right side, left footed."
"What club did he used to play for?"
"I dunno." Luke shrugged. "Ask Donny. He's the one that told me."
Lisandro admits that a new strong signing for the team excited him. But not enough for him to go around and play journalist. Right now he and the team had to focus on the derby ahead against Arsenal. A tough game judging by the current state of the team. People were saying that Manchester United was on the rise, it was time for us to prove that.
"Babe there was a call for you." Said Muri, my girlfriend. I got home from practice to see her in the kitchen cooking dinner. I wrapped my arms around her waist and started serenading her neck with kisses.
"Who was it from?"
"Immigrations, calling to confirm some agreement you've made with a new player that is coming from the Netherlands to play football here in England."
"What? I have never made such an agreement."
"I know, because then you would have told me that a stranger was coming to live with us." She playfully shoved her elbow into my pelvis. "Immigrations says that it has been confirmed with the team, perhaps you should call them to clear things up."
I did so almost immediately. Apparently this was about the new signing for Manchester United. Immigrations demanded that he list a temporary abode as he got settled into the country. I couldn't believe it, this former Ajax player had given my name as an emergency contact, saying he were to stay with me during the first period upon his arrival.
"He's arriving on Monday and we'll officially introduce him to the squad during Tuesday training." Said the coach I'd called to clear things up with. "It's good if you help him settle in pretty fast, we were hoping to have him ready in time for the Arsenal game."
Yeah right, I thought as I hung up the phone. However later that week as I arrived home after the Sunday game, I was in for a surprise seeing a pile of suitcases as I stepped through the front door.
"Honey, you won't believe it!" Muri came rushing towards me. "It's your friend from Ajax." She said, tugging at my arm in a hurry to get me to follow her into the living room.
We came around the corner and that's when I caught his eye. "Antony?" His name escape from my lips like a whisper, a blissful whisper.
"Licha!" He stood from the couch.
"What are you...? Why are you...?" I couldn't believe my eyes.
"I signed for Manchester United." He said, smiling from ear to ear.
"Don't just stand there like two idiots." Muri chuckled. "Go on, hug him."
I dropped my training bag and rushed towards him and he rushed towards me. Soon we were swept up in each other's embrace. "You're here. I can't believe that you left Ajax and came here!" Antony's familiar smell invade my nose. I kissed the top of his head and pressed his body closer to me.
"I came here for you Licha " He said, voice muffled up in my embrace. His words struck me and I pulled away, suddenly realizing my position in this. I looked to Muri who had begun to shed happy tears at the sight of two old friends reuniting. However Antony and I were never friends.
"For how long are you staying here?" I asked, clearing my throat.
"Licha." Muri gasped. "Don't be rude. Antony can stay for as long as he needs to. I thought Immigrations were sending a stranger but seeing how it is Antony they were talking about changes things, no?"
"No it doesn't." I said, my eyes locked with Antony's. "For how long are you staying?" I repeated and this time it wasn't a question but a command.
"Until they arrange a place for me here in Manchester." He nodded.
I thought my time away from the Ajax team had helped me forget about some things, hopefully moved on for good. However as Antony stood before me and remembering our hug, I could feel how old emotions bottled up inside of me returned in an instant. All that hard work to move on had been for nothing. Antony staying with me and Muri at the house was just the universe asking me for trouble. And trust me trouble was coming.
#fanfiction#antony#antony santos#manchester united#manchester utd#lisandro martinez#lichantony#afc ajax
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