章 8: Group Stage Final Round
Unique City was one of the best cities in Bilbeth with lots of nice places to go and explore, which was why Dave had gotten a little excited when Emma said they were going to a special place.
Dave wasn't much of a fancy dresser and had just put on a red shirt, black trousers, and black sneakers. There wasn't anything fancy or great about his dressing but it was still okay.
"So where are we going?" He asked as he walked down the stairs.
"You'll know when we get there," Emma said as she got up from the couch and picked the keys on the table.
"Are those my car keys?" Dave asked, pointing at her hand.
"Yes, I'm driving," Emma said heading towards the door.
Nothing was said between the two as Emma drove the car and Dave sat up front with her.
Dave stared up for a while and slowly brought his gaze down to see the car radio.
"A little music will be okay." He said as he reached for the radio and turned it on.
He expected music to start playing on the already selected channel but that wasn't the case.
"Come watch as Supreme United takes on the Catalans tonight at the Supreme stadium." A male voice said through the speakers.
"This match will decide whether Supreme United will make it to the Champions League round of sixteen meanwhile Barcelona are already clear and will still make it to the round of sixteen if they should lose tonight's match."
"Isn't that the final round of the champions league round of sixteen?" Emma asked.
"That's it," Dave said as he reached for the radio and turned it off.
"Supreme United are quite unlucky to be in the same group with the same Barcelona that knocked them out last season," Emma said.
"Yeah," Dave said, he seemed quite disinterested in the conversation Emma was trying to build.
"How did their first leg go?" Emma asked.
"Huh?"
"Supreme United and Barcelona in the group stage," Emma said.
"Oh, they got trashed by five goals to one," Dave said.
"Oh, wow," Emma said.
"And the five goals were all scored by one person," Dave said.
"One person, who?"
"Don't act like you don't know," Dave said.
"Was it…. Ciro?" Emma asked.
"Of course it's Ciro, he's the best player in the world," Dave said.
"Yeah but I don't think a fan of Fernandez Hernandez would agree with you," Emma said.
Dave slowly turned to her and stared at her for a while before turning to the glass window.
"Why did you look at me like that?" Emma asked, keeping her focus on the road.
"Just drive, I don't want to spoil our outing to get spoiled by a football argument," Dave said.
When Emma said they were going to a special restaurant, this wasn't what Dave had in mind.
"We eat here almost every day Emma." Dave looked up at the sign board which said 'Meal O'clock.'
"And that's why it's a special place to us," Emma said, walking inside.
"I get your point," Dave said with a sigh as he followed her inside.
There was a short period of silence between the two as they sat opposite each other and ate before Emma decided to break the silence.
"So how was training today?" She asked.
She had already asked him that question at home and asking him again meant that she wanted him to tell her a little bit of the details.
"It was nice considering I beat Mateo in a challenge and he got to buy me lunch," Dave said.
"Oh wow, I wonder what type of challenge you beat him in," Emma said, taking a sip from her red-colored drink.
"It was a shooting challenge where I had to keep out three of his shots or buy him lunch," Dave said.
"And you actually managed to keep out three of his shots," Emma said with a cheerful smile.
"Well I kept out two, I got lucky in the last one," Dave said.
<You got really lucky>
"What happened?"
"He got distracted and just rolled the ball to me," Dave said.
"That shouldn't have counted," Emma said.
"But it did," Dave said with a smile as he took a bite out of his steak.
Emma didn't say anything as she watched him eat, she waited until he was done with the steak before she decided to say what she wanted to say.
"My mom was wondering if you would join us for dinner next Saturday," Emma said.
"Next Saturday?"
"Yeah, they just want to talk to you, my mom especially," Emma said.
"Ok, I just hope this new development doesn't mean we have a fixture that night," Dave said.
"Yeah, that wouldn't be good," Emma said.
"I am going to watch the match at Supreme stadium tonight," Dave said.
"Dave you don't need to ask, you know the answer is always going to be yes," Emma said.
"Thank you," Dave said. "But you know the last time I asked you said no."
"Because I was busy honey brain."
"Yeah, you said you were busy," Dave said.
Emma rolled her eyes with a sigh as she turned to call the waitress.
_____ _____
A large amount of noise was being generated by the fans in the Supreme stadium and most of the noises were coming from the Supreme United fans.
"Can we really hope for a comeback against a team like FC Barcelona?" A man asked.
"Dude, we've been awesome this week." His friend replied.
"And so have they."
"Their last match against Real Betis was a nightmare for Real Betis." Another man from the side joined the conversation.
"What was the score?"
"Eight goals to three with Ciro Lautaro banging another hat trick."
"Big deal, Roland scored a hat trick on Friday?"
"Yeah, and what did Roland do in the first leg when Ciro scored five goals against us?"
"At least he scored a goal."
The men's conversation came to a sudden end as Jim's voice was heard in the arena.
"Hello and welcome everybody to the final round of the champions league group stage both for Bilbeth Premier league leaders Supreme United and last season's European champions, FC Barcelona.
"The players are getting ready to start heading out and the match will begin shortly."
It was at that moment that Dave and Emma arrived at the stands.
Emma was putting on a Barcelona Home jersey which had the classic blue and red stripes and the jersey was Ciro's number ten jersey.
It wasn't actually Ciro's just one she bought at the mall and she had a pair of blue jean trousers to go with the jersey.
Dave on the other hand was putting on black sports trousers and had a black hood on top to go with that.
"So many people," Emma said looking at the other side of the stands which was filled mostly with FC Barcelona fans.
"Yeah, they have a lot of fans," Dave said as he pulled her along to a space he had spotted.
They couldn't exactly see what was going on on the pitch as some people were blocking their view but that was something they would have to worry about when the match began.
"Ciro Lautaro has been excellent this season in the champions league, he's currently the competition's leading scorer and his five goals against Supreme United in the first leg were all that he needed to surpass Fernandez by two goals," Jim said.
"Fernandez, on the other hand, has been wonderful but you have to give Ciro the credit for being on top this time, I wonder what plans Supreme United has to contain him and I know the Supreme United fans will be hoping for a possible comeback," Steve said.
"That comeback doesn't look like it's going to happen unless Supreme United have a very good tactic that can help them beat Barca's defense and keep their elite strikers contained."
"And don't forget they also have to find a way to deal with that game controlling midfield of theirs," Steve said.
"Yeah, three of the assists from the first leg all came from Andres Frednado," Jim said.
"Yeah, the guy has been in form recently, and considering he's only twenty years old, it's quite phenomenal."
"Alright, the players are entering the pitch right now," Jim said.
There were loud cheers from the fans as both teams made their way into the pitch.
"Just like FC Barcelona's manager said, Ciro Lautaro won't be in the starting lineup for tonight's match," Jim said.
"And it looks like Zinin will be the one replacing him," Steve said.
"Ciro isn't playing in the first half," Dave said, quickly springing up to take a look.
"This could be FC Barcelona trying to give Supreme United the chance to try and do something before magical Ciro is brought in, in the second half," Jim said.
"Let's just hope they make good use of it."
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