30 Day Angst Challenge

Six: Losing In A Final Match

The final whistle blew. It was all over. 3-1 to Real Madrid. I was devastated. But I know I can't show it; Trent's definitely more upset about it than I am. But he held his own amazingly today – especially against Ronaldo.

As the Real Madrid players celebrated their win in front of their fans, the Liverpool players slowly made their way over to their fans, where I was sat, and we all applauded their efforts – getting to the Champions League final in the first place is an amazing achievement, and for finishing in the top four of the Premier League, Liverpool had guaranteed a spot playing in the prestigious competition again next season.

I noticed some family of the players making their way down, so I decided to go down and console Trent – he's probably shattered. His whole life he's dreamt of playing for Liverpool, and they came the closest they have for a while to winning a trophy. But it's all over, and Liverpool are walking away empty handed. I spotted Trent sat on the floor in the middle of the pitch, Jordan Henderson was also over there talking to him. I jogged over to join them.

"(Y/N) will you please tell him?" Jordan asked straight away.

"Tell him what?" I frowned.

"He's beating himself up – he's saying he should've scored his chance in the first half and he should've been less sloppy on the ball." Jordan explained.

"Goalkeepers are arseholes." I said, trying to get a smile out of Trent. But he just sighed sadly.

"You took a brilliant strike, hence why the keeper had to make such a great save. You almost scored in a Champions League final Trent. And you were one of our best players today." I reassured him.

"Doesn't feel like it." Trent scoffed. I sat down next to him.

"Your job was to stop Ronaldo scoring wasn't it?" I questioned. Trent nodded.

"And Ronaldo didn't score, did he?" I pointed out.

"And that's an achievement mate – you know how talented he is, you watched him growing up. Makes me feel quite old saying that." Jordan said – I think he's also trying to get a smile, or anything that isn't sadness, from Trent.

"I know you wanted this more than you've ever wanted anything." I took Trent's hand. "But you can't beat yourself up over this game. It's not your fault we lost, you were one of our best players out there."

"I agree, you didn't do anything wrong tonight mate." Jordan agreed.

"Apart from that one pass which pretty much played them in on goal." Trent pointed out.

"They didn't score did they?" I said.

"No, but..."

"So it doesn't matter now! The game's over. We lost. But we fought. Hard. And you fought harder than anyone else." I told Trent, giving his hand a squeeze. Trent sighed again.

"I had this feeling before the game tonight was gonna be our night. Maybe I got overconfident and underperformed." Trent said.

"You didn't underperform in any way, Trent." I tried to reassure Trent.

"Guys I've gotta go do an interview. Trent, you were brilliant today, you should be proud of yourself, not hard on yourself." Jordan said. He glanced over to me before he left and I mouthed a 'thank you' at him before he walked away.

"Trent?"

"I feel like shit." Trent told me.

"Me too. Not because of the performance, because of the result. The overall performance was worthy of winning that trophy. From every player." I said.

"We might not get this opportunity again." Trent pointed out.

"But you can go for it next season. You're deservedly back in the Champions League, and who knows, maybe 2019 is Liverpool's year." I said optimistically.

"I was hoping 2018 would be our year." Trent sighed.

"I know. But you did your best, and that's all that matters." I smiled, rubbing Trent's back.

"Please don't put yourself down."

"It's hard not to when you suffer a defeat like that. You think about all the 'what ifs'...especially given that I nearly scored." Trent said.

"I know you're devastated. But just think, this could be you again next year. And maybe you'll get your goal next time around." I give Trent a little nudge, before noticing that he was rubbing his eyes. He's not crying is he?

Not really wanting to know that answer to that question, since I'll most likely start crying too, I pulled Trent into a tight hug, rubbing his back as we stayed wrapped in each other's arms for what felt like an eternity. Trent pulled away suddenly and took my hands in his. He was smiling – finally!

"You realise we're still on the pitch right?" He asked.

"Yeah, what of it?" I shrugged.

"We're the only ones left." Trent replied.

"Maybe we should head down the tunnel." I suggested, getting up. "You coming?" I extended a hand to Trent.

"Of course." He said, taking my hand and pulling himself up, and not letting go as we headed off down the tunnel to put this dreadful night behind us.

One year later...

The final whistle blew. Trent fell to the ground; this time in happiness. I screamed in joy. They'd done it!

I rose from my seat and made my way down to the pitch, tears of joy falling down my cheeks. Trent noticed, and instantly got up from the floor and ran over to wrap me in a huge hug.

Everything had led to this moment. Alisson's save in the dying minutes of the Napoli game to ensure our spot in the knockout stages, Mane's incredible goal away at Bayern Munich, beating Porto 6-1 on aggregate, coming back from 3-0 down in the semi-finals and Trent's genius corner that was the perfect was to send us through.

I couldn't be prouder of my team, but Trent more so than any of the others. Over Trent's shoulder, while it was just the two of us, I turned and whispered;

"I told you 2019 would be Liverpool's year!"

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Fun fact, I wrote the first part of this before we won the Champions League in 2019, and I added the end part after we won the trophy. (That's how long I've been too scared to publish my work for as well lol). Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed, and I'll be back again tomorrow with another :)

El x