Still➛Declan Rice

E I G H T

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august 26th, 2023
west ham v man utd (A)

Natalia grinned brightly as she stepped off of the team bus behind Cristiano, the two of them laughing at something Bruno was saying as she spotted the West Ham team leaving their team bus too. Cristiano wrapped an arm around her shoulder as they walked inside, the Portuguese striker knowing that her ex-boyfriend was walking behind them.

"Did Ralf mention you were Captain today?" Bruno asks the brunette, watching her mouth open with shock before she shakes her head. Jesse jumps on her back as they walk into the changing rooms, setting him down next to her cubby before they start to get changed.

"Well tonight marks a special occasion for Natalia Neville, and Gary Neville too, as the former Manchester United captain gets to watch his daughter captain her first Manchester United match." Peter Drury speaks as himself, Jamie Carragher and Gary watch the two teams walk out onto the pitch.

Everyone on the pitch could sense the animosity between Natalia and Declan, it was like this every time they played one another, and it felt as though it was never going to die down. What made it entirely worse this match was that they had to shake hands and pretend nothing happened for 2 minutes whilst the Ref decided which side of the pitch they were going to go on.

Declan stood in the centre circle with his hands behind his back as he watched Natalia approach himself and the Ref, the West Ham captain extending his hand to shake hers but she declined. He rolled his eyes at the small gesture, moving his hands back behind him as the Ref flipped a coin to see which goal they would start in.

"United this side." He speaks, pointing to the side Natalia wanted first, which just so happened to be the side with all the United fans. She nodded in response, barely glancing at Declan before she moved away from the centre circle and got into position.

"Natalia Neville captains her first Manchester United match here at London Stadium today, a place where she made herself known to everyone across the nation. Let's see what's going to happen in today's match, shall we?"

Natalia calmed herself down with a simple breathing exercise before the whistle blew to begin the match, her team immediately fighting for the ball off of the opposing players. By half-time, Manchester United were up 4 nil and were doing a lot better than expected, the goals coming from Nat, Cristiano, Bruno and Jesse.

Natalia had a gleaming smile on her face as she left the changing rooms for the second half, walking down the tunnel with Declan on the other side, both being able to feel the pent up hatred for one another from a few metres away.

Soon after the second half started, Declan had the ball in his sights before it was passed over to Natalia, his eyes shutting for a moment to think about what he was going to do before he did it anyway. He tackled her and somehow both managed to end up on the floor, Declan clutching his shin and Natalia clutching her ankle.

"Uh oh." Jadon hums as they watched the tackle go down.

Natalia got back onto her feet and immediately watched as Declan got shown a Red Card for a dangerous tackle, Natalia laughing at his demise before she ended up starting an argument with the West Ham players. She was eventually shown a yellow for causing a dilemma, to which she immediately disagreed with and started to argue with the ref instead.