La Reina | The Story of Melanie Kavitz

manchester city

hello everyone!

thank you so much for the reception of the first three chapters of part two! i know there's a lot of heartbreak, pain, and unanswered questions... but I promise they're all coming in due time. in the meantime, i would love to hear from you guys in the comments! i really really love and appreciate getting your feedback, reactions, and just hearing from all of you in general! they are a writer's lifeline, of course!

this story has gotten a boost unlike anything i have ever seen before. in the one year it has been up, it managed to crack 2000 reads. but in the span of two months, we have grown to more than 20,000 reads. that is insane, and i am so grateful. thank you, thank you, thank you!

now, onto the next chapter!

...

May 23, 2022

I didn't think you would ever want me as a coach again.

I didn't think you'd want to coach me again.

Then I'd be the only manager to ever think that.

And I'd be the only player to think that.

Welcome to City, Mel.

I take another look around the tunnel, as we were joined by the Aston Villa XI for our last Premier League game - my last game in a City jersey. I see the faces of the teammates I've grown to love and care for in the last five years; Kevin, Phil, Bernardo, Lucy, Keira, Ederson, and Kyle just to name a few. All of them had been so integral to the success the club had experienced in the last several years, and at that moment, I feel so honoured and privileged to have been able to share that with them.

I think back to the time we had won our first Champions League title as a group; it had been my and Pep's first season at the club; Kun was still wreaking havoc in the Premier League; Lucy Bronze, Jill Scott, and Keira Walsh were the only other female players on the squad; Kevin was starting to find his footing as a prolific playmaker; Vincent Company and David Silva were the ones holding the ship down. The seasons before weren't promising, but we had a great group, who had the potential of making it incredibly far in any competition we played.

Pep's first year of coaching came off to a rocky start; in the first 14 games we played, we had only won three of them, tied for five of them... and lost six. It was far from an ideal situation, and many of us were contemplating how we would be able to turn things around as the new year was lurking around the corner.

We remained positive, and sooner than later, Pep and our team began to find footing. Not only were we able to come second in the Premier League, but we also won the Carabao Cup, and we were able to storm through the knockout stages of the Champions League - all the way to the final where we beat Real Madrid 3-2 to win the first Champions League in City's history. It was a moment of pride and honor that couldn't have been described, but it was read in our faces as soon as Company lifted the trophy over his head in celebration.

The years went by, and players came and left, but we stuck to the foundation. We won the Premier League the next season... and the season after that. We won the FA Cup twice and the Carabao Cup once in those three seasons. 2021, however, would be our greatest year. Not only were we able to top the league after coming second to Liverpool the previous season... we had won the FA Cup, the Carabao Cup, and another Champions League against an incredibly tough and resilient Chelsea side. A historic quadruple - one that went down in the history of not just English football, but football in general.

These memories will be something I take with me and cherish for the rest of my life. I did my growing up in Chelsea, but I solidified my place on the field at Manchester. I wore the Captain's armband in two of the five years I was there, I served as a leader to an incredible group of players who bore their souls on the field for every minute of every game they played, and I had the privilege of lifting our second UCL and our sixth Premier League trophy.