Stand By Me - Leah Williamson

It Was A Big Day

Kameron's POV

It was a big day, possibly one of the biggest of my career.

Not only was this my final match with Barcelona, this was also the final of the Champions League, against Chelsea. 

I sat in the changing room with the girls, music playing the background but anxiety was high; we had confidence but there was a lot of pressure mounted onto us. It was a sell out crowd; 110,000 fans were coming to watch the match today and I knew a few of my friends were in the crowd: Bukayo, Jen, Beth and Leah had all come though I hadn't gotten the chance to see them before the game. We were playing in our home ground though which settled my stomach slightly. 

Alexia brought everyone together to do a team talk, "Alright girls, we can do this okay? We've had an amazing season so let's get out there and do everyone proud. This is Kam's last game, let's make it a good one. Come on!"

Everyone cheered and clapped as we walked into the tunnel, lining up against Chelsea, many of them being familiar faces from either playing with the Lionesses or the WSL. As I stood behind Mapi, my hands folded together behind my back and chin up high, the roars of the stadium crept up my back making every hair on my body stand to attention. The anxiety quickly turned into a sense of confidence that we could win this, I affirmed these beliefs with a nod to myself and my dad, he'd have loved to be here today. I gave his bracelet on my wrist a quick kiss as I pulled up my undershirt slightly. 

I was going to play the best football I ever had today; for myself, for my dad, for the fans, for the team and for the future. Whatever we achieved, had a ripple effect; we had the ability to bring so much more attention to the women's game and to inspire young girls to get involved. The ninety minutes of game time wasn't even the surface of the job, it was everything that came afterwards which truly mattered. 

As I took my first steps onto the pitch the energy was electric, every player took their position on the field and I waited for the whistle to blow, so ready to run up into my space that I had to ground myself, planting my studs into the ground. 

The sound of the whistle bounded through my blood, the first few seconds slowing down to the point I thought I could see every face in the crowd and every sound individually then it all sped up, I sprinted to my position thriving off of the hectic and blurring environment. 

We were in possession most of the time but I was scared to even take the time to blink because every time I would, the ball would be on a different players feet, we were moving so skillfully quick. 

Keira was running towards me, her body angled so I knew the ball would soon be coming my way, I ran into space leaving my defender behind as the ball fell to my toes, the pass was perfected to every last millimeter. 

I saw Fridolina near the corner flag so I kicked the ball over the defender's heads, the pass being clean as I ran into the box trying to anticipate her next move. 

Chelsea defenders flooded the box, but I was so sure I could find space, you could always find space somewhere and Fridolina was talented, she'd know where I'd run into. 

A tiny opening of space. I ran, I received the ball and I didn't even have time to turn my head in the direction of the goal, but I shot. Now I looked towards the goal, holding my breath as everything once again slowed down, the keeper's gloves making the slightest contact with the ball but it still rippled into the top left corner, the perfect goal. 

My mouth flew open and my arms flew up, I ran to Ingrid and Keira as they both bounded into me, a Barcelona huddle being created as we all beamed up towards the stadium, the noise was truly deafening but the most beautiful sound in the world.