Laura is going to be at Man City for longer cause I said so
"You have to take it (Y/n/n)." I heard Lauren call from beside me. "This is your time to shine superstar."
"I cant..." I trailed off, "Someone else should take it, I missed last time we had one this important and got us knocked out of the champions league."
"That wasn't your fault, that was a team loss. Forget about it."
"You know theres no I in team but there is a me."
"(Y/n) I am warning you, take the damn penalty."
"I don't want to though." I whined. Why does everyone want me to take one if the most important penalties of our career. Why cant someone else take it? I get Lauren, Chloe and Alex have taken theirs but why cant anyone else take this 5th one for me.
"(Y/n/n), I can and will not go on that date with you if you don't do this."
"Thats blackmail on a very high lev-"
"(Y/n)"
I let out a small huff before walking over to the spot where Chloe gave me the ball. "You're going to smash this." I heard her whisper as she began walking away, giving my arm a light pat on her way past.
I put the ball on the spot, turning it over a couple times out of habit. I don't know how I got that habit but I suppose it was just a way to waste a bit more time before death sentence.
I took a deep breath before taking three steps back and one to the left whilst making sure I'm in the perfect position to strike the ball as cleanly as I can.
So much can go wrong with penalties, you can miss the goal, the goalkeeper can save it, you can hit the crossbar or posts, you can slip but still score which would just be embarrassing or worse you can miss the ball entirely and then a stadium of over 40000 people would laugh at you then they would video it and it would go all around instagram, TikTok, you name it.
I took a few more deep breaths before slowly moving forward before having a burst of speed to hit the ball perfectly. I shut my eyes when I felty boot connect with it, penalties can either go good or terrible.
Suddenly, I heard the crowd scream in celebration. They were chanting my name. I opened my eyes to see the replay on the screen, top right corner. The goalie had no chance in my opinion.
Before I knew it all my team was jumping on me, even those on the bench or injured. Jill was the first one to me muttering something in danish. Then is was Chloe, Alex and Hempo all chanting my name.
Then came Lauren, as soon as she reached me I was pulled into a hug which I leaned into and hugged her tightly back.
"I told you that you could do it." She whispered into my ear. In response I just let out a small sigh, resting my head on her shoulder.
"I hate penalties." I whisper on the verge of tears from all the stress of it. "I thought I'd make a fool of myself again."
"You didn't though did you." Lauren said. "You done it, and your scored a banger. I'm always proud of you, as is this team and all our fans love. They all care about you more than if you don't score or if we loose a game."
Before I could respond I was swarmed by the team once again, a couple of them putting their arms around my shoulder moving me away from Lauren. I gave her a small apologetic smile before I was pulled towards fans that were shouting for me.
I love meeting fans don't get me wrong but I hate it when they take us for granted. They get sad when we're injured but then expect us back to full fitness when we return. For example when I tore my ACL.
I went over to the side after meeting a couple fans to talk to reporters.
"(Y/l/n) It's a pleasure to have you over here." Alex Scott told me.
"It's nice to see you Alex, thanks for having me."
"How does it feel to score that penalty after missing last time you had one out here? How does it feel to score your first penalty after your ACL tear. Obviously you've had other goal but this must be special."
"Well, I was out for 9 months with ACL and as soon as I was back I was subbed on for half an hour my first match back. It was a champions league match which I just couldn't convert but after I worked hard to get my shooting back to the top it can be for how I was progressing and I think that makes all the difference in the long run not just the short."
"How do you think the fans felt seeing you today after causing a little disruption after the missed penalty."
"Fans were happy to see me but then expected me to be back scoring again. I suppose thats the hard part of being a women's footballer, one of them at least, they expect miracles sometimes. It's not always as simple as getting back on the pitch. I was terrified when I had to get back on the pitch, theres always that fear of re tearing your ACL but it's how you move on and I cant thank the fans enough for that, they played just as big a part as my team."
Before I could continue Lauren ran up to me, jumping on my back. My arms instinctively wrapped around her legs so she couldn't fall.
"I'm proud of you and I love you." She whispered so no one could hear it.
"I'm just that amazing." I whispered back with a slight chuckle which caused her to smack my arm. "I love you too." I whispered.
