golden blonde¹

nothing to be afraid of

early april 2023
they had one last game for the weekend before the international break and it was against manchester city, this time at home.

due to some injuries and fitness issues within the squad, elena would be starting at left back today. unsuprisingly, just as she promised, katie was completely fine to start, the boot that she had after the champions league game disappeared their next day at training.

the game starts off horribly, with bunny shaw scoring on a breakaway and arsenal just can't answer back.

it doesn't help their case when caitlin comes off in the 36th minute due to injuring her hamstring. to be completely honest, elena couldn't care less about what caitlin did off the field.

it would be a long time until the spaniard would forgive the australian for breaking lia's heart. whether caitlin would ever apologize to lia? well, elena didn't pry on her private life all that much anymore, not since she had moved out and they had grown some distance. they were still close, and lia looked to be healing slowly, no thanks to the australian from what elena understood.

but on the football pitch? that was her teammate, and she was one of the best wingers they had left. she felt awfully frustrated when they were forced to make a change in the first half. they weren't playing well, and elena was fairly sure that jonas had halftime subs that were ready to go as soon as the second half kicked off.

herself on the other hand? she gave herself a good pat on the back as the whistle blew for halftime; they were down 0-1, but elena had pocketed hemp the entire half.

turns out that jonas hadn't prepared for halftime subs. they weren't play as poorly as they could have been, which seemed like a pathetic situation to be in; but they had 6 fit people on the bench, two of them were goalkeepers and another was an academy player.

in the 62nd minute, elena makes a good run down the left flank and lia threads her the ball between two city defenders, it's a scramble in the six yard box, but katie manages to send a gentle touch to frida who slams the ball into the back of the net.

"VAMOSS!" elena had shamelessly yelled in front of laia aleixandri who's face looked utterly defeated. katie fished the ball out of the back of the net as everyone ran back quickly to restart the game.

jonas has two changes in the 68th minute, ke comes on for victoria on the wing, and jen comes on for stina up front, but that would be it for the rest of the game.

in the 72nd minute, arsenal are getting some good link up passes together but they stop abruptly when laura coombs runs over leah, the english defender gets up instantly, glaring at her blonde counterpart. she tries to restart the game but the referee blows her whistle once more, holding up a yellow card to coombs.

if elena was honest to herself, it was never a yellow, and the city players knew that.

"what!? that's my first foul!" the city midfielder protested as alex greenwood and laia aleixandri came up behind her, equally enraged.

elena chuckled, a smirk ghosting her lips.

"tsk, tsk, realment hauries de tenir més cura (you really should be more careful)," she said starting to walk away slyly.

laia glared at her, "say that to her face fernandez!" she put a hand on her shoulder, forcing elena to turn around. elena was shocked, she didn't expect laia to get so angry over such a comment, but it only made her grin wider.

"you really should lay your hands off me aleixandri, if you know what's best for you," elena winked.

then it got worse. tempers flared as leah pushed laia off of elena, "back off," she said deathly low. elena didn't know if she was talking to her or laia, but she felt it in her bones.