Leah's POV:
It's gameday today. Not like any other though. Today is the champions league final, the day I've been waiting for for way too long. The wait is finally over, and I don't think I can get more exited than this.
Arsenal against Lyon in a champions league final, it's like living a dream in real life. To be honest I'm very nervous for today's game. I'm not scared, I just have some sort of respect for them. We lost our first leg to Lyon at our own home ground, 0-1. It was a tough game, both teams wanted to win. A true winning mentality from both sides I would say. But we're not done yet, we can't give it all up that easy, we're the Arsenal. Our club isn't one to lose the big games, Arsenal is a top club that always aim for new trophies and success to put in the history books. I want to help out, and of course win the champions league. That would be one of the major highlights of my ongoing career as a professional footballer. Winning the champions league at the age of twenty one, that would be pretty cool. In order to do so, we have to beat Lyon with at least two goals ahead and keep a clean sheet. The task is though, but so are we. I really want to win that trophy. This will be a fight all the way to the end, that's for sure.
We're on our way to Lyon's stadium, preparing ourselves for the upcoming game. I sit next to Jordan on the coach, chatting away with her as usual. When we arrive at the stadium, I quickly collect my stuff and head inside. I'm so ready for this.
After the warm ups we're back in the changing room. Joe speaks up as usual before letting us head out to the first half. When he's finally done, we take our places in the tunnel. As both teams walk out, the screams and chants increases in intensity. It's all very loud and noisy, bringing the best of nerves out of me. Hearing the English national anthem didn't seem to calm my nerves either, I guess I'm nervous because I care so much about this. I want to win to every price, and I'm going to show that tonight.
As expected, the game was just as tough as last time we faced them, if not tougher. We went through a scoreless first half, playing for the badge on our chests. I'm proud of the team so far. We played well and created a lot of chances. We have a good defense too. Now all we have to do is to go out there and score some goals, as well as keeping the Lyon players outside our defensive line.
The second half is now under way and we've nearly grabbed ourselves an early goal. A long range shot from Jordan that hit the crossbar. Further into the game, we finally get the ball into the back of the net. Who else but Kim Little was meant to be our goal scoring hero? In the last five minutes we got another goal. Danielle Carter puts herself on the score sheet with a pure rocket hitting the left top bin. From that moment I think we all relaxed more than we were supposed to, we thought that we've already won the game. That's when it began to go downhill for us...
There were now three minutes to go before the referee blows the whistle. All we have to do now is to continue to keep them outside the box and don't give away cheap opportunities. If they score once we still have the chance to be crowned the winners. But that means we'll be going into overtime. Leading 0-2 is hard, especially against one of the best teams in the world. It doesn't take long before they do score a goal, and from that moment on the pressure to win the title weights more on our shoulders than it ever has before. The game isn't decided before going into additional time. An unexpected shot fires outside the box, and as soon as it hits the back of our net, the whole crowds' echoing voices fill the stadium. The game ends in a 2-2 draw. We've lost, my dream of becoming a champions league winner at the young age of twenty one is destroyed. Looking at the stats doesn't make it easier to let go of how close we were to bring the champions league title back home to Arsenal.
⚪️Lyon vs Arsenal🔴 - Champions League final (Second Leg)
0' KICK OFF
45' HALFTIME
50' ⚽️ Kim Little 🔴
🍎 Katie McCabe
85' ⚽️ Danielle Carter 🔴
🍎 Jordan Nobbs
🍏 Leah Williamson
89' ⚽️ Eugénie Le Sommer ⚪️
🍎 Ada Hegerberg
🍏 Amandine Henry
90+3' ⚽️ Wendie Renard ⚪️
🍎 Lucy Bronze
90+4' FULL TIME
Final score: ⚪️2 - 2🔴
I'm heartbroken right now, I wanted to win so badly. We fought so hard, but it doesn't matter how much we wanted to win. In the end Lyon was the stronger team. I know it isn't that bad to lose to a team like them, but nothing cheered me up really.
I feel a hand on my shoulder and turn my head to see Jordan standing next to me. She knows me too well. She knows that I need someone to bring me back up again and that she's probably the only one who can change my mood in such a short time.
"I'm here babe, you wanna talk about it?" She spokes softly. "I'm proud of ya! Grabbing an assist against the best team in the world, huh? I think that's more than what's expected from a youngster..."
"I don't know. All I wanted to do was to win, so badly! But now it's over and we got nothing..." I say, struggling to hold the tears back.
"Don't worry about it, you have a lot of chances to win it in the future. I'm sure you will one day!"
"I know Jord, but I wanted it to be special. I wanted to win it with you!" I say. She pulls me in for a tight hug and gives me a quick kiss on my cheek.
"We still got the chance to do that Le, I'm not that old yet. Trust me, I wanted to win just as much as you today, but for me the real trophy is you! I actually don't know where I would have been without you!"
