The story of Liverpool's champions league run in 2018/19. Only, all the world knows in this universe is mixed gender teams, and the girls of Liverpool are pretty damn fierce.
~ Virgil Van Dijk fanfiction ~
In which Trent has a lowkey platonic soulm...
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A/N: the photo 👀
Jordyn and Trent conducted their handshake in the tunnel, and soon they were out on the pitch, the whistle was blowing, and the game was underway. Jordyn could instantly feel that the pace of this game was one she was much more comfortable with. It didn't seem to drag, as it had in Spain, and perhaps it was Anfield that was the cause of the difference, but she felt much more aggressive on the ball than she had done previously.
She encountered her old enemy Pique once more, although playing in midfield meant she wasn't directly dealing with him so much as she had been previously. The midfielder position allowed her to play a much more controlled game than on the wing, and whilst she preferred the latter, playing midfield allowed her to cover more ground. She could enter into just about every battle that went down on the pitch, and try to cover for her teammates when they were dragged out of position.
Ellie had a fantastic game that night, and it started by scoring the first goal of the game. It was a goal that none of them, including Ellie, celebrated until much later on, but at the time they did not feel comfortable wasting any of their efforts celebrating a goal that brought the aggregate score to 1-3. They had much more work to do before any celebrations could happen, if at all, and this was proof enough when they went to half time still at 1-0, 1-3 on aggregate. To take the tie to penalties, they needed to score two more without conceding, and to win, they needed to score three more. None of them wanted to think about wether or not it was possible.
Anfield was still buzzing after half time, when Jord and Virg headed back out to the field together. Virgil's jaw was set in determination, and Jord, who saw him with his game face on several times a week, had never seen him never quite like this. She patted him on the back, which was about as much affection she could afford to show without telling the world they were dating, and he turned to smile at her.
"You're confident," she stated.
It wasn't a question, and Virg nodded seriously.
"So are you," he responded, before glancing around at the Barcelona players that were joining them on the field. "We all are, because we know. None of them know yet, but we're gonna win this."
Jordyn smiled at him. Virgil hadn't been there, when Luis Suarez had left them, or when Phil Coutinho had left them. Both players had moved to Barcelona, and both players had been confident enough before the game to comfort the Liverpool fans by saying they wouldn't celebrate in their stadium when they won, out of respect for their old club. However, Virg got it, what Jordyn, and Trent, and the rest of them who had been there were feeling. It was an intense need to prove to them that they didn't need them anyway. That they'd win without them, that they'd beat them, that they'd be the better team. And it was nothing personal. Jordyn herself loved Phil, played with him on her national team. But it didn't change the fact that the need was there to prove them wrong, and Virgil had his own point to prove that day. He and Joe were going to keep their clean sheet, thank you very much, Messi or no Messi.
