Chapter 946 - 946: Glad ALL over

Thud

1-1

Our away end erupted behind the goal, absolute pandemonium unleashed all at once, throwing limbs and bodies over the seats. From the touchline, you could hear the distinct roar of every single traveling fan, because the rest of the stadium had plunged into absolute, stunned silence. Nothing else inside that massive ground was making any noise whatsoever.

"GLAD ALL OVER. GLAD ALL OVER."

Sakho did not celebrate the equalizer. He spun around silently and walked at a measured, deliberate pace back up the pitch toward the halfway line.

He raised both hands up, keeping his palms perfectly flat at shoulder height, facing directly toward the completely silenced Kop at the opposite end of the stadium.

He held that pose, maintaining the gesture until he stepped past the chalk of the centre circle, and only then did he lower his arms to his sides.

The Kop watched him in total silence.

Bray sat back down on the dugout bench, calmly pulled the laminated tactical card from his jacket pocket, and made a single, definitive mark on it with his pen.

Jürgen Klopp immediately turned away from the pitch and went straight to his bench, his face tight with urgency.

[JAMES MILNER. CONDITION 61%.]

Klopp pulled Milner off the pitch and threw Fabinho into the midfield fray, seeking physical dominance. Moments later, he withdrew Sadio Mané and introduced Xherdan Shaqiri to change the attacking angles.

Every single man wearing a red shirt on that pitch had clearly been delivered a specific, aggressive instruction from the touchline, because they came at us for the final twelve minutes of regular time as if we had just snatched a major cup trophy from their hands right in front of their own people. The pressure was relentless.

Robertson pushed high, pinning us back, forcing us to defend deep inside our own penalty area again. Perišić abandoned his attacking instincts entirely, dropping deep into a defensive posture to stand shoulder-to-shoulder next to Achraf Hakimi and fortify the right flank against the onslaught.

In the eighty-fourth minute, Mohamed Salah received the ball and drove directly at Hakimi. Salah isolated the young defender, keeping the ball glued to his lethal left foot. He slammed on the brakes, stopping dead to freeze the defender.

He accelerated again in a blur of pace, and stopped just as suddenly. Hakimi's discipline was absolute. His heels never once touched the grass; he stayed perfectly balanced on the balls of his feet, eyes locked entirely on the ball.

Salah attempted to burst inside, seeking his favored shooting angle, but Hakimi anticipated the movement flawlessly. He stepped in aggressively and elegantly swept the ball clean off Salah's toe with the outside of his boot.

Tk.

The Kop roared with furious frustration, demanding Salah take the fullback on again.

He went again in the eighty-eighth minute. Salah drove at Hakimi with even more pace and desperation. Hakimi read the winger's intent perfectly, planted his foot, and took the ball from him again with identical precision.

Daniel Sturridge stripped off his warm-up gear and came on to replace Wijnaldum, adding another striker to the chaotic mix. The fourth official on the touchline raised the electronic board, glowing bright red with the number 4. Four minutes of stoppage time.

Deep into the ninety-second minute, van Dijk abandoned his defensive post entirely and went up into our box for a desperate late corner.

He rose highest in the crowded penalty area and powered a heavy header just over the crossbar from eight yards out.

The collective sound that poured down from the Kop when the ball sailed over the netting was a noise I have never heard a football crowd make before a strange, agonizing wail, high and long, descending into a deeply frustrated groan at the very end.

Nick Pope leaped bravely into a crowded six-yard box, cleanly plucking one final, desperate cross right off Sturridge's waiting forehead despite having three massive Liverpool players physically crowding his space. Pope wrapped both arms tightly around the leather, clutching it securely to his chest, and threw himself flat onto the grass, smothering the ball and killing the remaining seconds.

Prrrp. Prrrp. Prrrrrp.

The referee blew the whistle three times. Full time.

Liverpool 1 Crystal Palace 1.

[PREMIER LEAGUE. CRYSTAL PALACE 57. LIVERPOOL 52.]

Nobody on my side dropped to the grass in exhaustion. Every single player wearing our colors remained standing exactly where the final whistle found them. They stood tall, chests heaving, and stared directly down the length of the pitch at the Kop.

Jürgen Klopp marched aggressively down the touchline toward my technical area. He gripped my hand for a hard, single shake, speaking words into the freezing night air that were entirely drowned out by the lingering noise of the stadium, saying nothing I could actually hear.

Then, he pivoted and walked purposefully out to the middle of the pitch. He gathered his own players, standing among them inside the centre circle, throwing his long arms around the shoulders of two exhausted midfielders, and talked to them intensely.

He refused to lead them toward the Kop for their traditional post-match applause until every single player had absorbed whatever message he was delivering.

Sakho walked toward our away corner first, joining the rest of the squad to applaud our traveling fans for their support.

Once that duty was done, he turned around and began a slow, solitary walk toward the Kop. He covered about thirty yards on his own and finally stopped right on the chalked edge of their penalty area. He stood still and raised one hand high into the air.

They clapped for him. It was not every single fan in the stand, but the sheer volume of those who did applaud rolled heavily down onto the pitch enough of them that you could hear the distinct sound of respect all the way from the dugout.

Christian Benteke walked slowly over from the center circle. The big striker stood silently next to Sakho, placing a heavy, supportive hand on the defender's shoulder, and together, the pair of them turned and came back to the tunnel side by side.

I retreated to the dressing room. My phone was hanging in my jacket on the designated peg, the screen glowing brightly in the humid, deeply scented air of the locker room. There was exactly one new message waiting on the lock screen.

DION ASARE. 21:52.He did not plant. Twice. Tell him.

I pulled the phone from the pocket and held the glowing screen out toward Achraf Hakimi, who was sitting on the wooden bench directly beneath the peg, currently unlacing one of his muddy boots.

"He has told me already," Hakimi said, his voice flat with physical exhaustion, barely looking up from his laces. "Four times."

Out on the pitch, Nathan had escorted Sakho to the glaring lights of the Sky Sports broadcast camera.

Sakho outright refused to discuss the equalizing goal during the interview. Instead, he spent two full minutes speaking directly to the television audience about his deep respect for the Kop, delivering his thoughts rapidly in French and then carefully translating them into English. Nathan knew better than to interrupt the moment and did not stop him.

Rebecca had compiled Zaha's complete physical and tactical numbers by the time the team coach was fully loaded in the stadium car park.

She did not show the data sheet to me. She sharply folded the laminated card in half, slid it deep into her heavy coat pocket, gave me a curt nod, and said, "He is fine," before stepping up onto the idling coach.

Bzzt.

My phone vibrated heavily against my thigh. I was settled into my seat on the coach at ten minutes to eleven. We were rolling slowly down Walton Breck Road, navigating through the final stragglers of the home crowd who were still walking home under the harsh amber glow of the streetlights.

DOUGIE. 22:53.Munich again. At full time. In writing this time, and with a number on it. Ring me when you are past Stoke.

A digital document was securely attached beneath the text message. The phone displayed the exact file size and clearly spelled out the name of the colossal German club that had sent the formal proposal.

I did not open it.

I turned the phone over, placing it face down on my knee, and let my eyes wander down the central aisle of the dark, quiet coach. Kovačić was already fast asleep, his head resting heavily against the seat.

Sakho was wide awake. He was sitting completely still, resting his forehead flat against the cold glass of the window, staring backward at the towering Anfield floodlights fading into the Liverpool night, watching them intently until the road curved sharply and took them away.