Chapter 641: Grim Reality!

For a fraction of a second, he slid his foot underneath it and lifted the ball over Casemiro’s approaching challenge.

The midfielder stepped in to close the space, but Leo had already taken the ball past him.

He moved around Casemiro’s shoulder, landed on the other side, and brought the ball down into his stride.

"Calderon gets it! Casemiro comes across—"

Bower’s commentary faltered as Leo planted his left foot beside the ball and leaned sharply to his left.

The pass the United players had been expecting never came, leaving them bare, but Mainoo reacted immediately.

He braked, changed direction, and launched himself towards the space Leo appeared to be opening.

But Leo had only needed him to move.

A tiny touch sent the ball past Mainoo’s left side but towards the midfielder’s right.

It was so slight that it barely looked like a change of direction.

Mainoo’s momentum carried him forward, and Leo slipped around him before the young midfielder could turn.

"OH, HE’S GONE PAST MAINOO!"

Fletcher’s voice rose with the crowd.

But down the pitch, Leo didn’t stop to set himself.

He didn’t take an extra touch to find the perfect angle.

As the ball rolled into his path, he drove his right foot through it and sent the shot curling towards the far side of the goal.

"CALDERON GOES FOR IT," Bower rose as Onana shifted across his line.

At first, the ball appeared to be bending too far.

It started towards the outside of the far post, and the goalkeeper took the steps he needed to cover the angle.

He lowered his body, preparing to dive, seemingly confident that the shot would drift wide.

But as he watched it coming, the ball kept bending.

Onana pushed off and stretched himself towards it, but the shot had taken a vicious curve around the outside of his reach.

The goalkeeper had passed it by a fraction when a sharp crack rang out behind him.

The ball had struck the inside of the post as Onana landed heavily on his side.

For an instant, he remained on the grass, looking towards the goal line.

Then he turned his head over his shoulder to find the ball nestling in the back of the net and in the next instant, the stadium erupted for the 6th time that game.

"LEO CALDERON!"

Steve Bower was shouting now, barely audible above the roar from the home stands.

"WHAT A GOAL! WHAT AN ABSOLUTE SCREAMER! HE HAS JUST SENT MANCHESTER UNITED FURTHER INTO TROUBLE! A TOUCH OF GOLD TURNED INTO GOAL!"

Fletcher sounded almost breathless.

"Look at the movement! Casemiro thinks he’s got him, Mainoo thinks he’s read him, and Leo just shifts the ball by an inch! An inch! And then he bends that around Onana and off the inside of the post. That is an extraordinary finish!"

The moment the ball left his foot, Leo was already running.

His arms stretched out beside him as he headed towards the travelling supporters, his face alive with the kind of grin he hadn’t shown after the previous two goals.

The noise followed him across the pitch, but he barely seemed to hear it.

He ran and then stopped in front of the United end.

Above the supporters, the Manchester United flag hung among a sea of red shirts.

Leo pointed towards it, then wagged his hand in front of the crowd, as if dismissing the noise that had greeted him earlier.

A few supporters shouted back but most simply stared, their faces caught between disbelief and resignation.

Leo turned away from them and pointed towards the Wigan flag.

He walked towards it, leaned forward, and kissed the badge on his shirt, and at that, the home crowd answered with another roar.

"FOUR-TWO!" Bower shouted. "WIGAN ATHLETIC HAVE SCORED AGAIN! THREE GOALS IN NINE MINUTES, AND NOW CALDERON HAS MADE IT FOUR!"

"Manchester United have absolutely no answer to him!" Fletcher replied.

"They’ve tried getting close, they’ve tried sitting off, they’ve tried bringing two players towards him. It doesn’t matter! He finds a way through, and then he produces a finish like that!"

Before long, the rest of the Wigan players swarmed Leo, tugging at him and just shoving him around with smiles on their faces.

The United players, on the other hand, stood still, faces drooping and looking down as the noise surrounded them.

From one moment ago to now, two.

And the goal that had put them there had come from a player they had spent the afternoon trying to contain.

In the away end, supporters watched the scene unfold in front of them.

Some remained standing, unwilling to accept what they had just seen.

Others sank back into their seats, staring at the pitch as the Wigan players continued celebrating.

A few had their phones out, recording Leo as he stood in front of the United flag.

They had come expecting their team to respond after the earlier collapse.

Instead, they had watched and even caught the same player pull them apart again on their phones.

The Wigan players eventually began moving away from Leo, heading back towards their positions.

Reyes gave him one final shove between the shoulders before jogging off, while Carlo was still shaking his head and laughing.

Leo, on the other hand, stayed behind for a moment.

His eyes moved across the advertising boards, searching for one of the broadcast cameras, and eventually, he found one near the touchline.

Leo turned towards it, pointed straight at the lens, and raised two fingers to make a V sign.

Then he held it there.

........

At Leo’s apartment, Vittoria practically launched herself off the sofa.

"YES! YES! THAT’S IT!"

She shrieked, clapping so hard that her hands stung, then dissolved into giggles when the broadcast showed Leo holding the V sign towards the camera.

"This feels so much better than I thought it would be."

Mia, sitting beside her, slowly turned her head.

Vittoria was still grinning at the screen, one hand pressed to her mouth as she watched the replay.

Mia stared at her for another second before looking back at the television.

"I need to find new company," she muttered, but Vittoria barely heard her.

On the screen, Leo was still smiling as he began turning away from the camera.