On the pitch, the United players were still celebrating when Havertz approached Ling.
"Nineteen," he said. "One more and you reach twenty Champions League goals in one season."
Ling smiled.
"That sounds simple when you say it like that."
"I'm serious. And that second goal was ridiculous."
Several teammates agreed loudly.
Havertz, however, had another question.
"What's a Champions League final actually like?"
He had never played in one.
For Havertz, the competition's final remained the kind of stage he had imagined since childhood. It was also part of the reason he had chosen Manchester United.
Watching Ling's performance against Real Madrid in the 2018 final had left a lasting impression on him, and joining the same team offered the chance to learn from a player he admired.
Ling thought for a moment.
"I've only played two, so I'm hardly an expert."
"The first one against Madrid was completely different from anything I'd experienced. There was a point where it felt like nothing was going our way, and I honestly wondered whether we were finished."
He smiled at the memory.
"But once you've reached a final, giving up because the situation looks impossible would be stupid. We kept going, I scored three, and eventually we won on penalties."
Havertz listened closely.
"And City?"
"That one felt more familiar."
"Because they were English?"
"Because they were our neighbors. We knew them, they knew us, and we'd already played them several times. Once the match started, it felt much more like another huge domestic game than some mysterious European occasion."
Ling looked around at the celebrations.
"There's something I've always liked about that first final, though. Sometimes you don't keep fighting because you can already see hope. You keep fighting because continuing is the only way to create any."
That was essentially what had happened against Madrid.
United had refused to accept the apparent ending and eventually created a different one.
Havertz sighed.
"I should've joined two years earlier."
"You were still in Germany."
"I could've asked nicely."
Ling laughed.
Maguire arrived before the conversation could continue.
"Enough nostalgia. We still have the league to win."
He slapped both hands together.
"Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League. Let's finish the job."
That immediately brought the players' attention back to what remained.
They had reached the European final.
The season was nowhere near finished.
...
Across the pitch, Juventus's players were dealing with elimination in very different ways.
Cristiano stood for a while with his hands on his hips, staring toward the stands.
He had joined Juventus with the explicit ambition of bringing the Champions League back to Turin.
Two years later, that goal still seemed distant.
His own season had hardly been poor.
He remained one of Serie A's leading scorers and had produced a long scoring streak during the campaign, demonstrating that his finishing ability had not disappeared.
Old Trafford had simply been a bad matchup for Juventus.
United denied him space to accelerate, surrounded him whenever he received between the lines, and rarely allowed the kind of clean penalty-area service that made him most dangerous.
At thirty-five, he could no longer compensate for every structural problem by collecting the ball thirty or forty yards from goal and repeatedly beating defenders himself.
That reality was frustrating, but it did not erase the season he had produced.
Juventus supporters applauded him as he slowly walked toward them.
Many had imagined his arrival might restore not only their Champions League ambitions but also Serie A's place at the center of the individual awards conversation.
The last Ballon d'Or winner based in Italy had been Kaká in 2007.
Cristiano had seemed like the obvious player capable of changing that.
Whether he still could remained uncertain.
Elsewhere, Higuaín had dropped to the grass after playing the closing stages. He was exhausted but seemed considerably less devastated than some of his teammates.
Years of intense criticism with Argentina had given him a thick skin when it came to supporters and the media.
Szczęsny leaned against one of the posts, looking as though he would happily accept a cigarette if someone offered one.
Buffon approached from the bench.
"Don't let this destroy the rest of the season," he said. "Inter are still close. We have a league to finish."
Juventus were still pursuing a ninth consecutive Serie A title, and Buffon had no intention of watching the squad collapse emotionally because of one European elimination.
Pogba remained farther away from the group.
For the first time since leaving Manchester, he found himself wondering whether becoming the unquestioned center of a team had really been as important as he once believed.
At Juventus, he received more touches and enjoyed greater freedom.
The atmosphere around him was generally good, and nobody questioned his status.
Yet Manchester United were going to another Champions League final without him.
The thought inevitably produced an uncomfortable question.
What if he had stayed?
Perhaps United would never have needed to restructure the midfield in the same way.
Perhaps he could have remained their most gifted midfielder, playing behind the strongest forward in the world rather than trying to compete with him for influence.
There was no useful answer.
The decision had already been made.
Pogba stood alone for a moment, almost hoping one of his former teammates would approach and break the awkwardness.
Eventually Kanté did.
He gave Pogba a brief pat on the shoulder, said nothing, and continued toward the tunnel.
Somehow, the gesture felt more sincere than any speech would have.
...
At the post-match press conference, a reporter from The Guardian asked Mourinho about the final.
"Will the Champions League final be the most important match Manchester United have played in the past year? And will it be the most important match of your season?"
Mourinho smiled.
"When it becomes the next match, yes."
Several reporters laughed.
"But tomorrow it is not the next match. Southampton is."
"So Southampton is more important."
He leaned closer to the microphone.
"You know my answer. The next match is always the most important because it is the only one you can actually influence."
"When we reach the Champions League final, then it becomes the biggest match because it will be the last one and because we will have the opportunity to win something historic."
"No Manchester United team has won three European Cups in succession."
He smiled again.
"I think the supporters would enjoy seeing that."
A reporter from L'Équipe asked about Ling.
"Perfect," Mourinho replied without hesitation.
"That is the easiest word."
"The first goal was an incredible strike, but the second one surprised me even more. From the touchline, there were so many bodies in the box that I could barely understand what he was doing. I could see him changing direction and defenders moving with him, and then suddenly he was six yards from goal."
Mourinho laughed.
"When I saw the replay, it became even more ridiculous."
"I have coached many great attackers. I've seen many beautiful goals. I don't remember seeing many where a player manipulates two center-backs in such a small space that many times without losing control of the ball."
"If he wants to repeat it in the final, I will not complain."
...
Sarri faced a more uncomfortable press conference.
A reporter from Tuttosport brought up Cristiano's relatively modest match rating.
"Cristiano has been one of the best scorers in Serie A this season, yet tonight he barely threatened Manchester United. Do you believe the problem was tactical?"
Sarri stared at the reporter for several seconds.
"This result is not about one player."
"Maybe my tactics had problems. Maybe our execution had problems. Maybe Manchester United simply played better."
He shrugged.
"There is no value in standing here and inventing excuses."
The reporter pressed him on Juventus's dependence on Cristiano.
Sarri shook his head.
"Football cannot function by giving the ball to one man and expecting him to solve every situation. Cristiano is extraordinary, but the team still has to create the conditions for him to be extraordinary."
"That did not happen tonight."
He then added one final defense of the season.
"We are still in position to win a ninth consecutive Serie A title."
"That achievement matters."
Some reporters remained skeptical. Juventus's domestic dominance had begun long before Sarri arrived, and both Inter and Lazio had pushed them harder than many expected this season.
Still, whatever happened to Sarri's job, the league had not yet been won.
Juventus would have to recover quickly.
...
By late evening, footage of Ling's second goal had spread across football media.
📰 The Guardian: Ling Leads Manchester United into Third Consecutive Champions League Final
The paper focused on his nineteen Champions League goals and the close-control sequence that left De Ligt and Bonucci unable to stop him.
📰 The Mirror: PSG and Bayern Prepare to Decide United's Final Opponent
The first leg had finished 1–1, leaving the other semifinal finely balanced. Thomas Tuchel expressed confidence that PSG possessed enough attacking quality to challenge either Bayern or United if they advanced.
📰 L'Équipe: One More for Twenty—Ling Extends Champions League Record
With nineteen goals already, Ling now had a realistic opportunity to become the first player to score twenty in a single Champions League campaign.
One tabloid carried a less football-focused story claiming that Pogba had gone out in Manchester after the match and become involved in an argument with United supporters before people nearby separated them.
With no clear confirmation beyond the report itself, most reputable outlets treated the story cautiously.
Supporters were more interested in the final.
📱 @ParisUltra
PSG have the attack to hurt United. Neymar and Mbappé against that defense would be a brilliant final.
📱 @BayernZone
Maybe get past Bayern before planning the final.
📱 @UnitedStand ✔
PSG's front line is terrifying. Their defensive structure is much less convincing. That's exactly the kind of opponent United usually punish.
📱 @TacticalTimes
United's own defense deserves more respect. Three central midfielders, excellent recovery speed from Kanté, and full-backs who can defend one-on-one make them difficult to transition against.
📱 @NeutralFootball
Bayern may not have as many celebrity names as PSG, but Lewandowski is having an outrageous season. Either semifinalist would make a great final.
📱 @StretfordEndTom
Forget Lisbon for a minute. Win the Premier League and FA Cup first, then arrive at the final chasing the treble.
📱 @LegacyFootball
Three consecutive Champions Leagues would be genuine history.
📱 @TransferTalk
€270m valuation for Ling sounds insane until you ask what Manchester United would actually accept.
| ↳ 📱 @MarketWatcher
| Reply: The bigger problem is finding a club capable of paying anything close to that in the current market.
Manchester United had reached Lisbon.
Before they could think seriously about the Estádio da Luz, however, there were still trophies to win at home.
---------
Read 30 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator