[23’.]

Bruno Fernandes had been quiet for nine minutes. He was not quiet now.

He took a pass off Acuña on the halfway line. One touch with the outside of his right. Looked up.

The pass through Mili.

I had watched a hundred passes like it on Friday morning at Beckenham. The tape had not made me sit up. The tape had been a flat thing.

The pass in the air at Selhurst on a Thursday night with Mili reacting half a second late was a different thing.

The ball went through the gap between Mili and Mateo. Bas Dost ran on. Wayne came out.

CRACK.

Bas Dost hit the post. The ball came back across the six-yard line and Aaron cleared it into the Arthur Wait.

Wilf hit their post in the twenty-eighth from the angle. Crack. Their keeper got a hand to it.

Thirty-first minute Bruno Fernandes had the ball thirty yards out. He took two touches to set it. Right foot.

Crack.

The ball bent in the air. Wayne did not see it until late.

Wayne’s post.

Wayne let his breath out. Looked at me across the pitch. Did not say anything.

Sarah was at my shoulder before the ball had stopped bouncing.

"That was not on the tape."

I shook my head.

"He sees the pitch before he gets the ball. Marcus said it at half nine and I did not understand it until just now."

She did not wait for me to answer. Walked back to the bench.

[36’.]

Mateo took it off Mili in our own half. Mateo carried it.

He went past Acuña. Past the covering man. Past William Carvalho. Forty yards before anybody got within touching distance.

He looked up.

Eze in the half-spaces. Eze always in the half-spaces.

Mateo played it.

Eze took one touch. Did not play the ball Sporting were expecting. Outside of his right foot. Across the pitch. Forty yards through the gap behind Sporting’s left-back who had pushed too far.

Olise.

Olise had been running.

Olise had been running from the moment Mateo had taken it off Mili. Olise had been running because Olise had decided five seconds before anybody else that this was what was about to happen.

The keeper came out.

Olise took it past him with one touch.

Whump.

Olise rolled it into the empty net from the corner of the six-yard box.

The Holmesdale did the song they had made for him at Watford. Then they did a new one I had not heard before. Olise had not been on the pitch for half an hour at home in front of the Holmesdale all season and the Holmesdale had been holding the songs for him.

Olise did not run anywhere. Turned and walked back to the centre circle. Wilf came across. Put both hands round his face. Shook his head twice.

Across the pitch Bruno Fernandes was at the halfway line. He had his hands on his hips. He watched Olise walk back. He watched the Holmesdale singing. Then he turned and ran back to his own half.

[Crystal Palace 2 - Sporting CP 0.]

[HT.]

Two-nil at the break.

I did not say much in the dressing room. Same shape. They will throw it at us in the first ten minutes. Weather it. Mateo carries. Eze finds the channel. Michael does the rest.

Mama drank his water in three swallows. Konaté did not drink water. Mateo sat on the bench with his eyes closed.

Marcus came in from the analyst box at quarter past nine with his laptop under his arm. Caught me by the corridor outside the home dressing room.

"Daniel."

"Marcus."

"He is better in real life than on tape." 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"I know."

"He is twice better. He sees the pitch before he gets the ball. The tape does not show that. The tape shows what he does with the ball. The tape does not show what he is doing before."

"What do we do."

"Mateo on him in the second half when he drops deep. Not on him exactly. In his path. We do not let him take the ball off the centre-back facing forward."

"All right. Tell Mateo. Now."

Marcus went down the corridor to find Mateo. I went back into the dressing room.

The bell went. We went back out.

[52’.]

Bruno Fernandes turned past Mili in the centre circle. Two touches. Forty yards on the ball.

BANG.

Wayne with both hands.

The Sporting bench was up. Jorge Jesus was clapping. He was the only one in the entire away half of the stadium clapping a save by the opposition goalkeeper.

[58’.]

Bas Dost on the volley off a Bruno Fernandes cross.

BANG.

Wayne with his face. Sat down on the line for a second. Tomkins came on to the pitch with a towel. Wayne stood up. Waved Tomkins away.

I took Christopher off at sixty. Pato on.

The Holmesdale stood for Christopher all the way to the touchline. Mama came across to the centre circle to put his hand on the back of Christopher’s neck before Christopher got to the bench. Christopher sat down next to James. James put a hand on his shoulder. Christopher did not look up.

[65’.]

Bas Dost finally past Mama on a ball Bruno Fernandes had clipped over the top.

Wayne out.

Bas Dost lifted it.

Konaté on the line.

THUD.

Off Konaté’s forehead and out for a corner.

The Holmesdale stood. Did not stop standing.

In the directors’ box on the other side of the pitch Steve Parish was on his feet. So were the other four. So was the man next to Steve who I did not know but who was wearing the suit of a man who would not normally stand at a football match.

[72’.]

Mateo got it deep in our own half. Half a second.

He carried it.

Past Acuña. Past Acuña’s cover. Past William Carvalho. Same forty yards as the thirty-sixth minute.

Bruno Fernandes was thirty yards away tracking back and did not get within five yards of Mateo on the carry.

Mateo looked up.

Eze had peeled into the channel where Sporting’s right-back had abandoned it because their right-back was forty yards out of position trying to make something happen at the other end of the pitch.

Mateo played him in.

Eze on the half-turn. Drew the centre-back.

Slipped it inside.

Pato.

Pato had come on twelve minutes earlier and had not touched the ball.

First time. Low. Across the keeper.

Whump.

Bottom-right corner.

[Crystal Palace 3 - Sporting CP 0.]

The Holmesdale sang European nights for two solid minutes without breath.

I had my arms folded.

Sarah did not say don’t smile, Daniel. Sarah was smiling.

Across the pitch Jorge Jesus was at his fourth official with his hands moving. Pointing at Bruno Fernandes. Pointing at Mateo. Pointing at his own back four. The fourth official was nodding politely the way fourth officials nod at managers who are no longer managing a match they have any chance of winning.