Chapter 172: First Game of the season
September 19, 2020
"GOALLLL!"
The roar may not have erupted from the stands of Old Trafford, but it still sent shockwaves across Manchester — from living rooms to pub corners, from WhatsApp groups to quiet backyards lit only by fairy lights and flickering TV screens. There were no scarves waving in the wind, no stampede of fans on Sir Matt Busby Way. This wasn’t a normal matchday.
It was COVID season. The stadiums were silent, the streets half-empty, but the hearts of Manchester United fans thumped just as loud as ever.
In a different kind of theatre, the Theatre of Homes, the rituals lived on. Fridges were stocked with cold beers. Wings sizzled in ovens. Children wore oversized United kits and bounced on couches while parents argued about the starting eleven. Windows glowed with the soft pulse of pre-match broadcasts. The city was alive — not outside, but within.
Manchester’s pulse was split in two, though. Because while half the city prepared to roar in red, the other half was reeling. Earlier that day, just across town, the blue half of Manchester had suffered a humiliation so spectacular, it stunned the Premier League.
Manchester City 2 – Leicester City 5.
It was the kind of result that didn’t just sting — it left bruises.
The Etihad had been dissected. A performance so chaotic and defensively disjointed, even the most loyal City fans were left scratching their heads. For United fans, it was an unexpected appetizer. For neutrals, it was entertainment at its finest.
Back in the Sky Sports studio, the fallout had already begun.
Gary Neville was the first to speak. He leaned forward, eyes narrowed, brow furrowed as though trying to process what he had just witnessed.