Chapter 86: A Bend In The Road
The press room wasn’t buzzing like it had been after the Milan match. No laughter echoing off the concrete walls. No cheeky smirks exchanged between journalists in the front row. No excited whispers passing from camera crew to camera crew about "Alex Walker’s Lecce magic." The energy in the room was lower now, muted, like a thick fog had settled in the corners. Respectful, even.
Because Lecce had lost their first match under Alex Walker.
But the performance had been anything but disgraceful.
Luca Ferretti stood awkwardly in front of the sponsor backdrop, the cheap white lights above him humming, shining down with that unforgiving brightness that made sweat glisten on young skin and cast shadows under tired eyes. He blinked into the lights, shifting from one foot to another, the lenses of cameras glinting like a wall of tiny, watchful eyes.
He still had braces on his bottom row of teeth.
It was a small reminder that despite the poise he’d shown in the midfield, despite the way he’d split Atalanta’s defense with a pass some professionals would have missed, he was still just a teenager, clutching his water bottle a little too tight as the microphones were nudged closer to him.
A journalist from La Repubblica asked the first question, voice calm but clear. "Luca, hard result today. You were fantastic in the middle of the park, but how did it feel to experience your first loss with the senior team?"
Luca swallowed, the sound loud in his ears. He scratched the back of his neck, feeling the heat of the lights on his skin. "Yeah, it’s... tough," he said, his voice cracking just a touch before he cleared it with a small cough. "We all wanted to win. We prepared for it. Fought for it. But sometimes, football just doesn’t go your way, you know? It’s still surreal for me, playing matches like this, in front of these fans, in this stadium. But I know I’ve got to keep improving. This isn’t the end for me or for us."
His honesty landed in the quiet of the room like a stone dropping into a still lake.
Another voice, softer and more casual, came from the left, a local reporter, face familiar from the training ground press days. "Luca, that pass to start the counter for the second goal was top class. Where’d you learn to play like that, eh?"
Luca laughed, a short, shy sound, and the tension in his shoulders eased just slightly. "Ah, I’ve watched a lot of football," he admitted, glancing down at his boots before looking back up with a small, crooked smile. "Studied the game a lot, too. And the coaches here... Mister Walker, he’s always on me about scanning before I get the ball, always knowing what’s next. I guess... yeah, it’s paying off."