Chapter 244: Christmas Eve & Christmas Day
The training ground usually alive with noise and movement was unusually quiet today. On the morning of December 24th, its gates stayed shut.
After the intensity of the previous day, the players had swapped the chaos of training for something far simpler warm homes, familiar laughter, and the comforting scent of food cooking in kitchens instead of the cold bite of winter on the pitch.
Jamal's Christmas Eve unfolded in the middle of family chaos. Relatives filled every corner of the house, voices overlapping with kids running past at full speed, and the kitchen buzzing with heat and laughter.
The veteran midfielder so used to organizing play and calling the shots on the pitch, was handed a far less glamorous role at home: unofficial head of potato peeling duty.
