Thursday, September 21, 2023
Manchester — Evening
Demien's phone was still hot from the Bayern aftermath by the time he sat down on his own sofa that evening, the screen barely dimming between one notification and the next.
Headlines. Fan accounts. Pundit clips cut into fifteen-second loops. Tactical breakdown accounts freezing his free kick mid-flight with arrows drawn across the frame. His one goal and two assists had turned into a public event overnight, and every scroll dragged him back into it instead of letting him move past it.
He watched the free kick clip again without meaning to. Then the SIUUU. Then the pass to Højlund, then Casemiro's header, then the Player of the Match graphic with his name spelled out under the trophy. He wanted to check the reaction quickly and put the phone down. His thumb kept finding another clip instead.
Then a headline slid past that stopped his thumb completely.
