Old Trafford stadium.
Man United fans celebrated with laughter and cheers, every face beaming with joy.
Although Arsenal's performance has been declining in recent years, the long-standing rivalry with Manchester United makes a 3-1 home victory over them particularly worthy of celebration.
As for Arsenal fans, they were exceptionally frustrated.
A win or draw in this match would have extended their unbeaten streak to 20 games this season.
For supporters with no title hopes, clinging to hollow records was their only consolation. Unfortunately, Unai Emery ruined everything. His tactics were completely outmaneuvered by Jose Mourinho, and Arsenal's players performed poorly.
Their error-prone defense left some fans anxiously reaching for heart medication during the match.
After leading his teammates to thank the fans, Ling approached the Arsenal bench.
"Henrikh, want to swap jerseys?" he asked.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan nodded expressionlessly. It wasn't that he had any issue with Ling, but as an Arsenal player, smiling and chatting with opponents after a painful loss would inevitably draw heavy criticism from the notoriously hard-to-please Arsenal fans.
They might even hire lip-reading experts to decipher what he had actually said!
The two didn't exchange many words.
After swapping jerseys, Ling headed straight to the locker room, as he still had media interviews to attend.
"About your two goals today, what would you like to say?" a reporter from The Guardian raised their hand to ask in the press room.
"I think both were quite brilliant, especially the second goal," Ling replied with a smile. "I used a bit of clever trickery and didn't expect it to go in, but the result was a pleasant surprise. Of course, it's a shame I couldn't get a hat trick."
"Jeremy, as the team's starting center forward, you're still frequently involved in defensive duties. Does this ever lead to dissatisfaction?" A reporter from The Sun, as always, posed a tricky question, trying to stir up drama.
"Well, no," Ling smiled without refuting the premise. "Of course, we also want to play exciting and beautiful football, scoring many goals to thrill the fans, but winning the match is what matters most. Today, we gave our all and secured three points, but there's still much room for improvement. We hope the fans will continue to support us, and we believe we'll deliver even more exciting matches for you."
...
That evening, as the match between Tottenham and Southampton concluded, the 15th round of the Premier League officially came to an end.
Liverpool beat Burnley 3-1, with each member of their famous 'Red Arrow Trio' scoring a goal.
Mo Salah, in particular, seemed to be hitting his stride, reminiscent of his spectacular form in the latter stages of last season.
There was no upset in Watford, as they lost 1-2 to Man City.
Even before halftime, Man City had already taken a two-goal lead.
Man City fans initially expected a big win, but after entering a tough fixture schedule, the players seemed somewhat sluggish.
Watford's high press disrupted Man City's possession-based play, and they managed to concede a goal in the 87th minute.
If Guardiola hadn't followed Mourinho's example and parked the bus late on, Man United might already be at the top of the table.
Among the remaining two teams of the Premier League's 'Big 6', Chelsea lost 1-2 to Wolves, while Tottenham beat Southampton 3-1.
Both are closely trailing the Manchester duo, keeping their slim hopes for the league title alive.
This also heightened the anticipation for the massive North West Derby at the end of December.
...
The next morning.
In his apartment on Crown Street, Ling woke up and got ready.
"Jeremy, today's schedule is as follows," his assistant said, handing over a tablet. "First, head to the photography studio for a cover shoot, then there's an entertainment program."
"FIFA 2019 cover star?" Ling took the offer and reviewed it carefully.
Originally, the cover star was supposed to be Cristiano Ronaldo.
However, due to his recent involvement in a sexual assault scandal, EA Sports had removed Ronaldo from the cover, replacing him with a trio of stars: Ling, Neymar, and Kevin De Bruyne.
"Are De Bruyne and Neymar here too?" Ling asked.
"Yes, both of them have already arrived in Manchester ahead of time," the assistant nodded.
"Then let's get going," Ling stretched lazily.
As it approached 10 a.m., Ling arrived at the Man City training base.
EA had rented Manchester City's photography studio for this event.
Ling marveled at the luxurious and advanced facilities in the training base, noting how much better they were than his own club's Carrington training ground.
Man City's facility was built with a lavish investment of 200 million pounds from oil money, featuring a total of 16 artificial pitches to provide comprehensive services for both the first team and the youth squad.
"Kevin, long time no see," Ling stepped out of the business car and greeted De Bruyne.
"Has it really been that long? We just saw each other on the 12th of last month," De Bruyne thought about it seriously for a moment.
"Haha, really? I have another question for you—how's the food in your cafeteria?" Ling asked with a strange expression.
De Bruyne was left puzzled by Ling's question, wondering why he would ask something like that.
But suddenly, De Bruyne became much more enthusiastic.
"Since Mr. Guardiola arrived, our canteen budget has increased tenfold, and we've hired a chef team of over 15 people..."
After a long, rambling speech about the menu, De Bruyne finally whispered, "If you want fast food, like McDonald's or KFC, I can get that for you too."
From what he knew, De Bruyne was a shy, boyish figure—so why had he become so talkative today?
Ling felt puzzled internally, playing the part of a good listener.
Could he be trying to convince him to join Manchester City next season?
But it turned out he was overthinking things.
Then De Bruyne began introducing other aspects of Manchester City to Ling.
"Haha, I saw your youth team playing a practice match outside earlier," Ling asked casually. "Is there a player named Jadon Sancho among them?"
De Bruyne answered without hesitation, "Oh, you mean Jadon? He transferred to Dortmund last season. I remember him quite well, he's good at dribbling using body feints and footwork. Hmm... a bit similar to your technical style."
'No wonder Sancho loved eating at the cafeteria,' Ling thought.
It was a habit he'd developed at Man City!
Later in the timeline Ling knew, when Erik ten Hag banned Sancho from Man United's cafeteria, he even had De Gea and Maguire pack meals for him.
Soon enough, the final member arrived.
Neymar, dressed in trendy clothes, removed his sunglasses and waved at the other two.
"Hello." De Bruyne reverted to his usual aloof demeanor, while Ling grasped Neymar's hand and said.
"Welcome to Manchester."
(Neymar's English proficiency could only be described as... challenging. So they kept it brief).
The shooting process was straightforward.
The three of them changed into their respective club jerseys, struck various poses in front of the camera, and left the rest to post-production.
The entertainment segment proved quite interesting.
The host briefly explained the game rules.
"Gentlemen, you need to identify your own player cards based on the attributes. Correct identification earns one point; wrong answers get nothing."
Ling and the other two each received a stack of Ultimate Team player cards with the top images completely covered, revealing only numerical values representing pace, passing, dribbling, physical, and other attributes below.
"Let's start with Ling, the fastest from the last round!" the host said.
While De Bruyne and Neymar were still hesitating, looking closely at the stats, Ling had already picked up his player card without a second thought and handed it to the host.
"Sure," Ling replied with a confident smile.
"Ling's speed is incredible! But are you sure? Wrong guesses won't earn any points!" the host warned.
Was this cheating?
After all, he had the system panel in his head.
He had his attributes memorized by heart. Even if FIFA's estimates were slightly off, he could tell at a glance.
Because the moment Neymar saw the first card of the next round, he was certain it was his own player card.
When the final results of that segment were announced, all three had found the correct answers, but Jeremy was the fastest, followed by Neymar, and De Bruyne came in third.
When the host introduced the second segment, Ling instinctively glanced at De Bruyne.
"The card-drawing round! Add your own market value to the drawn player's value. Whoever has the highest total wins the game."
Ling blew twice into his palms and then clicked the draw button on the screen.
"Blue, England, center-back, Man United... Oh, Maguire! Valued at 54 million euros!" the host announced.
"Luck isn't on my side today," Ling muttered to himself.
In a few years, Maguire's value might surpass 100 million, but for now, he was still in the development phase.
"Plus my additional 150 million euros, making a total of 204 million euros!"
The second to go was Neymar. He drew Kylian Mbappé, a teammate from his own club.
The combined value of the two PSG players approached 300 million euros!
With no player in the football world yet exceeding 200 million euros in value alone, the winner was already predetermined, regardless of whether De Bruyne drew or not.
However, to meet the production team's requirements, De Bruyne still took the laptop and gently clicked the right mouse button to draw.
Ling immediately leaned forward to stare at the screen.
"Red, Belgium, goalkeeper, Real Madrid... Thibaut Courtois!" the host read out.
De Bruyne's smile vanished instantly, his expression turning deadly serious.
The host was equally baffled, because the coincidence was just that uncanny!
Ling quickly snatched the laptop away, suspecting the organizers were intentionally staging this for dramatic effect—how else could it be such a coincidence?!
Their relationship was well known in the football world—the Belgian version of the "teammate's wife scandal."
After all, De Bruyne's ex-girlfriend had publicly stated to the media.
"That night, Courtois gave me a feeling that De Bruyne hadn't given me in three years."
No man could tolerate this, right?!
When the incident first came to light, Courtois nearly got expelled from the national team.
It was only because De Bruyne prioritized the team's interests and pleaded with the head coach that he was allowed to stay.
But that doesn't mean the two have reconciled completely.
Due to this bizarre and incredibly awkward incident, the show quickly wrapped up.
Ling initially thought about comforting De Bruyne, but to his surprise, De Bruyne nonchalantly remarked, "Actually, I should be grateful for that relationship. It allowed me to fully dedicate myself to football and led me to my current wife."
"Well, sometimes that's just how fate works," Ling said seriously.
.....
2 down, 2 to go 😭