The next evening, the atmosphere around the stadium was electric.
By six o'clock, tens of thousands of Spurs fans were flooding the streets, chanting and drinking.
Half an hour later, the Villa bus pulled into the bowels of the stadium.
The talking was over.
At seven o'clock, the iconic Sky Sports broadcast kicked off.
The legendary voice of Peter Drury poured through televisions across the globe, the audio engineered to capture the deafening roar of the London crowd.
"Welcome, football fans around the world, to the dawn of a new Premier League season! The slate is wiped clean. The hopes, the dreams, the agonizing tension—it all starts fresh right here, under the immaculate lights of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium!
"Tonight, Mauricio Pochettino's Champions League finalists look to lay down a marker of absolute dominance. But standing in their way is a reborn Aston Villa, fresh from the Championship, carrying the weight of history and the undeniable, breathtaking potential of a seventeen-year-old prodigy who has promised the world he will tear this league apart!"
"The waiting is over. The talking stops here. Strap yourselves in, because Premier League football is back!"
"The team sheets are in, and the tension inside this magnificent stadium is absolute!" Peter Drury's voice crackled with electric anticipation over the Sky Sports broadcast.
"Let's look at the gladiators Mauricio Pochettino has chosen for this opening day."
"Spurs line up in a fluid 4-3-1-2. Captain Hugo Lloris commands the box. A formidable back four of Kyle Walker-Peters, Toby Alderweireld, Davinson Sánchez, and Danny Rose. In the engine room, it's a physical trio of Tanguy Ndombele, Harry Winks, and Moussa Sissoko, providing the platform for the Danish maestro, Christian Eriksen."
"And up top, a terrifying dual-threat: Harry Kane and Son Heung-min! Last season, this squad pushed all the way to a Champions League final. Tonight, Pochettino demands they lay the foundation for a domestic title charge."
Drury's pitch shifted, introducing the underdogs. "As for the visitors, Dean Smith sets his newly promoted Aston Villa up in a gritty 4-1-4-1. The 32-year-old veteran Tom Heaton starts in goal. A defensive line featuring Neil Taylor, Tyrone Mings, Björn Engels, and Ahmed Elmohamady. Conor Hourihane sits as the lone defensive anchor."
"Ahead of him, a dynamic midfield four: Anwar El Ghazi, Jack Grealish, John McGinn, and the seventeen-year-old sensation the entire footballing world is talking about tonight—Theodore Bjorn. Leading the line as the lone target man is their record signing, Wesley. They may be the new boys, but Villa possess serious firepower."
Down in the tunnel, the air was thick with tension.
Theodore stood near the back of the Villa line, his face a mask of total focus.
A moment later, referee Chris Kavanagh led the two sides out into the blinding stadium lights.
The roar from the Tottenham faithful was deafening.
[Ding! Season mission issued: Help Aston Villa secure Premier League survival!]
[Mission reward: Unknown!]
Hearing the mechanical chime in his ear, Theodore let out a cold, sharp laugh.
"Survival?" he muttered under his breath, stepping onto the immaculate grass.
"Even the System thinks we're here just to dodge relegation. Fine. Makes taking the reward that much easier."
...
Miles away in Oslo, the glow of a television cut through the dim light of the family restaurant.
Dongguo and Marianne Bjorn had flipped the sign to 'Closed' early just to catch the kickoff.
"Marianne, get in here, he's on the pitch!" Dongguo shouted, leaning close to the screen.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," she replied, wiping her hands on a towel as she hurried out of the kitchen.
Online, the hype was reaching a boiling point.
The Sky Sports digital streams were maxing out, and football Twitter was in absolute meltdown as fans braced for Theodore's top-flight debut.
"The Premier League is back!"
"Let's see what the kid can do."
"Bjorn vs. Son! Asian football royalty going head-to-head on day one!"
"Spurs are too heavy for them."
"Champions League finalists against a Championship squad, Villa are going to get cooked."
"Don't write off Theo, the kid is built for this stage."
...
At 7:30 PM sharp, Chris Kavanagh blew the whistle.
The 2019-2020 Premier League season had officially begun.
Villa kicked off.
Wesley tapped the ball back to Grealish. The Villa captain took a touch, looking to weave his way through the press and set the tempo.
He never got the chance.
A swarm of white shirts collapsed on him in a heartbeat. Ndombele and Winks trapped him in a vicious press.
Ndombele, built like a tank, drove his heavy shoulder straight into Grealish's chest, sending the playmaker crashing to the turf.
Grealish had drastically underestimated the sheer physical brutality of the Premier League.
The ball spilled loose, and Spurs pounced.
Ndombele collected the ball and drove his foot through it, bypassing the midfield entirely to find Eriksen.
The Danish international didn't even take a touch.
He played a sublime, first-time ball into the channel.
"And Tottenham strike like lightning!" Drury roared into the microphone. "Eriksen pulls the strings, and here comes Son Heung-min!"
Son began to run, isolating Elmohamady on the left wing.
The Villa right-back backpedaled, but he was completely outmatched by the South Korean's blistering pace.
Son dropped his shoulder and chopped the ball inside onto his favored right foot, leaving Elmohamady dead in his tracks.
In a fraction of a second, Son reached the edge of the box, his sweet spot.
He glanced up, locked onto Heaton's positioning, and pulled his leg back to unleash a venomous strike!
Bang!
The ball didn't reach the goal as a body threw itself into the firing line and blue perfectly reading the danger.
It was Theodore Bjorn.
He had tracked back sixty yards at a dead sprint, throwing his left leg out to completely smother Son's shot.
The ball ricocheted off his shin with a heavy thud and deflected straight into the path of a recovering Grealish.
"What a block! Theodore Bjorn denies a certain goal!" Drury shouted. "The teenager tracks back to save Villa, and now the visitors can break!"
Having learned a painful lesson just seconds earlier, Grealish didn't try to hold onto the ball.
He took one touch and fired a long pass out to Anwar El Ghazi on the left wing.
The towering Dutch winger brought the ball down.
Standing at 189cm, El Ghazi had the build of a striker, but Smith had tasked him with hugging the touchline tonight.
Treating the ball like a live grenade under the relentless Spurs press, El Ghazi didn't try to beat his man.
He whipped a vicious, early cross deep into the Tottenham penalty area.
The ball hung in the air, dropping right into the six-yard box.
Wesley and Davinson Sánchez locked eyes on it.
The massive Brazilian striker and the powerhouse Colombian center-back threw their bodies into the air, colliding with sickening force right in front of the Tottenham goal.
---------
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