"Ding! Congratulations, Host! System mission completed: Keep a clean sheet against the mighty Juventus!"
"Ding! Congratulations, Host! You have received a system reward of 500 system points!"
"Ding! Congratulations, Host! You may now draw a badge from Pogba!"
A string of system notification chimes rang out, and Leon slipped away from his teammates' wild celebrations, walking back alone to a corner of the dressing room.
"Hey! Leon doesn't really fit in, does he!"
Agazzi remarked with clear intent.
"Ha! As long as he keeps the goal safe, that's all that matters!"
"We wouldn't have won this match without Leon."
Mexes stepped forward directly, patted Agazzi on the shoulder, and made clear he should drop it.
De Sciglio and Suso, representing the Italian contingent, were visibly in agreement with Mexes.
"I..."
Agazzi's expression turned ugly.
He had not expected that Leon had already, without anyone quite noticing, been accepted by every faction inside the AC Milan dressing room.
And Diego López, the one Agazzi had been counting on, said nothing at this moment, sitting in complete silence.
Because Diego López understood that in his competition with Leon, he was once again coming out behind.
That left him deeply dispirited.
At Real Madrid, Diego López had lost out to Navas in their battle for the position, and in the end he had chosen to leave.
He had come to AC Milan believing it was a club in need of rebuilding, certain he could secure the starting goalkeeper spot.
He had not expected a young upstart to come along and take that position from him.
Diego López found this very difficult to accept.
'Am I truly not good enough?'
Diego López fell into deep self-doubt.
'For f...'
Agazzi felt his career at AC Milan was effectively over.
With Leon having firmly taken the starting goalkeeper role, the club no longer had any real need for him as third-choice.
Leon, Diego López, and Abbiati were already more than enough to cover the season's demands.
The transfer window had closed, so if Agazzi wanted to leave, he would have to wait until the end of the season.
Leon paid none of that any attention and instead turned inward to review the system.
Including the points earned during the match and the bonus from completing the system mission, Leon had collected a total of 598 system points from this fixture.
Adding what he had carried over previously, Leon now had 680 system points in total.
It did not look like much, and it would not buy many attribute exchanges.
But this was only the beginning.
As the points built up match by match, Leon was confident it would not be long before he was no longer so short of system points.
When that time came, there would be plenty of worthwhile items in the system shop worth trying out.
System points could wait for now, because what genuinely had Leon's attention was what kind of badge he might draw from Pogba.
'System! Draw the Pogba badge!'
Leon recited the command inwardly.
"Ding! Draw commencing!"
"Ding! Congratulations, Host! You have drawn the badge: [Interception Master]!"
[Interception Master]: Outside the penalty area, interception success rate increased by 50%!
'That looks rather impressive!'
Leon raised an eyebrow.
It seemed he was fully committed to the path of the sweeper keeper now.
In world football at this moment, the only goalkeeper known for charging out of the penalty area was Neuer.
Soon there would be another: Leon Feng.
The moment Leon stepped outside the penalty area, he was effectively operating as a defender.
With his exceptional natural athleticism and the [Interception Master] badge behind him, Leon could realistically switch to playing as a centre-back right now and still perform at a strong level.
If he could draw a passing-related badge further down the line, then Leon truly had the potential to become a genuine organising force from the back.
Unlike his draw of the Cristiano Ronaldo badge, this one came with no additional attribute boost.
Pogba's highlighted attributes either overlapped with ones Leon already possessed, or were entirely irrelevant to the goalkeeper position.
So there was no bonus attribute gain this time around.
Even so, Leon was more than satisfied.
When the squad returned to Milanello, they were met by supporters with a rapturous reception.
Beating Serie A leaders Juventus away from home was an enormously significant result for AC Milan.
Many at the club began to view this match as the starting point of a genuine resurgence.
Since Leon had entered the starting line-up, the two toughest fixtures had both been won.
Whatever anyone else thought, the AC Milan supporters had made up their minds.
If you wanted to win, you started Leon.
It was similar to how the league had once moved to the rhythm of Ibrahimović.
It sounded almost mystical, but there was perhaps something to it.
As a result, the negative image Leon had previously carried among supporters was completely reversed.
Even Mancini Jr., who had first set things in motion against Leon, likely never anticipated that Leon's turnaround would arrive so swiftly.
In his imagining, if AC Milan had been heavily beaten by Juventus, Leon would have become the perfect scapegoat for the club, with no path back from it.
But Leon had defied the odds entirely.
Juventus were the undisputed masters of Serie A, and performing well in a fixture of that magnitude tended to earn a player recognition from both the squad and the supporters far more quickly.
Even the AC Milan board had now come out to praise Leon.
Yet some cracks, once opened, are not easily sealed again.
Leon needed AC Milan as a platform to keep improving.
For now, he would keep his head down and develop quietly within the squad.
But when the time came and Leon had grown enough to have choices of his own, he would not allow himself to be treated this way without reason again.
Over the next four fixtures, AC Milan faced opponents from the lower half of the table, making for a comparatively straightforward run of matches.
But for AC Milan, all four of those fixtures were ones they simply had to win.
A challenge for the Serie A title this season was entirely out of reach.
But securing a European place was a very realistic target.
Perform well in the second half of the campaign, and there was every reason to believe it was achievable.
On 15 February, AC Milan beat Empoli 1-0 at home.
On 22 February, AC Milan beat Cesena 2-0 at home.
On 1 March, AC Milan drew 0-0 away at Chievo.
On 8 March, AC Milan beat Verona 2-0 at home.
Four matches, ten points for AC Milan.
They climbed to sixth in the table.
Just one place now separated them from a European place.
And AC Milan's next opponents were the very side sitting in fifth: Napoli.
On 17 March, AC Milan would travel away to face Napoli.
If AC Milan could come away with a strong result, it would be their first entry into the European places in the league table all season.
This match carried enormous significance.
Many AC Milan supporters had exactly that in their minds.
And they had good reason to feel confident.
Leon had now kept a clean sheet in six consecutive matches.
His run without conceding had reached 540 minutes.
And across all of Serie A, Leon had made just six starts in total.
Good grief.
That was truly frightening.
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