Chapter 574: Second Half Advances!

Leo watched them go, and Carlo watched them too.

For a few seconds, the two of them simply stared at each other.

Then Mia and Gianna returned.

"Why are you two standing there staring at each other?" Mia said after they neared them.

Leo immediately sat back down but then shook his head.

"Nothing."

Carlo also followed, settling into his seat before looking at Gianna.

"Nothing."

"Mhmmmm, Okay..." Mia narrowed her eyes as she sat beside Leo, still suspicious.

Leo tried to focus elsewhere, but his attention kept drifting.

Every few moments, his eyes moved toward the other side of the room where Pirlo was talking with Marco now.

Leo watched for a second before looking away, but then he did it again, and Mia finally noticed.

"You’re acting weird."

Leo turned toward her.

"Am I?"

"Yes."

She looked around the room, trying to work out what had caught his attention, but Leo reached over and ruffled her hair.

"Stop investigating me."

"Leo!"

She tried pushing his hand away, but he laughed.

Across from them, Carlo had already found a different distraction.

He pointed toward Gianna’s food while the latter was trying to see what Mia was talking about.

"Actually, I’ll have some of that."

And that was enough of a distraction, as Gianna smirked when Carlo said that.

"And you said you didn’t want anything after I texted you."

"I changed my mind."

"I should be depriving you of any of it," she said with a smile, but proceeded to hand him something anyway.

While Leo kept on messing with Mia, his phone buzzed, causing him to halt.

He looked down immediately and found the reply from Vittoria.

I’m fine.

Vittoria had replied.

A second message followed in Italian, which Leo read twice before opening and replying.

He smiled as he typed his response, and after he sent it, her answer arrived almost immediately with a smiling emoji heading it.

Then:

You’re learning, my student.

Leo chuckled under his breath and kept on texting with Vittoria.

......

Down on the pitch, the players were already emerging from the tunnel, and the crowd responded with fervour.

The noise climbed through the stadium as Wigan’s players spread across the grass and Manchester City’s followed behind them.

Down on the ground before the pitch, Dawson walked out beside Ezra.

He placed an arm around the winger’s shoulders and pulled him closer as they moved toward the pitch, trying to get his voice over the crowd.

"Femi’s coming on soon."

Ezra glanced toward him right as he said that.

"Already?"

"Yeah, Grealish isn’t making it easy for your captain, and that is in turn hurting our chances!"

Ezra looked back toward the pitch, nodding slightly as Dawson continued.

"So now, what I ask of you is simple."

Ezra listened.

"For now, keep combining with Reyes. Don’t spend the whole game trying to attack Gvardiol one-on-one. If the chance comes, fine."

Ezra nodded as the manager went on.

"Overload the space in front of their defence. Make them choose what to do with you and the little space you have."

He tapped Ezra lightly on the shoulder as he finally took his hands away.

"If the time comes, take Gvardiol to the byline or make light work of him if you can."

Dawson smiled after saying that, knowing very well that it was something Ezra enjoyed.

"But," he added, causing Ezra’s smile to falter a bit, "don’t force it."

Ezra nodded again.

"Got it."

Then after that, Dawson gave his back a pat.

"Go."

Ezra jogged away, joining his mates while Dawson turned and made his way toward the technical area.

"Well folks, we are back for the second half affair of this fixture. If you are just joining us, it’s Wigan Athletic going against Manchester City at the DW Stadium and at the moment, the home side is trailing by one after a brilliant finish by the sky blues to end the half."

The co-commentator beside him agreed before also offering his input.

"Manchester City did enough to edge out Wigan in the first half, and I am sure that the home side will be looking to. It won’t be easy, but I am sure that if they commit, this Wigan side can pull another good result against Pep’s Manchester City."

On the pitch, the players settled into position as the referee checked both sides and then raised the whistle.

The shrill sound of the whistle went across the pitch, and right then, Wigan passed the ball back to start the second half.

After the start, there wasn’t really much in it.

Both sides played okay, but for the first fifteen minutes, there was little between them.

City continued to dominate possession without creating much, while Wigan looked dangerous whenever Reyes found room between City’s midfield and defence.

Neither side wanted to give the other an easy opening, and it went on like this until Dawson made his move.

In the 66th minute, after a break in play, Dawson took advantage of that to bring on Femi Seriki for Darikwa.

And the moment this change was realised, Wigan immediately changed shape.

The back line narrowed into something closer to a three, with Seriki pushing higher on the right and Ezra suddenly had help.

Tasked with helping Reyes overload centrally, Ezra began cutting inside, dragging Gvardiol with him and leaving space for Femi Seriki on the overlap, and Manchester City struggled to deal with it.

"Wigan have changed something here," the commentator noted.

"They’ve got numbers around that right side now."

When Seriki received the ball, he immediately drove forward while Ezra moved inside, leaving Gvardiol with two choices to his name.

In one instance, the Croatian chose to follow Femi Seriki, who continued his run, but that led to Ezra getting the ball instead, rendering Gvardiol’s charge useless as Ezra slipped the ball into Reyes.

Reyes took one touch and, taking advantage of Gvardiol being dragged out of position, the entire Wigan attack suddenly moved ten yards higher.

Pep Guardiola reacted quickly.

He was shouting toward Grealish.

"Back! Jack, back!"

Grealish heeded and dropped, but that exact thing solved one problem for City while creating another.

The danger from the left disappeared.

But so did half of City’s attacking width.

Wigan began finding space, trading their possession game for long balls as they kept dragging City towards their right flank of attack before sending the ball towards the opposite side.

And eventually, that was enough.