Chapter 510 - 116 — Istanbul (I)

RAMS Park’s away dressing room ran through its final preparations with United already deep into the routine — boots tightened, a couple of players checking wet-weather studs against the pitch report, the last of the activation work winding down.

Bruno spent a minute with the referee’s assistants near the door, nothing more than the usual captain’s courtesies, before Ten Hag pulled the group in for his final word.

MANCHESTER UNITED

Onana.

Wan-Bissaka — Maguire — Lindelöf — Shaw.

Demien — McTominay.

Antony — Bruno — Garnacho.

"Galatasaray need this emotional," Ten Hag said. "Their crowd will react to every tackle, every decision, every loose ball that goes their way. We need it controlled. That doesn’t mean slow — it means you decide when it speeds up and when they have to chase it instead."

He looked at Demien last. "That’s your job tonight more than anyone’s."

「UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE MATCH MISSION」 「Galatasaray vs Manchester United」 「Create 4 Clear Chances」 「Complete 8 Line-Breaking Actions」 「Record 5 Midfield Recoveries」 「Maintain 92%+ Pass Accuracy」 「TEAM OBJECTIVE: Win and Secure Qualification」 「Reward: +100 MP」

No goal requirement. No assist requirement. Just every phase of the match, over and over, for ninety minutes.

The tunnel swallowed both teams, Galatasaray’s crowd already loud enough beyond the walls that shouting instructions from twenty meters away wasn’t going to work tonight. Bruno checked Demien’s position once before the whistle, a silent confirmation rather than a question. McTominay settled slightly higher than usual when United had the ball, leaving Demien as the single connection between the back four and everything in front of it.

The referee started the match.

Galatasaray came out trying to press Demien out of the game entirely.

Mertens closed the nearest center-back. Torreira jumped toward Demien on sight. Ndombélé stayed tight enough to deny an easy turn.

The intention wasn’t subtle — cut off United’s best distributor, force Maguire or Lindelöf into something riskier instead.

"Galatasaray have set their whole press around one man early on," the commentator said. "Get the ball off Walter before he can turn, and United have to find another way through."

"Bold approach in this atmosphere," his co-commentator added, "but it only works if the rest of that midfield can actually get tight enough to finish the job."

His first proper reception came with Torreira already closing. Demien checked over his shoulder before the ball arrived, took it across Torreira on the first touch, and Ndombélé stepped in from the second side.

「TRAIT ACTIVATED」 「Press Resistant」

He absorbed the contact, kept his balance, and moved it into Bruno before the trap could shut.

No dribble. No flourish. Just the press broken clean.

「MATCH MISSION PROGRESS」 「Line-Breaking Actions: 1/8」

Galatasaray’s midfield had to turn and recover immediately, the space behind them suddenly a problem they hadn’t planned for this early.

Galatasaray tried again on the next buildup, changing the angle — Torreira blocking Bruno’s lane instead of charging Demien head-on, Mertens closing from behind. Demien took it, laid it back to Maguire, moved a few yards, and demanded it again. The second reception gave him a cleaner body angle, and he switched it out to Shaw without needing anything extra to do it.

Ordinary elite football, no notification attached — United simply starting to breathe.

Around the fifth minute, Demien drifted from the center toward the right half-space. Torreira followed him halfway before stopping — leaving Bruno completely unmarked would have been worse.

That hesitation was all Demien needed.

He received from Wan-Bissaka, Antony holding width, Bruno finding the pocket, McTominay threatening beyond the midfield line. Demien chose Bruno. Quick, clean pass. Bruno turned, and suddenly Galatasaray were defending toward their own goal.

The move ended with Garnacho testing Boey on the far side before it broke down — not a clear chance yet, but real territory won.

Galatasaray countered fast. Zaha got his first look against Wan-Bissaka. Demien dropped centrally rather than sprint the whole way to the touchline, trusting Wan-Bissaka to delay long enough.

The cross came in. Maguire cleared it. The second ball dropped toward Torreira.

Demien read it early.

「TRAIT ACTIVATED」 「Ball Winner」

He got there first and turned it away from the pressure.

「MATCH MISSION PROGRESS」 「Midfield Recoveries: 1/5」

He didn’t launch the counter immediately. He slowed the next ten seconds down instead, making Galatasaray retreat rather than sprint straight back at them.

The opener came in the eleventh minute.

Galatasaray pressed high again, their crowd roaring every time United recycled toward the back line. Maguire found Demien, Torreira attacking from the front, Ndombélé closing from the left.

Demien received on the half-turn.

「LEGENDARY SKILL ACTIVATED」 「Andrea Pirlo — Deep-Lying Playmaker」

His first touch removed Torreira from the challenge entirely. Ndombélé stepped to cover, opening the exact lane behind both of them.

Garnacho had already started his run from the left, cutting diagonally into the space between Boey and the center-back, timing it so the offside line couldn’t catch him.

Demien saw it instantly.

「LEGENDARY SKILL ACTIVATED」 「Mesut Özil — Eye-of-Needle」

The pass threaded through the gap between both defenders, weighted to sit up rather than run through to Muslera. Garnacho adjusted his stride mid-sprint to meet it, killed it dead with one touch inside the box, and had half a second before either center-back could recover.

Muslera came off his line to close the angle down. Garnacho didn’t wait for him to set — he lifted the ball up and over the keeper’s outstretched glove, and it dropped just under the crossbar and in.

GALATASARAY 0 — 1 MANCHESTER UNITEDAlejandro Garnacho 11’ (Assist: Demien Walter)

Garnacho wheeled away toward the corner flag, and Demien was the first one to reach him.

"That’s the one, that’s the one!" Garnacho shouted, half at Demien, half at nobody in particular.

"Same run again in five minutes," Demien told him, already pulling him back toward halfway before the celebration ran too long. "They’ll adjust. Don’t wait for me to find it next time — go early."

Bruno clapped Demien on the shoulder jogging past. "Good ball."

"Two pieces of quality to make that goal," the commentator said, "and both of them from Walter. The first touch to escape Torreira, then the pass through a gap that shouldn’t have existed. Galatasaray’s press has just been punished for its own aggression."

「MATCH MISSION PROGRESS」 「Clear Chances Created: 1/4」 「Line-Breaking Actions: 3/8」

The stadium didn’t go quiet. It got angrier, whistles rolling down from every tier as Galatasaray scrambled to restart.

Galatasaray pushed more numbers forward almost immediately — Boey advancing, Angeliño higher on the opposite flank, Mertens drifting away from Demien and closer to United’s center-backs to stop the same route being used twice.

Demien noticed the bigger spaces it opened elsewhere. United circulated through Shaw, back to Lindelöf, into Demien. Rather than force another vertical ball, he switched it to Antony. Galatasaray sprinted across to cover. Antony returned it inside.

Now the central lane was open.

He found McTominay beyond Torreira. United attacked, Højlund getting across his marker but failing to connect cleanly with the final ball — not every half-chance counted as a real one.

Galatasaray countered through Zaha immediately. Wan-Bissaka delayed him. Demien recovered centrally and cut out the pass meant for Mertens.

「MATCH MISSION PROGRESS」 「Midfield Recoveries: 2/5」

Again, no rushed counter. United made Galatasaray run backward first.

Bruno doubled the lead in the eighteenth minute.

Demien started the move, escaping a Galatasaray midfield jump with a quick give-and-go off Højlund and moving it wide to Shaw. Shaw drove it down the line, Garnacho kept the sequence alive with a first-time lay-off, and Bruno arrived at the top of the box just as the angle opened up.

Demien had stayed behind the ball rather than chasing every attacker forward, holding his position in case the move broke down and came straight back through him.

Bruno took one touch to set himself, clocked Muslera edging toward his near post, and went the other way instead — a low strike that clipped a recovering defender’s boot on the way through and beat the keeper before he could adjust his dive.

GALATASARAY 0 — 2 MANCHESTER UNITEDBruno Fernandes 18’

No assist credited to Demien — his part had been in the buildup, and that was enough.

Bruno ran to the touchline with both arms out. Garnacho got to him first, then Højlund, then the rest of the front line piling in around him.

"Two-nil away, in this," Bruno said, breathing hard, pulling Demien in by the back of the neck when he arrived. "Don’t let them back in it."

"Wasn’t planning to," Demien said.

"Two down, and United have barely broken sweat," the commentator said. "Galatasaray need a response, and quickly, or this could get away from them in front of their own crowd."

Galatasaray’s players gathered themselves in a tight knot near the center circle, one of their coaches already shouting instructions from the technical area that the noise swallowed before they reached the pitch. The home end tried to get even louder than it already was.

Demien jogged back toward the halfway line already reading how Galatasaray’s midfield shape was shifting in response.

That shift became the first real tactical adjustment of the night. Torreira stopped chasing Demien on every touch, dropping instead to protect Bruno’s passing lane. Ndombélé stayed disciplined and central.

Galatasaray started progressing through their fullbacks instead — Boey pushing beyond Garnacho, Ziyech tucking inside, Zaha isolating Wan-Bissaka on the other flank, Mertens drifting into the gap between Demien and United’s center-backs, forcing a constant decision about whether to step or hold.

Their first dangerous spell came from exactly that shape. Boey worked it wide, got a cross away, Lindelöf dealt with the first ball, another Galatasaray shirt won the second and had a shot blocked. It came back out, another delivery followed, and Onana had to claim it under pressure.

Galatasaray were finding danger through different routes now, not because Torreira suddenly had the better of Demien, but because United’s shape had a new weak point to defend.

"Galatasaray have stopped fighting fire with fire," the commentator said. "Torreira’s dropped off Walter completely now — they’re accepting he’ll have the ball in deep positions and trying to win the game around him instead."

"Which tells you everything about how that first plan went," his co-commentator said. "You don’t abandon a press this early unless it’s already cost you two goals."

United finally escaped through Antony, who carried it upfield and won a foul to end the spell.