Chapter 512 - 118 — Istanbul (III)

United’s dressing room stayed calmer than the scoreline probably justified, Galatasaray 1-2 up on a night everyone had expected to be settled by now.

Ten Hag didn’t run the full first half back. He pulled up a single freeze-frame from the closing stages instead, holding it on the screen long enough for the whole room to see it properly.

"Look at this," he said. "Torreira isn’t coming at Demien anymore. Ndombélé’s sitting closer to the lanes into Bruno and Højlund. They’re giving away the first pass to protect the second one."

He looked at Demien directly. "That’s fewer easy line-breaks for you. But it’s also grass in front of you every time you receive facing forward."

"Don’t force anything," Ten Hag continued. "If they keep backing off, carry until somebody has to step. The second somebody leaves their lane to close you, we’ve got the pass they were denying us all half. And if nobody steps at all —"

"Then I take it myself," Demien said.

"Then you take it yourself," Ten Hag agreed. "Defensively, it’s harder. They’re not attacking through your zone anymore, they’re attacking around it. Ziyech’s coming inside from the right, Zaha wants Wan-Bissaka isolated, Boey’s pushing whenever our winger loses him, and Mertens and Icardi are occupying Maguire and Lindelöf so they can’t step out. You can cover a lot of ground, but you can’t abandon the middle every time the ball goes wide."

"Understood," Demien said.

「UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE MATCH MISSION」 「Clear Chances Created: 3/4」 「Line-Breaking Actions: 6/8」 「Midfield Recoveries: 4/5」 「Maintain 92%+ Pass Accuracy」 「TEAM OBJECTIVE: Win and Secure Qualification」 「Reward: +100 MP」

Ten Hag clapped his hands once. "Second half."

The tunnel swallowed the noise on the way out and then gave it straight back, RAMS Park no quieter than it had been at kickoff.

"United came out two goals to the good tonight," the commentator said as the teams reappeared, "Galatasaray have clawed one back through Ziyech, and Demien Walter already has an assist to his name. Galatasaray’s crowd believe the next goal is coming their way."

"They’ll need it soon," his co-commentator added, "because United haven’t looked remotely rattled by any of this."

The referee restarted the match.

Galatasaray came out faster than United did, using their width immediately instead of trying to force anything through the middle. Angeliño found space down the left inside the first minute and drove a low ball into the area. United dealt with the first contact, but Galatasaray recovered the second ball before United’s line could push out properly.

The volume climbed as Angeliño found room, climbed again when Galatasaray won the loose ball back, and the delivery came in a second time — worked across to Ziyech, who checked onto his stronger left foot and curled another ball toward the near post. Kaan Ayhan arrived aggressively and got above it, but the header sailed over the bar.

The stadium groaned as one.

"Wasted that," Muslera shouted at Ayhan, arms out, before turning back to organize his defense for the goal kick.

Maguire jogged past Demien on the way back. "That’s the start we didn’t want."

"One header wide isn’t a start," Demien said. "Let them have the ball. See what they do with it when it actually matters."

United settled through possession rather than through any single defensive moment. Onana rolled it to Maguire, Maguire found Demien, and for the first time since the restart the halftime adjustment showed itself in real time.

Torreira started toward Demien and stopped several yards short, unwilling to leave Bruno unmarked behind him.

Demien turned and simply carried the ball forward.

No shot. No skill. Just the space, used.

He forced Torreira back another two steps before moving it to Antony, and United circulated right to left and back again, patient enough that the whistles started up around the ground — the crowd wanting transition football and getting careful possession instead.

Garnacho eventually got it on the left and attacked Boey, sending a cross toward Højlund that ran a fraction beyond him. Galatasaray cleared and found Zaha in space. Zaha attacked Wan-Bissaka, and Demien stayed central rather than sprinting across to help — Mertens had drifted into the exact pocket in front of Maguire and Lindelöf, and leaving it open would have cost more than Zaha’s cross was worth.

Wan-Bissaka delayed long enough for the defense to reset. Galatasaray were forced backward again.

"Walter’s not even near that phase of play," the commentator noted, "and he’s still the reason it didn’t turn into anything. Leave that space in the middle and Mertens is in behind both center-backs in a heartbeat."

United built another spell of their own. Bruno found room on the right of the box and whipped a ball across that Muslera had to punch away before Højlund could attack it. Galatasaray’s clearance didn’t travel far, and the second ball dropped back toward Demien outside the box.

Torreira and Ndombélé both hesitated, each protecting the pass behind him rather than closing the man in front of them.

Demien carried until Ndombélé finally had to leave his position.

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

He drove it into Højlund rather than trying to beat anyone himself. Højlund controlled it with a defender tight to his back, laid it into Garnacho’s path, and Garnacho got a clean strike away that Muslera saved low to his left.

「MATCH MISSION PROGRESS」 「Clear Chances Created: 4/4 — COMPLETE」

Nobody stopped to acknowledge it. Galatasaray cleared and immediately tried to find Mertens on the turn. Demien read the pass before it arrived and stepped across the lane.

「TRAIT ACTIVATED」 「Ball Winner」

「MATCH MISSION PROGRESS」 「Midfield Recoveries: 5/5 — COMPLETE」

That recovery ran straight into United’s third goal.

Both Galatasaray fullbacks had pushed forward expecting to support the previous attack, and Torreira was still ahead of the ball when Demien turned with it. He carried through the first opening, waited until Torreira was dragged across to close him, and released Antony on the right.

Antony didn’t try to beat the whole defense alone — he used Wan-Bissaka’s overlap instead. Wan-Bissaka drove into the box and squared it low across the six-yard line, and McTominay arrived to finish the run he’d started from midfield.

GALATASARAY 1 — 3 MANCHESTER UNITEDScott McTominay 55’ (Assist: Aaron Wan-Bissaka)

"Wan-Bissaka into the area, and McTominay’s timed that run perfectly!" the commentator called, the noise of the away end briefly cutting through everything else. "United restore the two-goal cushion!"

The replay ran a moment later, and the analyst let it sit before speaking. "Go back a few phases before this," he said, "and it’s Walter stepping in front of Mertens that starts the whole move. He doesn’t touch the goal itself, but that interception is where this attack actually begins."

McTominay wheeled away with both arms out, Bruno reaching him first, Antony and Wan-Bissaka arriving a beat later. Demien clapped along from the edge of the box without sprinting into the pile.

The restored lead didn’t end the match, and the Chapter didn’t pretend it had.

Galatasaray came again immediately, Boey pushing high, Ziyech drifting further inside, another cross for Maguire to clear before Galatasaray recovered it outside the area and recycled to the opposite flank. Demien and McTominay stayed compact enough to deny Mertens a clean touch, forcing another wide ball before the resulting cross was blocked out for a corner that came to nothing.

United tried to leave through Demien once the danger passed, but rather than force a counter with everyone still packed behind the ball, he returned it to Maguire, drifted into a different lane, and asked for it again. United walked their block another twenty meters up the pitch doing nothing more dramatic than that.

Antony received, got crowded, gave it back. Demien switched it to Shaw. Shaw found Garnacho, Garnacho attacked before Boey blocked the cross and forced a throw. United took it short, recycled again, and only once Galatasaray finally won it back properly did the next real attack develop.

"Slow it down, slow it down!" Demien called out as United reset near the halfway line, waving Antony back a few steps rather than letting him chase the throw-in early. "We’ve got time. Make them run for it."

Bruno grinned at him from midfield. "Since when do you tell people to slow down?"

"Since we’re two goals up in a place like this," Demien said. "Different math."

Galatasaray’s changes came together in the sixty-first minute — Kerem Aktürkoğlu and Sérgio Oliveira both introduced, fresh legs against tired ones.

Demien clocked it immediately. Aktürkoğlu didn’t drop toward the ball the way his teammate had; he stayed high, hunting the seam between United’s midfield and back line. Galatasaray found him once just outside the box, and his effort forced Onana into a routine save.

United tried to counter from it, and this time Aktürkoğlu joined Torreira in closing Demien from two angles at once.

「TRAIT ACTIVATED」 「Press Resistant」

He used the first contact to roll away from Torreira, shielded the ball through Aktürkoğlu’s lunge, and released Garnacho beyond the first line rather than trying to dribble through both of them.

「MATCH MISSION PROGRESS」 「Line-Breaking Actions: 7/8」

Garnacho drove Galatasaray back for a moment, but the move broke down and Galatasaray came forward again — and this time it was Ziyech who won the foul, in the same right-sided zone the first free kick had come from.

The whistle changed the stadium the instant it went up. Everyone remembered what had happened last time.

The cameras found Ziyech standing over it, then Onana organizing his wall, then the commentary box leaning into the obvious point.

"Same man, same side of the pitch," the commentator said. "He’s already beaten Onana from here once tonight."

Ziyech struck it low through the defensive wall. The wet ball skidded awkwardly off the turf, and Onana got down to it — looked set to hold it — and it slipped through his hands and over the line.

GALATASARAY 2 — 3 MANCHESTER UNITEDHakim Ziyech 62’

"He’s let that one in," the co-commentator said, quieter than before. "Two mistakes now from the goalkeeper, and Galatasaray have cut it back to one."