Aaron Mitchell has never felt this valued in his entire life. The attention that he has been given so far exceeds the attention that he received during the very first time he played for Nottingham Forest in a Premier League match.

All eyes were on Mitchell as the team conducted physiotherapy, tactical drills and training sessions that worked on improving the players’ techniques, set pieces and strength this week.

The kind of attention that was given to him was not one whereby the coaches approach him to ask dumb questions such as if he was feeling happy. The kind of attention that was given to him came in the form of the coaches’ chastisements towards him following an increase in intensity in the training that he was given.

Using the strength training session as an example, Mitchell was informed that he had to do more strength training so as to enhance his overall physicality when he was first promoted into the first team, but the coaches became even stricter with their demands of him this week.

Luckily, the physiotherapy sessions following the training session have also been enhanced, if not Mitchell really doubted that he would be able to last for long.

The situation suddenly turned for the better in the middle of the week two days before the Champions League game. Mitchell was on his way to the gym to continue with his strength training when he was held back by Dunn.

“You don’t need to do additional strength training today, Mitchell.”

“But I’m fine. I want to…” Mitchell was a little taken aback and he did not react in time.

“You don’t need to do additional strength training tomorrow either.” Dunn smiled at him. “I want you to rest up for these two days.”

Mitchell was baffled. The Chinese assistant manager was speaking in English, but Mitchell realized that he completely did not understand what he meant.

Dunn felt a little awkward as he looked at the confused expression upon Mitchell’s face. He should not be revealing the starting list to the players without Tony’s approval, but seeing how the lad has worked hard and pulled through his tough training for the past couple of days and how he was endearing…

Perhaps it would be all right to tell him as a reward?

“Yeah, Mitchell. You will start in the game two days later.”

Mitchell nodded his head and did not appear to be surprised in the slightest. It took him a while to react, and when he did, he nearly jumped into the air.

He bulged his eyes and stared at the assistant manager before him. “What did you just say, Mr. Dunn?”

“I’m not dreaming am I, Mr. Dunn?”

Dunn shook his head. “Rest up these two days. And don’t tell anyone.”

Mitchell immediately covered his mouth and nodded his head. He thanked Dunn and ran away gleefully.

※※※

Aaron Mitchell’s father was an ordinary workman who was also a loyal fan of Nottingham Forest, which was why he chose to send his son to Forest’s football academy. He was overjoyed for days when his son got promoted to the first team by Twain, and he went about bragging to every person that he met that his son was a football star.

His son, on the other hand, was not as excited as he was. He was well aware about how competitive it gets in the team and he kept raining on his father’s parade. He did not want him to get his hopes up.

Every time Mitchell did that however, his father would start acting authoritative and pretend he is about to slap him by raising his hand.

“Get your act together! Some French bastard whom I’ve forgotten the name once said, any football player who doesn’t want to be a football star is not a good player!”

Mitchell has always acted in a much more mature manner as compared to his excited father. However, there was a turn of events today.

He deliberately hid the smile on his face the moment he entered the door.

“Good afternoon, Dad!”

“What good afternoon? It’s almost night time!” His father was doing carpentry work in the garden and he responded to Mitchell without turning around.

“How’s training?”

“I’m doing okay!”

“You make me think you are not training in your team at all when you say that.” His father’s words sounded muffled since he was biting onto nails, but Mitchell could make out what his father was trying to say.

“I’m doing great!”

“That’s more like it…”

“Where’s mum?”

“Making dinner.”

“Heh heh.” Mitchell broke into a laugh suddenly. His father was surprised by his sudden laughter and dropped the hammer that he was holding. It nearly hit and hurt his fingers.

“Hey! You!” His father was about to chide him, but he realized his son was already gone by then.

He stood rooted at the ground for a moment. “Did he get stimulated by something today?”

During dinner, neither the father nor the mother could focus on eating their dinners. They had their eyes on their son, who was smiling to himself.

Eventually, Mitchell’s father opened his mouth to break the peculiar silence that they were in.

“Aaron, do you have a girl that you like?”

Mitchell found it odd that his father would suddenly ask a question like that.

He shook his head. “I haven’t liked anyone for a long time. Don’t you know that, Dad? My height makes it hard for me to find someone suitable…”

It was certainly difficult for Mitchell to find a girlfriend with him being 2.02m tall. How awkward would it be if his girlfriend found it easier to give him a blowjob than to kiss him?

His father used to joke that he would have to look for a girlfriend in the girls’ basketball team.

But… The girls in the basketball team all look a little…

“That’s odd. Then why are you smiling to yourself if you don’t have a girlfriend?”

“Ah! That’s because…” Mitchell nearly divulged the information that he was going to be in the starting list for the Champions League match, but he suddenly remembered Dunn’s words about keeping it a secret.

He quickly changed what he was about to say. “Nothing. I’m just happy! Oh, right, Dad. Will you be going down to the stadium to watch the Champions League game?”

“When has your Dad ever missed watching a Forest game at the City Ground Stadium? Are you doubting my loyalty to Forest?”

“Heh heh.” Mitchell laughed again. “That’s good, that’s good.”

His laughter made his father feel uncomfortable from top to toe.

“Mitchell! Stop laughing like that, you are not a girl! Hearing your laughter makes me lose my appetite to eat!”

His father knew that he was hiding something from him, but he could not force him to speak. The authority that he held as his father would also not be able to help him get his son to speak. He felt very upset at the fact that there was nothing he could do…

“All right, all right. Let’s just eat.” Mitchell’s mother spoke up to ease the mood.

Mitchell did not care about how his father seemed to stare daggers at him. All that was in his mind right now was not his father’s reaction, but the Champions League instead.

He felt as though the sounds of the Champions League had rung by his ears. The sound set his heart ablaze and he became so excited that goosebumps broke out all over his body.

He imagined tens of thousands of people at the stadium chanting his name at the top of their voices.

He was finally going to fight against a strong European team. He was not just going to make an appearance in an insignificant competition at an insignificant time.

He once dreamed of donning Nottingham Forest’s red jersey and making an appearance in a top-level European match as a child. Now, he was not too far from making his dream a reality.

Mitchell’s mother felt a little worried after seeing her son’s behavior. She knew that the team had increased his training load for the past couple of days. Her son had also come home a few days ago telling her how he was exhausted. She feared that Aaron was overly worn out.

“Rest up earlier tonight, Aaron.”

“I will, Mum. I will rest right after finishing dinner.”

Mitchell continued eating his dinner without haste. When he was done, he pushed his utensils forward and stood to his feet. He then said good night to his parents before going upstairs.

The two adults who were left behind looked at each other. They did not understand what was going on.

Mitchell’s father felt a little dejected and frustrated for not knowing what his child was thinking about earlier.

His wife laughed upon seeing the expression on his face. “Our son’s all grown up now. He even has secrets that he keeps from us now.”

※※※

Mitchell laid on the bed and forced himself to sleep even though it was barely nine at night. However, he could not fall asleep no matter how hard he tried, because he was too excited. He did not think he would fall asleep even if it reached 12 midnight.

He still wondered if everything that had happened today was just a dream. Maybe he had been hallucinating back then…

If the person who broke the news to him had been Kerslake instead of Dunn, he would have just passed the entire thing off as a joke.

How does it feel like to play in the Champions League?

He has watched numerous Champions League matches either on television or at the stadium in person. However, he has never stepped on the pitch to play in a game before.

Watching a match and playing in one were two completely different experiences. How would he perform when he has to play in the game? Will he get too nervous and not be able to perform at half of his usual standard as a result? Or will he get too excited instead and not be able to perform at half of his usual standard as a result?

Gah, let’s not think about such dreadful possibilities!

“… The fourth official has raised the board. 3 minutes of stoppage time! Loud boos ring out in the City Ground Stadium. How can there only be 3 minutes of stoppage time added when there were numerous fouls and substitutions made in the second half? It’s bizarre.”

“The score right now is 0:0. If the score stays this way till the end of the match, then Barcelona will successfully progress into the next round of the Champions League. That is definitely not something that Tony Twain wishes to see. He is standing by the pitch and gesturing to his players to press forward and attack. There are only 3 minutes left for him. Can his team create a miracle?”

“Nottingham Forest has earned a corner. Even their goalkeeper Akinfeev has rushed over to Barcelona’s penalty box. This might be Forest’s last attack of the match! Aaron Mitchell, being the tallest on the pitch, has been tightly marked by three defenders. His height advantage and ability to head the ball are all very important to Forest’s set pieces.”

“The ball goes into the penalty box… Aaron Mitchell jumps into the air! No one can stop him! All the energy that has been building up within him has finally been released! He jumps higher than anyone else! Higher than Víctor Valdés’ hands! He heads the ball towards the net!”

“GOOOOOAL! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL! GOAL!”

Mitchell jumped off his bed and began running about his room with his two arms outstretched. He went ‘GOOOOAL’ as he jumped up and down here and there and stomped his foot on the ground.

“Aaron Mitchell!” Sounds of his father shouting in exasperation and knocking furiously on the door rang out in the room. “What on earth are you doing? The dust on the ceiling have all fallen into the soup! Do you want me to call an ambulance over for you?”

Mitchell turned a deaf ear to his father’s furious knocks and chastisements.

Right now, he was in the City Ground Stadium. His powerful header has just saved his team from the abyss, and it has also sent Barcelona into that very same abyss to fill up the void left behind.

He hugged his team mates around him and also ran to give the assistant manager, Dunn, who had told him the good news, a hug. He hugged every person possible to try and release the emotions that had built up within him.

He has rose to fame with this goal!

“Bam!”

His father was left with no other choice but to charge into Mitchell’s room after seeing that the noises coming from his room showed no signs of stopping.

He stood before Mitchell and was just about to admonish him when his son pounced on him and wrapped his arms tightly around him. Mitchell then mumbled by his father’s ear, “Die Barcelona! We have progressed to the next round! We have progressed! I am the hero!”

“You are the one who should die!” His father had been fuming over his son’s actions thus far and he slapped him on the back of the head.

Mitchell woke up after getting slapped. There was a look of bewilderment on his face as he looked at his father who was in his arms.

“Huh?”

“Did you think you were hugging some big-breasted beauty?” His father had a smile on his face that sent chills down Mitchell’s spine.

He knew he was going to be in for a hard time…

※※※

The next day, Twain noticed that Aaron Mitchell was not in a good state and was also not able to focus during the training sessions on the pitch.

Twain found it odd. This was not how Mitchell acted like in the past. Mitchell has always been fully focused, hardworking and earnest during training. If not, Twain would not have arranged for him to make an appearance in the second leg match against Barcelona. Any player that Twain sets his sights on was a player who did not have any problems with his attitude.

Now that there was an issue with Mitchell’s attitude, and for it to have happened in just one night…

Twain felt that there was a need to have a talk with him. It was not just because of the issue with his attitude. Another important reason was that Mitchell would definitely sprain his ankle in no time if he were to keep going through training in the state that he was in. If he were to sprain his ankle, then Twain’s plan would go haywire.

Thus, he walked to the side of the pitch and called Mitchell over to ask him what was going on.

“Mitchell, were you not able to sleep well last night?” Twain noticed that Mitchell’s eyes were bloodshot.

“Uh, yes, boss.” Mitchell did not dare to lie to Twain.

“Can you tell me the reason?”

Mitchell glanced at the expressionless Dunn who stood next to boss and contemplated if he should say the truth.

Assistant manager Dunn told him not to tell anyone, but boss is the leader of the entire team, which means that the news that Dunn relayed to him must have come from the boss himself…

If that is the case, then it should be fine to tell boss, right?

“Yeah… Assistant manager Dunn told me that I will be starting in the match against Barcelona yesterday…”

Twain turned to look at Dunn. The latter had a deadpan expression on his face, as though he had nothing to do with whatever Mitchell just said.

He decided to make himself clear to Mitchell before settling things with Dunn.

“That’s right, you were put in the starting list by me.” Twain quickly made a gesture where he pressed both his hands down. “But, don’t get excited just yet. Look at how you have been performing during training so far. Do you think that’s all you need to do to start in games? There’s still a day and a half to go till the match. I can still change my starting list at any time.”

The smile that had emerged on Mitchell’s face vanished after hearing Twain’s words.

“I don’t care how much you might be looking forward to the match tomorrow. You better get back onto the pitch and give your 100 per cent to the training! I want you to be fully focused on it!” The expression on Twain’s face was grave and frightening. “If you continue to have your heads in the clouds and you injure your leg in the process, then you might as well give up any shred of hope that you might have about starting in the game tomorrow.”

Twain’s words allowed Mitchell to come to his senses.

Getting distracted while training on the pitch was a very dangerous thing…

“Did you tell others about it?” Twain asked.

Mitchell immediately shook his head. He was never someone who liked to go around bragging about his achievements, and he also did not tell his father the truth when he tried to force the words out of him yesterday.

Twain smiled and patted him on the back. “Great. You just avoided the possibility of embarrassing yourself before your friends.”

Mitchell felt an overwhelming chill down his spine. He knew his boss was not joking with him. If he did not perform well during training, he would definitely be taken off the starting list.

Hence, he rushed back to join in the training once again and did not dare to think about whether or not he would start in the game anymore.

After he finished dealing with Mitchell, Twain turned to look at Dunn.

“I just thought of giving him a reward for all the hard work that he has been putting in for the past couple of days…” Dunn knew what Twain was about to say, so he responded before Twain opened his mouth.

“But you almost caused harm to him.” Twain’s expression was still as grave as when he spoke to Mitchell earlier.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know…” Dunn knew he was in the wrong. Everyone knows how well Mitchell has been performing. It was true that his performance had only become worse after he heard his words.

Twain did not feel like admonishing his partner. Dunn has always done an excellent job most of the time, and he hardly makes an error.

He just gets soft-hearted from time to time, just like a girl…

Twain consoled Dunn. “I suppose all’s well ends well. This incident actually turned out to be a valuable experience for him. His mentality is much better now. This will help us greatly during our future matches.” His eyes were fixed on Mitchell as he finished his words.