Chapter Text
To say that Charlie Emilio was nervous was an understatement. It was the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 and they had to win this game or they would be out of the competition. Everyone of the PSG players was tittering around in the away team locker room at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
Both of their top forwards were sitting in one corner, their heads tucked together, whispering furiously about something. Out of the other corner Sergio Ramos was making faces at the pair, which would have been hilarious, if the atmosphere wasn’t this incredibly tense. The Bayern were an incredibly tough opponent, especially when it came to games on their home turf.
On top of that was it Charlie’s first time travelling with the first team. He couldn’t really say what their coaches plan exactly was to bring him of all people to one of their most important games of the season. The seventeen year old had only joined the first team’s training three weeks ago and even then he had kept with the other young players like Warren Zaire-Emery or Ethan Mbappé, when he joined them in training. He had done the drills with the elder players of course, but he had never really talked to them more than just a bit small talk.
And of course Charlie didn’t get his hopes up, that he would play today. Thy had enough top player, who would get them to the quarter-final of the CL, even with Neymar still being injured. So he just kept himself close to his locker, already in his kit and the thick winter jacket, while they waited for Galtier to say a few words of encouragement.
The words were as much uplifting as Mbappé’s grim face as they filed out of the locker room. Charlie and the rest of the substitutes made their way to the bench, while the starting players lined up next to the Bayern players in the tunnel.
— — — — —
The game starts slow like both teams are still seizing each other up, but after about 30 minutes Messi makes an amazing pass to Mbappé who races towards the Bayern goal and scores, putting them up 1-0. The whole PSG bench exploded into cheers and screams, while Kylian ran towards Messi and swept him clear of his feet in a hug.
But the drama was not over yet. They needed to score at least one more goal, if they didn’t want the game to go to extra time. Charlie kept his fingers crossed, that it happened soon.
But the luck was not on their side apparently… Right before the half-time, one of their defenders made a truly terrible mistake and passed the ball right into the run of Thomas Müller. Müller, of course, kept his cool and chipped the ball right into the back of the PSG net. The whole stadium erupted in cheers, while Charlie and the rest of the bench buried their heads in their hands. Now they really needed that second goal.
Instead they got the half-time whistle, so all of them filed back into the locker room, the air even more tense than before the game. No one said a word, Kylian’s eyes could have burned a hole into the floor. Lionel looked like someone told him he’d have to give back his world cup at the end of the game, while Sergio Ramos of all people had an arm wrapped around his shoulders, with his nose buried in Leo’s hair.
(As someone who grew up watching these two try to murder each other on a regular basis in Spain, Charlie was still trying to wrap his mind around this new friendship.)
The coach tried to say some more “encouraging” words, but eventually gave up and the rest of the break was spent in silence.
The second half started about as well as the first, neither of the team had really dangerous chances, both of their defences doing a decent job. The time was flying, Bayern was playing it safe and Galtier was scribbling away in his notebook.
Until the 82th minute happened; Joshua Kimmich and Carlos Soler, both having their eyes on the ball instead of where they were going, ran into each other, both falling to the ground in a tangle of limbs in red and blue.
Since the whole thing happened roughly 12 meters away from the PSG bench, Charlie and the rest had a clear view on both of their pained faces, as they kept laying on the ground.
The game was paused, the medics came running and after, what felt like an eternity it was clear that at least Soler wouldn’t be able to continue to play. Charlie sighed, this whole game was a disaster, he mentally started to prepare himself for a loss. Which could be, why Charlie didn’t pay anymore attention on who would replace Soler on the field until Sergio Rico poked him in the side, pointing to the coach, who was looking at him expectantly.
“I said, Emilio get ready, you’re up.”
Wait, wait wait wait WHAT?! It took another poke of Rico to get Charlie going and really, the green number on the tablet read 42, which was his.
Okay, deep breaths, Charlie, it’s just a game, it’s nothing. You know how to play football. Mentally steeling himself, he jogged onto the pitch, sharing a high-five with Zaire-Emery and going into position.
Playing an actual game against one of the best teams in Europe was tough. They didn’t hold back with tackles and counter attacks and the clock was still ticking. PSG still needed one goal to make it to the next round and at the moment it really did not look like they would get it. Charlie tried his best in getting back balls, passing into the runs of Messi and Mbappé, but it just didn’t happen.
The 90 th minute arrived and the referee gave the game 3 minutes of injury time and their dream of the next round seems further away than ever. But then in what would probably would be the last attack of the game (the referee kept looking between his clock and the whistle), Charlie got the ball from one of their defenders and sprinted in the direction of the Bavarian goal as fast as he could.
Out of the corner of his eye he could spot Lionel and Kylian who were sprinting alongside him and suddenly he knew exactly what he would do. He passed the ball across the field, through the legs of two Bayern defenders and as it landed exactly at the tip of Lionel’s famous left foot, who of course used the opportunity to send the ball full force past Yann Sommer’s outstretched fingers into the goal.
Charlie let out a scream of joy, which totally swallowed the sound of the final whistle ending this game. But then he couldn’t see anything other than the overjoyed form of Lionel Messi, who came sprinting at him, pointing and shouting, followed by the rest of the team.
As Leo barreled into him in a bone crushing hug, Charlie instinctively hugged him back and because of their height difference lifted him clean off the ground. Leo, still shouting something intelligible in Spanish, wrapped his legs around Charlie’s waist, clinging to him like a koala, while the rest of the team piled around and on top of them.
It was this moment where Charlie realized, that the won! They WON, with an incredible last second goal by Leo Messi, for which he provided the assist! And it wasn’t just a game winning, show stopping goal that got them through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League, it was also Lionel Messi’s 800 th career goal. Charlie felt like he was on cloud nine, holding tightly on to the small Argentine in his arms.
From behind his back Sergio Ramos reached out to ruffle both of their hair and place a kiss onto Leo’s forehead, grinning at him the brightest grin ever.
The closeness of the Spanish defender made Charlie realise that he still hasn’t let go of Leo, who’s legs where now dangling a good bit above the ground. Quickly he set him back onto the ground, kind wanting to apologise for just scooping him up like that.
But Leo was still grinning happily, before he turned around right into Kylian’s arms, who also started to press little kisses onto Leo’s hair.
— — — — —
After what felt like half an eternity of hugs and kisses and cheering with the few PSG fans who had travelled to to Munich with them, they were back into the locker room, the atmosphere now being completely different to before the game. None of them had stopped celebrating Leo, showering him in hugs and affection. Additionally Charlie noticed that Sergio and surprisingly Kylian kept side eyeing Charlie, with a glint in their eyes, he could not decipher. So even if he felt like he was high on something, he felt like he overstepped a line with just hoisting Leo up like that earlier.
On top of that had his phone started to vibrate in his pocket, like someone was blowing it up with messages.