July 15th, 2017
The whistle blew, and the spectacle was over. The real work began.
My starting eleven was a statement of intent: Hennessey; Wan-Bissaka, Tarkowski, Dann, Chilwell; Neves, Milivojević; Townsend, Bojan, Zaha; Benteke.
Bojan, our gifted, technically precise playmaker, started in the number ten role. It was a chance for him to show what he could do. Up in the VIP booth, I knew James was watching, analysing, judging. I wanted to give him something worth watching.
Across the pitch, Diego Simeone stood in his technical area like a man who owned the stadium. He was dressed head-to-toe in black, his sleeves already rolled up despite the fact the game had been going for approximately forty seconds.
He had his arms folded, his jaw set, and his eyes moving constantly across the pitch, reading the game in real time. I had watched hours of footage of Simeone on the touchline.
