Away Locker Room, San Siro
The away locker room felt smaller than it had ninety minutes ago, the walls pressing closer with the weight of being one goal down at San Siro against the defending champions, and Demien sat between Lookman and Koopmeiners with a towel draped over his shoulders while sweat dripped from his hair onto the tile floor.
His legs felt heavy—heavier than they should after only forty-five minutes—and he knew why because the Warrior Spirit activation at the 26th minute had drained stamina faster than his body could recover, the technique giving him that burst of energy to track back but extracting a cost that was now manifesting as lead in his thighs and tightness in his calves.
The system rating burned in his mind: 6.9/10 at halftime, zero assists, mission requirement 7.8 average which meant he needed an 8.7+ performance in the second half PLUS the assist that had eluded him twice when Maignan saved and once when Højlund shot wide.
