22nd December.
Sarria Stadium hosted a Segunda División B match.
Leoia faced Real Madrid B at home!
This fixture had the Leoia supporters buzzing with excitement.
Especially after knocking out Barcelona B in the previous match.
They could never face Real Madrid or Barcelona themselves, but beating their B sides was still something worth celebrating.
That said, while Real Madrid and Barcelona were practically drawing blood fighting for top spot in La Liga, the gap between their B sides was considerable.
Real Madrid B were a full division below Barcelona B this season, having been relegated from the Segunda División the previous year.
Sarria Stadium was packed out once again!
Leoia's supporters wanted the club to beat both Barcelona and Real Madrid's B sides back to back.
Leon again earned his starting place.
First-choice goalkeeper Ituniotz was still sidelined through injury.
But Ituniotz was already growing increasingly uneasy in his mind.
If Leon put in another impressive performance, his place as first-choice goalkeeper would genuinely be under threat.
[Ding! System task issued! Keep a clean sheet! Win the match!]
In the dressing room before kick-off, the system notification chimed again in Leon's mind.
He had not yet fully worked out the pattern behind how the system issued tasks.
He did not know whether a system task came with every match or was released at random.
But having a system task was always a good thing.
Because completing one meant earning a large number of system points.
'Keeping a clean sheet against them is not going to be easy.'
Leon thought to himself.
Real Madrid B had suffered an unexpected relegation the previous season and were absolutely determined to bounce straight back up to the Segunda División.
To that end, Real Madrid had sent one of their most talented youngsters, Lucas, on loan down to the B side.
Lucas played as a right winger.
Cutting in from the flank, delivering crosses and taking corners were his specialities.
Combined with Real Madrid B's existing target striker Raúl Tomás, their delivery from wide and their ability to convert crosses was exceptionally effective.
This season, half of Real Madrid B's goals had come from the partnership between Lucas and Raúl Tomás.
Real Madrid B were also the most potent attacking side in the Segunda División B at this point in the season.
Over the first eighteen matches of the campaign, they had smashed in 45 goals.
Their tally topped the scoring charts in the division, and they sat third in the table.
Leon took out the small notebook he always carried with him.
Inside were observations he had jotted down about the habits of opposition players.
Before the previous match, Leon had been stuck on the bench with no opportunity to play, which had given him more time to study opponents carefully.
'Real Madrid B favour wide play and crossing into the box, with a striker looking to win headers in the middle.'
'Their style leans slightly towards the English way of playing.'
Leon kept writing in the small notebook.
Keeping a clean sheet against Real Madrid B would require far more than just his natural talent for one-on-ones.
Upgrading his attributes was now a necessity.
Up to this point, Leon had accumulated a total of 200 system points.
Over the past week of gruelling training, he had earned another 40 system points.
Earning system points through training was most efficient the first time a drill was performed each day.
Repeating the same drills afterwards yielded fewer and fewer points until eventually nothing more could be gained.
Leon flipped through the notebook again, and he already had a clear idea of which attribute to upgrade.
For the upcoming match, investing in his [Cross Claiming] attribute would cut Real Madrid B's attacking threat in half.
'System! Initiate attribute exchange!'
Leon said it in his mind.
[Aerial Reach]: 6 -> 10! 200 system points spent!
His system points were instantly exhausted.
But the effect was real.
Do not underestimate an [Aerial Reach] rating of just 10.
This was the Segunda División B, not La Liga.
The average attribute rating of most players in this division sat somewhere between 7 and 8, or even lower.
Lucas might have been talented, but everything was relative.
After all, he had only ever been in the Real Madrid youth setup and had never made a single appearance for the first team.
By comparison, the forward Mari Dongou from the previous match against Barcelona B had actually featured in La Liga at least once.
The match was nearly upon them.
Both sets of players were getting ready in the tunnel.
Leon walked out holding the hand of a young boy from Sarria.
"Leon, you're going to keep playing well, aren't you?"
The boy asked in a small, innocent voice.
Leon smiled and gave a nod.
"Leon, my dad says you should hold your head up high and stop looking at the ground all the time!"
"Because you're the pride of Sarria!"
"Oh, and my name is Devin George! Don't forget it!"
Devin George continued, still talking to Leon.
"Alright!"
Leon nodded again, lifted his head, and walked into Sarria Stadium with his chin up.
"Hey mate, well played! You knocked Barcelona B out last time round, good stuff!"
During the pre-match handshake, Lucas made a point of saying something to Leon.
Real Madrid and Barcelona were fierce rivals.
That rivalry carried over to the B sides as well.
Real Madrid B had been forced to play in the Segunda División B this season, and the Barcelona B players had given them no end of grief about it.
"That said, keeping our attack at bay is going to be a tough ask for you."
"Good luck."
Lucas patted Leon on the shoulder, smiled, and walked off.
Leon watched him go and said nothing.
The match would do the talking.