Izan didn't even blink. His head stayed upright, chest relaxed, eyes scanning not for gaps — but for fear.
And when he found it, even just the flicker of hesitation in one defender's feet, he was moving.
He drew his right foot back with a pause.
The pause was so slight — just enough for tension to pool inside the stadium like thick fog.
Then—
BAM
The shot exploded off his boot and straight through bodies, between a flailing leg and the keeper's gloves.
And then—
CRACK.
The crossbar screamed.
The ball slammed against it with a gut-punching smack, clanging metal and shaking the goalframe so hard it echoed around the Emirates like a gunshot in a tunnel.
The rebound fired upward into the sky, then dropped violently back down, bouncing just outside the six-yard box before spinning wide.
A roar that turned into a groan that turned into applause.
And above it all, the stadium buzzed with the sound of 60,000 voices unsure what to feel — relief, awe, or frustration.
