Thursday, April 27, 2023
Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, BolognaAway Dressing Room6:24 PM
The dressing room door closes behind the last journalist and the noise from the corridor drops immediately to a low rumble, while camera flashes from outside still bleed through the gap beneath the door in thin white lines that pulse and fade as photographers move past.
Shirts hang damp over benches and the fabric holds the shape of bodies that wore them, while tape is curled at the edges from where wrists have already been unwrapped and left half-stripped across the floor. Koopmeiners sits forward on his bench with a towel across his shoulders and his phone in both hands, scrolling without expression while his legs stay wide and his boots remain unlaced because removing them hasn't happened yet. Scalvini leans back against the wall with his arms crossed loosely over his chest and his eyes closed, and the scoreboard graphic on the mounted screen near the ceiling still glows above them.
