My Ultimate Gacha System

Sunday, October 30, 2022

Gewiss Stadium, Bergamo

7:30 PM - Kickoff

The players lined up at the edge of the dugout while the stadium noise thickened around them like a physical presence, and Atalanta's home crowd was loud and confident with twenty-three thousand voices building toward that moment when the teams would emerge, and the atmosphere carried expectation rather than hope because this wasn't a match Atalanta expected to lose.

Demien stood in his position in the line while his hands adjusted his shirt once at the collar, and his eyes stayed forward without scanning the crowd or checking his teammates because his mind was locked entirely into what came next.

The system activated without warning.

Blue text materialized in his peripheral vision with that familiar clinical precision, and the panel appeared cleanly against his mental field of view.

「NEW MATCH MISSION」

「OBJECTIVE: Make Opponent DM (Bolu Marino) Feel Hopeless」

「REWARD: 100 SP」

「MISSION ACTIVE」

Demien's expression didn't change, and no reaction showed on his face while the objective settled into his awareness, but his gaze shifted briefly toward where Bolu Marino stood a few steps away near Inter's defensive line.

A translucent overlay flashed for half a second as Player Analysis activated automatically, and information appeared in compact form.

Opponent Analysis:

Name: Bolu Marino

Position: DM

Overall Rating: 83

The overlay faded immediately, and Demien blinked once while processing the number—83 overall meant elite Serie A quality, proven consistency, tactical intelligence that came from years of professional experience—and the mission objective made perfect sense because breaking someone that good required more than skill.

It required systematically dismantling their confidence.

The referee signaled forward from the tunnel entrance, and both teams stepped out together into the noise and the light.

***

Commentary Booth

"Good evening and welcome to the Gewiss Stadium where second-placed Inter Milan travel to face third-placed Atalanta in what promises to be a fascinating tactical battle," the lead commentator began, and his voice carried professional enthusiasm without excessive hype. "Both teams arrive in excellent form. Atalanta unbeaten in their last six matches. Inter having won four of their last five."

"The key matchup tonight will be in midfield," his colleague added. "Atalanta's young creator Demien Walter has been exceptional this season—seven goals and six assists in his opening matches. But he'll face serious resistance from Bolu Marino, who's been anchoring Inter's midfield brilliantly. Marino reads the game superbly, breaks up attacks before they develop, and rarely gets beaten one-versus-one."

"Exactly. This could hinge on control rather than flair. Whichever midfield wins the tactical battle will likely dictate the result."

The camera panned across both teams as they lined up for handshakes, and the atmosphere inside the stadium built steadily while scarves waved and drums pounded from the Curva Nord.

***

The handshake line moved quickly and without incident as players exchanged brief greetings that were professional rather than warm, and when Demien reached Bolu Marino their eyes met for exactly one second before they shook hands without speaking.

No words exchanged.

No acknowledgment of yesterday's dismissal in the tunnel.

Just formal contact before moving on.

Demien took his position between the lines in Atalanta's 4-2-3-1 formation—operating centrally as the number ten with Lookman to his left and Malinovskyi to his right, Højlund leading the line alone up front, and Koopmeiners and De Roon sitting deeper as the double pivot.

Bolu positioned himself directly in front of Inter's back four, and his body language showed complete confidence while he scanned Atalanta's attacking shape and communicated briefly with his center-backs about covering assignments.

They looked at each other once across fifteen yards of grass.

The referee checked his watch while both teams settled into their starting positions, and the stadium noise reached a crescendo as the moment arrived.

Fweeeeeetttttttt!!!!!

The whistle's sharp blast cut through the noise, and Atalanta kicked off.

***

0' - 8' |

Højlund tapped the ball backward to Demien who immediately played it square to Koopmeiners, and the Dutchman's first touch took him laterally before he passed back to Tolói, and Atalanta's approach in the opening seconds was patient and measured rather than aggressive.

The ball circulated through the back line—Tolói to Demiral, Demiral to Djimsiti, Djimsiti back to Musso—and Inter's front three didn't press high immediately but instead held their shape and waited for triggers.

Musso rolled the ball to Hateboer on the right flank, and immediately Inter's left winger Gosens closed him down with coordinated movement, and Hateboer's pass came quickly back inside toward De Roon who was already being tracked by Inter's number eight Barella.

De Roon turned under pressure and played it back to Djimsiti, and the sequence repeated without penetration because Inter's defensive organization was excellent—compact between the lines, disciplined about not overcommitting to challenges, perfectly structured to deny space centrally.

Commentary

"Inter sitting very deep here in the opening minutes," the lead commentator observed. "The back five is compact, Brozović and Marino positioned just ahead of them, cutting off the central passing lanes completely."

"Smart approach away from home. Force Atalanta to play around them rather than through them. Make the home side work for every inch of space."

At the 3rd minute, Atalanta tried their first penetrating pass when Koopmeiners received centrally and attempted a through ball toward Lookman's run, but Bolu read it perfectly and stepped across to intercept before the pass reached dangerous territory, and his clearance was simple and effective—just chesting the ball down and playing it square to his center-back without drama.

Demien had checked toward the ball during that sequence, and Bolu's positioning forced him to adjust his movement because the passing lane had closed before he could receive, and instead he drifted wider toward the right touchline to create a different angle.

The game breathed rather than exploded.

At the 5th minute, Demien received for the first time in meaningful space when Malinovskyi played him the ball from the right wing, but Bolu was already closing the distance before the pass arrived, and when Demien's first touch controlled it his second option was backward to De Roon because turning into pressure would risk losing possession cheaply.

De Roon recycled to Hateboer, and the attack moved back out wide without penetrating centrally.

The crowd hummed rather than roared because nothing dangerous had developed yet, and the opening phase felt like chess rather than boxing—both teams probing, neither committing too many bodies forward, tactical discipline overriding urgency.

At the 7th minute, Inter won possession in their own half when Djimsiti's pass toward Demien was slightly underhit, and Bolu stepped in front to intercept cleanly before driving forward three steps and releasing Barella with a quick vertical pass that started Inter's first attacking transition.

Barella drove at Atalanta's midfield while Lautaro Martínez made a run from deep, but Koopmeiners recovered well and forced Barella wide, and the Argentine's cross was overhit and sailed harmlessly out for a goal kick.

Demien didn't force anything during these opening minutes, and instead he moved laterally across the pitch—drifting right, then checking back central, then showing left—and each movement pulled Bolu slightly wider than the defensive midfielder probably wanted to be positioned, and the effect was subtle but accumulating because Bolu's job was controlling central space, and chasing Demien's movement meant leaving gaps elsewhere.

The game continued breathing.

***

9' - 14' | F

The first real chance began not with Atalanta brilliance but with Inter's press failing at exactly the wrong moment.

At the 9th minute, Inter had been defending comfortably when their right winger Dumfries decided to press Atalanta's left-back Mæhle aggressively as the Dane received a pass from Djimsiti, but the timing was late—half a second too slow—and Mæhle's first touch took him away from the pressure before Dumfries could close the distance.

Mæhle played it quickly inside to De Roon who was already turning to face forward, and suddenly the passing lane that had been congested for nine minutes opened fractionally because Dumfries' failed press had pulled Inter's shape toward Atalanta's left side.

De Roon drove forward two steps while scanning, and he played the ball to Koopmeiners who had dropped deeper to receive, and the Dutchman's first touch was clean while he pivoted to face the right flank where space was beginning to materialize.

Inter's defensive shape scrambled to recover—Brozović shouting instructions, defenders shifting across, Bolu starting to drift right to cover the channel—and Atalanta recycled quickly through midfield because the opportunity was visible now even if it wasn't fully open yet.

Koopmeiners played it square to Demien who had checked toward the ball in that space between Inter's midfield and defensive lines, and Bolu closed immediately because his job was suffocating exactly this kind of receiving position.

But Demien didn't try to turn.

His body opened toward the right touchline while his first touch controlled the ball cleanly, and Bolu arrived expecting a battle for possession or a backward pass to safety, but instead Demien had already seen what Inter's defensive shift had created.

The movement toward Atalanta's left side—caused by Dumfries' failed press and the subsequent ball circulation—had pulled Inter's entire defensive block toward that flank, and now the right channel was open with Malinovskyi isolated against Inter's left-back Bastoni in space that hadn't existed ten seconds earlier.

Paul Pogba: Long Switch Flair activated.

Demien's right foot struck through the ball with perfect technique—outside of the boot, curving trajectory, forty yards of distance covered—and the pass flew diagonally over Inter's compressed midfield toward the far channel where Malinovskyi had already started his run.

The ball dropped perfectly onto Malinovskyi's path, and the Ukrainian winger's first touch took him inside while Bastoni scrambled to recover, but the Italian defender's positioning was wrong because he'd been caught too narrow when the switch arrived.

Malinovskyi drove toward the penalty area with pace while Inter's center-backs shifted across desperately, and Brozović sprinted back to cover but the angle was impossible, and when Malinovskyi cut inside onto his left foot from eighteen yards the shooting lane opened cleanly.

He struck low and hard toward the bottom corner.

The shot flew past Onana's outstretched dive and buried itself in the side netting.

1-0.

The Gewiss Stadium exploded.

Commentary

"GOAL! MALINOVSKYI! Atalanta lead!"

"What a finish, but let's look at how this developed—Inter's press broke down on the left, Atalanta circulated quickly, and that diagonal switch from Walter completely changed the point of attack. That's not about beating a man—that's about seeing the game earlier than everyone else and executing the pass with precision."

"Forty yards, perfect weight, delivered into the channel where Inter had no cover. Clinical."

Malinovskyi sprinted toward the corner flag with his arms spread wide while teammates chased after him, and the celebration was loud and uninhibited because scoring against second-placed Inter at home meant something significant.

Demien jogged forward without excessive emotion while his chest felt light, and Lookman clapped him on the shoulder once in acknowledgment before they both turned to jog back toward their positions for the restart.

Near the center circle, Bolu Marino stood with both hands on his hips while his head tilted back briefly, and his jaw was set tight while frustration flickered across his face for exactly two seconds before he forced it neutral again.

First crack