He called Sophia after.
"Adjusted my whole week around this," she said. "You'd better be worth it."
"Thank you," Demien said, meaning it plainly.
"Is the Haaland thing driving you mad yet?" she asked.
"It doesn't make football sense," he said. "We do completely different jobs."
"So you don't want to outperform him," she said.
He paused.
"I obviously want United to win," he said. "And I want to play better than everyone wearing blue on Sunday. That's different."
"Now that I believe," Sophia said, laughing. "Which one are you thinking about more — the derby or Paris?"
"Sunday," he said, immediately.
"Monday's allowed to matter too, you know," she said.
"I know," he said.
Friday, October 27th, Ten Hag's pre-match press conference ran without Demien in the room, the players watching selected clips afterward instead.
"Casemiro's still being assessed," Ten Hag told the reporters. "Not fully ready yet."
"Why do you believe United can beat City?" one asked.
