"Jackson, I feel like I'm watching a kickabout in the park!"
In the commentary booth, Jian suddenly let out a remark.
"You're not wrong!"
Jackson laughed along.
In a casual kickabout there is usually no goalkeeper at all, just one person hanging back at the end as the last line of defence.
Was that not exactly what was happening on the pitch right now?
Leon was staying at the edge of the penalty area, and whenever AC Milan's attack broke down, the ball came back to Leon to restart the move.
And the quality of Leon's long passing was excellent, practically without a single misfire.
The AC Milan forwards were stunned all over again.
Leon's improvement was simply too rapid.
After making several runs and successfully receiving Leon's passes in succession, Torres, Suso, and Menez began making their forward runs with even greater conviction.
Because they knew Leon would find them.
And as a result, Lazio's goal was under constant threat.
In the opening 20 minutes, AC Milan had completely dominated Lazio.
Klose was drifting around the halfway line without getting anywhere near a decent chance.
Lazio could not even get within 30 metres of AC Milan's penalty area, so how was Klose supposed to have any impact?
And at his age, expecting Klose to press and track back in this period of his career was genuinely beyond him.
In the 28th minute, as if something had clicked in his mind, Keita Baldé seized the stoppage for a throw-in and sprinted over to head coach Pioli on the touchline.
Pioli's heart jumped.
Was he injured?
Please not that.
"Coach! How long has it been?"
"How long into the first half are we?"
Pioli did not follow at first, and Keita Baldé immediately asked again.
"28 minutes! Nearly 29!"
Pioli did not know what Keita Baldé was so concerned about the time for, but he answered quickly all the same.
"Got it!"
"Leave it to me!"
Keita Baldé gave Pioli a look that said he knew what he was doing.
Pioli was completely baffled.
Were the minds of young players always this hard to follow?
"One minute left!"
The assistant coach's voice came from beside Pioli.
"One minute until what?"
Pioli felt as though he had wandered onto the wrong set; why was everyone so fixated on the time?
"Leon is one minute away from breaking the 929-minute Serie A clean sheet record held by Rossi for the past 20 years."
The assistant coach said it with barely concealed amazement.
"Incredible."
Pioli was lost for words for a moment before managing that one response.
He genuinely had not been tracking Leon's push towards the record.
No wonder Keita Baldé had come over to ask about the time; clearly he was very keen to stop Leon from breaking it.
But could Keita Baldé actually pull it off?
No, he could not.
Out on the pitch, Keita Baldé waved to his teammate to play the throw-in to him.
After receiving the ball, Keita Baldé produced the best dribbling of his day, bursting down the left and past Abate's challenge before cutting into the penalty area.
'Exactly as I planned.'
'Leon, get ready to hurt.'
'Remember my name: Keita Baldé!'
"Bang!"
Keita Baldé cut inside and unleashed a fierce strike.
The ball flew straight towards the top right corner of the goal.
Was it in?
Almost every pair of eyes in the stadium was locked on that moment.
After the commentators' explanation, every fan now understood that this shot would decide whether Leon could break the clean sheet record.
Leon was not thinking about any record at that moment.
This was simply another save, the same as any other.
His explosive burst of pace allowed him to move with maximum speed.
"Dive!"
Leon's large hand made contact with the ball and deflected it away towards the touchline.
"Oh! No!"
The Lazio supporters let out a cry.
"Oh! Yes!"
Every AC Milan supporter and every fan from the East cried out together.
He had done it.
The clock had reached the 30th minute of the first half.
Leon had broken the Serie A clean sheet record that had stood for 20 years, set by Rossi.
That record now belonged to Leon.
930 minutes without conceding.
And the count was still climbing.
Leon scrambled back to his feet and sprinted after the ball rolling towards the touchline.
He dived again and smothered it securely.
Klose, with his fine instincts for arriving at the right moment, could only shake his head once more.
A step too slow again.
Leon's reactions were extraordinary; his concentration never wavered, leaving absolutely no chance for a follow-up.
As for Keita Baldé, after seeing his shot saved he did not react quickly enough to look for a rebound and instead appeared consumed by anger and frustration, standing on the spot muttering away; his composure had clearly cracked for a moment.
"Ha! The young ones these days still need to work on handling pressure!"
"Look at Keita Baldé: full of confidence before the shot, and non-stop grumbling after it gets saved."
Jackson said it with a grin in the commentary booth.
"Leon is also very young; you're writing off the whole generation with that!"
Jian laughed from beside him.
"Leon is in a category of his own; he's not part of any general discussion."
Jackson made clear he was perfectly happy being inconsistent on this point.
The first half ended with neither side having broken the deadlock.
0-0.
Both teams returned to the dressing room level.
Despite the draw, the mood in the two dressing rooms could not have been more different.
The entire AC Milan squad was in good spirits.
Teammates came over one after another to congratulate Leon.
And it was at that moment that Leon himself learned he had broken the longest clean sheet record in Serie A history.
'Not bad at all.'
After breaking the clean sheet record, Leon found himself with a quiet hope of winning the Serie A Best Goalkeeper award for the season.
Although Leon had only joined Serie A in the second half of the campaign, there was no rule that prevented a mid-season arrival from being considered for the honour.
Having extended the Serie A clean sheet record to 945 minutes, Leon was now the strongest candidate for that award by far.
"Leon! Leon! Leon!"
Just as he was about to walk into the tunnel, Leon suddenly heard a familiar young voice calling his name.
"Devin?!"
Leon broke into a smile immediately.
So this was the surprise Hachim Mastour had been talking about.
What a surprise it was.
A different feeling stirred in Leon's heart.
"Leon! Leon! It's me! Devin George!"
"Do you remember me?"
Little Devin George was positioned right beside the tunnel entrance and was waving at Leon with everything he had.
"Of course I remember you!"
Leon walked straight over to the stand, and the other AC Milan supporters around Devin parted without needing to be asked, making space for the little boy.
"Leon! I told you! I'm your number one fan!"
"I've watched every single one of your matches!"
Seeing that Leon still remembered him, little Devin George was beside himself with excitement.
"Leon has fans this young!"
"Did you hear that? That little kid is Leon's very first fan!"
"How long ago must that have been? Leon was playing in the Segunda División B before this!"
"Blimey! Leon's rise has been something else!"
"That's what a naturally gifted player looks like."
---