Magda was watching TV and laying on the couch when she heard the door open. Pernille was back home from the game Magda had missed due to the cold. It had been so frustrating to watch the game from a TV when she wanted to be on the field captaining her team to victory. The game hadn’t been a good one. Chelsea seemed a bit lazy on the field. It should have been an easy win for Chelsea when you think about how many chances they had to score but they ended up sharing the points.
Magda was waiting for Pernille to join her but instead she heard their bedroom door slam. Magda knew what this was about. Pernille had a decent chance to score a winning goal at the end of the game, but her shot had flown past the goal by a few centimeters. Magda knew that Pernille was now in their bedroom scolding and blaming herself for not winning the game for the team.
Pernille was harsh to herself and Magda knew that because she was the same. That is what makes them good players. But sometimes they were too harsh on themselves. With a sigh Magda stood up from the couch and made the way to their bedroom. She knocked on the door and heard a silent "Come in". She opened the door to see that Pernille was laying under the covers replaying the missed chance from her phone.
"Pernille", Magda said gently walking towards their bed. "I should have scored! Magda, we should have won the game. I ruined that.", Pernille was ranting while the replay was still playing even though her eyes were on Magda. Magda joined Pernille under the covers and put her arms around Pernille. "Baby, you didn't lose. And yes you might have had the chance to win the game but these things happen. Sometimes you score, sometimes you don't. That is football my love", Magda said gently and caressed Pernilles hair with the other hand and with other hand she took the phone away from Pernille and put it on to the night table. "But but..", Pernille started but was interrupted by Magda.
Magda put her lips on Pernille to stop her from rambling. Pernille came out from her shock in seconds and answered the kiss. When the kiss broke, Magda and Pernille smiled at each other. "Feel better?", Magda asked with a cheeky smile. Pernille nodded and Magda answered "Good!".
Pernille laid her head on Magdas chest and Magda put her arms around Pernille caressing her back. "You, Pernille, of all the players in the world should know that we all fail sometimes to score, pass, block etc. But that is why we are motivated to keep working on ourselves. We keep working and improving so that those days become rare. But even then we all have those bad and average days where we fail to give the perfect or even a good pass. "
Pernille looked at Magda whose eyes were filled with love."I am speechless. You are so perfect, you know." "I am far from perfect but I thrive to be better every day. To be better for myself, for our team and for you.", Magda said. "To me you are perfect", Pernille said. "And you are perfect to me", Magda answered, kissing Pernilles forehead. Pernille raised her head to a better angle to kiss Magda. Lips connected Pernille forgot the missed chance and focused on the opportunities.
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Chelsea was playing against Arsenal a week later and the game was 1-1 and around ten minutes left. Chelsea had more chances to score but their shots had flown way too wide. Back and forth back and forth. Berger opened the ball to Magda and she passed to Mjelde who passed back to Magda who had risen a bit. In the corner of her eye she saw Pernille creating space for herself. Magda saw the opportunity and passed a long ball in the air perfectly to Pernilles feet. Pernille was ready. She moved the ball effortlessly in her feet fooling Arsenal defenders and took the shot.
In that moment everything felt to slow down for Pernille. She saw the ball flying. The Arsenal goalie tried her best to block and save the shot but there was so much power in that shot that it didn't matter that the ball touched the goalies fingertips, it wasn't enough. The ball hit the net. 2-1.
Pernille was celebrating her goal when she felt somebody pull her into a tight embrace. They had a few seconds to themselves. "See, sometimes you fail, but fortunately sometimes you don't. You are perfect", Magda whispered to her ear. Shivers went down Pernilles spine. "I love you", Pernille whispered. Magda gave her a wink before turning to jog back to their side.
Chelsea won the game. Magda was chatting with Millie after the game as she was watching Pernille celebrating the victory with Beth and Sam. It seemed like Pernille sensed Magda watching her as she met her eyes. They smiled at each other before Pernille went back to joking with Sam and Magda back to chatting with Millie.
It was football and they loved it.