My Ultimate Gacha System

The referee’s second-half whistle sent Crystal Palace kicking the ball backward from the center circle, and the shape they’d shown in the warm-up became real immediately.

Doucouré stayed attached to Demien the instant he dropped toward Casemiro.

Schlupp closed in from the other side whenever the pass traveled toward him.

Andersen stepped several yards out of the defensive line every time Demien turned to face goal.

Guéhi never left Højlund’s shoulder.

Demien checked over both shoulders before United had even won the ball back.

He clocked Doucouré behind him and Schlupp waiting inside, and he caught Bruno’s eye, because two markers on him had to mean space somewhere else.

He let a small smile show rather than answering with a flat nod, and he pointed Bruno toward the central pocket that had opened up behind Schlupp.

"Palace have changed their priority here," the commentator said. "It’s not just about protecting the box anymore — they want to stop Demien Walter before he can even face forward."

"Which is a gamble," his co-commentator added, "because if he drags both those markers away, Bruno and Rashford are going to find a lot more room than Palace can afford to give them."

Palace opened the half with real aggression.

Their first press forced United backward.

Onana played into Martínez, a Palace forward blocked the return lane, and Martínez tried to find Bruno before United’s midfield spacing had reset.

Schlupp got there first and released Eze straight through the center.

Eze carried toward United’s back line with Demien and Casemiro scrambling to recover behind him.

Mateta bent his run into the channel between United’s center-back and fullback.

Eze waited until the fullback stepped toward him, then slipped Mateta into the right side of the box.

Mateta took one touch away from the recovering defender and shot low across Onana.

Onana got a hand to it, but the contact wasn’t strong enough to keep it out, and the ball skipped in off the far post.

Manchester United 3 — 2 Crystal Palace Jean-Philippe Mateta 54’ (Assist: Eberechi Eze)

Mateta grabbed the ball out of the net instead of celebrating near the corner.

Eze shouted toward the away section while Palace’s midfielders hurried back to halfway, believing the equalizer was suddenly possible.

Demien turned on the loose pass that had started the counter, slapped his hands together, and shouted for everyone to wake up.

His chest was still rising hard when he took the ball from Mateta and carried it back toward the center spot himself.

Bruno jogged over and told him to calm down.

"Palace can’t be allowed to run through the middle that easily," Demien said, keeping it short because the referee was already waving them into position.

"United’s two-goal cushion is gone," the commentator said over the restart, "and Palace’s aggressive halftime changes have pulled them straight back into this."

Palace pressed with renewed confidence for several minutes.

Doucouré stayed tight to Demien’s back.

Schlupp blocked the inside lane to Bruno.

Andersen stepped forward the moment Demien received the ball.

Palace’s traveling support grew louder with every backward pass United played.

On his first attempt to turn, Doucouré got a foot around him and knocked the ball loose.

Casemiro collected it before Palace could counter, but Demien signaled hard for the ball back immediately, visibly irritated with himself.

On the next possession, he changed the solution.

He dropped toward United’s right side instead of staying central.

Doucouré followed him out there.

Schlupp shifted across to block the return pass inside, and for a moment Bruno stood alone between Palace’s midfield and defense.

Casemiro found Demien near the touchline.

Doucouré pressed into his back while Schlupp closed from the front.

Demien planted his left foot, shielded the ball with his shoulder and hip, and returned it to Casemiro before the second challenge could arrive.

「TRAIT ACTIVATED」 「Press Resistant」 「STATS ACTIVE」 「Ball Control: 99 | Balance: 99 | Strength: 99」

He spun away from Doucouré immediately and accelerated into the central lane Schlupp had just abandoned.

Casemiro returned the ball straight into his stride.

Andersen stepped out, wary of another long-range strike after Demien’s first-half goal.

Demien lifted his head and shaped his body as though he’d shoot from outside the box.

Andersen braced to block it.

Doucouré kept recovering toward the same shooting lane.

Rashford saw Mitchell tuck inside to help and attacked the space the fullback had just left behind.

Demien wrapped the outside of his right boot around the ball and bent the pass behind Mitchell into Rashford’s path.

「LEGENDARY SKILL ACTIVATED」 「Luka Modrić — Outside-of-Boot Laser」 「STATS ACTIVE」 「Vision: 99 | Long Passing: 99 | Curve: 99」

Rashford controlled it entering the box.

Johnstone started shifting toward his near post.

Rashford opened his body and finished low across him into the far corner.

Manchester United 4 — 2 Crystal Palace Marcus Rashford 63’ (Assist: Demien Walter)

Demien sprinted toward Rashford and grabbed him around the shoulders, still explaining the run mid-celebration, pointing back toward the space Mitchell had vacated.

Rashford laughed because he was still hearing about it while the rest of the team piled in.

Bruno arrived and tapped Demien’s chest, because the whole sequence had begun with dragging Palace’s two markers wide of the center.

「MATCH MISSION PROGRESS」 「Direct Goal Contributions: 4/2」 「Clear Chances Created: 5/3」

"Palace’s second marker stopped him turning centrally," the commentator said, "but it also let him pull both midfielders wide before attacking the exact space they’d left behind."

Palace didn’t lose all their resistance immediately.

Around the sixty-sixth minute, Eze received between United’s midfield and defense and turned away from Casemiro.

Demien sprinted back from the attacking half, angled his run across Eze’s preferred passing lane, and forced him toward the touchline.

Eze still managed to release Ayew, but the pass ran wider than intended, and United’s fullback blocked the cross.

Demien pointed toward the midfield gap afterward, demanding Bruno recover inside sooner.

Bruno shot back that Demien had also stayed forward after the attack.

Casemiro told both of them to reset before it went any further.

United answered by creating chances rather than jumping straight for another goal.

Around the sixty-eighth minute, Demien won a second ball outside Palace’s box after Andersen headed a cross away.

He cushioned the drop, drew Schlupp toward him, then laid it into Bruno’s path.

Bruno hit a curling shot toward the far top corner.

Johnstone got both hands to it and pushed it over the bar.

Demien threw one arm out in disbelief, certain the shot had beaten the keeper, and Bruno looked back at him shaking his head at Johnstone.

Around the seventy-first minute, United worked the ball wide to Rashford.

Rashford attacked Mitchell and crossed toward Højlund.

Højlund rose between Andersen and Guéhi and drove a header toward the bottom corner.

Johnstone reacted late but got down and clawed it away.

Demien laughed once in disbelief and clapped sarcastically toward the goalkeeper, then raised a hand in quick apology when Johnstone noticed.

"Credit to Johnstone for keeping this at two goals," the commentator said. "United have found several openings since Palace started following Demien with extra bodies."

Around the seventy-third minute, Palace cleared another United corner, and the ball reached Demien outside the area.

He tried to return it into the box, but the pass struck a Palace defender’s raised arm as the man turned his body.

Demien appealed immediately, pointing at the arm and following the referee for several steps while Bruno complained beside him.

The referee waved play on.

VAR checked it and confirmed no penalty, the arm judged natural to the defender’s motion and too close to the ball to avoid.

Demien laughed in irritation and pulled his shirt briefly over his mouth before Bruno steered him away from it.

Palace used the stoppage to adjust, keeping a player tighter to Bruno while Doucouré kept tracking Demien, trying to close the same central space United kept finding.

Around the seventy-sixth minute, United nearly broke through again.

Demien received beside Casemiro with Doucouré pressing.

Instead of turning, he played a first-time pass into Bruno, accelerated beyond Doucouré, and received the return.

Andersen stepped out to meet him.

Demien slipped Højlund between Andersen and Guéhi, but Johnstone came off his line early and smothered the ball before Højlund could shoot.

Demien pointed toward Højlund afterward, insisting the run needed to start half a second sooner.

Højlund answered that the pass needed to arrive half a second earlier, and both of them grinned at the disagreement, the connection between them turning competitive and comfortable at once.

Around the seventy-ninth minute, Demien scored United’s fifth.

Palace tried to play out through Doucouré.

Bruno pressed from the front while Casemiro blocked the central outlet.

Doucouré played toward Schlupp under pressure.