Chapter 55 - 53 - On Record

Chapter 55: Chapter 53 - On Record

By Monday morning, Rafael’s fifteen minutes against Guingamp had already become a set of numbers on a performance tablet.

He finished the top-up block with the substitutes and unused players, then followed one of the performance staff inside while most of Saturday’s starters stayed on lighter recovery. The difference in workload was obvious enough without anyone explaining it. Renaud had played most of the match and scored; Rafael had come on late and still had plenty left in his legs.

The staff member waited until Rafael had taken a seat before turning the tablet toward him.

"Everything looks normal. High-speed output stayed steady, and there wasn’t any obvious drop in the last few minutes."

Rafael looked over the graph and scrolled once. "Anything from the contacts?"

"No. Nothing we need to manage." The man took the tablet back and closed the report. "Fifteen minutes is still a small sample. When you’re getting longer spells, we’ll have something more useful to compare."

"Fair enough."

Rafael stood and headed back toward the changing area.

Saturday had confirmed that his body could handle a short burst of competitive football. It had not shown him what would happen after an hour of repeated accelerations, recovery runs and centre-backs leaning into him every time Metz played forward. Until he knew which limitation actually started costing him actions, the two free attribute points could stay unused.

He left the System alone.

Renaud was near his locker when Rafael returned, pulling a clean shirt over his head with the careful movements of someone whose legs had reminded him all morning that he had played most of a league match two days earlier.

"You had top-up?" he asked.

"Yeah. Just finished."

Renaud reached down for his recovery drink. "My legs feel worse now than yesterday."

"That usually means they did the job properly."

Renaud looked at him. "Very comforting."

Rafael smiled and started packing his things.

Caron came through from the showers and stopped beside Renaud long enough to ask whether the physio still wanted him before he left. Renaud checked the time, muttered that he had forgotten and gathered the rest of his kit before heading out with Caron.

The changing room carried on around Rafael. Two defenders were discussing where they were eating, someone farther down was looking for a missing charger, and one of the kit staff came through collecting what had been left on the benches.

Rafael was fastening his bag when a voice from the doorway caught him.

"Rafael, you heading off?"

He looked over and recognised one of the communications staff.

"In a minute."

"Good. Have you got ten seconds?"

Rafael walked across while the man checked something on his phone.

"We’d like to record a short piece tomorrow about your debut. Club channels, nothing formal. We can grab you after training if that’s all right."

"What sort of thing?"

"Saint-Symphorien, getting on, how the first few weeks with the senior group have been. We’ll keep it short."

Rafael nodded. "That’s fine."

"Perfect. I’ll send you the room and time later."

The man started away, then glanced back.

"You’re all right with a camera?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Saves me one problem."

He disappeared down the corridor.

Rafael returned for his bag.

The camera did not bother him. He had spent years dealing with football media before his first career disappeared into lower-league anonymity, and most of the habits had never really left him. Listen to the whole question, do not answer the version you think is coming, and never create a fight you do not need.

Tomorrow’s interview belonged to Metz, so there was little reason to expect trouble. Still, it would be the first time in this life that something he said about senior football was going to leave the building with his name attached to it.

Tuesday’s main session passed without changing anything about his place in the group. Renaud continued receiving most of the work through the middle with the likely starters, Loïc remained part of the senior attacking rotation, and Rafael moved between centre-forward and the left whenever the staff changed personnel.

After showering, he followed the message from communications to a small media room inside the training complex.

The door was already open. A camera faced a chair in front of a Metz backdrop, and two staff members were trying to straighten one of the lights while the communications employee from Monday stood off to the side with a page of notes.

He noticed Rafael and lifted a hand.

"Give us a minute. The stand’s decided it doesn’t like us."

Rafael stayed near the doorway while the cameraman crouched to tighten the base.

"You said you fixed it," the communications man said.

"I did fix it."

"It’s leaning."

"Because you moved it."

The cameraman stood, adjusted the light again and stepped back.

"There. Don’t touch it."

"I wasn’t the one touching it."

Rafael smiled as the argument ended.

"Right," the communications employee said, pointing toward the chair. "Sit before something else breaks."

The setup felt ordinary enough once Rafael sat down. The cameraman clipped a microphone near his collar, asked him to speak while he checked the level, then moved behind the camera.

"Training was fine," Rafael said. "I’m hungry, and I’m hoping this actually takes ten minutes."

The cameraman glanced at the display. "Levels are good."

The communications employee laughed quietly as he took his place beside the camera.

"We’ll see about the ten minutes. Look at me rather than the lens, and if you want to redo an answer, stop and start again."

Rafael nodded, and the red light came on.

They began with Saint-Symphorien. The first questions were easy enough that the conversation settled quickly, moving from the atmosphere to the wait on the bench and then to the moment Rafael had been called to warm up. When he mentioned that the nerves disappeared after his first touch, the interviewer asked whether competitive football had felt much faster than preseason.

Rafael thought about it before answering.

"Not just faster. Some of the preseason games were quick too. It was more how quickly everything moved after the first action. If you lose a duel or take a bad touch, the next thing is already happening."

The interviewer followed with one question about the physical side, then moved on before the discussion turned into a tactical review.

They spent a few minutes on his path through the academy and the summer with the senior group. Rafael kept those answers simple. He had been given an opportunity, he had stayed in the group, and Saturday had finally given him competitive minutes.

His mother came up when the interviewer asked whether anyone from his family had been at the stadium.

"She was there."

"How was she afterwards?"

Rafael smiled slightly. "Happy."

"Calm?"

"You’d have to ask her."

The interviewer let out a small laugh and moved on.

By then Rafael had almost forgotten about the camera. The questions were controlled, nobody was trying to catch him out, and the conversation had started to feel like dozens he had sat through before.

Then the interviewer glanced down at his notes.