The score was 1 to 0 for Barnsley. Manchester City was losing to West Ham. For ten beautiful minutes Michael Sterling felt like the King of England.
But football is not a fairy tale. Football is a soap opera written by a cruel writer.
And today the villain of the soap opera was wearing a yellow shirt.
His name was Referee Sharp. He was a small man with a very shiny bald head and a whistle that he loved more than his own family.
Minute 15
Barnsley were attacking. They wanted the second goal.
Lukas Weber the Berlin Wall intercepted a pass. He played it to Leo Stone.
Leo turned. An Everton midfielder named Onana jumped on Leo back. He literally hugged him like a koala bear.
Leo fell down.
The crowd waited for the whistle.
Silence.
Referee Sharp waved his hands.
"Play on!" the referee shouted. "No foul! He slipped!"
"Slipped?" Arthur Milton screamed from the bench. "He was wearing a backpack made of human! How is that a slip?"
Everton took the ball. They countered.
