Greatest Of All Legends

Chapter 445: Live at the San Siro III

The whistle to kick off the second half echoed loudly around the stadium and the ball immediately began moving.

The Uventus team was the one kicking off the second half of the game and the ball soon began moving quickly as they charged into the Inter Milan team’s half of the field, not bothering to play defensive, but the Inter Milan team held strong and repelled them, causing them to be unable to move any further and soon they lost the ball.

When the ball was taken, the Inter Milan team also tried to start an attack, but the Uventus players were not going to let themselves go behind once again and quickly got on defense.

With how the players of the two teams were running at each other, it was like they never stopped for half-time.

Playing with the same ferocity that was reminiscent of where they had stopped for the first half break earlier excited the fans to no end and they responded with cheers, chants, and songs.

#52nd minute…

The Inter Milan team had just gotten a corner after an attempt at goal was blocked by De Ligt before it even made it to the goalkeeper.

Ever since giving away the penalty, he seemed to be trying to redeem himself and so far he had been doing so splendidly, killing off attacks before they became a threat and making sure that the player he was marking had been unable to do much throughout the game.

Normally Martinez was a very good striker, but De Ligt had made sure he was isolated and no dangerous passes reached him.

Even if they did, De Ligt swept them away from his legs before he could even get the ball to balance properly on the ground.

Eriksen was the one taking the corner for the Inter Milan team and at the referee’s whistle, he swept the ball into the air space about two meters above the Uventus’ 18-yard box.

The players of the two teams pushed against each other as they tried to reach the ball, but De Ligt reached the ball first and tried to head it out of the penalty box.

The ball flew out of the penalty box but was caught by Ashley Young before the ball moved too far away.

No one knew what Ashley Young was thinking, but he didn’t bother trying to look for a pass and decided to just wipe the ball straight at goal with as much power as he could muster.

The ball flew powerfully at the Uventus goal but Sczesny was up to the task and jumped at the ball, managing to get a hand to the ball, but that was all he could do as the shot was too powerful.

Before any Uventus player could react to the ball that bounced back off Szcesny’s gloved hands, Nicolo Barella jumped at the ball and poked it with the tip of his boot, pushing it past the goalline.

{GOAL!!!}

{Once again, they take the lead!}

{Uventus cannot catch a break here!}

{Early in the first half, they conceded first, and now they’ve done so again!}

{I’m sure Sczesny must have been wondering, “Where are my defenders?!”}

{We wonder the same!} the commentator was having fun with the mic while the Inter Milan fans were having fun watching their players celebrate after taking the lead once again.

This time, the Uventus players weren’t able to keep their displeasure off their faces.

Ronaldo had an especially displeased look as he shook his head in aggravation as he watched the Inter Milan team celebrate their goal.

Luckily, they didn’t have to watch for long and their annoyance soon disappeared from their faces as there was still more than enough time to get something from the game.

It all depended on their efforts from that moment on.

***

The match continued and the managers soon started making substitutions.

For the Uventus side, Pirlo first started with substituting Morata and Bentacur off for Chiesa and Rabiot in the 60th minute.

Seven minutes later, Cuadrado and Chiellini came off for Danilo and Bonucci.

However even with all this changes, the Uventus side weren’t able to still get that equalizer that they sorely needed.

The defensive changes had made them a bit tighter at the back and they were able to ward off the Inter Milan attacks a bit easier, but their attacking attempts bore the same sharpness as before the substitution.

The ball wasn’t getting forward fast enough for the forwards to be able to escape the Inter Milan defense.

The Inter Milan team normally played a 3-5-2 formation, but now they were playing defensively and had converted their formation to a 5-3-2 one, thus they had five defenders going up against Uventus’s two forwards.

Even when Uventus’s two wide midfielders moved up to join the attack, they were still a few players short and that would make their midfield weaker.

Pirlo could see the game slowly slipping away from his team, but there was not much he could do

The Inter Milan team was the one with the best defense stats in the league and from what he could see, it was clear that those stats weren’t for play.

Even having a player like Ronaldo wasn’t helping them as the ball was not getting into the right places on time.

‘Seems this game is out of our hands,’ he thought to himself with a frown, his arms folded across his chest as he watched intently.

The only way out of this situation was if they were somehow able to score a lucky goal, or maybe from a set piece, but the Inter Milan players also knew this and were doing their best to avoid giving the Uventus team’s any dangerous set-pieces.

“Or maybe…” Pirlo’s head was turning quickly as he looked for a way out and he looked over at the bench to see if any of the players could give him an idea that could help out.

His eyes swept across the players as he tried to come up with a plan that could use their specialties and soon his eyes fell on Jason and they lit up a bit.

Originally, he only planned on playing Jason for a few minutes if their team was winning, but now, he couldn’t help but wonder if it was time to take a risk.

“Tell the new kid to kit up and come up here for instructions in a minute,” Pirlo told one of his assistant coaches, checking the time on his watch.