Greatest of All Legends

Chapter 182: Road to Liga NOS Champions 2019/20 IX

In the end, an injury was an injury and it hindered him a bit, though it was almost gone now, still, it wasn’t recommended for him to play a full match as a strong tackle to his ankle could aggravate the injury, thus the manager had decided to not have him in the starting line-up.

The manager might not even end up playing him, but at least he was no longer suspended so Jason didn’t care and did his warm-up with as much enthusiasm as usual.

Soon the players were back in the locker room for the pre-match tactical meeting.

There the manager further stressed the important parts of their tactics and took the whole team through the tactics again while the starting players readied themselves for the match with the time for kick-off rapidly approaching.

Time passed and both players were soon on the field, waiting for the whistle that signified kick-off from the referee.

*Fweeeeeee*

The whistle that both teams were waiting for was finally blown and the match finally started.

As expected in a match between the league leaders and a team just barely tethering above the relegation zone, the Porto side soon took control of the game and made the Pacos de Ferreira team look like they were chasing shadows.

The Pacos de Ferreira team had been the league leaders in the second division the previous season which had earned them a promotion to the first division, but now that they were faced against the current league leaders in the first division of Portuguese top-flight football, they couldn’t replicate the magic that RB Leipzig had performed in the Bundesliga.

Soon enough the Porto team was already sending shots at their goal.

In the 6th minute, Jesus Corona had sent a powerfully driven ground-level shot at the Pacos de Ferreira goalkeeper after receiving a pass from Sergio Oliveira just outside the Pacos de Ferreira 18-yard box.

The Pacos de Ferreira goalkeeper had quickly dived at the ball and had gotten his hand to the ball, deflecting it off its intended path and giving the Porto team a corner kick instead of the goal that they wanted.

Alex Telles soon went to stand over the corner and at the referee’s whistle, he whipped the ball into the penalty area.

The ball curled inwardly into the penalty box and players of the two teams slammed against each other as they tried to move into the path of the ball before finally jumping for the ball.

In the end, it was Chancel Mbemba who got his head to the ball first and headed it at the opponent’s goal.

After its redirection, courtesy of Chancel Mbemba’s header, the ball flew at the left side of the Pacos de Ferreira goal and the goalkeeper immediately reacted by diving at the ball.

Touching the ball, the goalkeeper managed to get the ball to deflect away from its intended path, but unfortunately, his touch was too light and the ball crashed into the inside of the left post before slamming into the back of the net, sending the Porto team into the lead.

{GOAL!!!}

{The match has gotten off to an early start with a goal from the league leaders who seem intent on sticking to their winning ways after their victory in the last match}

{It’s been said that the frame of the goal could be a goalkeeper’s best friend or his worst enemy, and I’m sure the Pacos de Ferreira goalkeeper must be feeling betrayed now!}

{He did his best and got a touch to the ball, but it seems like today is not his day and the ball still went in despite his efforts}

{The Porto defender who scored doesn’t care though and is claiming the goal with a laud celebration} The commentator’s voice rang through the stadium and through the speakers of the devices being used to watch the game.

Chancel Mbemba’s celebration was indeed ‘laud’ as the commentator had said as the Congolese defender had gone all the way to the corner flag and was dancing.

He danced wildly, not caring that there were no fans in the stands and it was a sight to see, but such things usually happened when defenders scored goals.

As members of the team whose job was to prevent the ball from going into the back of their goal, whenever they were the ones that did the scoring, they were usually extremely happy as goals for them were always very memorable moments, after all, not every defender could be like Sergio Ramos and score more goals than most average strikers ever managed in their careers.

Thus whenever they recorded a goal stat, they celebrated especially wildly and quite a few iconic celebrations had been created by defenders.

The remaining Porto players joined him in his celebration and they all danced, but soon enough the celebrations were over and the Porto players headed back to their half of the field.

The match soon resumed and once again, the Porto team took control of the game, stealing back possession from the Pacos de Ferreira team.

Surprisingly however, the Pacos de Ferreira players didn’t make too much of an attempt at trying to get the ball back and contented themselves with staying behind the ball.

The Porto team took this chance and pressed the Pacos de Ferreira team until the ball was only moving around in the Pacos de Ferreira half of the field, yet the Pacos de Ferreira team continued to soak up the pressure.

Thinking of them as toothless prey, the Porto side got a little careless and lost the ball, and it was at that moment that the Pacos de Ferreira side burst forth with frightening momentum, snatching the loose ball and unleashing a lightning-fast counterattack.

Before the Porto side realized what was going on, the players who previously contented themselves with staying behind the ball to defend unleashed astonishing pace and burst past them exchanging the balls with skillful and well-calculated passes and they carved through the Porto team like a knife.

In less than five seconds they were bearing down on the Porto goal and it was a 5 on 2 situation, minus the Porto goalkeeper.

With five players going against two Porto defenders, there was no way they could hold them back, but luckily for the Porto side, they had one of the best defenders in the world leading their defense line.

Pepe slowly retreated along with the Pacos de Ferreira players and stayed in a position that made it difficult for the player with the ball to get a good pass away without the receiver of the pass being caught offside.

Doing this delayed the counterattack and the Porto players coming from behind quickly gained ground on the Pacos de Ferreira players so the player with the ball made a quick decision and decided to take the shot himself.

Standing just about five yards outside Porto’s 18-yard box, the player first did a couple of step-overs to confuse Pepe and create some space, and the moment a slight gap was revealed, he pushed the ball forward slightly and took the shot.

The ball flew unhindered at the Porto goal, undeterred by Augustin Marchesin until…

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