Greatest of All Legends

Chapter 283: The Blue Side of Manchester VII

On the sidelines, an assistant referee held up a board to signify a substitution as soon as the ball was out of play and the players who saw their numbers in red began heading to the sidelines.

Jason and Fabio Viera stood on one side of the referee while Phil Foden, Ferran Torres, and Aymeric Laporte stood on the other side as they waited for their teammates to arrive on the sidelines.

Feeling a bit to finally get back on a pitch after a long period of injury, Jason looked over at the Manchester City players beside him and stretched a fist over, half expecting to be ignored as he was doing it for fun and expected to laugh at himself after he was ignored.

Surprisingly though, Phil Foden responded and fist-bumped him, and then Ferran Torres did the same, and finally, Laporte fist-bumped Jason as well.

This scene was caught on camera as the cameras were on the players who were about to get on the pitch and it brought a smile to the fans of both teams as well as all the other people watching the match on their screens.

{A display of sportsmanship from the fresh players, It’s almost like they’re telling each other “No hard feelings, bro”}

{Wonderful to see this from the young players as they come on the pitch} Derek Rae didn’t hesitate to say something about it as the new players finally ran onto the pitch after their substitution.

For the Porto side, Jason was coming on for Luis Diaz on the left side of the midfield and Fabio Viera was coming on for Mattheus Uribe on the left-center side of the midfield.

On the Manchester City team, Ferran Torres was coming on for Riyad Mahrez, Phil Foden for Bernardo Silva, and Aymeric Laporte for Eric Garcia.

{Jason Bolu, It’s his return to the team after his injury in the Europa League quarter-finals match against Inter Milan last season}

{He’ll be looking to hit the ground running, but with his team currently losing the game, it may be a bit difficult to enjoy his return to the field after such a long recovery period} Alan did his job as a pundit, giving the listeners the facts about Jason’s long-awaited return to the pitch.

{I personally think that he can do something here. We’ve seen him be very instrumental for his team last season, displaying results that one would think to be impossible from someone his age} Derek Rae commented.

{I concur, hopefully, he can pull some of that out before the end of the game, Porto could use some of last season’s Jason right now} Alan agreed with Derak as the match continued.

#72nd minute…

It had been a few minutes since the substitution, but it had been quiet all over the pitch with neither of the teams managing to do much more than pass the ball around among themselves in the last few minutes.

Jason had gotten a few touches on the ball, but he hadn’t been able to get anything going thanks to the Manchester City players who seemed to be keeping him strictly under guard and not giving him any space to start anything.

It seemed like the Manchester City manager didn’t underestimate him and saw him as a variable that could be a dangerous threat if left alone and he didn’t want to give Jason enough time even to get a feel of the ball and become comfortable.

Jason also didn’t push his luck because despite how he wasn’t mentally scarred from his injury due to his numerous injuries in his past reality, he was still a bit shaken and was a bit apprehensive at too much contact at the moment.

He was trying to calm himself and get comfortable on the ball, but the Manchester City players didn’t seem inclined to allow him even a yard of space, hence apart from accurately passing the ball to a teammate, Jason hadn’t done anything else since he had come on apart from helping to defend the flank he was positioned at.

Currently, Manchester City had a freekick on the left side of the Porto penalty box after an attempt from Raheem Sterling to break into the penalty box was stopped by Wilson Manafa who had defended his corner stubbornly.

Wilson Manafa managed to stop the attack, but he gave away a free kick and was booked a yellow card by the referee who probably felt his tackle was a bit too rough.

The free kick was close enough to be in a dangerous position, but it was not likely to be taken directly because of its awkward angle from the goal, and thus the players of the two teams were arranging themselves and getting ready for the free kick.

On the sidelines, the board was held up, and it seemed that the two managers had turned to their benches once again.

Pep Guardiola had decided to take off Fernandinho and bring on Rodri, while Sergio Conceicao had gone for a double substitution.

Felipe Anderson would be coming on for Jesus Corona, and Diogo Leite would be coming on for Wilson Manafa who had gotten a yellow card.

The Porto head manager did not want to take the risk of leaving an already booked Wilson Manafa with a tricky and agile player like Raheem Sterling as that would inevitably lead to either another yellow card for Manafa, or less defensive pressure on Sterling which could be bad.

Once the new players were on the pitch and had taken position, the referee blew his whistle and Gundogan ran at the ball and sent a cross into the penalty box.

With players like Aymeric Laporte, John Stones, and Pepe fighting for the ball, the penalty box looked like a battlefield of giants, but Pepe by virtue of his experience advantage managed to evade the Manchester City players trying to attack the ball and got to it first with a header to try and clear the ball.

The ball flew outside the penalty box, but unlike the counterattack that Porto was looking forward to, It was Phil Foden who got to the ball first just a few yards away from the box.

Quickly bringing the ball under control, he pushed the ball back towards the penalty box with nothing in his eyes but the Porto goal and he immediately unleashed a shot.

The ball took off at once, but before it had traveled a few yards, Zaidu Sanusi’s outstretched leg appeared in the path of the ball from the right of Foden’s view and blocked the shot from going at his team’s goal.

The ball deflected off of Zaidu’s leg and flew towards the left, flying over the penalty box and seemingly heading out, but not everyone gave up on the ball.

Raheem Sterling was inside the box and near the estimated path of the ball and he quickly noticed that the ball wasn’t unreachable and he quickly made a run for it.

His movements were noticed by Chancel Mbemba, but Mbemba was a step too late and Sterling had already managed to get to the ball and keep it on the pitch with an amazing display of skill and ball control.

Chancel Mbemba immediately rushed at Sterling, hoping to clear the ball away before the situation got worse for his team, but Sterling who was currently in a state of high alert after displaying inhuman-like ball control, feinted left and tricked Chancel Mbemba before flicking the ball to the right and immediately sending a grounded through pass across the Porto goal.

Due to the ball moving too fast and at a bit of a distance from the Porto goalkeeper, he only kept his eye on the ball and followed it as much as he could, but all of a sudden Ferran Torres weaseled his way between all the players in the penalty box and appeared in the path of the ball and poked it with his foot.

Augustin Marchesin immediately jumped at the ball, but he wasn’t able to reach and the ball flew past him into the back of the goal.

{GOAL!!!}

{CITY!!!}

{They make it three!}

{They are pulling clear here and it’s beginning to look like a game set-in match!}

{The goal scorer has only been on the pitch for a few minutes, and already, he has scored!}

{He wasn’t the only substitute, but he’s the only one that has left a mark on the game so far!} Derak Rae shouted into the microphone, not masking his excitement as he delivered his commentary, making for an animated scene with the Manchester City players celebrating their goal.

Needless to say, the Porto team looked down after Manchester City’s goal and even the manager was short of words and didn’t know what to do at that moment.

He had chosen to go defensive, but that hadn’t worked due to his terrible luck, yet even after deciding to risk everything, he hadn’t seen any other change than an even more negative one.

Things weren’t going his way at all, and with the little time left in the game, his hopes were dwindling.

The Porto fans in their homes felt the exact same way.

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