Greatest of All Legends

Chapter 96: Europa League Round of 32, Second Leg II

*Fweeeeeeeee*

The referee blew his whistle to signify the Europa League’s round of 32 between Porto and Bayer Leverkusen’s second-leg kickoff.

The Leverkusen team kicked off with Volland sending the ball to Aranguiz in the Leverkusen half and Aranguiz sent the ball to Moussa Diaby on the left wing.

Moussa Diaby tried to make a run inside the Porto’s half but was quickly blocked by Wilson Manafa and he quickly sent the ball back, not wanting to lose the ball.

The first five minutes were filled up with situations like this… the Leverkusen team would try to break through the Porto defense but weren’t able to go far enough and ended up passing back in a bid to retain the ball or losing possession directly.

Upon losing the ball, the Leverkusen team would launch a high press and snatch the ball back before the Porto side could do anything with it.

Sergio Conceicao’s words to his players before the match were correct… Due to them being behind, the whole team was putting all their focus on attack and weren’t really doing much defensively, yet the Porto players couldn’t create an attack with the ball whenever they managed to steal possession from the Leverkusen team.

The heavy pressure from the Leverkusen side kept the Porto’s attackers policed in midfield and unable to even launch an attack for the first ten minutes of the game, but after ten minutes of intense pressing, some weaknesses had begun to show themselves in the Leverkusen tactic as the Porto players were slowly getting used to the Leverkusen’s intense pressure and the Leverkusen players themselves couldn’t keep up such an intensive pressure for the whole match.

Thus what was happening was inevitable and with the cracks finally showing up in the Leverkusen intense pressure tactic, the Porto team players were finally able to launch attacks on the Leverkusen goal area, but this also had a negative effect on them as well as the players who had been staying back to defend against the Leverkusen’s intense pressing tactic had now gone forward to try and launch attacks so there was now more space and lesser obstacles for the Leverkusen players as well.

Bayer Leverkusen’s intense tactic finally paid off in the 21st minute when Moussa Diaby made an incisive run into the Porto penalty area, dribbling past Wilson Manafa before passing the ball to Charles Aranguiz who was just outside the Porto penalty area.

Aranguiz had then made a pass to Alario whose back was facing Ivan Marcano, but as he received the ball, he used his body to shield the ball as he turned himself around and got the shot away.

The shot proved too hot to handle for Augustin Marchesin who despite getting a hand to it, wasn’t able to steer it away from the goal, thus giving the Leverkusen team the lead and bringing the aggregate score of both legs to 3 : 3.

{It’s Leverkusen who once again, score first and they are equal on aggregate scores!}

{That being said, Leverkusen cannot stop here as they are still behind by the away goal rule}

{WIll they be able to hold their lead this match and maybe, even go on to win this?} The commentator as usual wasn’t left out of anything exciting happening in the stadium.

The match kicked off again, but this time, it was the Porto team with the ball and they quickly put on a display that showcased their determination to not lose and soon enough they got their opportunity to make good on their intention in the 35th minute.

The Porto team had just staved off a Leverkusen attack and suddenly burst out on a counterattack, but on getting closer to the Leverkusen penalty area, they realized that the Leverkusen players had kept up with their pace, somehow staving off the counterattack and Jesus Corona who saw no opportunity to break through on the right wing, passed the ball back to Wilson Manafa.

Wilson Manafa quickly got the ball under control and pulled away a bit from the Leverkusen penalty area, causing the Leverkusen players to shift outside of their penalty area after him as well, but then suddenly he noticed Luiz Diaz making an inside run while glancing over at him with his intention clear in his eyes.

He wanted the ball and he wanted it then!

Wilson Manafa didn’t disappoint and quickly sent a lobbed pass over the Leverkusen defenders and into the path of Luiz Diaz who was sprinting into the Leverkusen penalty area to catch the ball.

He managed to make it in time to reach the ball and got the ball to his chest, hoping to bring it down and shoot, but just as he got the ball to his chest, Aleksandar Dragovic stretched out his hand to grasp his shoulder and try to hassle him off the ball.

Left with no choice but to take the shot immediately, Luiz Diaz didn’t hesitate and immediately let the ball fly.

The ball zoomed at the Leverkusen goal, seemingly goal-bound, but Lukas Hradecky who had been a source of headache for the Porto team in the first leg still seemed to have some of it in him and he managed to get his hand to the ball, changing it’s path and causing it to bounce across the goal instead of in.

But before the Leverkusen players could let out a sigh of relief, a figure in the Porto colors appeared in their sights with his head directed for the ball and catching it before the ball could completely go across the goal.

Tiquiniho Soares had been lucky to be nearby and as soon as he had seen the ball be deflected towards him by Hradecky, he lunged for the ball despite the challenge from his marker and managed to get his head to it and sent it into the back of the Leverkusen goal.

{GOALLL!!!}

{1 : 1}

{Almost a quarter of an hour after going behind and Porto have finally responded to Leverkusen’s challenge with an equalizer}

{They don’t want to give up their ticket to the next game so easily and are now back in the lead with an aggregate score of 4 : 3}

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