God Of football - Chapter 51

Chapter 51: No.21, Izan Hernandéz Chapter 51: No.21, Izan Hernandéz Izan woke up early as he always did.

He had to as today was a matchday.

Valencia would be playing against UD las palmas.

Valencia had won its previous match against Sevilla and were currently second on the table.

Las palmas on the other hand had drawn its first match and were currently 9th.

Anyone could tell that Valencia were the favourites for the match but football is one unpredictable game so one would never know the upsets that could happen.

Izan after getting up from the bed, washed his face before proceeding to gear up for the daily missions assigned by the system.

Although these weren’t giving him any stat points,it still gave him simulation points which helped him prepare for a game beforehand.

Izan after completing the mission,ran back to his house.

Komi had just woken up when Izan had got back.

Izan greeted his mother before proceeding to go upstairs and bath.

It seemed the water had a feeling effect as Izan felt his sore muscles feel better.

Izan,after exiting the shower saw his phone ringing.

He dried his hand with the towel before picking up the phone.

He saw Miranda’s name on the phone and accepted the call.”Goodmorning Miranda” Izan said first.

“Well,Good morning and how are you today” Miranda asked.

“I’m good,thanks for asking” Izan said.

“Well that’s my job,making sure you’re good.

How are you feeling for today’s game” Miranda asked.

“Well I’m feeling good today,and should be starting if nothing happens” Izan said with a sigh.

“You were fantastic,last week and Izan you should know that the Coach putting you on the bench was just so you could get back in your element so just be patient okay” Miranda said.

“I know, I know, will you come today” Izan asked.

“Yeah, I will so make sure you put on another stellar performance okay” Miranda said.

The two talked for a while and finally ended the call when Izan heard his mother calling him down for breakfast.

Izan came down after the call and was a bit surprised by the meal his mother had prepared.

Komi who saw this spoke,” I asked the club’s cafeteria for their meal plan so I could do the same for you.

I’m thinking we should get you a dietician or something.

What do you think”.

“Anything you say mum” Izan said before sitting down to eat.

“I’ll go and wake up that sleeping beauty you have for sister okay” Komi said and kissed Izan on the forehead before going upstairs.

After eating breakfast,Izan lazed around a bit before heading to the complex around 11:30.

He had arrive quite early as their light training session would not start for another hour.

Izan walked around the complex for sometime before heading to the pitch.

He was still the first person there as the other players were yet to arrive.

Eventually the players arrived and the training started.

It was extremely light as they wanted to avoid fatigue and injuries.

Izan just played around with the ball for a bit before the manager called them for a last minute tactical talk.

The talk was a bit boring and it went on for about 20 minutes.

“Okay so for the starting lineup, I decided to make a last minute change”.

“Almeida,you’re replacing Izan” Coach Baraja said before dismissing the players.

Izan sighed after he heard the Coach.

He had been selected to start when they trained before and judging from the clubs attitude towards him recently,he knew it was too good to be true.

Gaya smiled wryly when he passed by Izan, and Pietro who had been selected for the starting lineup began mocking Izan.

Izan didn’t pay him any heed as he knew Pietro would be taken care of.

Gaya who saw what Pietro was doing approached him from behind before smacking the latter on the back of the head.

This drew laughter from the other players who now started to mock Pietro.

The matchday squad boarded the bus and soon enough,they were on their way to the Mestella stadium.

Izan felt the energy in the atmosphere even before entering the stadium.

The Valencia fans had shown up in their number but the las palmas fans had not fallen behind either.

It seemed that distance did not matter to them as both sides seemed to have an almost equal number of fans at the stadium.

The infectious energy and the atmosphere soon carried onto the pitch as both teams were going tit for tat at the start of the game.

The early minutes of the match was free flowing attacking football as both sides were trying to draw first blood.

The pace of the match returned to normal as neither side had managed to make it count.

If they continued with the way they were playing for the first 20 minutes,most of the them would not have the stamina for it.

Both sides were engaged in the match.

The referee too was having it hard as he had given several fouls and 3 yellow cards in the span of 7 minutes.

The away team got the ball in the half-hour mark and tried to make something of it.

’29 [COMMENTATOR] UD las palmas has possession right now.

It seems they are playing it a bit safe right now.

Las palmas defender,Suarez gets the ball and sends it to the wing looking for Munir.

Nicely done by Munir as he brilliantly controls the ball to get away from Cenk Ożkacar.

Jose Gaya from Valencia tries to put pressure on him but Munir[Las palmas] just runs on the wings.

He’s still going with the ball striving g and looking around for space.

Munir looks up and sends a low cross into the box.

It seems the Valencia defenders are dazed and Jonathan Veira appears and shoots…..,uh Gooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaalll,brilliantly done by viera as he appears in the right place at the right time ‘ At this point,the shouts of the las palmas fans rang through the stadium.

The mestella was raving but it was the las palmas fans who were happy.

The Valencia fans didn’t linger too much on the goal they conceded and began to encourage the players.

Jose Gaya seeing this rallied the players and quickly sent the ball to the center line for the match to be restarted.

After the restart it was all Valencia.

They tried to level the score but their opponents performed well defensively.

Valencia got their chance eventually in the last minutes of the first half.

Jose Gaya sent a diagonal pass to corriera on the right side of the pitch after evading a tackle.

Corriera not lingering on it sent the ball forward to Fran Perez on the right wing.

Fran deemed a cross was fit for this situation and therefore sent one into the box.

Hugo duro jumped head first to meet the ball but Goalkeeper Alvaro Valles came off his line to punch the ball away.

Pepelu who had just arrived outside the box saw the ball coming his way.

Several las palmas players who saw this rushed towards pepélu in the attempt to clear the ball away.

Pepélu however didn’t allow this as he carefully trapped the ball with his chest before opting for a volley.

The whole stadium was focused on the ball as it moved.

The Valencia fans were ready to celebrate but it seemed it would have to wait.

Las palmas Defender Marmol got in the way of the ball and headed it away for a corner before the ball could cross the line.

The shot from Pepelu was enough to make Marmol’s nose bleed.

The fans who saw this couldn’t help but applaud at his bravery.

The match continued after Marmol sought medical treatment.

The Valencia fans were hoping that something would come of this corner.

The cornerkick however was wasted.

The referee officiating the game looked at his watch and saw that it was already past regulation time.

He therefore blew his whistle to signal the end of the first half.

The Valencia fans were left with a dissapointing first half as although their team had played well,they were still one goal down.

Izan who saw all this from the bench stood up and started heading towards the dressing room after the referee blew his whistle.

The 15 minute break was used for tactical changes but no change of personnel happened on both teams.

The match resumed and the Valencia side were still trying hard to equalise.

Las palmas had decided to park the bus and it was working effectively.

Coach Baraja who was getting a bit frustrated looked at Izan on the bench with latter staring elsewhere.

“Haaaaah,not yet” he thought before turning to watch the game.

This continued until Coach Baraja couldn’t take it anymore.

“Tell Izan to warm up” he said to Coach Moreno.The latter relayed the message to the player and in a few minutes Izan was on the touchline.

[Announcer] Coming off: No.

10 Andre Almeida Coming on: No.

21 Izan Hernandez A few fans who saw Izan coming on started clapping their hands.

It seemed that their talisman was coming on A/n: feeling sleepy.

Have this okay.

Ill be back with a good chapter