Greatest Of All Legends - Chapter 75

Chapter 75: A Debut to Remember I
{That tackle must have hurt much more than it seemed as the injured player is coming off and he is going to be replaced by… Jason Bolu… }

{That’s an unfamiliar name and it seems it’s his debut}

{It seems that the current situation has made the Porto manager take such a risky decision, but let’s see how this new player can help the team} The commentator did his job and gave analytical commentary on the ongoing situation as Shoya Nakajima was brought off the field and replaced by Jason who ran onto the field and went to whisper the manager’s instructions in Otavio’s ear before telling who was nearby as well.

With the injured player having been attended to and replaced, the players moved out of the Bayer Leverkusen penalty box to allow for the penalty to be taken.

Luiz Diaz was the one who was going to take the penalty and was already standing over the ball while waiting for the arrangements to be completed and as soon as he heard the referee’s whistle he stepped back away from the ball to give himself ample space for a run-up.

*Fweeeeee*

The referee’s whistle blew again and Diaz ran up to the ball before swinging his foot powerfully and sending the ball towards the extreme end of the bottom left corner of the goal post.

Hradecky guessed the direction of the shot and dived in time, but wasn’t able to reach the corner on time to save the ball and could only watch the ball smash into the back of the net.

The Porto fans cheered in excitement as they watched the scoreboard change, but the Porto players didn’t do much jubilation as they were still behind by a goal.

Luiz Diaz quickly ran to get the ball out of the Leverkusen goal and began to jog back to the halfway line eager to continue the game but not forgetting to high-five his teammates on the way.

With both teams not willing to waste time, the Bayer Leverkusen team quickly kicked off the game once again, but instead of attacking the Porto team to try and score a goal and cement their lead, they opted to keep possession of the ball among themselves with short measured passes.

They understood that the Porto team currently had the momentum and they could not afford to give them even a slight opening until their momentum died down, but the Porto team wasn’t going to let them have their way easily and they surged into Bayer Leverkusen’s part of the field, initiating a high press in a bid to get the ball back as quickly as possible.

Under the influence of a high press, Bayer Leverkusen couldn’t hold onto the ball for long and were quickly dispossessed, but instead of initiating a high press of their own to try and get the ball back from the Porto team, they settled back and switched their defensive tactics to zonal marking, their plan being to block Porto’s path into the penalty area.

Due to this, the Porto team could only pass the ball around while looking for an opening.

The clock continuously ran down and by the time the clock was nearing the eightieth minute, Jason who was new on the pitch had already gotten a few touches on the ball but had not done anything other than pass the ball to the nearest player without even trying to dribble past anybody.

From an optimistic point of view, he was doing well enough and wasn’t losing the ball because of some stupid mistakes, but realistically and pessimistically speaking, he had been quite underwhelming and had only been doing the barest minimum that had been expected of him.

The only reason why nobody was making a big issue about it was because there was a more important matter at hand, but if the game ended like this, then there would surely be some people who would notice and talk about this while reviewing the match.

The reason for this underwhelming performance was major because of Jason’s nervousness, he had been a bit too nervous when he had come on and didn’t feel confident enough to do what he normally did in training, but after being on the field for a while, he had calmed down enough.

Thus the moment he received another pass from Wilson Manafa, the team’s right back, Jason trapped the ball and didn’t pass the ball immediately like he had been doing previously, but began moving slowly towards Charles Aranguiz.

Charles Aranguiz thought Jason was an easy catch and quickly stretched out his leg to tackle Jason who was in range, but as soon as his leg moved enough to create enough space for the ball, Jason slotted the ball coolly between his legs before escaping behind him to retrieve the ball.

Jason’s sudden move stunned the crowd and for a moment there were loud shouts of “oohs”, “yeehs”, and “aahs” from the crowd, but Jason’s teammates who knew from training that Jason only began dribbling when he wanted to start an attack quickly surged forward and made themselves available for a pass.

Jason who had just escaped from Charles Aranguiz quickly ran down the pitch while hugging the sidelines before passing the ball infield to Otavio who was free of his marker.

Otavio didn’t bother wasting any touches to control the ball and did a one-touch chip pass over the Bayer Leverkusen defensive line into the path of Moussa Marega who wrestled away from Dragovic and barely managed to control the ball with his chest and volleyed it at the Leverkusen goal prompting a stupendous dive from Hradecky who barely managed to keep the ball from going in.

{Maregaaa!!! What a shot! And what a save!}

{After minutes of silence, the Porto team has sparked to life here, unleashing a devastating attack that almost bore fruit if not for a show of excellence from Hradecky}

{I’ve said this before, but Porto has a lot of work to do if they’re going to beat the Finnish goalkeeper}

{I do have to say as well that the attack wouldn’t have been possible without the run made by the young winger}

{He put on an exciting display, cleverly getting rid of his marker before making that pass, giving life to the whole attack}

{Let’s hope he has some more of such plays in store} The commentator spoke excitedly with the same fervor that he would speak with if a goal had been scored.