Greatest Of All Legends - Chapter 238: Blue and Black VS Blue and White XI
Chapter 238: Blue and Black VS Blue and White XI
#81st minute…
Despite being pegged back and having an almost insurmountable wall put up in their way once again, the Porto team somehow managed to retain their hopes and soon resumed the game.
On resuming they put forth more than a hundred percent of their abilities and tried to get a goal but that was when they discovered another problem.
The Inter Milan team seemingly content with once again putting a gap in between them had contented themselves with staying back to defend.
They played as defensively as possible, seemingly intent on defending their two-goal lead to the last minute.
This wasn’t good for the Porto team who needed a goal now more than ever.
Unfortunately, Inter Milan didn’t care about Porto’s predicament and remained intent on killing the dreams of millions of Porto fans who watched the game with their fists tightly clenched.
It was for these fans that the Porto team didn’t dare to give up on trying to gain something back from the game so the Porto fans could no longer dream of giving up, especially now that they were so close.
With the Inter Milan team remaining defensive, Porto had most of the possession but they hadn’t been able to do much with it so far, but that didn’t stop them from trying.
The ball was exchanged among the Porto players as they tried to find space to get behind the Inter Milan defenders and create a goal-scoring chance.
Jason who had been on the right side of the field slowly moved toward the center of the field.
He had been trying to create something from the right but anytime he got on the ball three Inter Milan players would immediately surround him, but instead of them coming at him, they’d instead employ a zonal marking style and distance themselves away from him just enough so that even if he managed to dribble past anyone of them, the remaining defenders could quickly shut him down before he could do anything else.
Of course, this didn’t stop Jason from trying to get past them either way, but all he had gotten for his troubles were hugs against the ground as he was constantly brought down by the Inter Milan players.
This annoyed and aggravated him, and currently being behind wasn’t helping matters so he decided to change his approach by coming to the middle to receive the ball where there would be more support from his teammates than on the right flank.
Kwadwo Asamoah, who had been substituted on for Ashley Young, was Jason’s marker and he immediately followed Jason according to the instructions he had received from Antonio Conte.
He didn’t know what Jason was planning, but it was his job to stop it and he ended up following Jason towards the center parts of the field.
The ball soon came Jason’s way and Jason received the ball with his back to Inter Milan’s goal.
Immediately after Jason received the ball, Asamoah moved to try and delay his movement while expecting reinforcements from his teammates.
Garnering Asamoah’s intentions with a quick backside glance, Jason quickly lowered and shifted his body towards the left as if he intended to turn to the left.
Asamoah couldn’t have that happening as his job was to keep Jason in place and he immediately moved to block Jason’s path, but all of a sudden Jason’s body corrected itself and snapped back to the right with amazing agility, leaving Asamoah unable to react and helping Jason to get away from his marker.
After circling around the stunned Asamoah, Jason immediately darted down the right side of the field that was now free of Inter Milan players due to him coming to the center, but he knew that it wouldn’t remain that way for long as the defenders who had been coming to help Asamoah to contain and corner him were now correcting their running paths and coming his way.
The first Inter Milan player to arrive was Nicole Barella who had been subbed on for Borja Valero.
He immediately tried to tackle Jason from the left, but Jason immediately reacted to his movement and cut left as well, evading the tackle and darting past him.
The three-man marking tactic they had been using against Jason was very effective and had rendered him ineffective, but now that they were coming at him one by one, Jason was able to evade them with more ease than before but he wasn’t going to overdo it and quickly sent the ball to Tiquinho Soares before the Diego Godin reached him.
Despite his relinquishing the ball to Tiquinho, he didn’t stop running and moved past Godin and ran into the right side of the Inter Milan penalty box.
With his body pulsating in anticipation, Tiquinho received the ball from Jason, immediately understanding Jason’s intent, but before that, he quickly did a Marseille turn and escaped Christian Eriksen’s outstretched leg with amazing dexterity.
Coming out of a spin, he immediately chipped the ball towards the right side of Inter Milan’s 18-yard box.
The ball flew into the air and appeared in Jason’s path as he ran towards the ball, but perhaps due to the silence in the stadium from the absence of the fans, he heard rapidly approaching footsteps coming from his left, but he couldn’t afford to lose focus at the moment, but more than anything he knew that he couldn’t try to bring the ball under control anymore.
His only option was a blind cross across the Inter Milan goal while hoping that his teammates could somehow receive the cross and put it away.
Not having any other options, he slightly turned himself and hit the ball just as it was about to land, sending it across the penalty box, but this move left him stumbling as he lost his footing.
Even as he slowly lost his footing, his eyes fell on the Inter Milan player who was flying at him with an outstretched leg.
Milan Skriniar had jumped up into the air intending to clear the ball before it reached Jason, but he had ended up jumping early because he thought Jason would try to bring the ball under control.
Unfortunately, that didn’t turn out to be the case and he was still airborne as his outstretched leg smashed into Jason’s shoulder.
A terrifying burst of pain shot through Jason’s arm as the two players collided but as Jason fell after, his arm stung even more as it smashed into the ground due to the force of the collision.