The match resumed after the Inter Milan team was done celebrating their goal and the ball was soon rolling around the field again, being exchanged from player to player.
Despite going behind, the Uventus team didn’t show any hints of desperation and kept playing as patiently as before, but before long, one could see that they had become sharper in both their attacking and defensive plays.
It was their turn to dominate the match proceedings and they soon pushed the Inter Milan defenders back into their 18-yard box while they exchanged the ball around comfortably.
Crosses and passes were sent flying into the Inter Milan penalty box, searching out the Uventus forwards, but most of the time the ball was sent back fiercely by the Inter Milan defenders who were staying committed to the ‘No-Nonsense’ rule they had been given by their manager.
They couldn’t stop all the balls that came in though and quite a few times the ball found their mark in the penalty box, but they would quickly hassle the player off the ball, or push him into a weird angle where he would not be able to easily threaten the goalkeeper.
This did not always work though and the Uventus team had still managed to get a shot away, but Handanovic was showing why he was able to take home the golden gloves the previous season.
Save after save came from the Inter Milan goalkeeper and when it still remained four minutes for the first half to end, the man had already amassed four crucial saves.
Ronaldo was not the only one after the ball as Skriniar was also chasing after the ball, but Ronaldo reached the ball first while Skriniar was barely a meter away.
With his signature back-chop to the left, Ronaldo sent Skriniar away from the view of the camera following after them and got himself clear on goal.
Without hesitation, he pushed the ball into a good position and let it fly.
{Ronaldooooo!!!} the commentator shouted as the ball took off and rocketed towards the top right corner of the goal.
Handanovic leaped powerfully, not wanting to give up his team’s advantage but he couldn’t reach the ball in time and the ball smashed onto the crossbar, the inside of the right post before smashing into the back of the net.
{GOAL!!!} the commentator shouted as loudly as he could.
On seeing the ball in the back of the net, Ronaldo already took off towards the sidelines in the direction of the Uventus fans at the stadium swinging his two arms like he was trying to pull off cobwebs before jumping and turning around mid-air.
He didn’t even need to say a word and the fans shouted in the background.
{There’s your superstar!} the commentator continued his commentary.
{A saviour when you need him and a source of nightmares to his opponents!}
{He’s come through once again and has equalized for Uvent-…}
{Oh what’s this here!? The assistant referee has his flag raised for offside!} the commentator’s words were like a dampener to all the Uventus players and their fans.
The fans immediately cried out in outrage while the Uventus players went to meet the referee to complain about the call of the assistant referee.
Even Ronaldo left his goal celebration to go meet the referee as he did not believe he was offside.
The referee did not have a choice but to consult the Video Assistant Referee and soon stepped off the field to analyze the replay with the assistance of the VAR.
After almost a full minute of agonizing tension, the referee finally left the screen and headed back to the screen and his final decision was to allow the goal.
The Uventus fans erupted in cheers once again as if the ball had just rolled into the back of the net.
The Uventus players heaved a sigh of relief and smiles appeared on their faces in the next second.
On the sidelines, Pirlo pumped his fist after seeing that the goal was allowed, a hint of a smile showing on his face.
It was better for the two teams to be on equal scores when the first half ended as it would be better for morale than if they were behind and everyone in the Uventus camp thought the same.
The match soon continued and the two teams soon got back on the ball, each one of them trying to squeeze the ball past the other within the remaining time left in the first half, but it was not to be as the referee’s whistle soon blew loudly, indicating that they were out of time.
{There’s the whistle}
{The first half is over and what a first half it was}
{Two goals, and one coming from both ends of the pitch as well as a lot of attacking football from both sides}
{If I have any issues with that first half, it’s that there should have been a lot more goals, but maybe they have been saved for the second half} the commentator did his job while the players walked off the field, heading down the tunnels for some R & R… Rest and Reflection.
While the players in the starting line-up went into the tunnels, the players on the bench began moving onto the pitch to continue their warm-ups.
Jason joined them, not asking why they weren’t to joining the other players in the locker room as he had heard about this earlier.
Unless the manager needed to make a huge change to the tactics or wanted to bring on one of the players on the bench as a substitute in the second half, then there was no need for them to go to the locker room during half time.
Everything they needed was outside anyway and it was better for them to warm up for the second half where some of them would inevitably be brought on.
Jason joined his teammates in doing some warm ups with the ball while watching the fans.