Chapter 532: Set Piece Duty Reshuffle II
“If you score five, then it can be three times per ga-…”
“What are you doing?” Ronaldo stopped talking and turned to Dybala who had the back of his hand against his neck.
“Checking if you have a fever,” Dybala said bluntly, not hiding his intentions or the shocked look on his face.
“I’m fine,” Ronaldo pulled off his hand, but Dybala pulled his hand away and put it back on Ronaldo’s neck as if he was determined to check Ronaldo’s temperature.
“Why do you need to check my temperature anyway?” Ronaldo asked as he once again pulled Dybala’s hand from his neck.
“Are you even hearing yourself right now?”
“You just allowed Jason to take short free kicks!” Dybala put into words what everyone else was thinking.
“So? You’re saying that like it’s a weird thing,” Ronaldo answered, sounding confused.
“That’s because you never ask,” Ronaldo rolled his eyes, finally realizing what was happening.
It was actually something as simple as that, but Ronaldo knew it all stemmed from a misunderstanding that he was too selfish to share such a chance.
Not that he wasn’t selfish… kind of.
But it wasn’t to that extent.
He didn’t mind allowing other players to have a chance occasionally or if the situation demanded it.
The problem was that most people never thought to ask him about it, perhaps because of all he had achieved.
As one of the top free-kick takers and penalty-kick takers of all time, he was guaranteed to be the one taking such set pieces at any team he went to, but contrary to popular belief, he didn’t take everything.
He often let others take free-kicks and penalties if they just asked him.
Back at Madrid, he had players like Bale, Isco, Ozil, Di Maria, Kroos, Modric, and others competing with him for free kicks and penalties.
He was the main taker, but they also took their fair share of those set pieces and that was why they were so accomplished at it. All they had to do was ask him, and he would let them have at it a lot of times.
However, because he had been with them for so long, it was easier for them back in Madrid to make that kind of request to him, but here at Uventus, no one ever bothered to ask him.
It was almost like they all felt like he wouldn’t allow it or was too selfish to allow them to have a try.
That was like thinking Messi was a selfish player because he often made runs at the opponent without passing the ball to anyone until he reached the penalty box.
Everyone had their perks, and while Ronaldo had to admit that he might be a tad bit more selfish than many other football players, one did not get to become the fifth top assist ranker of all time by being irredeemably selfish.
All his Uventus teammates would have had to do was ask him, and he would have let them have a crack at the penalties or free kicks.
Morata, who was also his teammate back at Madrid, knew that and would occasionally score penalties even with Ronaldo on the pitch, but somehow, the others hadn’t caught on to that.
“Try asking me next time,” Ronaldo rolled his eyes and began to pull Jason away, continuing what he was saying before the sudden interruption.
Everyone else just watched the two of them walk away and keep talking.
“You’re kidding me. All we had to do was ask?” Chiesa said in a flabbergasted tone.
“Nah, I call cap. He’s just training his protege. That’s what’s doing,” Mckennie said while shaking his head. He sounded like he was trying more to convince himself than to convince others.
“Yeah. He’s just looking for someone to carry on his legacy,” Mckennie continued, still sounding doubtful as he remembered that he had run away from training with Ronaldo when he just arrived at the club.
“You know I always told you guys. Ask first,” Morata snickered and continued his training, not too shocked by what was happening.
It was also new to him that Ronaldo had committed to allowing someone to take a free kick in every game, but it wasn’t that surprising that Ronaldo allowed Jason to take free kicks.
Maybe, as Mckennie had said, Ronaldo wanted to foster a protege in Jason, and that was why he was making such a commitment, but it wasn’t really that shocking and wasn’t worth bothering over.
What Morata was bothered about was how he was going to get back to scoring ways. He hadn’t been hitting the target lately, and he needed that to end soon; otherwise, the manager might begin having second thoughts about leaving him in the starting line-up.
Too many competitors were popping up for his place lately.
It did not take long for the other Uventus players to regain their bearings and get back to warming up for the upcoming game.
They could get back to this matter later; for now, they needed to earn another three points from today’s opponents.
They quickly went back to their warm-up and finished up before quickly heading back to the locker room to change into their jerseys.
A few minutes later, the two teams were back on the field, already done with the pre-match formalities and ready to get on with the match.
The referee’s whistle signaled the start of the game, and the Spezia side quickly began moving the ball around the field.
The Spezia team didn’t immediately get to attacking as soon as the game began.
They were more preoccupied with keeping possession of the ball and not giving the Uventus team any chances to steal possession and wreck havoc before they had settled into the game.
Their plan worked, and while they couldn’t always keep possession, they did enough to cool down Uventus’ momentum right at the beginning of the match.
The match soon began to rage though, as the Spezia side couldn’t keep the Uventus team in a lock for long.
The ball soon began to end up around the Spezia’s 18-yard box more times than they could manage, but they held on for dear life while also doing their best to push back the Uventus team.
They didn’t have much success holding on for too long though.