Chapter 622: Matchday 31: Vs Atalanta I
Leaping powerfully into the air to get on the end of his teammate’s cross, Muriel deftly put his head to the ball, but the ball had hardly left his head when another head popped up between the ball and the goal.
The ball bounced off the new head and flew up and over the goal.
{Fantastic block from Chiellini! Sczesny didn’t look like he could reach that!} the commentator shouted excitedly, looking at the Uventus goalkeeper who was rooted to the spot all through that attack due to the suddenness at which the ball came at him.
{Well worked attack from Atalanta, but Uventus were up to it and Atalanta have a corner} the commentator’s partner said while Illicic took the ball and walked towards the corner flag.
{Ball in from Illicic!} the commentator shouted as the ball came flying in, but the Uventus players were alert to the cross and headed it clear before it reached a dangerous area.
{Cleared out of danger by Alex Sandro}
Quickly releasing the ball to the left where Jason was, he skipped forward, running into open space down the left flank, calling for a return ball.
Jason however, slowed down after receiving the ball, doing a couple of stepovers to seemingly buy Mckennie more time to get forward, but as soon as Jason’s marker closed in to try and tackle him, Jason passed the ball infield to Christiano Ronaldo in the center and also began a run forward past his marker.
On receiving the ball, Ronaldo gauged Jason’s pace and direction with his eyes and determined his likely position in another two seconds before sending the ball forward.
Running in behind his marker, Jason appeared just behind the ball on the edge of the penalty box.
Stretching his right forward to catch the ball before it rolled past him, Jason flicked the ball to the right suddenly, dodging the defender who had rushed in to get between him and the goal.
With no one but the goalkeeper between him and the goal, Jason hit the ball at the top right corner, trying to curl it inward, but he used a little too much power and the ball flew just off the mark before hitting the poles the nets were tied to behind the goal.
{Oh! What a miss!} the commentator shouted while Jason aggravatedly put his hands on his head, shocked and distraught that he had missed a seemingly clear goal-scoring chance.
{He’s apologizing to his teammates after that blunder, but from where I’m looking, he doesn’t have any excuses. He should have buried that} the commentator said, causing Jason to grit his teeth and think,
The referee already had the whistle to his mouth after 2 out of the three minutes allocated to added time had run out.
The Uventus players were not looking at the time though as they were currently on the attack and were seemingly looking to get one past their opponents before the referee blew his whistle to end the first half. 𝖗ἁꞐǒ𝔟ЁṠ
Alex Sandro who had moved towards the center of the field to receive the ball suddenly tried to make a chip pass to the left flank where Jason was, but he miscalculated the power he needed to make the ball reach Jason, and Zapata intercepted the ball before it reached Jason.
Jason was about to complain about the pass when he suddenly realized that due to Alex Sandro being out of position, there was a clear path down the left flank all the way to their goal and due to the players having pushed forward for the attack, no one would be able to stop the Atalanta man who was already taking off.
Ignoring his dissatisfaction, he quickly took off after the Atalanta forward, chasing for all he was worth.
{Counter chance for Atalanta!} the commentator shouted excitedly as he saw Zapata running with the ball, but Jason ignored the commentary and kept running with a clear goal in his mind.
Zapata was fast and didn’t lose out even to wingers when it came to pure pace, but compared to Jason, he was still a bit lacking.
Jason ran powerfully after the Atalanta forward, diverting his run slightly to the inside of the field before returning back in Zapata’s direction after he caught up to him and then dove in boot first, in a powerful slide tackle that cleanly swept the ball away and out of play.
Zapata, who had tripped over Jason’s outstretched leg, fell over and rolled a couple of times before coming to a stop and looking around in a daze.
He hadn’t seen the tackle coming in, and by the time he realized what was going on, it was already too late and he had already been swept off his feet.
{A tackle and a half!}
{We’ve seen defending from the front before, but this time, the winger was not afraid to track down his opponent and save his team from danger!}
{And what a tackle it was!}
{Zapata looks like he doesn’t know what hit him!} the commentator laughed, looking at Zapata who looked slightly in a daze as he got back to his feet.
He wasn’t even in a hurry to go pick the ball the ball as it was clear that this counter attacking chance had already been blown.
He was right in thinking that too because as soon as the ball was back on the field after the throw-in, the referee blew his whistle to end the first half.
{And that wraps up the first half of this game}
{There’s no goals yet, but if they can keep up the heat, I can without a doubt say, a goal is not far away} the commentator said while the players trudged off the field tiredly, very much needing their rest.
“Nice tackle back there man,” Mckennie said to Jason as he sidled up to him.
“Well, I hope I don’t have to do it again,” Jason said honestly.