Greatest Of All Legends-Chapter 631: Purple Trouble III

Chapter 631: Purple Trouble III

The Serie A title was very important to the Uventus team, but they had won it the previous year.

They had no lack of Serie A trophies in their cabinet, however, the Champions League trophy was something the Uventus team greatly coveted.

It had been 24 years since they last won the famous trophy.

Now, with the Champions League final once again looming before them, the fans and the management would never forgive any slip-ups that could reduce their chances in the Champions League.

This was why Pirlo was being especially careful with his players, however, he also knew that despite the Champions League being the focus of the Uventus fans and the management at the table, they would not accept falling behind in the league either.

Unfortunately, he was now in a situation where those two things were at stake.

If he chose to bring on Ronaldo, Jason, and others, the team just might be able to stage a comeback… however, what if they didn’t and after wasting their energy for nothing, they went to Madrid and weren’t able to give their best because they were exhausted, costing them another victory.

As the manager, Pirlo would have no way to escape the blame despite having done what was right for the team.

Hence, Pirlo could only put his faith in the players in the line-up currently and hope they had it in them to stage a comeback.

That was the reason for his outburst, and he didn’t regret his harsh words to the players who had been playing absolute nonsense since the game began.

Taking a deep breath as he began to climb the steps out of the tunnel, Pirlo steeled his heart in readiness for the second half that was to begin in a few minutes.

***

*Fweeeeeee!*

At the referee’s whistle, the second half of the game kicked off.

This time, it was the Uventus team that kicked off and just like their opponents did in the first half, they immediately began to move the ball up the field through the opponents half, intending to resume their search for an equalizer right from the set off.

Fiorentina did not hesitate to resume their opposition to the Uventus team and the game soon settled into a back-and-forth with both teams trying to one-up the other and send the crowd reeling from a goal.

It was soon clear that the Uventus players were performing better than they did in the first half and more opportunities were opening up to them.

The FIorentina players were the first to notice this, but before they could adjust to the Uventus team’s new tempo, the Uventus team struck first.

#57th minute…

{It’s Uventus on the counter}

{Bernadeshi, he’s moving the ball up the field with pace, dodging his opponents’ attempts to steal the ball from him} The commentator described the situation on the pitch.

As he entered the final third, he began to cut in from the right, looking for an open teammate to release the ball to.

As luck would have it, both Morata and Chiesa were calling for a pass as they kept up with the counterattack, but Morata seemed to have more players on him.

Glancing over and seeing that Morata was being tightly watched, Chiesa quickly maneuvered past his marker, holding out an arm to hold him off and called loudly for a pass to him.

Bernadeshi immediately responded by sending the ball his way, but the Fiorentina players weren’t staying still either.

One of the players who was tightly marking Morata immediately disengaged and ran forward, doing his best to jump into Chiesa’s path just as the ball reached him, blocking Chiesa’s path to goal, but Chiesa’s next move shocked all the Fiorentina players and even some of his own teammates.

Skipping over the ball, Chiesa let it roll past him and continue forward.

By the time the Fiorentina players could react, Morata, who had been given freedom, was already behind the ball and swinging his leg at it.

{This one for the equalizer!}

{It’s in! Uventus have their equalizer!} the commentator screamed excitedly as Morata sent the ball past the Fiorentina goalkeeper and into the goal.

The Fiorentina fans at the stadium didn’t share the commentator’s enthusiasm, but that didn’t stop his excited commentary, nor did it stop the Uventus players from celebrating joyously at their goal.

On the sidelines, Pirlo had a smile on his face and was pumping his fists excitedly, repeating to himself,

“Just one more, one more, and we can still win,”

He didn’t stop at celebrating, but was soon calling the players back from their celebrations and telling them to stay focused on the task at hand.

His words put a dampener on the sky-high moods of the players, but they reminded the players that there was still a lot of work left to do.

They were already back on level terms… the game was now in their hands.

It was their choice and efforts to either go on and take the lead, or throw it away, but not one of the Uventus players want ed to find out the consequences of losing the game would be. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com

#67th minute…

{Fiorentina have a corner}

{The players are pushing hard against themselves as they find their positions in the penalty box, each one of them focused on the ball that hasn’t come in yet}

*Fweeeeeeee!*

At the referee’s whistle, the ball was sent flying into the Uventus penalty box, curling inward.

Vlahovic soon noticed that the ball was flying his way, but he was being tightly marked by the Uventus defenders and they would not leave him unchallenged if he rose to the air to contest for the header.

However, Vlahovic didn’t give up and threw his arms around, pushing as hard as he could to create enough space for himself to leap to the air and connect with the header.

{Off his head and in!} the commentator screamed excitedly as Vlahovic headed the ball powerfully into the back of the net, leaving Sczesny unable to react.

The Fiorentina fans at the stadium immediately burst out into excited cheers of happiness, but it was not to last as the referee’s whistle went off a few seconds later, putting a halt to all the ongoing celebrations.

The referee ran into the penalty box, his whistle held between his lips as he pointed at Demiral who was rolling around on the ground, holding his face.

A few Fiorentina players were incensed on seeing Demiral rolling on the ground dramatically and they instantly thought he was faking an injury.

Even some of the Uventus players thought the same as they watched Demiral dramatically roll over again, but they still shielded him from the Fiorentina players who had come rushing in with anger.

The referee quickly inserted himself between the two sets of players, breaking off the fight before it even began, all while consulting the VAR with a hand to his ear.

Speaking to the VAR for a few moments, the referee soon had a scrunched-up look on his face and began to jog over to the sidelines to watch the replay himself.

On getting there, the replay quickly began and it could be clearly seen that while fighting off the Uventus players so that he could leap into the air and catch the ball, Vlahovic had indeed hit Demiral in the face and from the replay, Vlahovic was very heavy-handed.

If not that Vlahovic was clearly only focused on the ball, the referee would have run onto the field and shown Vlahovic a red card.

That no longer mattered though and the goal was disallowed while medics were soon on field to treat Demiral.

The match soon continued and the two teams continued doing their best to one up the other, but at the end of the ninety minutes, a winner couldn’t be decided and Uventus and Fiorentina had no choice but to share the points.