BXBX NOVEL Chapter 220: Dragon Style II
Chapter 220: Dragon Style II
{Today, the Europa League comes back to Europe after its suspension earlier in the season due to unforeseen circumstances}
{A lot has happened between the time that the Europa League went on break and now, but one thing remains constant and that is the teams involved and their desire to win}
{It doesn’t need to be said that we are in for an exciting 90 minutes so I’d advise you to finish everything you have to do and keep your eyes open as not a single second will be a waste of time in this match}
{It’s Porto going up against Rangers here in the home of the MSV Duisburg, the MSV-Arena} The commentator got to work as the players marched onto the green in order and lined themselves up while the video jockeys geld up their cameras, recording everything and transmitting the scenery live to everyone watching the Europa League from all over the world.
The Porto players looked smart in their blue and white striped home jersey while the Rangers team had worn their blood red third jersey for the game as their home jersey used the same blue color as Porto and wearing it would cause confusion on the field.
The pre-match formalities didn’t take much time to be done and the players of both teams were soon in their respective halves of the field and waiting for the match to kick-off.
Porto had won the coin toss and were passing first so Tiquinho Soares stood over the ball with one leg on the ball and his eyes surveying all across the stadium.
The other players were doing all sorts of body movements to relax and prepare their muscles for the match and soon,*FWEEEEEEEE!!!*
The whistle that blew for the match to begin reverberated around the stadium and Soares immediately made a pass to Otavio, kicking off the game.
With that, the Europa League resumed.
The Porto team, having possession of the ball did not hesitate to begin moving the ball into their opponent’s half of the field, making it clear that they were not here to play cautious football, but rather hard and fast football as was the major style of the Portuguese football.
The ball flew from player to player as they immediately launched an attack on the Rangers’ team just seconds into the game.
Otavio sent the ball towards Fabio Viera on the right and immediately followed after him to provide support in the center while Soares moved forward and Wilson Manafa followed closely behind from behind.
Receiving the ball, Viera immediately began moving the ball further down the right but his path was soon blocked by a Rangers player and he had to come to a stop.
{It’s been only a few seconds since the match started and Porto is already looking to start something here}
Surveying the field, he saw that Otavio and Soares were not in a position that was close enough for him to pass without the risk of his pass being intercepted so he passed back to Wilson Manafa.
As the ball began rolling in the direction of Wilson Manafa, Tiquinho Soares who was in the center of the field suddenly cut out the right with a dashing sprint while calling for a pass.
Wilson Manafa didn’t disappoint and immediately sent an outside pass down the right wing.
The ball flew forward at a quick pace and reached Soares down the right wing without any problems.
Receiving the ball on the right, Soares immediately cut back and headed toward the Rangers team’s penalty box while surveying the field for his teammates.
While he was looking for a teammate the Rangers players were not staying still and immediately rushed at him, but Tiquinho displayed his Brazillian nationality in full splendor and weaved through the players with amazing ease before sending a high cross into the penalty box.
{Intelligently getting past his opponents here and he sends a cross into the box!} The commentator’s voice held an expectation for what was to come.
Jason was arriving into the Rangers team’s 18-yard box when he saw the ball flying into the air in his direction and without hesitation, he moved for the ball, but he wasn’t alone.
As he rose into the air with an amazing leap to meet the ball, a Rangers defender also jumped into the air along with him, ramming into him in mid-air, throwing off Jason’s momentum and causing him to catch the ball with his head in an awkward position.
With that much obstruction, Jason’s heading skills which were already quite terrible took an an even more downward plunge and Jason headed the ball over the bar, missing the post completely before falling to the ground on his back.
{Oh! It’s up and over the bar! It seems he caught the ball on the wrong side of his head there}
Immediately Jason recovered from the fall he called for a foul because he knew that somebody had hit him and thrown him off, but the referee ignored his call for a foul and blew for a goal kick.
Getting up with a wry smile on his face, Jason headed out of the Rangers team’s penalty box while making meaningful eye contact with his teammates.
{It was a good attempt by the Porto team, but it came to nothing and Rangers have a goal kick}
{They may not have gotten anything from this attempt, but if they keep this up then the scoreboard operator may be troubled soon} The commentator did not stop speaking even while the goalkeeper of the Rangers team went to collect a ball for the goal kick.
The Rangers goalkeeper set the ball down before taking a few steps back and glancing at the field to note the location of his teammates.
Once he had noted his teammates’ location on the pitch, he made a decision of where to send the ball to and ran at the ball.
With a powerful kick, the ball was sent flying into the air before it came back down toward the field at a high-speed courtesy of good ol’ gravity.
Players of both teams immediately jumped into the air to fight for the ball and the match soon continued.
#7th minute…
The players had been going hard at each other and it was fair to say that they were quite fairly matched against each other despite the slight expectations of the viewers that Porto would be the better team, but the match was just starting so the viewers still reserved their judgment.
Ever since Porto’s attack at the beginning of the match, the game had been like a roller coaster of attacking football from both teams.
The Rangers team would attack and either get a shot away or get shut down and the Porto team would immediately launch a lightning-fast counterattack, but so far the two of them had only gotten one shot on target each.
Rangers had just had their attack stifled by Pepe deflecting a shot from a Rangers player and the Rangers team had just gotten a corner.
*Fweeeee*
The referee blew for the corner to be taken and the ball was immediately swung into the penalty box by the Rangers player taking the corner kick.
The players in the penalty shuffled against each other as they tried to get as close to the path of the ball but when the ball finally arrived, it was a Rangers player that caught the ball with his head and sent the ball towards the Porto goal.
Augustin Marchesin immediately reacted and jumped for the ball, but the ball had been directed too far away from where he was and he couldn’t reach the ball even after fully extending himself with a splendid dive.
The ball flew past Augustin’s gloved palm until finally,
*CLANG*
The ball smashed on the outside of the left post and flew out of play to the dismay of the Rangers players and the relief of the Porto players.
{Saved by the bar! Porto can heave a sigh of relief!}
{For a second there it looked like they were about to go behind, but the Rangers captain seemed to have put a little too much power on the header instead of finesse and the ball has skewed off target!} The commentator’s voice rose to a high pitch as he delivered commentary on the match situation while James Tavernier who had headed the ball had his face in his hands as he couldn’t believe that he had missed a chance to put his team ahead.
His teammates patted his back as they began to head out of Porto’s 18-yard box since Augustin Marchesin was about to take a goal kick.
{He should have put that away}
{Chances like those in matches like this cannot afford to be missed as it could come back to haunt him} The commentator continued with his commentary as Augustin Marchesin sent the ball flying into the air from the goal kick and the match once again continued.