Greatest Of All Legends-Chapter 770: Heart

*Fweeeeee*

The referee’s whistle signaled the game’s kickoff and the ball was quickly passed back by the Lyon side.

The Lyon side didn’t bother playing around too much and launched an attack immediately.

This was a pre-season friendly so the matches were without consequence and the managers were using this period to try new things and get the players used to the tactics they would be using during the season.

Thus, the Lyon side didn’t feel the need to play it safe. The Oporto side thought the same as well so this was definitely going to be an interesting match.

With a long pass from Toko Ekambi to Slimani who had rushed forward, they tried to unsettle the Oporto players, but the Oporto players were not the kind to be easily confused by a center forward dashing around like a headless fly.

Slimani however, wasn’t trying to dribble past and instead held up play so that his teammates could rush forward.

Then he released the ball back to a teammate who tried to whip a cross into the penalty box where Marcelo, a centerback from their team had rushed forward into.

The Oporto players immediately went on the defensive, but the Lyon player was clever with the ball, faking the pass the first time and escaping the block before pushing the ball clear and whipping it forward into Oporto’s penalty box.

During this time, Slimani had also rushed into the penalty box to join the fray and with more Lyon players in the box, the Oporto defenders couldn’t mark everyone and the ball found Marcelo who lunged at it head first.

{In to the waiting head of MARCELOOO!!!} the referee screamed with bated breath only to be let down when the ball flew narrowly wide of the post.

{OHHHH!!! Smart overlap there from the center half there, adding to his duties and making things that much harder for the opponents}

{With that many players in the box, it gets much harder to defend. Unfortunately they couldn’t make it count}

{Oh, it’s a quick goalkick from Diogo Costa!} the commentator’s dissection of the earlier attempt was broken when the Oporto goalkeeper quickly received the ball from the ball boy and took the goalkick as quickly as possible, sending the ball upfield with a powerful punt.

{Sent upfield quickly. They might be trying to catch Lyon out with all their players still forward!}

The ball was brought under control by Diaz who caught it with amazing ease before darting forward down the left flank.

He wasn’t alone on the flank and the Lyon right back tried to hold him back, buying time for his teammates to rush back, but Diaz wasn’t going to give up this chance he had gotten that easily.

Suddenly pushing the ball forward and keeping up with it with electrifying pace, he tried to push past the wing back, but the Lyon man quickly increased his pace in response, trying to stay ahead of Diaz, but that was exactly what Diaz wanted.

The moment the guy turned his back on the Oporto winger, Diaz swiftly cut in to the right. The Lyon guy instantly tried to change direction as well, but no sooner had he turned right to cut Diaz off when Diaz turned back to the left again.

Once again, the Lyon man turned back to the left, but he soon realized he had fallen for Diaz’s tricks when Diaz turned back to the right again.

At this point, Diaz was charging forward at the pace he wanted, while the Lyon man had no choice but to keep running ahead of him while looking over his shoulder to try to keep Diaz in his sights.

He couldn’t even stop running at this point because the moment he tried to turn, Diaz would sweep past him.

Not wanting to allow Diaz to get any further, he decided to bite the bullet and tackle him now even if it might lead to a yellow card.

His mind made up, he slowed down and made as if to turn. Diaz thinking this was his chance, tried to burst past, but was swiftly swept off his feet by the alert Lyon player.

*Fweeeeee!*

{He’s gone down! Is that the penalty box or right at the edge!?} the commentator’s words stunned the Lyon player who had made the tackle.

Because he had been running forward while looking behind him, he didn’t realize how far Diaz had pushed him and it looked like that was about to cost him. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

The referee ran forward, pointing his hand to the penalty spot, deciding on a penalty for Oporto.

The VAR was in his ear and had told him that Diaz had been tackled just inside the penalty box, much to the dismay of the Lyon players.

The Lyon players’ moods soured even further when the referee reached into his pocket and showed the Lyon right back a yellow card.

{It’s early, just four minutes and there’s already a lot of excitement in this game. We’re about to see even more with this penalty to the Oporto side}

Mylo put the ball down on the spot, ready to take the penalty.

*Fweeeeee!*

{Can they take the leadddd!!!?}

{They do! Well taken penalty!}

Mylo barely beat Lopes with a powerful shot into the bottom right corner before running off to the sidelines to go celebrate in front of the fans.

The fans in the stadium cheered loudly, enjoying the prime entertainment they were being served this early in the game.

The game resumed shortly after with a kickoff from the Lyon side and without much time wasting, they began attacking once again.

The Oporto team returned the energy, defending when needed and launching the ball forward the instant they were in possession of the ball.

Diaz’s flank especially received a lot of service as that side had become a weak spot thanks to the right back who now had a yellow card.

With a yellow card on hand, he had to spend a lot more time considering his tackles instead of going through with them and the Oporto side intended to make use of this situation to the fullest.

In the 30th minute of the game, Diaz once again broke free from the Lyon right back and sent a cross infield, but the ball was blocked by Marcelo who tried heading it back.

The ball found Olivera who ignored Mylo’s call for a pass and hit the ball at the goal, trying to score from long range.

Lopes had almost jumped in the ball’s direction when it bounced off a Lyon player trying to block and the ball was deflected to the opposite side from where he had been trying to jump.

Barely recovering, he jumped at the ball and barely managed to get his fingertips to it, catching it and pushing it back infield.

Lopes hoped a teammate would reach it first and clear it, but Oporto’s second on-field striker made sure that wasn’t happening.

Hitting it into the back of the net after it bounced once, Toni raced down the sideline, pointing at the fans. The fans cheered with even more energy than during the first goal celebration.