Greatest Of All Legends

Chapter 536: Flaying Lazio I

Chapter 536: Flaying Lazio I

**6th March 2021**

After Uventus’ big win against Spezia, they had celebrated for a while and though their moods had been slightly dampened when they heard that Inter Milan had managed to beat AC Milan, holding on to their three-point lead over Uventus, the Uventus players did not let it affect them for long.

The season was still a fair distance from it’s end and there would be enough time to make up for the point’s deficit, after all, they hadn’t even played their second round match against Inter Milan.

With their minds made up, they refocused on training, and the days quickly passed.

Today was Uventus’ next step in the Serie A.

A match against the top flight team, Lazio and even before the match, the moods in the locker room was more serious than usual.

Lazio was a fairly strong team and while they weren’t as strong as an opponent like Inter Milan, they were also very dangerous and could easily beat Uventus up if the Uventus side acted careless and slipped up.

Pirlo emphasized repeatedly in the locker room that the players must keep the pressure up on their opponents, not giving them any chance to get into any momentum.

Pirlo knew that his team currently had a three-goal advantage over Oporto, but he had also lived long enough to see even worse advantages overturned in the craziest of situations, hence he didn’t plan on taking any chances with the Oporto game.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

He planned to rest a few pivotal players in this game and then unleash them on their opponents in the next match right from the start.

He wasn’t going to wait until those guys had gained any momentum before trying to stifle them, that was stupid and this wasn’t a friendly game.

In important games like the Champions League knockout stages, momentum could lead even the worst teams to outperform themselves and defeat even the so-called football giants.

Pirlo wasn’t going to allow himself to be the goliath that was felled by Oporto because of a moment of carelessness.

Unfortunately to do that, he had to risk an important match in the Serie A, hence his tensed state.

His job was at stake here, as winning domestic cups wasn’t enough to ensure that he stayed as Uventus’s manager.

Only the Serie A or the Champions League would do.

In the end, the manager called out the players in the starting line-up.

“Sczesny, Danilo, Rugani, Demiral, Bonucci, Bernadeschi, Kulusevski, Ramsey, Rabiot, Morata, and Dybala, are in the starting line-up,” Pirlo informed the players and continued discussing the game plan with the players for a few minutes before releasing them to kit-up and prepare for the game.

The Uventus players could also feel the tension and the urgency in the manager’s tone and actions and though their jobs weren’t on the line, they also didn’t feel like losing, otherwise, where would they hide their face.

The Champions League had eluded Uventus for more than twenty years and this year, they had a good feeling about the Champions League finally, so they could understand the manager’s concerns.

At the same time, they also knew that the success of this plan depended on them.

Their performance in this game would be very important for their momentum and the Uventus players were an epitome of seriousness as they readied themselves for the match.

When the time ran by and the match finally began, the Uventus players immediately ran at their opponents with the ball, making use of the atmosphere of their home stadium to try and pressurize the Lazio team.

However the Lazio team had come prepared and didn’t balk easily at the pressure and they played back just as hard, doing their best to disturb Uventus team from building any momentum.

While the Uventus tried their hardest to break the deadlock, the Lazio team attempted to do the same, sometimes pressuring the Uventus back all the way into their own half.

***

#14th minute…

The match had just bearly begun and the fans at the stadium were already at the edge of their seats due to the intensity at which the ball was moving across the pitch.

The Uventus fans especially looked concerned.

As if it wasn’t bad enough that their team seemed to be playing with a weaker team, it was clear that this weaker team seemed to be struggling to contain their opponents, especially the defense.

The midfield was still able to do their duty a fair bit, but once the Lazio team got past the midfield, it was almost guaranteed that they could get a shot away as the Uventus defenders seemed to be lagging behind the pace of the match.

Soon enough, it seemed like the Uventus fan’s fears would be realized as Milinkovic Savic broke into the penalty box, looking for a shot.

Bonucci who seemed to be the only Uventus defender still performing reasonably enough immediately jumped into his path to block any incoming shots, but as if he had predicted this, Milinkovic faked the shot and made use of the space left by Bonucci to send a pass forward.

Bonucci immediately turned back, thinking his teammates would have covered the space he opened up, but quickly fell into distress when he realized that the ball had swam past the defense line without anybody to block it.

His other fellow defenders seemed to be more focused on marking their men, but while they did that, it left an unmarked Correa enough space an time to latch on to the pass and fire it past Sczesny.

The Lazio fans at the Allianz Arena erupted in cheers like they wanted to overturn the stadium in their excitement while the Uventus fans looked on in dismay at their team falling behind.

{Lazio have done it!}

{They came here with an agenda and they have taken a step forward in the right direction!}

{Uventus just can’t keep up with their swift moving style of play and ingenious midfielders!}

{If they don’t bottle up in the coming minutes, we just might witness a shocking end to their splendid run of form!}