The ball was quickly sent flying into the eighteen-yard box by Ferran as soon as he heard the referee's whistle but before any of the players could get their heads to the ball, Patti stepped out from his line and jumped up to catch the ball.
"Patti just stepped up to make sure there weren't any mistakes that would lead to the ball falling into his goalpost," Jim said.
"Well, that makes sense given the fact that most of the goals they conceded last season had come through mistakes from corner kicks," Steve commented.
After that wonderful attempt from Minino in the early minutes of the game, Manchester United had taken total control of the match although they had not made any goal-scoring attempt yet.
"I'm so used to seeing Unique FC be the ones controlling the game possession-wise even when they are losing but it looks like they've met their superiors today," Jim commented.
"Yeah, I wonder what will happen when they face off against Barcelona next Wednesday," Steve said.
Rivaldo tried to push forward with the ball but he had Harry on his way so he had to push it back to their attacking midfielder.
The midfielder quickly spotted Nolan making a break through the middle at the edge of the box and quickly sent the ball to him from the top.
"Oh, this could be the moment for Man United!"
Adolf wasn't able to stop Nolan as the striker shook him off but before he could get his foot on the ball which was inside the box now, Dave quickly dived toward it and caught it with both gloves avoiding the striker's boots by inches.
"I thought it was the moment of truth but Dave was there right on time to prevent what would have been a goal to remember," Jim said.
"That's right, Jim, there was no doubt about it, if Nolan had touched that ball, it would have gone straight into the goalpost. That was a pretty decisive move from Dave." Steve remarked.
"Nice job, Dave," Adolf said to the goalkeeper as soon as he got up from the floor.
"Thanks." He replied before rolling the ball to Norman on the right.
Unique FC players passed the ball around for a while, building their ball possession percentage while trying to find an opening to attack.
When Minino thought that he had finally found enough space to change the dynamic of the game, he quickly sent the ball flying toward Mateo on the other side but that was a mistake as Manchester United's midfield dynamo Maldini quickly popped up from nowhere to intercept the ball and win back possession for his team.
"That's a nice interception from Maldini and like that, Manchester United have gotten hold of the ball again."
Maldini quickly passed the ball to the right midfielder who didn't waste any time to send it to Rivaldo who was currently being marked by Aima.
The striker quickly got past the defender with a three hundred and sixty rotation before pushing forward a little and once he had a clear sight of the goalpost, he quickly sent the ball flying toward there from twenty-five yards out.
"Rivaldo!" Jim exclaimed.
The ball was sent flying high toward the right side of the goalpost and although Dave had dived toward it at the right time, it didn't look like he was going to get his hand on it.
[ Ball magnet activated ]
With the help of his skill, the ball got pulled close enough for him to push it a little away from the goalpost but the power from his push wasn't enough to send it over the bar as the ball hit the crossbar before flying off toward the left side where Jonas was standing.
"Unbelievable! How did he save that!" Jim exclaimed and this time he sounded really surprised.
Maldini was heading toward Jonas at full speed to take the ball from him but the left back didn't look fazed as he waited for him to get close enough before he lobbed the ball to Ferran.
'That was really close.' Dave said subconsciously as he slowly got up from the floor panting.
"Dave's the only reason why this match is still goalless," Adolf said to Aima. "We have to get out act together, these deadly goal attempts have happened as a result of our defensive shortcomings."
"I know, but these guys are something else," Aima said. "Their work rate is unmatchable."
"That's true but they're human beings, they can't keep up their aggressive style of play forever." The captain said.
So far the game had looked one-sided but no matter how much Manchester United tried, they just weren't able to get the ball into the back of the net.
Every opportunity the English side got, they used it to fire a shot toward their opponent's goalpost, most of the shots had gone wild, some of them were blocked and the others which were on target were saved by none other than Dave.
Most of them were easy saves from lazy shots but they were a few that proved quite tricky for me just like the first two shots he saved.
The closest Manchester United had come to scoring was when Dave fumbled a shot from Maldini, the ball rolled off and was about to roll past the goal line when he stretched his gloves toward it and caught it.
This match was starting to get frustrating for Manchester United players as all their close attempts to put the ball into Unique FC's goalpost had been foiled by Dave Richards but it was nothing to get pissed off about, it was a friendly match after all.
"Seems like Dave Richards has gotten a lot faster since last season, his movements are way faster now and the way he handles the ball now is superb," Steve commented.
The match had entered the forty-fifth minute now and still, none of the sides had been able to put the ball into their opponent's goalpost.
Manchester United were still terrorizing Unique FC's box trying to find a way to break through and put the ball into Dave's goalpost.
The official with the board raised his board to show that there was going to be four minutes added time and just at the third minute of that added time, Maldini was brought down right at the edge of the box by Jonas, if he had taken just one more step further, it would have been a penalty.
That was a careless challenge from Jonas so the referee had to show him a yellow card.
"With just one minute of added time left to go Manchester United have been gifted a massive scoring opportunity right at the edge of the box," Jim said.
Unique FC quickly set up their four-man wall as Maldini slowly stepped up to take the free kick.
He waited for the referee to blow his whistle and as soon as he did, he quickly pulled his leg back and sent the ball flying toward the goalpost.
"Maldini!"
Instead of going from the top, the midfielder decided to go from below and it worked quite fine for him as the ball didn't make contact with any of the players in the box but the ball wasn't able to meet his goal as Dave dived toward it at the right time and blocked it with his body.
"Dave Richards with another save! Oh my goodness! Manchester United are probably wondering what they have to do to get the ball past this guy."
Maldini bit his lower lip with a frustrated look on his face after watching Dave save yet another one of his shots.
The referee waited for Dave to send the ball out and as soon as he did that, he blew his whistle twice to signal the end of the first half.
"There you have it, the end of the first half," Jim said.
"I have to say, Jim, this match is obviously one-sided, if not for Dave, Man United should be about seven goals up now," Steve said.
"I agree."
The match being one-sided was written everywhere, even on the statistics board.
Unique FC had only managed to get thirty-nine percent ball possession while Manchester United had sixty-one percent, they only attempted one shot which was on target while Manchester United had attempted twenty shots with nine of them being on target.
"The match is clearly one-sided so far but let's see what will happen in the second half. Will Unique FC be able to get their act together and will Manchester United be able to get the ball past Dave who is surprisingly proving to be a thorn on their flesh?"
****
New year mass release goals.
A magic castle= one extra chapter.
Two magic castles= two extra chapters.
Mass release for goals met last month will still be rewarded on the due dates.
The most uptodat𝓮 n𝒐vels are published on (f)reew𝒆(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦