*FWEEEEEEE*
The referee blew the whistle at 9:45 PM. The cheers around the stands immediately hit a thunderous peak as Josip Drmic, Bayer 04 Leverkusen's center-forward, kicked off the game by sending a backward pass all the way to his backline.
"Pa..."
The sound of a boot meeting synthetic rubber sounded as Emir Spahic, Bayer 04 Leverkusen's center-back, connected with the ball from Josip Drmic. The defender only took a single touch before flicking it to his left to find Wendell, the left-back.
Wendell, on his part, connected with the ball close to the touchline on the left flank. Then, before any Juventus player could close him down, he whirled around and fed the ball along the touchline to find Heung-min Son, Bayer 04 Leverkusen's left-back for the night.
Heung-min Son didn't dilly-dally when he connected with the ball. With lightning-fast agility, he whirled and twisted to escape the harassment from Stephan Lichtsteiner before accelerating to his top speed within a second.
From there on, Heung-min Son was like a true-blue reincarnation of the Flash as he cut through the pitch while running along the touchline. Along the way, the winger then exchanged a couple of quick one-twos with Josip Drmic, Bayer 04 Leverkusen's center-forward, to beat a few more Juventus players.
The ball naturally returned to him as he cut into the pitch. He collected it midstride and continued racing towards Juventus' box like a galloping horse on the race track. A few seconds later, he beat Leonardo Bonucci, Juventus' center-back, with a simple change of pace and dashed into the box like the wind.
What came next was only natural. Heung-min Son approached the goal from a tight angle before taking on Gianluigi Buffon, the Juventus keeper. His composure was remarkable, and he effortlessly curled the ball past the keeper, hoping to guide it toward the inside of the far post.
At that moment, everything seemed to slow down. All the fans behind Juventus' goal held their breath as they watched the ball fly past the outstretched hand of Gianluigi Buffon before continuing on its trajectory toward the back of the net. But just as the supporters were at the peak of their desperation, a miracle happened. Maybe it was the wind, but the ball deviated at the last moment and smashed off the post before bouncing back into the box. And with that, Juventus barely managed to avoid conceding a goal during the 1st minute of gameplay.
However, the danger was still at large for Juventus. That was because the just-rebounded ball had landed in an area within the box where Josip Drmic, Bayer 04 Leverkusen's center-forward, was lurking. The striker wasted no time pouncing forward and hammering the ball back toward the goal, hoping to score Bayer 04 Leverkusen's 1st goal for the day.
"Whoosh..."
That time, Gianluigi Buffon, the experienced Juventus keeper, was spot-on with his reactions. He threw himself at the ball and, by some miracle, happened to intercept it. He punched it away from the goal and towards the left flank to clear the danger. He had finally saved Juventus from conceding the first goal during the opening minutes.
"Damn it!" Coach Max Allegri couldn't help but let out some expletives. "I warned these guys not to put their guard down after stepping onto the pitch. But after only a minute of gameplay, they seem to have started ignoring my instructions. I can't imagine what will..."
Coach Max Allegri stopped whining as a situation he couldn't have expected transpired on the field of play. Patrice Evra, the Juventus left-back, had just gotten to the loose ball before turning away from an opponent. The defender then wasted no time playing the ball into the middle to find Claudio Marchisio, one of the Juventus midfielders.
Claudio Marchisio, on his part, didn't waste time as it was an opportunity to counterattack. The midfielder squared the ball towards the left to find Andrea Pirlo, the Maestro, who happened to have just moved into an unmarked pocket of space close to the center circle.
"Pa..."
Andrea Pirlo connected with the pass and controlled the ball with lightning-fast reflexes. Then, before anyone could close him down, he drew his leg back and unleashed a lofted pass all the way over the midfield and toward the other side of the pitch.
Andrea Pirlo was obviously trying to find Zachary Bemba, Juventus' playmaker, who happened to have floated toward the right wing. However, due to his rashness when kicking the ball, he misplaced the pass by a slight margin, and it was heading fast toward the outside of the pitch.
"Whoosh..."
At that moment, Zachary went against all expectations and reacted like the wind. He pounced forward and covered half a dozen meters within seconds. Zachary then pushed off the ground with all his might before leaping up and controlling the ball with his back. He successfully stopped the ball from heading out of play before landing back on the ground and turning to face back into the pitch.
"Whoosh..."
A defender slid in wholesale with a ruthless tackle as Zachary tried to realign his posture. It was Wendell, the Bayer 04 Leverkusen left-back. The man glided forth with boundless momentum as if he wanted to slaughter Zachary.
Zachary didn't seem to panic. He skillfully dug his boot under the ball and looped it over the sliding defender to escape the tackle. Then, with deft motions, he landed back on the ground and realigned his posture before taking off toward Bayer 04 Leverkusen's box like a Ferrari on a formula one race track.
Zachary's swift pace worked wonders, and his long strides ate up yards of space like nothing. Before Bayer 04 Leverkusen's defense could get into shape, he was already bearing down the goal and facing off against Bayer 04 Leverkusen's last defender. He beat the opponent with a few side steps and a slight change of pace before racing forward and finally stepping into the box.
The moment of truth had finally come, and Zachary's high mental strength worked like a charm. He remained composed and skillfully slid the ball underneath the arms of the approaching keeper from a tight angle. His finishing touch was spot on, and he easily beat the keeper to score Juventus' 1st goal for the night during the 3rd minute of gameplay.
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Juventus FC 1 (4) : Bayer 04 Leverkusen 0 (1)
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"I'll be damned!"
Coach Max Allegri was at a loss for words and could only mumble a few expletives. A few seconds ago, he had started criticizing his players for losing focus and allowing Bayer 04 Leverkusen to attack them and almost score within the first minute. But his players had reacted almost instantaneously and exploited the gaps left by Bayer 04 Leverkusen to turn the situation around. They had launched a lightning-fast counterattack, caught the opponents off-guard, and scored Juventus' 1st goal for the night. As a result, Juventus was already leading by an aggregate score of 4:1 only after three minutes into the second leg of the Champions League Round of Sixteen fixture.
"Congratulations, boss! We're closer to qualifying for the quarter-finals." A voice sounded beside him as he was still processing what had just transpired on the pitch. It was Maurizio Trombetta, his assistant, and he was all smiles after Juventus scored the opening goal.
"Let's not talk about the quarter-finals yet," Coach Max Allegri said lightly. "We're still in the game's opening stages, and anything can happen. We must not let down our guard until we score a few more goals."
"That's a given." Maurizio Trombetta nodded before asking, "By the way, have you noticed that they are not marking Zachary tightly? They didn't assign any player to shadow his movements. That was why he effortlessly caught them by surprise and scored."
"Indeed!" Coach Allegri agreed. "The Germans don't know how dangerous he can be when left unmarked. They are just treating him like any other attacker. Maybe, we can take advantage of that."
"Yes," Maurizio Trombetta agreed. "If he can freely float all over the pitch, then his impact today will be unprecedented."
"That's true," Coach Allegri agreed. "Let's allow him to play a free role. He will then have a greater impact especially on the counterattack."
With that said, the coach wasted no time and called Zachary over. He spent a few seconds giving him new instructions before sending him back to the field of play.
-----
The game restarted soon after the celebrations. The Bayer 04 Leverkusen players, who had just conceded a goal, learned their lesson and didn't immediately push many players forward to attack Juventus. They instead settled into a 4-5-1 defensive formation and focused only on resisting Juventus' relentless attacks. They played pure defensive football for the next twelve minutes and denied the Old Lady players a chance to test their goal.
But as the saying goes, old habits die hard. Fifteen minutes into the first half, the Bayer 04 Leverkusen players couldn't resist the temptation of playing as they always did and committing many bodies forward. They all dashed forward like a pack of wolves and launched another terrifying attack against Juventus.
Their intent was to score and bring proceedings back to level terms. But once again, luck was not on their side, and a final shot from Josip Drmic, their center forward, was saved by Gianluigi Buffon.
Gianluigi Buffon, on his part, didn't waste time after making the save. He reacted immediately and picked himself from the ground before racing toward the edge of the box and throwing the ball towards the left flank. His accuracy was spot on, and he effortlessly found Patrice Evra, the Juventus left-back
Evra received the ball close to the touchline. Then, within anything but an instant, he unleashed a pass into the middle to find Zachary, who was lurking close to the center circle.
The counterattack was on, and Zachary didn't dawdle. After controlling the ball, he dashed forward like a lightning bolt and utilized his high agility to circumvent defender after defender. Then, when a passing angle opened up, he threaded a simple through ball to Alvaro Morata, who remained composed and looped the ball over the keeper to score Juventus' 2nd goal for the night during the 16th minute. The score was then 2:0 in favor of Juventus, and the Italian giants were closer to qualifying for the Champions League quarter-finals.
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