Chapter 587 Against Cagliari
Three days later, on Saturday, May 9th, team Juventus welcomed Cagliari Calcio at their home ground for their 35th Serie A match that season.
Coach Max Allegri saw no need to rest all his players since Juventus already had a 6:1 advantage over Dortmund while heading into the following Wednesday's second-leg battle of the UEFA Champions League semis. He fielded a relatively strong squad with big names like Zachary, Claudio Marchisio, Arturo Vidal, and Carlos Tevez in the midfield.
The players he chose to rest on the day included the defenders, namely Patrice Evra, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini, and álvaro Morata, the second-striker. Of course, he also left out the injured Andrea Pirlo, who had suffered a calf injury during the Dortmund game.
The game commenced at six in the evening, with Juventus playing as usual and pressuring Cagliari from the get-go. The men in the striped black and white jerseys arrayed themselves into a 4-3-3 attacking formation to break down the opponents with endless barrages of attacks. They exuded energy all over the pitch and didn't look like a team that had just played an intense Champions League semi-final only days ago.
Zachary, on his part, had a personal vendetta against the Cagliari fans, who had booed him with racist chants during the game at their home ground earlier in the season. He channeled the annoyance he felt for them into energy and momentum on the pitch. He relied on those negative feelings to drive himself to work harder against the opponents.
Soon enough, he was like an incarnation of a monster on the pitch. His stamina seemed endless as he played brilliant football to link up with his teammates while searching for opportunities to break through the opposition. His skills were also what one could call divine, and the opponents couldn't find a way to stop him.
His energy and dynamic playing style quickly motivated his teammates to play like him, and it wasn't long before Juventus started creating clear goal-scoring chances. They asked all the crucial questions on the field, with Carlos Tevez coming close to scoring during the 14th minute of gameplay. But a stunning save by the keeper denied the Argentine another goal in the Serie A.
The game continued after that, and Juventus launched another attack within a minute. Zachary won a ground duel against Jo?o Pedro, one of Cagliari's midfielders, before driving straight into the heart of the opposing defense. He slalomed past two more opponents with godly speed and well-timed step-overs before unleashing a missile from thirty yards away.
The Cagliari's keeper was again alert and managed to dive in for the save. On a full stretch, he got his hand on the powerful ball and punched it away from his goal.
Fernando Llorente, the ever-lurking striker in the box, reacted as he should on seeing the keeper make the save. He pounced towards the rebounded ball with all the haste he could muster before tapping into the back of the net to score Juventus' 1st goal on the night during the 16th minute.
The score was then 1:0 in favor of Juventus, but the Bianconeri continued playing as before. They built on their momentum and tore through Cagliari's defense time and time again, only to be denied by the keeper's stunning efforts.
The proceedings moved forward in that manner until some intelligent play by Carlos Tevez on the right flank allowed Zachary to find a breakthrough during the 37th minute.
Carlos Tevez was at the top of his game once again. He used his pace to leave Danilo Avelar, Cagliari's left-back, in the dust before cutting into the pitch. He approached the box from the right side and then sent a negative pass towards the arc of the eighteen-yard box, where Zachary was arriving.
Zachary didn't think twice before swinging his left boot to meet the pass from Tevez. His SS-grade core strength attribute and Rocket Launcher skills immediately came into play. He made a first-time connection with the ball and blasted it goalward with all the leg power he could muster.
"Whoosh!"
With a whoosh, the ball flew off like a surface-to-surface missile. It deflected off the leg of a Cagliari defender trying to block it before smashing off the crossbar and homing into the back of the net. As for the keeper, he couldn't react, one because of the deflection and two because of the sheer speed and momentum behind the effort.
The score was then 2:0 in favor of Juventus with only seven minutes to halftime. Usually, teams in such circumstances would slow the tempo and maintain the lead until the half ended. But this was not the case for Zachary and his teammates, who seemed to be out for blood.
The Old Lady players attacked and attacked during those seven minutes. Their efforts bore fruit, and Juventus tore apart the opposition twice before the end of the half. Zachary converted a free-kick during the 42nd minute to score the 3rd before Carlos Tevez added a 4th during the 45th to push the score to 4:0 right before halftime.
Coach Allegri, who was grinning from ear to ear, returned to his usual antics of resting players during the break. He substituted Zachary, Claudio Marchisio, and Carlos Tevez out of the game before bringing on Stefano Sturaro, Kingsley Coman, and álvaro Morata.
The three substitutions weakened Juventus to a certain extent. But even then, Cagliari didn't get the better of the Bianconeri when the second half started.
Yes, the Old Lady players played at a slower tempo due to their missing playmakers. But they still managed to whittle away at Cagliari's defense with steady build-ups in the middle combined with brilliant moments of wing play by Kingsley Coman.
Kingsley Coman was especially at his best that evening. He won a couple of dribbling duels against the Cagliari left-back and sent a few crosses that almost resulted in goals.
Fernando Llorente was twice the beneficiary of those crosses. But the brilliant efforts of the Cagliari keeper saved the day and denied the Spaniard any opportunity to put his name on the score sheet yet again.
The game soon approached the 75th minute, with Juventus still dictating the tempo with steady possession. It was then that Cagliari took a corner but failed to convert.
The lurking Kingsley Coman immediately came alive to launch a counter. He collected the just-cleared ball from around the arc of the eighteen-yard box before initiating a foot race with the Cagliari players. He cut through the middle like a whirlwind and skipped over a tackle before playing a forward pass to release álvaro Morata.
álvaro Morata, who was still a bit fresh after only coming on as a substitute at halftime, didn't disappoint. He calmly connected with the pass from Kingsley before rounding the keeper and scoring Juventus' 5th goal for the night during the 76th minute.
The score was then 5:0 in favor of Juventus, and the situation was getting ugly for the Cagliari players, who showed no signs of recovery.
They played like amateurs for the rest of the game and continued committing mistakes in midfield and defense. They eventually gifted Juventus another goal during the 88th minute when a loose pass from one of their defenders ended up at the feet of Arturo Vidal, who was lurking in a strategic pocket of space in the final third.
Arturo Vidal remained composed and acted like the seasoned midfielder he was. He fed the ball back into the heart of Cagliari's defense to find álvaro Morata, who showed his class as a striker and slotted past the keeper from the edge of the box to score Juventus' 6th on the night.
It was another football masterclass by the Juventus players, who continued working hard during the final minutes. They didn't do anything like playing defensive tactics against the weaker Cagliari team. They continued holding on to possession and launching more attacks until the referee blew the whistle after three minutes of added time.
With that, the Juventus players had won another game with a score of six goals. They had also pushed their tally in the Serie A to a whopping 99 points with three games to go before the end of the season. They even had a chance of breaking the 102-point record set by themselves the past season if they could grab four more points from their remaining fixtures.
As a player on such a team, Zachary was in a jolly mood as he moved around the pitch to thank the fans with his teammates. His spirits were already swimming in an ocean of happiness since he had displayed another brilliant performance in the Italian Serie A.
He had scored two more goals against Cagliari and pushed his goal tally for the Serie A season to 33. He was contented as he was already the top scorer and far ahead of the other candidates for the Golden Boot of that season.
Moreover, if he added his goals from the other competitions into the mix, his total for Juventus would rise to 56 goals in just a single season. Such a feat had already allowed him to win all the bonuses Juventus promised him when he signed the contract with the club. With all that in mind, he was even more happy knowing that millions of Euros would soon find their way into his bank account.
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