Read The Greatest of all Time Chapter 450: Season Opener against ChievoVerona online for free - AllNovelFull
Chapter 450: Season Opener against ChievoVerona
Saturday, August 30, 2014.
Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi, ChievoVerona's Home Ground, Verona, Italy.
Time: 5:30 PM.
—–
The sunset on the western horizon of Turin was glorious, all rosy and salmon-pink. Its golden rays filtered through the sparse clouds and shone down on the crowds flooding into the Marcantonio Bentegodi Stadium. Of course, the football supporters were at the famous stadium in Verona to watch the 2014/15 Italian Serie A season-opening game between ChievoVerona and Juventus.
As the minutes flashed by, the atmosphere all around the stadium became more and more electrifying. The fans who had arrived early were already cheering at the top of their voices within the stands. They sang the various famous chants of their respective teams in hoarse voices as they waited for the game's kick-off at 6:30 PM. They were obviously very excited and looking forward to the season opener.
Like always, some overly-enthusiastic fans and dedicated journalists had eagerly camped at the stadium gates. At that moment, they had already craned their necks as they watched the road leading up to the stadium with sparkling eyes.
"The Juventus bus is here," one of the fans in the crowd suddenly yelled to spark off a flurry of activity before the stadium gates.
The fans started yelling the names of the famous Juventus players as the bus slowly pulled up in front of the stadium. As for the journalists, they went into alert mode and readied their cameras in preparation to take some photos of the famous football players.
Coach Allegri, who had donned a full suit that day, was the first to step out of the bus. He waved to the fans before hurrying forward and entering the stadium. Then, the players followed after him while also waving to the fans. But they didn't stop to sign any autographs as they were in a hurry to begin their pre-match warm-up.
"Did you notice that Zachary was in the squad?" A fan asked his friend when all the players had entered the stadium. "Why were there rumors of him being unfit yesterday?"
"Beats me," his friend said, shrugging. "Maybe, the press got it all wrong, like they usually do. But I really hope that he gets an opportunity to play today. I want to see him start scoring goals for Juventus as soon as possible."
"What worries me is that picture of him enjoying dinner with a girl in some hotel on the internet," the first fan said. "Instead of resting and getting ready for the game yesterday night, he was vibing some lady. Honestly, that kind of behavior seems unprofessional. I hope he doesn't make another mistake if he gets an opportunity to step onto the pitch today."
"Don't be so hard on the guy," His friend said. "Footballers are humans too. They also have the right to enjoy life. We should only care about their performance on the pitch, not their personal lives."
"What if their personal life affects their performance on the pitch?"
"Then, we can be harsh on them after the game," the friend responded. "But in Zachary's case, he's yet to step on the pitch, and yet you're already judging him as unprofessional. Let's wait and see how he performs before putting labels on him."
"I hope you are right," the first supporter said. "Let's enter the stadium. The game is about to begin."
—–
The time passed quickly, and soon the clock hands in Turin pointed to the 6:30 PM mark. Without any delays, the referee blew the whistle and signaled the Chievo players to kick off the game.
Maxi López, Chievo's center-forward, immediately kicked the ball back into his midfield to kick-start the season-opening game between the two teams. With a simple pass, he found Mariano Izco, Chievo's central midfielder.
Mariano Izco comfortably controlled the ball close to the edge of the center circle while under no pressure. After only a single touch, he whirled around and passed the ball into his defense to find Bostjan Cesar, Chievo's center-back.
Bostjan Cesar surprisingly took his time to react to the pass. The center-back controlled the ball without any sense of urgency in his actions before passing it to Dario Dainelli, his counterpart in central defense.
But by then, Carlos Tévez, one of Juventus' two strikers, had already made a spirited run across the field to close down the defender. The Argentine forward tracked down the seemingly stunned Dario Dainelli and slid in wholesale, trying to tackle the ball with an outstretched boot.
Dario Dainelli, in turn, read the situation accurately and quickly whirled around to escape from Carlos' tackle. But before he could find a safe outlet for the ball, Kingsley Coman, the other Juventus striker, was on him, pressing him and closing down all his passing angles.
The young Frenchman was aggressive while pressing. He harassed the helpless defender and won the ball in a short span of a few seconds. Before the other opponents could close him down, he squared a pass to Carlos Tévez, the striker who had already picked himself from the ground.
Tévez was, of course, a man of steel nerves and iron balls. He remained composed as he controlled the ball with a touch that took him past the other center-back. Then, within a second, he exploded with speed and rounded the keeper to score Juventus' first goal during the second minute of gameplay.
The striker seemed quite excited by his feat of scoring. He rushed to the corner flag while yelling at the top of his voice to celebrate his first goal of the season. It was as if he was announcing to the Juventus fans present in the stands that he was back in business right after the start of the season.
—–
The game continued after the goal celebrations. And once again, the Juventus players utilized high pressing tactics to pressurize the ChievoVerona defenders right after the restart of the game. The men in white and black ran at the opponents like predators on the hunt and forced them to play the ball high and long on several occasions. And that allowed Juventus to constantly regain possession quickly before starting to dominate proceedings again.
Fifteen more minutes quickly elapsed as the Old Lady players slowly built momentum by dominating a considerable fraction of the ball possession. By arraying themselves into a 3-5-2 formation, they managed to pass the ball more fluidly, especially in midfield. They played with intensity and soon managed to create another clear goal-scoring chance.
Andrea Pirlo worked his magic in midfield and opened up Chievo's defense with his signature long-range passing during the 19th minute. With a single ball over the midfield, the Italian Maestro released Stephan Lichtsteiner, the attacking wing-back who had just made a daring run on the right flank.
Stephan Lichtsteiner was as brilliant as ever. He expertly controlled the ball close to the touchline on the right flank before exploding with speed and racing towards Chievo's half. A short while later, he stepped into the final third and unleashed a lofted cross towards the box to create another perfect goal-scoring chance for Juventus.
Carlos Tévez immediately went into action and raced into the box. His almost instantaneous acceleration allowed him to escape from his marker and connect with the descending ball without any pressure. He tapped it into the back of the net with an outstretched boot to score Juventus' second goal in the 18th minute.
—–
AC ChievoVerona 0 : Juventus FC 2
—–
On the bench, Zachary watched on with mixed emotions as his teammates celebrated their second goal that evening. He was obviously happy that his team was winning and destroying the opponents. But at the same time, he was also worried as there was a possibility of never getting a chance to step onto the pitch if the starting eleven continued performing incredibly well.
—– Read The Greatest of all Time Chapter 451: Serie A Debut I online for free - AllNovelFull
Chapter 451: Serie A Debut I
The Chievo players seemed to have gotten a wake-up call after conceding the second goal. They arrayed themselves into a 4-5-1 formation and started playing with more intensity. Their hard work paid off, and they managed to choke Juventus' momentum. In the end, they even avoided conceding another goal until the first half ended.
After the fifteen-minute half-time break, the players of both teams returned to the pitch. And without any delays, the referee blew the whistle to restart the game with a Juventus kick-off.
Carlos Tévez, one of the two Juventus strikers, kick-started the second half by passing the ball back into his midfield to find Andrea Pirlo. The latter brought it under control as he assessed the situation on the pitch with his eagle-like vision. Then, the next instant, he drew his leg back and unleashed a lofted pass towards the left wing before any opponent could close him down.
Whoosh!
Andrea Pirlo's pass was as spot on as ever. The ball zoomed across and over the pitch like a surface-to-surface missile before descending and landing on Kwadwo Asamoah's chest.
Asamoah, on his part, didn't dawdle with the ball on the left flank. He immediately skipped past a sliding tackle from the opposing winger before squaring a pass to Claudio Marchisio, the midfielder running in sync with him through the middle.
The two players then played a series of quick one-twos on the left flank as they tore through the field, heading towards Chievo's goal with an unwavering impetus. A few seconds later, they stepped past the boundary of the final third, and the ball naturally found its way back to Kwadwo Asamoah. The Ghanaian midfielder didn't lose any second smashing the ball with his left boot to unleash a lofted cross towards the box.
It was another goal-scoring chance right at the start of the second half for Juventus. And, of course, Carlos Tévez, the ever-active striker, went into action almost instantaneously. He jetted into the box like a raging Godzilla before pushing off the ground to connect with the incoming cross.
Unfortunately, a little nudge from the opposing center-back rendered his efforts fruitless. His head missed the ball by mere centimeters, thus sealing his fate of missing the perfect chance to score a hat-trick and the third goal for Juventus that evening. He could only place his hands behind his head and sigh with regret.
A few seconds elapsed, and a goal-kick from Chievo's goalkeeper restarted the game. Once again, the Juventus players applied pressure on the opponents and won possession back quickly. They started passing the ball among themselves and launched another wave of attacks to kick-start another spell of dominance for the Old Lady.
The Old Lady players would commence every offensive by building from the back before tearing apart Chievo's formation with abrupt through-passes from either Andrea Pirlo or Claudio Marchisio. Their fluid passing and hard work allowed them to control the game and create many goal-scoring chances that almost resulted in the third goal.
Regrettably, Juventus' luck was terrible during the second half, and they didn't convert any of their chances. Kingsley Coman and Carlos Tévez, the two strikers, both missed one-on-ones with the keeper during the 49th and 55th minutes, respectively. Then, during the 67th minute, the Chievo keeper made an incredible save to stop Andrea Pirlo's long-range effort from finding the back of the net. But that was not all. A few more shots smashed off the post while others missed the target by mere centimeters. Juventus' second half was not going as planned as they couldn't get the third goal, no matter how hard they tried.
To make matters worse, a rare and perfect opportunity for Chievo to get back into the game appeared during the 69th minute. The Chievo players won a corner kick and executed it perfectly to score their first goal for the night during the 71st minute. As a result, the seemingly sure win for Juventus was up in the air as only a single goal separated the two teams when nineteen minutes were still remaining to the ninety-minute mark.
—–
AC ChievoVerona 1 : Juventus FC 2
—–
On the sidelines, Coach Massimiliano Allegri sighed and shook his head as he watched the Chievo players celebrate their goal. He was a bit distressed. His players played well and created many chances during the second half. But they were not clinical enough within the final third and failed to convert and kill off the game early in the second half. Moreover, they also allowed the opponents to score and crawl their way back into the game. As a result, they were in for a tense final few minutes. They had to remain cautious and alert until the final whistle sounded, or else they might concede another goal and end their first game of the season with only a single point. As far as Coach Allegri was concerned, such a scenario was totally unacceptable.
"I have got to change something," Coach Allegri thought and turned towards his bench. His gaze swept over all the substitutes until it stopped on Zachary Bemba, his most expensive signing for the summer. The young playmaker was the perfect player to turn a match around if he was at the top of his game. He could create chances out of nothing, take set-pieces with almost inhuman precision, and score almost-impossible goals.
But the crucial question for the coach to consider was whether the young man was back at the top of his game. Had he really overcome his match-fitness issues? Or did he lie to Coach Trombetta to get some playing time during the season opener? Due to those doubts, the coach was in a dilemma. He was hesitant to introduce the young playmaker into the game.
"A penny for your thoughts?" Coach Trombetta, the assistant coach in charge of the first team, asked from beside him. "What's going on in your mind?"
Coach Allegri sighed again. "I'm just considering whether to introduce Zachary into the game. He's creative and clinical enough. He might be the player that helps us overcome ChievoVerona."
"Then, what is stopping you?" Coach Trombetta asked.
"I still have doubts about his match fitness," the head coach replied. "Has he really returned to his peak? And has he regained his confidence as a player, especially after committing that blunder against AC Milan?"
"He already confirmed that he's in his best shape," Coach Trombetta said. "Moreover, you must have noticed how sharp and impressive he was during the training sessions leading to the match. His dribbling was always unpredictable, his passing accurate, and his execution of the tactical drills superb. My conclusion is that he's fully fit, both physically and mentally."
"I guess I should trust you on this since you have been close to him during the past week," Coach Allegri said, smiling. "Okay. Tell Zachary to start warming up immediately. I want him on the pitch in less than five minutes."
"Okay," Coach Trombetta agreed with a smile. "I'll summon him right away."
"One more thing," Coach Allegri said. "You're in charge of explaining the plan for the last few minutes to Zachary. He has to understand that he will play behind the strikers in our 3-5-2 formation. He has got to stop Chievo's momentum by taking control of the midfield and creating more goal-scoring chances. And when the opportunities arise, he can try his luck on goal from long range. Maybe, he will score."
"I understand," Coach Trombetta replied. "I'll explain all the tactics to him."
—–
Zachary could literally feel his heart racing with anticipation when the coaches signaled him to start his warm-up. His spirits had already brightened as he was about to make his official debut appearance for his new club.
Without losing even a second, he changed into his match gear and went through a dynamic warm-up routine on the sidelines. He completed it in only five minutes before rushing back to the technical area to prepare for his imminent substitution into the game.
"Zachary!" Coach Trombetta called out to him a few seconds later. "Come here for a second."
"Yes, coach!" Zachary replied with zest and elicited a wave of suppressed chuckles from his other teammates on the bench. But that didn't stop him from running to the coach to receive his match instructions.
"How do you feel?" Coach Trombetta asked as soon as Zachary stepped before him.
"Honestly, I'm both nervous and excited," Zachary replied. "I'm also looking forward to stepping onto the pitch."
"That's great," Coach Trombetta said, nodding. He then explained the tactics to Zachary for a minute or two before prompting the fourth official to signal his introduction into the game.
A few seconds elapsed, and finally, the ball went out of play for yet another Juventus corner kick. The fourth official immediately put up the board to signal Zachary's introduction into the game. Zachary replaced Arturo Vidal in the 77th minute and stepped onto the pitch as an attacking midfielder in Juventus' 3-5-2 formation.
—–
Zachary's introduction into the game sparked off a wave of mixed reactions among the Juventus fans within the stands. Some supporters were happy to see him on the pitch, while others remained skeptical about his ability to adapt quickly to the highly-intensive Serie A football.
"Do you think that he will be able to perform today?" A fan asked his counterpart while keeping his eyes on the proceedings on the pitch. "Yesterday evening, there were reports that he wasn't fully fit. But now, they have brought him into the game! What's Allegri thinking?"
"Let's choose to trust the coach," another fan said. "He must have considered all his other options before bringing Zachary on. And if Zachary plays like he usually did last season, then we might just destroy Chievo during the final few minutes. Let's wait and see."
"I hope nothing goes wrong. I don't wish to start the season with a draw or a loss."
"Don't jinx things for us, man," the first fan said. "We'll win the game. For now, let's focus. Our players have finished preparing for the corner kick. They will take it any second from now."
"Okay."
—–
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