Greatest of All Legends

Chapter 443: Live at the San Siro I

*Fweeeeeeeeee*

The whistle to kick off the game sounded loudly and it was followed by the cheers of a happy crowd.

It had been months since the San Siro stadium had anyone in its stands cheering a football game and the fans who had arrived for the first live game since the lockdown due to the outbreak of COVID 19 were letting out all their emotions as the game finally kicked off.

The players on the pitch felt the loud waves of cheers sweep across them, but they maintained their composure and kicked off the game without showing any reactions to the crowd.

Due to the San Siro being the Inter Milan team’s home ground, they had more fans present than the Uventus fans and the cheers for the home sound was a lot louder than the cheers for the Uventus side.

Perhaps due to this, the Inter Milan team seemed to hit the ground running, passing the ball around cleverly and playing like they had been heated up right from the start, causing a lot of problems for the Uventus team right after the game kicked off.

The Uventus team seemed to be struggling to keep up with the Inter Milan team’s tempo and more often than not, they were chasing after the ball and trying to steal it from their opponents, however, the Inter Milan team were on a roll and kept pushing hard at the gates of the Uventus goal.

Shots were sent flying, and the Inter Milan team kept pushing, but slowly, the Uventus team began responding and pushing back just as hard.

The time the ball spent with the Inter Milan team began to reduce and the Uventus began to prove that they were just as much of threat to the Inter Milan team as they were to them.

However, the Inter Milan team was not willing to just let go of their attacking spell…

#12th minute…

The Inter Milan team was on the attack and were pushing hard at the Uventus’s team defense.

Vidal sent the ball to Hakimi on the right flank and Hakimi received the ball while on a run, skipping past Aleix Sandro and running to the right side of the Uventus’ 18-yard box.

Aleix Sandro immediately took off after Hakimi, jumping into his path to block any crosses into the box, but Hakimi had seemingly been expecting this and opted to send a pass back to Eriksen who had arrived just behind him.

Before the pass reached him, Eriksen’s eyes had been scanning for who to send the ball to, but his team’s two strikers were being tightly marked by the Uventus’s center backs.

Just as he was about to give up on making a cross into the box, he spotted Vidal snaking his way into the penalty box while pushing off his own marker.

Seeing that scene, Eriksen’s next move was decided and with his first touch on the ball, he sent a curling cross into the penalty box.

The ball flew into Vidal’s path and he pushed harder at his marker as he made his way towards the ball before pushing off the ground with his head in the lead, aiming for the ball.

De Ligt who had previously been marking Martinez, one of Inter Milan’s strikers saw the ball flying into the box and quickly disengaged from Martinez once he saw that Vidal was flying at the ball uninterrupted.

He wouldn’t be able to reach the ball in time, but he would be able to block it, he figured.

As he jumped into Vidal’s path, the ball finally contacted Vidal’s head and bounced off it, flying towards goal but at a slightly different angle than De Ligt expected.

The ball missed De Ligt’s torso and was flying past him when it met his outstretched hand, deflected off it’s path and bounced out of play.

The Inter Milan players around immediately raised their hands and turned to the referee, ready to voice out their complaint but the referee was one step ahead and had already had his whistle in his mouth.

*Fweeeeeee*

The referee blew loudly and pointed at the penalty spot.

The Inter Milan fans at the stadium immediately cheered in response to the referee’s actions, cheering like the ball had already gone in.

The Uventus players and fans did not share such a cheerful disposition and immediately tried to argue to the referee, but the referee wasn’t going to be listening to any complaints from the Uventus team.

De Ligt’s hand was not hidden behind his body, but rather outstretched and the ball had bounced off it.

It wasn’t a deliberate handball and for that he wasn’t giving De Ligt a yellow card, but it was definitely a handball inside the 18-yard box and that translated to a penalty for the Inter Milan team.

Nothing was going to change that.

The referee quickly began sending players out of the penalty box while Sczesny didn’t have a choice but to prepare to guard against a penalty kick.

Vidal took up the ball and placed it on the penalty spot, stepping back while waiting for the referee to blow his whistle.

*Fweeeeeee*

The signal Vidal awaited soon came and he ran at the ball, hitting it deftly and sending it right to the center while Sczesny dived down to the left.

The ball safely nestled itself in the back of the net and Vidal took off down the sidelines in celebration.

{Well taken penalty!}

{They take the lead, punishing the Uventus players for their lack of focus earlier!}

{It’s not even a quarter of an hour since the match began and they are now in the lead}

{Can they build off this advantage and elongate their lead in the minutes to come!?} the commentator went crazy with his commentary, the excited frenzy of the Inter Milan fans as they celebrated infecting him.

The Uventus players watched the Inter Milan team celebrate their goal for a few seconds before they turned away and began taking their positions in their half again, not letting their moods be dampened in the slightest.

The match had barely begun and they still had a lot in the tank to show against their opponents.