Greatest Of All Legends-Chapter 661: Ticket to UCL Finals 2021 VII

"Tell Chiesa to move to the left wing, you’ll be on the right while Ronaldo will stay in the center. We’re switching to a 4-3-3 formation," Pirlo said to Jason who stood beside him, all warmed up and ready to jump on the field.

Ten minutes had gone by since the beginning of the second half and while the Uventus players were solidly defending against Madrid’s attacks, the Madrid players seemed to have been juiced up and were attacking incessantly.

So far, Uventus had managed to hold on, but if the situation continued for much longer, they would inevitably crumble and that was the one thing Pirlo wanted to avoid.

With how well the Madrid team was playing at the moment, allowing them to score one goal would be like opening Pandora’s box and what would follow would be an even more unforgiving barrage of attacks.

Pirlo had come to far to let it slip now, so he was quickly making adjustments to the line-up. He had Jason and Bentancur begin warming up three minutes prior and was now telling them the tactical adjustments he was making.

"Rodrigo, you’ll be taking Ramsey’s position in the midfield, I want you moving box to box, but not as much, stay out of the penalty box when we’re attacking, unless necessary,"

"Support the attack, help out in defense and make sure the ball keeps moving," Pirlo instructed Bentancur.

"Jason, the wingbacks don’t have as much energy as at the beginning since they’ve been going back and forth,"

"Use your pace, catch them off guard, break through on the wing and get the ball to the center, quickly,"

"If the pressure is too much, you and Chiesa will fall back to defend, turning the formation to 4-5-1. Tell him this. Tell Ronaldo too so he doesn’t waste too much energy going up the field if that turns out to be the case,"

"It’s not compulsory we score, but we need to pressure them enough so they don’t have time to score, so shoot whenever you get the chance,"

"Off you go then," Pirlo sent the two of them off to the side of the substitution referee.

While Jason and Bentacur walked off, one of Pirlo’s assistant managers sidled up to him and asked him quietly.

"Should you be telling him that? That we don’t need a goal?" the assistant manager asked.

"Of course I shouldn’t, but it’s a big game and see how Chiesa is playing. Unfortunately, I have to keep him on for now as I don’t want to waste too many substitutions,"

"One player playing like that is already bad enough. I don’t need another one playing terribly after succumbing to pressure," Pirlo explained in a low voice.

"I don’t think pressure is a pressure for that lad though," the assistant manager replied, glancing at Jason warming up some more as he waited for the ball to go out of play. freeweɓnøvel~com

"Oh it is. Happens to the best of us. No matter how talented he is, he’s still young. By all rights, he shouldn’t even be facing matches this big this early, but here we are,"

"I can only hope things work out well," Pirlo said, watching the ball fly out of play after Chiesa took a long shot that soared almost three meters above the crossbar.

’Maybe I should have taken him off,’ Pirlo facepalmed internally.

{Substitution for Uventus and surprisingly, it’s Morata and Ramsey who are coming off for Jason and Bentancur}

{Bentancur will be taking Ramsey’s place in center midfield and the onus is now on him to keep the deadly midfield trio in check}

{With a winger being substituted on for a striker, many are wondering whether the manager intends to play Jason out of position or if some changes have been made to the tactical setup} The commentator said as he watched the substitution referee hold up the board with numbers on it in alternating green and red colors.

{Surprisingly, despite Chiesa’s bad form so far, he’s not the one who gets the axe, but maybe the manager’s tactical changes can cause a change of fortunes for him} the co-commentator said, uncaring for how Chiesa would feel at his words.

His words did sting Chiesa, but the man moved to his new place of assignment after hearing the manager’s instructions from Jason, while Jason moved on to tell Ronaldo the manager’s instructions to him as well.

Despite his annoyance for Jason being on the field along with him which would enable direct comparison of their abilities, Chiesa was actually grateful at the manager’s decision to change his position to the flanks.

While he could play in the attacking midfield position, he didn’t like playing there because the responsibilities he held in that position were too much and when it was a 4-4-2 diamond formation like the one his team was using, it got even worse.

As someone who was supposed to be the bridge between attacking and midfield, he had to support the forwards with passes, drop back to help the midfielders, make runs forward to join the attack, and even help out on the wings when needed, but on the left wing, he could focus on just making incisive runs and breaking through on the flanks to support the other forwards on the attack.

With the Uventus team having made their substitutions and already subtly adjusting to the manager’s tactical changes, the game resumed quickly with a goal kick from Madrid.

#66th minute...

After the manager’s tactical changes, the Uventus team had stabilized the situation, ensuring a seamless trade-off between solidity in the center to more presence on the flanks and up front.

Their attacking threat had reduced the Madrid team’s boldness, and the situation was slowly reverting to the back and attacking display they had in the first half of the game.

{Uventus on the attack, Bentancur chips the ball to Jason on the right} the commentator described the on-field situation.

Glancing at the ball that was flying in the air into his path, it was clear that it was too high for him to do anything with it other than control it, however, Marcelo was already close by and bringing the ball down would only end with it being stolen away by the Madrid defender, so when Jason rose into the air to catch the ball, he glanced around, looking for a teammate and noticed Ronaldo nearby.

More than a meter in the air, Jason caught the ball on his knee, pushing it forward and then swinging his leg at it to pass it in Ronaldo’s direction.

{Masterful control and pass from Jason. He was flying there}

Ronaldo caught the ball on his chest and brought it down, holding off Nacho while Jason stabilized himself after landing.

With Jason stabilized and Nacho pushing hard into the striker from behind, Ronaldo returned the ball to Jason, but Marcelo instantly covered Jason’s path down the right flank, causing Jason to slow down, however, Cuadrado was nearby and already making a run forward.

With Cuadrado dashing forward, Jason feinted to buy a split second of time and sent a pass past Marcelo while Cuadrado dashed past the two of them, racing forward to catch the ball.

Catching up to the ball at the right side of the penalty box, Cuadrado did not pause to control the ball and instantly sent a ground cross across the penalty box, behind all the Madrid defenders.

The ball rolled into Chiesa’s path who was arriving behind the Madrid defenders on the left side of the goal.

{This time to redeem himself! Chiesaaaaaa!} the commentator screamed as Chiesa’s left foot swung at the ball.

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