八字万年历

Chapter 174: Road to Liga NOS Champions 2019/20 I

The formation for the Porto side remained the same 4-1-2-3 formation as their previous time out, but due to more of the players from the pre-lockdown first team achieving match fitness, there were some changes in the line-up.

Their line-up for the match against Maritimo was as thus,

Goalkeeper: Augustin Marchesin,

Left-back: Alex Telles,

Right-back: Mattheus Uribe,

Center-backs: Pepe, Ivan Marcano,

Center Defensive Midfielder: Sergio Oliveira,

Center Attacking Midfielders: Otavio, Fabio Viera,

Right winger: Jason Bolu,

Left winger: Luiz Diaz,

Center Forward: Tiquiniho Soares.

The match began at the anticipated time, and as expected it was the Porto side that dominated the proceedings of the game, as they kept possession of the ball most of the time, and took most of the shots, but were unlucky to score in the first half.

The second half however got off to a banging start when Jason cut through his marker on the right wing as well as another player before sending a cross into the box which Soares immediately got his foot to and sent towards the goal.

The Maritimo goalkeeper however did the impossible and got his hand to the ball, but before the Maritimo side could celebrate that they managed to not go behind, Luiz Diaz appeared behind the ball and smashed their hopes with the way he smashed the ball into the back of the Maritimo goal.

{They’ve done it! We wondered when it was coming and they didn’t disappoint!}

{They have begun the second half with a bang!}

{A daring run from Jason on the right wing as he danced circles around his marker before finally sending the ball into the box for the team’s striker}

{He’ll be a little disappointed that his run and pass weren’t rewarded with an assist stat, but he’ll be joyous that his team is in front thanks to the opportunistic attempt of Luiz Diaz} The commentator did his job while the Porto players on the field celebrated their goal while the Porto fans jubilated in their homes in front of the TV.

The celebrations soon ended and the match resumed, but the ease in the movements of the Porto team that was brought about by their confidence in their lead was easy to notice and they began to press the Maritimo team even more than before, looking for a second goal.

In the 74th minute, a clear chance to do so finally appeared.

Otavio passed the ball to newly subbed-on Jesus Corona who was on the left side of the Maritimo 18-yard box and Jesus Corona quickly passed the ball to Alex Telles who was making a run past him down the left.

After controlling the ball with his first touch, Alex Telles whipped the ball with his left foot, sending the ball curling outward into the Maritimo 18-yard box from the left side.

The ball was heading towards Jason who was in the box and Jason wasted no time in jumping for the ball.

He had no confidence in his heading skills, but he could at least try to direct the ball with his head… as for where the ball would actually end up, he didn’t know, but he would at least try, thus he jumped in a way he had watched Cristiano Ronaldo do so many times on TV and put his head on the ball, making sure to not take his eyes off the ball all throughout his flight.

Whether by a stroke of luck, or whether he had copied Cristiano Ronaldo’s header perfectly he didn’t know, but the ball bounced off his head, flew past the goalkeeper, and into the back of the net, surprising even Jason himself, but he didn’t stay surprised for long and was soon running down the sidelines to celebrate.

His teammates followed after him while the commentator got on the mic and began to unleash award-worthy poetry.

{After his hat-trick in the last match, he has once stamped himself on the score sheet with authority from the skies}

{It’s been said that the air is a dragon’s territory and this holds true for this lad!}

{He took to the air and dominated from the air, sending the ball past a stunned goalkeeper who had stayed rooted to the spot}

With this goal, Porto was two up and they played like it, continuing to bite at the Maritimo defense, but they were unlucky to not be able to trouble the scoreboard operators any further and the score remained at Porto 2 : 0 Maritimo.

With another victory, they had ensured that they would remain at the top of the league table for the next week at least.

Benfica was only behind them by two points so as long as they slipped up, who knew what would happen, but for the time being they were still the league leaders.

After the interviews and press conferences, the players left the stadium on the team bus.

**16th June 2020**

The Porto team bus made its way to Vila das Aves for the match against Desportivo das Aves that would be taking place at the Desportivo das Aves home stadium, Estadio do CD Aves.

The match would take almost an hour so they left early so that the players could rest for a few hours before the match.

After getting to Vila das Aves, the bus headed to a hotel where the players had a two-hour rest after which they headed for the stadium for a little pre-match warm-up.

On reaching the Estadio do CD Aves, the players headed to their locker rooms and changed into their warm-up kits.

Jason was wearing an additional bib over his training kit which indicated that he wasn’t a part of the starting line-up against Desportivo das Aves.

Sergio Conceicao had made some changes to the line-up from the last match and the line-up for the match against Desportivo das Aves was as follows;

Goalkeeper: Augustin Marchesin,

Right-back: Wilson Manafa,

Left-back: Alex Telles,

Center-backs: Pepe, Chancel Mbemba,

Center defensive midfielder: Danilo Perreira,

Center attacking midfielders: Mattheus Uribe, Sergio Oliveira,

Left winger: Luis Diaz,

Right winger: Tiquiniho Soares,

Center forward: Moussa Marega.