八字万年历

Chapter 367: The Race for Trophies V

At 8 pm, a referee’s whistle blew loudly at the Karaiskakis Leno Stadium, and the game kicked off.

For the Oporto team who had pretty much qualified for the knockout rounds, there wasn’t much desperation in their movements, but the Olympiaco team which was competing with the Marseille team for a place in the Europa League didn’t share that sentiment and started attacking like their life depended on it.

However, their aggressive style of play soon came back to haunt them when an Olympiaco defender roughly tackled Otavio in the penalty box and cost his team a penalty.

A minute later, Otavio drove home the penalty kick and took the lead for Oporto in just the 10th minute of the game.

The match continued after about a minute of celebration, and the Olympiaco team which had originally been desperate began playing with even more intensity as they strove to get something from this game that would help push them to the Europa League.

The match went on without much excitement apart from the occasional shot at goal on both ends, but the scoreboard wasn’t troubled until the 77th minute of the game when Luis Diaz found Uribe in the penalty box with amazing precision.

Uribe did his best to hold off his marker and drove his feet at the ball, sending it flying at goal and out of the reach of the opposition goalkeeper.

The ball slammed into the back of the net and Uribe took off jubilating at scoring the second goal for the team.

The whole team joined the celebrations and even on the bench, smiles appeared on the players’ faces, and high fives were passed all around.

Jason was among the bench players and he hadn’t been put into the starting lineup by the manager, and with time running out, it was becoming less likely that he would get any minutes on the field, but apart from a slight displeasure at being left out of the starting lineup, Jason didn’t feel anything towards the manager’s decision.

He always wanted to be on the field, but he also knew that for his good and for the team, that was impossible, and he was slowly learning to be contented with it.

In the end, Jason ended up watching his team coast to a 2-to-nil victory over their opponents.

Their win didn’t do much more than rack up their goal difference, but the Olympiaco team that was now on equal points and goal difference with Marseile certainly didn’t feel the same.

However, that was of no concern to the Oporto players who swaggered off the field after their win.

***13th December 2020***

Oporto were back at the Dragon Stadium for their 4th round match of the Taca de Portugal against Tondela.

It had barely been a week since they had welcomed this same opponent at the Dragon Stadium for the 9th match day of the Portuguese Primera Liga.

In that match, they had managed to narrowly come out on top after an exciting match decorated with seven goals scored jointly by the two teams.

With such a narrow loss, Tondela would be coming into the match thinking they could gain something from the game as long as they put in more effort than in the last match, and it was the job of the Oporto players to put an end to their delusion… If they could.

The match soon kicked off and it didn’t take long before the commentator began screaming excitedly as Oporto had already opened up the game within just four minutes.

Mehdi Taremi got on the end of a beautiful cross into the box, controlling it with his chest before driving it goalward, sending the ball flying into the back of the net.

The Tondela goalkeeper jumped for the ball, but there was little he could do to stop the ball from going in.

The nightmare that had ended a week ago, came back with a bang for Tondela and they looked on distraught as the Oporto players celebrated their goal against them.

The match soon continued and the Tondela players’ dogmatism flared up as they rode hard at the Oporto team, looking for an equalizer.

It didn’t take long for an opportunity to open up for them when a Tondela midfielder tried taking a shot from long-range.

The ball flew at Oporto’s goal, but Marchesin saw it coming all the way and lunged for the ball, punching it off target, but before the ball could fly out of play, the Tondela left winger got to it and sent a chipped pass at the Tondela striker who volleyed the ball with gusto, sending a rocket of a shot past the outstretched hands of Marchesin.

{Goal!!!}

{Twenty minutes into the game and Tondela have equalized!} The commentator shouted as the Tondela team immediately took off in celebration.

It was just twenty minutes into the game and there had already been two goals, exciting the viewers who were already getting their popcorns ready to watch another match filled with goals.

Just like they were expecting, the net was soon sent bulging once more a few minutes later.

Viera made a run in from the right flank and sent the ball over to the left flank with a lobbed pass where Luis Diaz caught up to it with incredible pace, controlling the ball before sending a pass into the center of the penalty box where Marega was arriving.

Marega’s marker could immediately smell what the Oporto players were cooking, but he was too far away from the ball’s path and could only try to pull Marega down from behind, but Marega shrugged off his hand violently and slammed the ball with his right foot, sending the ball into the back of the net.

{GOAL!!!}

{It’s Oporto again!}

{It took them four minutes from the start of the game to score first, and now, four minutes after their opponents equalized, they’ve scored again!}

{They are making their intentions very clear!} the commentator shouted into the microphone without remorse.