THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME
chapter-532

The game recommenced after the second-half whistle sounded. But surprisingly, it wasn't Juventus on the front foot during the minutes after the restart. Instead, it was the Inter Milan players who initiated the first attack of the second half.

A minute after the restart, the Inter Milan men flew forward like a pack of predators on the hunt after winning back possession from Juventus. They exchanged lightning-fast passes through the middle as they cut through Juventus' formation at breakneck speed. They made it to the space before Juventus' box within seconds, and the ball naturally found its way to the feet of Mateo Kovacic, their attacking midfielder.

It was the perfect chance to catch Juventus off-guard, and Mateo Kovacic didn't disappoint. He twisted and turned at the edge of the box before threading a teasing and brilliant ball into the box.

"Whoosh..."

A player in a dark blue jersey moved like the wind and dashed into the box. It was Mauro Icardi, the Inter Milan striker, and he had just beaten the off-side trap before connecting with the through pass from Kovacic.

What followed was pretty much what everyone in the stadium expected. Mauro Icardi utilized his skills to bring the ball under control. Then, before any of the Juventus defenders could react, the Inter Milan striker unleashed a powerful drive past Buffon, the Juventus keeper, and scored Inter Milan's first goal for the night. He had drawn first blood and put his team in the lead during the 47th minute of gameplay.

Juventus FC 0 : Inter Milan 1

Roberto Mancini, Inter Milan's head coach, smiled and raised his arms high when the ball nestled into the back of the net. He felt at ease as his players had utilized their first opportunity during the second half to score their first goal for the night. They were now in the perfect position to sit back and play defensive football while waiting for a chance to counterattack.

Coach Roberto Mancini celebrated for a few seconds and then tried to relax. But as the excitement of the goal left him, he realized that he was still tense. He couldn't seem to calm down, especially since he couldn't be sure of the result until he totally neutralized Zachary Bemba, Juventus' playmaker.

The boy's skills were just messed up, to the point of causing opponents misery. Coach Roberto Mancini understood that it was imperative that he bring out all his guns to contain the young playmaker. Or else, the boy would create a goal-scoring opportunity or even find the back of the net before the final whistle sounded.

"What to do?" Coach Mancini started caressing his chin as he thought about the problem. The game was about to restart, and he had to make a tactical switch before Juventus could find a way to crawl back into the game.

"Why not let Mateo Kovacic mark Zachary Bemba throughout the rest of the game," Fausto Salsano, his assistant coach, suddenly suggested. "Although still young, Kovacic is a great technician with excellent motor abilities. He's also highly versatile, and he'll be able to match Zachary's athleticism. Moreover, we don't need him to freeze Zachary out. All he has to do is delay him for a few seconds during crucial moments — and then that will allow his teammates time to regroup and deal with the danger."

"That may actually work." Roberto Mancini smiled. "Thank you, Fausto."

"No need for thanks," the assistant replied. "I'm just doing my job."

Roberto Mancini nodded. "We'll need to make some slight adjustments to give Kovacic the freedom to mark Zachary. Firstly, we must switch from a 4-4-2 to a 4-5-1 formation. The extra man in midfield will cover the gaps left behind by Kovacic while he follows Zachary around."

"So, we need to make a substitution. Right?" Fausto Salsano asked.

"Yes, that's what we must do," Roberto Mancini replied. "We'll bring on Yann M'Vila, a defensive midfielder, in place of Hernanes, the striker. Yann should be able to play well in the midfield and help cover Kovacic when necessary."

"Excellent," Fausto Salsano, the assistant, said. "I'll go and prep Yann as a substitute. He should be able to enter the field in five minutes tops."

"Okay. You do that." Roberto Mancini said and then refocused on the game that had just recommenced.

The Juventus players had already reacted as expected after conceding a goal. They were, at that moment, moving the ball around the field while trying their best to stretch Inter Milan's defensive shape. They were doing their best to create spaces and find the opportunity to launch a deadly attack against Inter Milan.

Coach Roberto Mancini continued watching expressionlessly for a few more minutes. He was only waiting to bring on the substitute before instructing Mateo Kovacic to mark Zachary. So, he remained calm, knowing that the hard times were about to pass even as he watched the much superior Juventus side dominating his team in all areas of the field.

But suddenly, something transpired on the field that caused Coach Roberto Mancini's heart to skip a beat. Zachary Bemba floated toward the right wing and linked up with a diagonal pass from Arturo Vidal. The young playmaker controlled the ball perfectly before taking off like a bullet from a gun's muzzle. His acceleration was incredible, and before Roberto Mancini could blink, the young ball wizard had already initiated a one-versus-one situation against Danilo D'Ambrosio, Inter Milan's left-back.

"Whoosh! Whoosh..."

Zachary stepped over the ball twice as he slowed down slightly. He then leaned towards the left, seemingly as if he was about to cut past Danilo D'Ambrosio and rush toward the middle.

But just as Zachary was about to complete the move, there was a slight pause in his movements, and he utilized his left boot to scoop the ball back toward himself. He then swiftly changed his center of gravity and fed the ball through Danilo D'Ambrosio's legs before continuing on with his mad sprint toward Inter Milan's box.

"Damn it!"

Coach Roberto Mancini couldn't help but let out a few expletives after witnessing Zachary's skills in action. The boy had performed a series of movements, including slowing down, a side step, and an elastico dribble before accelerating again. He completed everything gracefully and without losing his balance, thus denying the defender any chance to recover. His exceptional sprinting abilities had also come into play, and Zachary had left the helpless guy in the dust. He was now swiftly bearing down on Inter Milan's box, and for sure, Roberto Mancini's team was in a precarious situation because of his wizardry.

"Zachary! Zachary..."

The cheers around the stadium rose to a higher volume as Zachary cut into the pitch like a whirlwind from the right flank. He soon came across the roadblock that was Juan Jesus, the Inter Milan center-back, who was out to mark him.

The defender swiftly approached Zachary, all guns blazing, as if he was about to commit murder. His expression was hideous, and his entire aura explosive as he tried to close down Zachary's run. The perfect metaphor to describe him was a speeding train, and he looked like he was willing to risk everything and smash Zachary to bits while defending his side.

Zachary, on his part, wasn't the least bit fazed by Juan Jesus' momentum. His SS-grade game intelligence immediately worked wonders, and he utilized his SS-grade agility to perform another series of swift movements.

His two boots became like the rims of a motorbike in motion as he executed lightning-fast stepovers. And an even more surprising fact was that he didn't touch the ball even once as he continued sidestepping and approaching Juan Jesus, the defender, whose body was already wiggling left and right — as if in sync with Zachary's step-overs.

A second or two later, the moment arrived when the two players were just about to collide. But just at the last instant, when Juan Jesus was stretching out his foot to tackle the ball, Zachary's SS-grade agility and game intelligence attributes came into play again.

With the simplest of touches, he utilized the outside of his boot to move the ball slightly to the right, just a few centimeters beyond the reach of the defender's boot. Then Zachary followed that up with another swift change of his center of gravity and an explosive acceleration towards the right. And with that, he seamlessly skirted past the defender and continued on with his insane sprint into Inter Milan's box.

All of Zachary's motions were completed almost instantaneously. And before Juan Jesus could understand what was happening, Zachary had already speared deeper into Inter Milan's box to initiate a one-on-one face-off against Samir Handanovic, the opposing goalkeeper.

Zachary's overly-high mental strength, graded at SS by the system, allowed him to remain composed even at the most crucial moment. He rushed past the keeper with a simple deft touch before hammering the ball into the back of the net to score Juventus' first goal for the night.

Juventus FC 1 : Inter Milan 1

"Oh, my goodness me!" Fabio Crudeli, the commentator, yelled as the score on the stadium's jumbotron changed to indicate that Juventus had scored an equalizer. "What a sensational goal we've just witnessed. Zachary has done it again. He has just slalomed his way from the right wing all the way into the box before scoring Juventus' 1st goal during the 50th minute. This young man is flying, and his timing is just perfect. Just barely three minutes after Inter Milan scored their opening goal, Zachary responded with one of his own. The score is now 1:1, and everything is back to square one."

David Ferrini, the co-commentator for the day, chuckled. "I can say that Zachary's skills are now close to the top of the international football scene. The two Inter Milan defenders stood no chance against his potent dribbling, and he effortlessly left them in the dust with his swift footwork. This goal has the potential to become the goal of the season."

"Indeed," Fabio Crudeli agreed. "There's also something else I noticed. Zachary makes all his dribbles and sidesteps look simple, but they still remain highly effective against defenders. For instance, while approaching Juan Jesus, he didn't touch the ball even once while executing his step-overs. Then, just abruptly, he tapped the ball slightly, and from there on, Juan Jesus couldn't see his shadow. Zachary was already hammering the ball into the back of the net while Juan Jesus was still frozen at the edge of the box, looking around for his trace."

David Ferrini chuckled. "It's always distressing for any defender to face off against a player as swift and skilled as Zachary. The young Maestro has all the qualities to make any defender feel hopeless. He is highly agile and can unleash brilliant game-changing through passes out of the blue. He has nice physicality, and now, he has proven that he can dribble like Ronaldinho. So, how the hell are defenders and coaches supposed to contain him?"

"The match has just recommenced," Fabio Crudeli said lightly. "Let's return to the action on the field of play. Maybe, we'll soon get an answer on how to contain Zachary Bemba from the experienced Inter Milan coach - Roberto Mancini."