THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME
chapter-541

Juventus FC 2 (5) : Bayer 04 Leverkusen 0 (1)

"Mamma Mia! Oh, my goodness me!" Tiziano Caressa, the aged commentator, exclaimed as the Juventus players gathered around the corner flag to celebrate. "Juventus has caught the Bayer 04 Leverkusen defenders napping again. Through Alvaro Morata, they hit the German team on the counter and scored Juventus' 2nd goal for the night during the 16th minute. They have extended their aggregate lead to four goals and are, without a doubt, the team most likely to qualify for the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals. I can't picture how Bayer 04 Leverkusen can overcome such a deficit."

"Indeed," Fabio Crudeli, the other commentator, agreed. "Juventus has players of all types in their squad. They have midfielders with incredible passing ranges, like Andrea Pirlo, Zachary Bemba, and Claudio Marchisio. They also have abnormally-fast players, like Patrice Evra, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Carlos Tevez, and Zachary again. When they all combine, they are deadly on the attack. They have all the arsenal to effortlessly tear through the best defenses in Europe and score when they initiate a counterattack. If the Bayer 04 Leverkusen players don't stop committing more bodies forward, they will continue attracting such terrifying counters and even concede more goals before the final whistle sounds."

"That's true," Tiziano Caressa chimed in. "Once again, Zachary has been quite remarkable for Juventus. He has scored another Champions League goal to take his tally to 11. Additionally, Zachary was the most impressive during Juventus' second counterattack. He dribbled past three defenders before threading an assist that resulted in Alvaro Morata's second goal for Juventus. In my book, Zachary Bemba is the best player on the field tonight."

"Yes, the young ball wizard has been quite spectacular throughout the opening fifteen minutes," Fabio Crudeli, the other commentator, supplemented. "Every time he receives the ball, you can't help but feel that something incredible will happen. He is, without a doubt, a spectacular attacking midfielder, and he is likely to score more goals if the Bayer Leverkusen players don't formulate a plan to contain him."

The commentators were totally spot-on with their analysis. Bayer 04 Leverkusen failed to formulate a strategy to contain Zachary, thus sealing their fate in the Champions League Round of Sixteen fixture.

After a failed attack during the 28th minute, Zachary again caught the Bayer 04 Leverkusen players on the counter. He exchanged lightning-fast passes with Carlos Tevez and Stephan Lichtsteiner as they speared toward the opponent's half to advance the counterattack.

The ball naturally returned to Zachary as he stepped past the border of the final third. He collected it mid-stride and skipped past a Bayer 04 Leverkusen defender with skillful footwork while continuing to approach the box. Then, when the opposing keeper rushed out from between the posts to greet him, Zachary remained composed. He finished with a simple chip over the helpless keeper to score Juventus' 3rd goal for the night.

But that was not the end of Zachary's brilliance. Immediately after the second half started, he struck again on the counter. By relying on the same strategy of taking on opposing defenders with his pace and dribbling skills, he cut through the pitch like a whirlwind while bearing down fast on Bayer 04 Leverkusen's goal. However, just as he was about to drive past another defender and step into the box, he was unfortunately fouled and denied the chance to score his third goal for the night during the 47th minute.

Fortunately, the referee blew the whistle and offered Juventus a free-kick just outside Bayer 04 Leverkusen's eighteen-yard box. As usual, Zachary stepped forward and converted the set piece from twenty-two yards away to score Juventus' fourth goal for the night during the 49th minute. With that, he had also bagged another hat trick — a feat that allowed him to draw closer to his ultimate goals of winning the Golden Boot and becoming the MVP of the Champions League that season.

The game continued after the goal celebrations. But surprisingly, the Bayer 04 Leverkusen players, who happened to have conceded a fourth goal on the counter, didn't curb their desire to attack. Despite the game circumstances, they persistently stuck to their custom offensive playing style and continued committing bodies forward. And, of course, their stubbornness left them vulnerable to the Juventus attackers, who remained terrifying on the counterattack.

Everything that followed was only natural.

During the 56th minute, Juventus hit them hard again through Carlos Tevez, who linked up with a pin-point pass from Andrea Pirlo to score Juventus' 5th goal for the night.

Twelve minutes later, during the 68th minute, Juventus tore through them again. A long ball from Andrea Pirlo found Patrice Evra, who exchanged quick one-twos with Zachary to cut through the middle and score Juventus' 6th goal on the counterattack.

Five minutes later, during the 73rd minute, the same story played out again. After a failed Bayer 04 Leverkusen corner kick, the Juventus players did what they had done all night and streamed forward to counterattack. Their snappy exchange of passes left Bayer 04 Leverkusen helpless, and they effortlessly arrived in the final third. It was then that ball naturally found its way to Zachary, and he remained composed and unleashed a shot from outside the box to score Juventus' 7th and final goal for the night.

During the 87th minute, the visitors scored for the first time that night. Bayer 04 Leverkusen successfully converted a corner kick and cut Juventus' lead to six goals. However, that was all they could manage, and the game ended when the score was still 7:1 in favor of Juventus.

Once again, Beatrice Paretti, the Sky Italia journalist, hosted the Champions League post-match show that evening. She smiled at the cameras and said, "Okay, that was one weird Champions League game. Can anyone help me understand what exactly happened to Bayer 04 Leverkusen?" She turned to look at the two pundits in the studio.

One of the pundits, who happened to be Roberto Baggio, smiled as the cameras focused on him. "What happened was simple. Bayer 04 Leverkusen tried to play an attacking game against a stronger Juventus side. They left themselves open at the back and attracted more and more counterattacks. That left them with no other possibility but to lose the game by a score of 7:1."

"All that I understand," Beatrice Paretti said while maintaining her smile. "But after conceding the first or second goal, why didn't they alter their game plan? Why didn't they play a defensive game instead of remaining adamant and continuing to play on the offensive against Juventus?"

"Well..." Roberto Baggio smiled. "They initially wanted to equalize the game, but their attack failed. That allowed Juventus to catch them on the counter and score the second goal. Bayer 04 Leverkusen, being an attack-minded team, didn't give up, though. After settling down for a few minutes, they committed bodies forward again to launch another attack but failed. Juventus successfully hit them on the counter, and the cycle continued until Bayer 04 Leverkusen conceded all seven goals."

"Situations like these can happen during games if a team isn't careful," the pundit continued. "You concede a goal and attack, trying to equalize, but the opponent counters and scores the second. You try again and fail, but then the opponent continues scoring a second and possibly a third. Before you know it, you have already conceded four or five goals, and that takes all the morale out of you. You will then play the rest of the game without any drive, and in so doing, you will allow the opponent to score more goals. That might be what happened to Bayer 04 Leverkusen."

"I think Roberto is right," Alessandro Costacurta, the other pundit, said. "I have watched a few of Bayer 04 Leverkusen's games, and I can say with a hundred percent confidence that they are an excellent attack-minded team. Roger Schmidt, their coach, is a person who believes that attacking is the best defense in any game. Most times, he's able to utilize high-pressing tactics coupled with penetrating wing plays to apply pressure on the opponents and possibly score. He should have tried to put into play the same philosophy today. But with the presence of world-class attacking players like Zachary Bemba, Andrea Pirlo, Carlos Tevez, and Alvaro Morata on Juventus' squad, his strategy fell through. He could only watch helplessly from the sidelines as his team collapsed under Juventus' counterattacking strategy and conceded seven goals."

"Talking about Zachary," Beatrice Paretti chimed in, "He scored four more goals today and pushed his Champions League tally for this season to 14. He is only three goals away from equaling Cristiano Ronaldo's record of scoring seventeen times in a single Champions League season."

"Yes," Roberto Baggio agreed with a smile. "Cristiano Ronaldo's 2013-14 record of the most goals scored in a single Champions League season is under threat. Zachary still has to play two legs of the quarter-finals, then maybe two more legs of the semis before qualifying for the final. If Juventus remains in the tournament up to the finals, Zachary will definitely be among the players who continue scoring goals. I don't think he'll fail to find the back of the net three or four more times during those games. There's a high chance he'll set a new record by the end of this season."

"Slow down, Roberto!" Alessandro Costacurta, the other pundit, hurriedly interjected. "Juventus has a possibility of facing off against Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, or Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-finals. Do you think he can maintain his goal-scoring form against such teams?"

"Well..." Roberto Baggio replied. "Teams like Real Madrid and Barcelona are harder to score against. Sure, they will go the extra mile to defend while not forgetting to attack the opponents. But we're talking about Zachary here. He has razor-sharp instincts while in the final third. He only needs a single opportunity, like a free-kick or a slight lapse in concentration on the opponent's side, and he will find the back of the net. As long as he remains fit, he'll continue bagging goals, no matter what teams he faces."

"The quarter-final draw for the Champions League will be held three days later, on Friday, March 20th, 2015," Beatrice Paretti, the host, stated as the cameras focused back on her. "Gentlemen! What are your predictions? Who do you think Juventus will face in the quarter-finals?"

"As I already said, the odds of them facing Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, or Barcelona are high," Alessandro Costacurta declared.

"I'm of a different view," Roberto Baggio said. "Juventus' luck this season has been not bad. I think they will face one of the weaker opponents, like FC Porto, Borussia Dortmund, and Paris Saint-Germain."

"I can see that you all have different predictions," Beatrice Paretti said with a chuckle. She then spent the next few minutes discussing the other Champions League Round of Sixteen fixtures before ending the show.