THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME
chapter-546

The 'parking the bus' defensive tactic seemed to work wonders for the Genoa players. It allowed them to compensate for their lack of skills with their hard work while toiling like true warriors to prevent Juventus from breaking through their ranks. As such, they kept the game deadlocked at a score of 0:0 as the match approached the late stages.

Of course, there were times the efforts of the Genoa players couldn't stop the inevitable, and the highly tactical Juventus players would break through them. But during such tense moments, Mattia Perin, the Genoa keeper who had been in fine form from the first minute, would rise to the occasion. The miracle worker of a shot-stopper would perform beyond all expectations and save whatever was unleashed at him by the Juventus players. He was a true-blue world-class goalkeeper, at least for that specific day.

For instance, Zachary dribbled past a few Genoa midfielders during the 73rd minute and then unleashed a thunderous shot toward the goal from the edge of the box. But Mattia Perin reacted like an incarnation of a gladiator and punched the ball out of play to save the situation.

Six minutes later, during the 79th minute, Juventus again tried to find the back of the net through Carlos Tevez. The striker turned and twisted to step into the box before unleashing a grounded carpet shot toward the inside of the far post. But once again, the nemesis of Juventus, that was Mattia Perin, made another incredible save and pushed the ball out of play for a corner kick.

During the last few minutes of the game, the Juventus players continued attacking and asking all the important questions on the field of play. Be it long-range shots, one-twos to break into the box, and corner kicks — the Old Lady threw everything they had at the Genoa defense. Their seemingly never-ending attacks caused stress, tension, and anxiety to descend upon the Juventus stadium. And as the game proceeded into injury time, they even shifted into a higher gear and caused all fans and pundits watching the game to hold their breaths.

Juventus' highly skilled players were like demons constantly haunting the Genoa players during the last four minutes of added time. They switched to a Tiki-taka playing style that featured snappy exchanges of passes. Eventually, they linked up well like bona fide ball grandmasters and broke through Genoa's ranks during the 94th minute when only a few seconds remained to the final whistle.

At that crucial moment, the ball naturally returned to Zachary's feet. He turned and twisted close to the edge of the box before drawing his leg back with the intention to unleash a hell of a shot goalward. The only thought in his mind was to find the top right corner and score a winning goal for Juventus before the referee could blow the final whistle.

But just then, before Zachary could swing his leg down, something he had not expected transpired. He felt a strong tug on his shirt, and before he could understand what was happening, he found himself tumbling down on the ground with a thud.

"Foul!"

"Free kick!"

The entire stadium erupted into shouts of fouls and free-kicks the next moment. The yells were deafening as all the Juventus fans, players, and coaches joined together to demand justice for Zachary.

The referee, who had been in a strategic position to observe the foul, didn't need any reminders. He stepped forward and showed a yellow card to Nicolás Burdisso, the center-back who had committed a foul by pulling Zachary back. After that, the referee also pointed to the scene of the fouling incident and offered Juventus a free-kick just a few yards from the box.

"Yeahhhh!"

The stadium erupted into thunderous applause after the referee made the decision. The Juventus fans all started jubilating as they had finally gotten one final chance to score and take the lead before the game could end.

Meanwhile, the Juventus players didn't lose themselves in the excitement. Instead, they remained calm and held a short meeting to prepare for the free kick.

"This is our last chance!" Andrea Pirlo said to Zachary while holding out the ball to him. "Are you confident?"

"Andrea, please!" Patrice Evra hurriedly chimed in before Zachary could respond. "Stop putting the guy under pressure. Let him do as usual and take the free kick. If he scores, he scores. If he doesn't, that's also acceptable. We'll only have to do our best during our upcoming games and compensate for the draw."

Andrea Pirlo narrowed his eyes and glanced at the seemingly lackluster Evra. But being a calm person by nature, the Maestro didn't try to say anything else. He shook his head and handed the ball to Zachary before stepping away.

Zachary, on his part, also shook his head and placed the ball on the free-kick spot. He then raised his head briefly to assess the situation within Genoa's box while also taking a few steps back from the ball.

After having a full grasp of everything, Zachary didn't continue observing. He instead closed his eyes and shut out all the noise. Slowly but steadily, he forgot everything else and entered a bizarre calm state while waiting for the referee to blow the whistle.

*FWEEEEEEE*

The referee's whistle sounded after about half a minute.

Zachary's eyes opened like two flashlight beams, and he took only an instant to observe everything before him. Whatever he saw was in high definition as the Dead-Ball Specialist Juju had already pushed his spatial awareness and risk analysis core attributes to the SSS grading. He took an angled run toward the ball before skillfully drawing his leg back to take the set piece.

"BAM!"

His ears picked up the sound of the boot smashing against synthetic rubber. He followed through with his swinging action and sent the ball goalward. His motions were textbook perfect, and he mixed both power and accuracy to send a shot above Genoa's defensive wall.

SILENCE!

A numbing silence immediately descended upon the stadium as the curling shot from Zachary soared over the wall like a surface-to-surface missile. All those watching the game held their breaths as they followed the ball's trajectory.

The Juventus faithful were obviously praying for the ball to find its way into the back of the net. On the other hand, the Genoa supporters, coaches, and players alike were without a doubt glaring at the ball while visualizing words like, "Please, let it be a Miss!" and "Please don't go into the back of the net!"

Of course, the Genoa faithful envisioned all those nasty phrases and bad luck words with red eyes, and if they could, they would readily reach out to a shaman to curse the ball at that moment. But alas, there was nothing they could do as everything happened almost in an instant.

The ball made a perfect parabola over the wall, and before anyone could blink, it started descending toward the goal. The on-form Genoa keeper reacted as he should and executed an acrobatic dive to save the situation. But alas, his actions were a tad bit too late, and the ball flashed a few inches beyond his outstretched fingertips before grazing off the post and homing into the back of the net. And with that, Zachary had saved the day and converted a last-minute free kick to give Juventus the lead during the 97th minute of gameplay.