Chapter 678: Matchday 36: vs Sassuolo I

**12th May 2021**

In the Mapei stadium in Reggio Emilia, the Uventus team was having their last tactical meeting before their match against Sassuolo on their 36th matchday.

“Last match, we were only able to get a draw and thanks to that we were a point ahead of Inter Milan, but once again they are two points ahead of us after beating Parma yesterday,”

“If we win today, we take the lead again and that is exactly what I want to see happen. No excuses, no mistakes, I want a clean victory,”

“You have the skills, you have the quality and we’ve made tactical preparations. You have no reason not to win. A loss or even a draw here will damage any chance we have of winning the league title and I won’t have that,” Pirlo was fully engrossed in speaking his mind and making sure his players understood the levity of what they were facing.

Only three games remained and one of those games was against Inter Milan. As long as his players played well today and won the game, the next match against Inter Milan would be the decider for which of the two sides would lift the league title.

Pirlo wanted to make sure his players understood that because it seemed that some of them didn’t understand that and it annoyed him to no end.

He was still fuming over how his players had bottled a three-goal lead in the previous half and ended up sharing points with a team they had been wiping the floor with.

“Does everyone remember their roles?” he asked his players.

“Like we already discussed, today, we are using the 4-3-3 formation,”

“Sczesny is the goalkeeper for today, Bonucci and Chiellini are our centerbacks, Cuadrado and Alex Sandro are the wingbacks,”

“Aaron will be playing as an attacking midfielder while Mckennie and Rabiot, you guys are holding midfielders. Control and range, those are your watch words for today’s game,”

“Ronaldo, you’re going to be on the left wing today, Morata, you’re in the center, and Dybala, you’re on the right. You guys have the versatility to swap positions when necessary. I want you guys playing in tandem with each other,”

“Confuse your opponent, drag your markers out of position, do whatever you need to do, but I want goals, goals, and more goals, is that clear?” Pirlo asked like a drill sergeant.

“Yes coach,” the players replied together.

“Good, get out there and show them what we can do,”

“Forza Uve!” Pirlo cheered.

“Forza Uve!” the players cheered as well and jumped to their feet, beginning to march out of the locker room and into the tunnel to wait till it was time to get out on the field.

With his hands in the pockets of his jacket, Jason walked out of the tunnel with the team’s entourage and headed towards the bench, sitting down lazily as he watched the Sassuolo fans cheer and sing, entertaining themselves while they waited for the match to begin.

The fans didn’t have to wait for too long and soon the players were marching out onto the field, ready to battle it out for the next ninety minutes.

*Fweeeeeeeeeee!*

{And we’re away!}

{Matchday thirty six for Uventus and they will be playing it away from home. They’re currently second on the league table and need a win to take back their position at the top of the table thanks to their draw against Milan last time out} The commentator began his duties right after the whistle sounded.

{Uventus will be looking for more solidity in the center and at the back after the occurences in their last game where their opponents came back from three nil}

{Perhaps that’s why the manager is using this 4-3-3 formation}

{He may be looking to trade control in the center of the pitch for more pressure in the front. They do say the best way to defend is to attack and the Uventus manager seems to have taken that literally} the co-commentator added while they watched the game calmly.

The match had just began and each team was only moving the ball around whenever they were in possession, seemingly feeling each other out, but that didn’t continue for long.

The Sassuolo team suddenly launched an attack when they saw the Uventus team trying to increase the pressure by sending players forward.

With space seemingly opening up for them on the Uventus flanks after the wingbacks moved up the field, the Sassuolo team swiftly changed the tempo and the ball was soon sent flying down the right flank, into the running path of Domenico Berrardi.

Accelerating with the ball till he was on the right side of the penalty box, he sent a whipped cross towards the center, targeting his striker, Raspadori, but before the ball reached the striker, it was intercepted by Sczesny who was quick off his line and had jumped forward to punch the ball out of play.

His actions didn’t come without consequence and he collided with the knee of the striker on his way to the ground, but no one was paying attention to him at that moment as the ball he sent back to the midfield had just reached Mckennie who smoothly passed the ball to Ramsey with a heel flick, not taking a second touch.

The ball rolled between Sassuolo’s midfielder, Maganelli’s legs and reached Ramsey who swept his leg at the ball, sending it up the field with amazing speed and curl.

The ball curled into the path of Ronaldo on the left wing and he raced past his marker to catch it and begin cutting in immediately.

His marker didn’t give up and kept chasing, taking the chance when Ronaldo was cutting into the penalty box to try to catch him off guard with a sliding tackle, but as if Ronaldo had eyes in the back of his head, he did his signature back chop at the exact moment Toljan jumped at him.

What happened next was a sight to see for all football lovers as Toljan slid across Ronaldo’s path, catching nothing but air while Ronaldo didn’t even spare him a glance.

With eyes on the goal, Ronaldo whipped the ball with the top of his boot, seemingly going for power over finesse, but the ball flew in a knuckle ball, curling wildly at the goal, avoided the Sassuolo goalkeeper’s outstretched hand and slammed into the right side of the net.

{GOAL!!!}

{Uventus take the lead!}

{It’s not even been ten minutes since the referee’s whistle to kick off the game and Uventus are already providing their fans and all the viewers with such a beauty of a goal.

{Perfect counter attack, very few touches. Everything was optimized for the most efficient path towards goal and at the end of it is a man we’ve seen do this countless times before and he’s done it again!}

{Ronaldo, cuts in from the left and sends the ball into the back of the net. It’s only his second season since he left Madrid, but we’ve gotten used to seeing him in the center forward position, but this right here shows us that he’s still got it. He’s still good at what he does, and long may it continue, everyone hopes}

The recipient of the commentator’s words was already in mid-air, doing his signature celebration and as he landed, the Uventus fans and even some Sassuolo fans unconsciously shouted,

“SIUUUUUUU!!!”

The Uventus players were running over to join Ronaldo in celebration when the referee’s whistle suddenly blew loudly.