Greatest of All Legends

Chapter 566: Cagliari II

Ronaldo stepped back from the ball, keeping his eyes on the goal keeper and sending shivers through the unfortunate guy who his teammates were expecting to save the penalty.

Despite his track record in scoring penalties, Ronaldo didn’t think little of the Cagliari goalkeeper and maintained full concentration and determination to score.

*Fweeeeeeeeee*

At the referee’s whistle, Ronaldo ran at the ball and hit it at the bottom left side of the goal, while the Cagliari goalkeeper dived towards the right.

Without surprise, the ball smashed into the back of the net and Ronaldo wheeled away in celebration.

Meanwhile, Jason who was being attended to by the medical team was asked,

“Do you think you can stay on?”

“Well…”

“I wouldn’t advise it though,” the medic interrupted Jason before he could even reply.

“It’s just a strain on your ankle and isn’t a major problem, but if you stay on, that could change,” the medic explained, eliciting a hesitant nod from Jason.

“… Tell coach I’m coming off then,” Jason said after a pause and was helped up by the medics.

It wasn’t a serious injury, but as long as there was a weak point in the muscular structure, then continuous strain on that weak point could lead to a worse injury.

Seeing as how his team was already leading by two goals in the twenty-fifth minute of the game, Jason didn’t think there was any point in risking a more serious injury.

For now, it was just a slight pain and it should be gone soon enough as long as he avoided aggravating it.

While Jason was helped off the field, the Uventus fans looked over worriedly despite their team winning the game by a good margin already.

{He looks injured, but we’ll have to wait for further information on the injury from Lorenzo to know how serious it is} the commentator said as Jason reached the bench and sat down.

Pirlo quickly arranged a substitution and moments later Mckennie was heading onto the pitch.

Since he was already off the pitch, the medics began to further attend to his injury as it wasn’t something so serious that he would need emergency attention.

A simple bandage and some ointment to reduce bruising and stop inflammation would do.

While Jason was sidelined, the match had continued and Uventus had continued on the attack against the Cagliari team that was doing their best to hold on even after going two behind.

#32nd minute…

{Cagliari are struggling}

{They haven’t been able to launch an attack since they conceded their second goal}

{It’s like Uventus wants to further their lead and they aren’t taking no for an answer}

{Here they come again!?}

{Bentacur to Ramsey, Ramsey to Mckennie, Mckennie back to Bentacur}

{The ball wouldn’t stop moving and the Cagliari players can’t get a hold of it}

{Mckennie’s making a run forward and he’s looking over!}

{Bentacur with a pass to find him!}

{A cross to the center!?}

{Ronaldo’s all alone! Header!!!} the commentator exclaimed loudly as Ronaldo took to the air and got his head to the ball, letting it bounce off it with him applying little power, but it was enough to send the ball flying to the top left corner of the goal, out of the reach of the Cagliari goalkeeper.

{GOAL!}

{He makes it three! Hat-trick!}

{Counting in the last Champions League game, that makes it six goals in two games!}

{Just how does he do it!?}

{At an age where most players would have hung their boots or be preparing to do so, he is scoring back-to-back hat-tricks!}

{He proves time and again that age is just a number!} The commentator, who was obviously a Ronaldo fan could not keep his excitement out of his commentary while the goal scorer himself headed down to the sidelines and executed his trademark celebration.

{Siuuuuuuuu!!!} the commentator and the crowd shouted excitedly as Ronaldo landed with his back to the crowd, showing off his jersey number.

The Cagliari players and fans listlessly watched the Uventus side celebrate a third goal just after thirty minutes into the game.

The manager on the sidelines could not even find the energy to berate his players and started giving instructions to his players to get on the defensive and give up on attacking for the time being.

He wasn’t about to allow Uventus to run riot on his team like they did against Oporto in their last Champions League game because unlike the Oporto team, his team didn’t have the quality to keep up in a scoring contest against a team like Uventus.

They were already finding it difficult breaking past the Uventus defense and if this continued, their goal difference would drop way too much and the manager had to do his best to avoid a relegation battle.

Even if he had to defend till the last minute to keep the Uventus team from scoring another goal, that was exactly what he was going to do.

The Cagliari players also understood the implications of letting Uventus rack up more goals,and they quickly positioned themselves behind the ball.

When the game kicked off again, the Cagliari team became very disciplined on the ball and did all they could to not lose possession while they slowly moved the ball forward.

If there was space, they would attempt a quick counter, and if they lost possession, they immediately regrouped behind the ball and didn’t bother counterpressing to hastily retrieve the ball and continue the attack.

They had figured out their limits the hard way and were not interested in pushing it any longer.

With this defensive set-up from the Cagliari team and the relaxed Uventus team, the game gradually became slower with much progress not happening on either sides apart from a few pot shots attempted by the two teams or flahes of individual brilliance from the players of the two teams.

However, if there was one thing both teams knew, it was that any show of individual briliance from any player must be shut down quickly so till the half time whistle was blown, neither team managed to further their lead in the game.