Crossbar Comes To The Rescue

Things weren't looking good for Supreme United who were back on level terms just a few minutes after taking the lead.

They had to win this match at all cost or else they were going to play in the Europa league or worse get knocked out finally if Dynamo Kyiv should win against Juventus by any chance.

"Just a few minutes after taking the lead and they are on level terms again," Jim said.

"Yeah, and you can hear the fans of Barca increasing the intensity of their chants," Steve said.

"Like I said nothing will change if they lose the match but Barca isn't a team that likes to lose no matter what," Jim said.

Roland stood over the ball in the kick-off spot waiting for the referee's whistle and as soon as he had heard it, he passed the ball back to Foden who tried to run into Barcelona's half with the ball before sending it back to Roland due to the tight defense.

Supreme were trying to break through Barcelona's defense but their tactics didn't seem to be working as they kept passing the ball around in their own half.

"Supreme United are trying their best to keep the ball away from Barcelona who seemed to be pressuring them in their own half," Jim said

"It's the first half and they have already run out of attacking options," Steve said.

The right-back played a through pass to Zlensky who walked with the ball a little before sending the ball to Pelcao with a cross before Andrew could get to him.

The cross wasn't able to get to Pelcao as Frednado jumped in before the ball could get to him and stole the ball.

"Frednado has stolen the ball and now he's leading an attack through the middle," Jim said.

Frednado got past Foden with some neat body faints and was still running through the middle as the number seventeen was displayed on the back of his jersey.

He knew he couldn't take on the centre-backs alone as he tipped the ball to Lelemar who was now open on the left wing.

Lelemar tried to make a run into the box but he was stopped by Conan who had almost dispossessed him in f the ball.

He slowed down in his stride as he turned back and quickly railed the ball to Andrew, Andrew drew closer to the eighteen-yard box and feigned a shot before passing the ball to Pierre who quickly sent it to Frednado.

Zinin quickly made a run past Simeon into the eighteen-yard box, Frednado didn't waste time in lobbing the ball to him as he rose high to meet it ahead of Steven.

"Supreme United may be in trouble here," Jim said. "And what a header!"

Zinin had sent the ball flying towards the top right-hand corner where Perez couldn't get to it but his header had been quite unlucky as the ball smashed on the crossbar and fell to Michael's foot.

Michael tried to get away from Frednado who was behind him but he couldn't as the youngster dispossessed him of the ball and quickly passed it to Lelemar.

Lelemar was really decisive as he found Vasquez open in the middle and sent a short cross towards him.

There was no other way to take it as Vasquez sent the ball flying towards the top left-hand side of the goal post with a bicycle kick.

Perez dived towards the ball but he wasn't able to get to it but that wasn't going to cost them anything as the ball smashed on the crossbar and went over the bar.

"Another one saved by the crossbar!" Jim exclaimed.

"Perez and the whole Supreme United players should be thanking that crossbar now," Steve said.

FC Barcelona's manager and the players on the bench including Ciro had almost jumped up in joy when Vasquez took that kick but they couldn't finish their celebration as the ball had smashed the bar.

Even Dave had almost shouted goal before that ball hit the crossbar and went over the bar.

"Finally," Emma said with a sigh of relief.

"Huh?" Dave said, turning to her.

"You've just been staring at the match without saying anything even that equalizer didn't excite you and you just no longer cared if I was standing next to you," Emma said.

"Oh, sorry," Dave said, grabbing her hand. "I seemed to have been lost in my thoughts there."

"What were you thinking about?" She asked.

"How to make a save just like the one Frank made," Dave said.

"Don't worry, you'll get there one day," Emma said with a smile.

That was one of the reasons why he loved and treasured this woman so much, she believed he could do anything even if it seemed impossible.

What he had told her about thinking about Frank's save wasn't exactly the truth.

He had completely stopped focusing on the match after he had called Frank's save phenomenal and Christine had offered to show him something.

His attention had been on his system screen since that time and he didn't even know when Lelemar scored the equalizer.

What Christine had shown him was a series of goalkeeping skills ranking from ordinary to super special, those were the skills he needed to unlock to become a top-class goalkeeper.

He was still at level two and had unlocked one skill from completing a quest, he still had one more skill available to unlock at level two but to unlock it he needed three skill points, and right now he only had one from his last level up.

[ 1/0 Skill points ]

'How do I even get skill points?' He asked Christine in his mind.

<The system will decide that but I know you will get one skill point with each level up>

'I already know that.'

<You may also get a certain amount of skil points from quests, it's all up to the system>

Barcelona had been getting past Supreme United's defense but even the craziest of chances they had created had gone wild with Perez saving two low shots from Zinin and Vasquez.

Frednado had even hit the crossbar on a close shot.

They were the more confident and more fluid side when it came to attacking but their finishing had not been that great in this match.

The referee blew his whistle twice to signal the end of the first half as the players began to make their way back to their locker rooms.

"That's the end of the first half and that has really been interesting to watch as both sides are tied one one," Jim said.

"I'm surprised the score line is not three goals to one or four goals to one because Barcelona has been dangerous with their attack," Steve said.

"Supreme United should just hope they don't take in another goal fest because Ciro is going to be coming in, in the second half," Jim said.

"He may change the game or he may not but there's a high chance he will change the game for Barca," Steve said.

"I agree, considering the way Supreme United player in the first half, if they don't change things up a bit and tighten their defense then they are going to be taking in another goal fest," Jim said.

****

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