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Chapter 279: The Blue Side of Manchester III

The Manchester City team was the one to kick off the game and it was Aguero who stood over the ball and sent it back into his team’s half of the field, the ball rolling towards Ilkay Gundogan who quickly got it under control and sent the ball back towards Riyad Mahrez on the right.

The Porto players immediately rushed at the Manchester City team that was looking to start an attack.

With the Porto players fanning out and blocking any forward passing lanes, Riyad Mahrez didn’t have any way to send the ball forward and he quickly opted to send the ball back instead of trying to get through the Porto players by himself.

He didn’t have that kind of agility and even if he did, he didn’t dare to go against the team’s playing style as that was a surefire way for him to get taken off by his manager.

With Mahrez sending the ball back, the Manchester City team fell back a little so that they could keep the ball moving and avoid losing possession.

Soon enough, however, they began moving forward with the ball and tried to break through the Porto players, but they inevitably ended up losing possession of the ball as the Porto players weren’t leaving any space for the Manchester City team.

#14th minute…

The match had been underway for almost a quarter of an hour, but apart from a higher percentage of the possession stats, Manchester City hadn’t been able to get anything going as opposed to the Porto team which had lesser possession but had already created a few chances.

Porto was currently ignoring possession and trying to catch Manchester City on the counter.

To do this, they would soak up pressure and once the Manchester City defenders were far enough from their positions, the Porto players would increase their defensive efforts and try to snatch the ball so that they could quickly strike their opponents on the counter.

This playing style had been working for the Porto team so far as they had already been able to strike the Manchester City team on the counter three times and already had two shots, one of which was on target and had been barely saved by Ederson because of the awkward position from which the shot was taken by Sergio Oliveira.

Of the other two counterattacks, the Manchester City defenders had been able to get back in time to stop one, and the other was shot off-target by Jesus Corona.

Currently, Manchester City was once again on the attack and trying to get their first meaningful shot of the game away, but the Porto players weren’t budging and were holding down the fort defensively, leaving the Manchester City team with no other options but to keep the ball moving.

Gundogan had just received the ball and he quickly laid off the ball to Bernardo Silva who smoothly escaped a tackle from Mattheus Uribe but wasn’t able to do the same with Otavio who immediately pounced on him from behind and hassled for the ball.

With no options for a pass, Bernardo Silva opted to pass back to Fernandinho who trapped the ball under his foot and without wasting any time sent the ball towards Kyle Walker on his right, but just as the ball was about to reach Kyle Walker, a figure in a Porto blue and orange jersey burst forward and intercepted the pass while kicking it forward all in one smooth movement.

Luis Diaz immediately raced after the ball that he had just snatched from the Manchester City team, catching up to it in less than two seconds and immediately taking off down the left flank, running for all he was worth.

He quickly crossed the halfway line and kept running down the left flank, not daring to change direction as he could hear someone running behind him.

As Luis Diaz entered the final third, he began to slow down his pace slightly, and once he reached the left side of Manchester City’s penalty box, he suddenly made as if to stop his run, surprising Kyle Walker who was already preparing to tackle him from the right once he started cutting inside.

Trying to stop himself from running past Diaz, Kyle Walker almost slipped and barely managed to slow himself down enough, but in that short moment, his legs were a bit too far apart from each other, allowing Luis Diaz to flick the ball in between his legs and jump over his outstretched right leg.

This time Kyle Walker wasn’t able to react well and tumbled on himself while Luis Diaz who had gotten past him ran after the ball and quickly cut into the penalty box before sending a pass towards Sergio Oliveira who had just arrived outside the penalty box.

Luis Diaz had made the pass because of John Stones who stood in his path, but after making the pass, Diaz didn’t give up on the attack and kept moving while making sure to stay onside, and just like he expected, Sergio Oliveira who had received the ball immediately caught on and sent a pass back the moment John Stones tried to commit to tackling Sergio Oliveira instead of marking Luis Diaz.

Luis Diaz immediately burst out to catch the pass and without taking a touch to get the ball under control, he wiped his foot swiftly against the ball, curling it around Ederson and watched it settle into the back of the net before running off to the sidelines to celebrate.

{GOAL!!!}

{Porto open up the game early with a devastating counterattack that Manchester City wasn’t able to stop!}

{A clever interception, an absolutely splendid run from the goal scorer that left his marker tumbling and unable to recover, clever thinking with his pass to the nearby teammate, and he crowned all his efforts with a splendid finish!}

{We saw it coming from early on and now Porto has converted one of their chances and taken the lead against their opponents!}

{Manchester City has struggled to make an impact on the game so far and now they have been pegged back, What will happen from here!?}