Chapter 259: 2020/21 First Pre-Season Friendly III

Chapter 259: 2020/21 First Pre-Season Friendly III

Chapter 259: 2020/21 First Pre-Season Friendly III

The friendly match at the CTFD Portogaia continued after the Porto payers were done with their celebrations and were back in their half of the field.

The Rio Ave team that had come into this half with hopes of defending and potentially getting a goal or two back had been unstabilized even further by Porto’s goal and were already having problems keeping the flow of the ball constant, but after a while, it seemed they had settled for a defensive game and chose to stay back and let the Porto team have the ball while they defended.

The Porto players didn’t need an invitation and quickly took control of the game and began applying pressure to the Rio Ave team.

They pushed the Rio Ave team further back until they were exchanging the ball only in the Rio Ave team half while the Rio Ave team chased after the ball.

Despite spending most of their time chasing after the ball, the Rio Ave team still managed to keep the Porto team at bay for a while, but the Porto team stayed patient, knowing it was only a matter of time.

In the 54th minute of the game, Otavio came on for Joao Mario, and the game continued once he was on the pitch.

Coming onto the pitch, Otavio immediately began using his fresh legs to oppress the Rio Ave defenders and it was quite clear that his marker couldn’t keep him in check, but Otavio kept going at the Rio Ave defenders until he finally found space in the 59th minute.

Otavio had just received the ball from Viera on the right wing and with a drop of his shoulder to the left, he deceived his marker into thinking he was going left, but with a feint, he escaped the guy and charged towards the ball and sent a pass to Mylo, not stopping his run as he evaded a Rio Ave player.

Mylo didn’t bother taking an extra touch and simply sent a through pass behind the Rio Ave defense and into Otavio’s path.

Receiving the ball behind the Rio Ave defense and just barely managing to stay onside, Otavio smoothly curled the ball behind the Rio Ave goalkeeper without delay.

Even in the upcoming season, Sergio Conceicao wasn’t sure he could guarantee him much game time in the central midfield, and that was one of the factors that had made him choose Sergio Oliveira for his conversion project.

He planned to play Sergio Oliveira in the center forward position and hoped that Oliveira could somehow manage playing in that position and it would be even better if he performed well upfront.

Of course, he had made this decision knowing that Sergio Oliveira had an eye for goal and now he hoped that talent could help the team upfront in the upcoming season.

Thus Sergio Oliveira had been substituted for Mylo at the 65th minute but so far, he had been quiet.

Apart from a few touches on the ball to keep the passes flowing like he normally did in the midfield, he also joined the team in pressing from the front, helping the team to shut down the Rio Ave team before they could even make it to the defense line, but in his attacking endeavors for the team, he hadn’t been able to get anything going.

However, that was about to change.

The Porto team had been on the attack as they passed the ball around the Rio Ave’s players just outside the Rio Ave 18-yard box.

Suddenly Otavio tried to break through the Rio Ave defense line by dribbling past his marker, but this time, no matter how many tricky movements Otavio made, the guy just wouldn’t be shaken off and Otavio ended up turning and sending the ball back to Pepe.

Pepe received the ball and waited for a Rio Ave player to come at him before sending the ball down left to Zaidu Sanusi.

Zaidu quickly moved the ball down the left side of the field and passed the ball to Toni Martinez in his path while continuing his run on the outside.