Greatest Of All Legends

"Your ankle alright?" Ronaldo asked Jason, grabbing a bottle.

"... Well, it's numb," Jason chuckled, raising his ankle a bit and shaking it as a test.

"You know you're going to feel like sh*t after it wears off, right?" Ronaldo asked again, taking a pause from sipping water.

"I wouldn't care too much by then, we'll be celebrating," Jason grinned in reply, picking up a bottle of his own to chug down some water.

"Alright guys, we have fifteen minutes for one last push to see if we can win this game. I'd rather we not go to penalties as it's mostly luck,"

"So, we must try our best to see if we can get a winner in the coming fifteen minutes,"

"Again… try not to concede a goal no matter whatever happens… please," Pirlo pleaded.

"You guys literally turned off and allowed them to get the ball all the way into a dangerous area at the start of the last fifteen. Don't let it happen again… but!"

"If we do concede a goal again… stay calm and play your game. You have the quality to come out on top. Don't let anyone tell you different,"

"Your effort has gotten us this far, don't betray yourselves in the coming fifteen minutes. Everything you've done, everything we've done this season all comes down to this,"

"Make sure you end this as best as you can," Pirlo tried to motivate his players before going into some minor tactical adjustments.

In the other technical area, Hansi was doing almost the exact same thing to the Bayern players and trying to prepare them for the last fifteen minutes as playing up till this point at this level was agony and torture even for professional players, and that was not factoring the mental pressure that millions of fans worldwide were waiting for the results of the game.

Whichever side ended up with a silver medal after all this would be haunted for as long as they lived because they would be reminded of the fact that they let down countless fans who had supported them all the way… unless the players were ungrateful wretches, of course.

They wouldn't have too much of a mental issue if that were the case.

There was a lot for the managers to say, but how to say it was another factor. The lack of time was another factor as the time allotted for the break ended and the players quickly headed back to the pitch for the last fifteen minutes of the Uefa Champion League 2021 final.

Quickly arranging themselves across the pitch, Ronaldo took the ball to the midpoint and placed it down, taking in a deep breath as he mentally psyched himself up for the rest of the game.

"You're the best, you're going to win,"

"You're the best, you're going to win,"

"You're the best, you're going to win,"

"You're the best, you're going to win," he constantly repeated to himself in barely audible whispers.

*Fweeeeeeee!*

The loud referee's whistle put an end to his thoughts and by instinct, he passed the ball back into his own half of the field.

Running up to the pass, Dybala received the ball and instantly sent it behind Coman to Jason on the left flank and Jason quickly began pushing the ball up the field, waiting until he was almost tackled by Kimmich before passing the ball to Ronaldo who had rushed forward.

Kimmich wasn't able to stop himself from crashing into Jason, and Jason went down immediately, doing his best to avoid falling on the wrong body part.

Not wasting much time on the ball, he quickly got back up from the ground for the free kick, but didn't take it immediately.

One of the things Pirlo had mentioned a few minutes ago was playing for set-pieces and using the chance to bring more of their teammates up the field and pushing the Bayern team back.

Of course, there was the risk that this opened up, leaving them open to counterattacks, and considering that Bayern had already scored a goal from a counter, it was a pretty big risk, but they couldn't sit back all the time because going forward was risky, could they?

Waiting for his teammates to get behind the ball, Jason took the free kick, whipping the ball up the field for his teammates to contest with it.

An aerial battle commenced for the ball in Bayern's penalty box, but after a 20-second-long tussle, Mckennie finally managed to get a shot away, but apart from making the commentators shout and the fans cheer a bit louder for a second, he achieved nothing but hitting the ball into the crowd with the shot.

Luckily, the ball had bounced off Boateng on it's way into the stands, so Uventus had a corner and thus had a chance to keep the pressure on.

More players rushed up the field and into Bayern's penalty box for the corner while Jason headed to the sidelines to take the corner kick.

*Fweeeeeeeeeeeee!

At the referee's whistle, Jason sent the ball flying in through the air for his aiming for the far corner, allowing Rabiot to get his head to it when the ball was almost past the face of the goal, but Rabiot wasn't able to direct it well enough and the ball flew off the field, harmlessly, only leading to increased cheers and applause for their efforts.

{Another chance wasted! Uventus are really putting in a lot of effort and trying to get clear here, but their efforts have just fallen short}

{Bayern have a goal kick and Neuer will be looking to send the ball up the field, trying to push the Uventus players ba-! I stand corrected, he's played it short to the center backs} Trevor ate his words immediately they came out of his mouth as Neuer played the ball to Boateng who quickly laid it off to Alphonse Davies on his left.

Neuer knew that by sending up the field, the Uventus team would just try to send the ball back into their half, and the cycle would just repeat itself, so he opted for a slightly more risky, but more progressive approach to take off the pressure.

With Davies sending the ball back to him after he was heavily pressed by Rabiot, Bernadeshi and Dybala, he passed the ball back to Neuer.

Ronaldo burst forward, trying to see if he could reach the ball first or steal it quickly from Neuer if he got it first, but calmly, Neuer chipped the ball over Ronaldo and went behind the Portuguese striker, eliciting quite a number of cheers from the fans who were amazed at a goalkeeper displaying such finesse and flair with his feet.

Signalling to his teammates to calm down as he caught the ball when it came down and sending the ball to Kimmich, Neuer was fully taking up his role as captain and directing the game from behind.

Play continued and in the end, the Uventus players weren't able to keep the Bayern players constrained in their own half of the field.

***

#114th minute…

{Six minutes left of extra time and we're still hanging off the edges of our seats}

{This match has had it all, tension, excitement, dominance, character, quality, recovery… I don't even know what more to expect, but I am expecting something} Martin said.

{Coman, trying to break in from the left, but he's run into Alex Sandro} Trevor cut into Martin's commentary.

{He tries to knock it past him, but Alex Sandro isn't letting him past!}

Trying to push past Alex Sandro to get to the ball he knocked forward before it rolled out of play was proving to be annoyingly difficult for Coman and in the end, he only managed to get his leg in front and kick the ball against Alex Sandro's leg before it rolled out of play, managing to steal a corner.

{Bayern have a corner and Kimmich runs up to take it}

While Kimmich took the ball and prepared to swing it in, the other Bayern players readied themselves in the penalty area for the cross in.

{The Bayern players are pushing hard against each other as they try to free themselves. This is as good a goal scoring chance as any and they want to make the most of it}

*Fweeeeeeeeeeee*

Kimmich ran up to the ball and whipped it up and into the center of the penalty box.

The ball spun powerfully as it came flying in and the players began trying to reach it with their heads, but one man rose above the rest, catching the ball powerfully and adding even more power as he directed it towards Uventus's goal.

{Header!?}

{Lewandowski makes it two for himself and four for Bayern!} Trevor screamed excitedly as the ball flew past the goal line, Buffon rooted to the spot.

{The man, the machine. Ninety minutes were not enough to tire him out and he has come knocking heavily on the door to glory!} Trevor continued his commentary as Lewandowski took off down the sidelines, jumping into a knee slide with more enthusiasm in his celebration than when he scored his first goal.