God Of football

Chapter 1053: Almost A Second!

"Outstanding defending," Clive Tyldesly called!

"It really is a challenge and a half!"

"One of the very few defenders anywhere who seems genuinely comfortable against Lamine Yamal."

"Yeah, it's been like this for a while," McCoist nodded.

"Even in the Nations League, the PSG leftback rendered Yamal really ineffective!"

Taking advantage of Mendes's tackle, Renato Veiga collected the loose ball and then quickly turned it into Diogo Costa as Portugal escaped again.

Lamine quickly climbed back to his feet, raising one hand toward his teammates.

"My fault," he mouthed, but nobody really stuck on that as Portugal, now with the ball in their reins again, tried to settle.

One pass became two.

Two became five, and despite Spain's charge, led by Izan, Portugal refused to panic.

Every passing lane Izan tried to close simply opened somewhere else.

One man couldn't press 5 at the same time.

"They're bypassing Spain's press beautifully," Clive called a moment later.

"A nice passage of play here and it is looking comfortable for Portugal at the moment!"

Eventually Bruno received the ball after a beautifully worked sequence.

The Manchester United legend took a touch forward and then immediately laid it off to another legend of that club in Cristiano.

The stadium collectively leaned forward as it was the veteran's first touch in a while.

Ronaldo controlled effortlessly near the edge of the area and lifted his head to reveal the scene.

For a moment, it looked like he might take on a player or two, but without warning, he swept his right foot under the ball and sent the ball rolling in the air towards the right flank where Pedro Neto had already started his run.

Mirroring the latter's moves, Cucurella moved across confidently, looking to get in the way, but just as it seemed like he would claim the ball, his standing foot gave way.

And so under the gazes of the entire stadium, the Spaniard slipped.

"Oh no!"

The commentator's voice rose instantly.

"Neto's through!"

Pedro Neto burst beyond him, going by the fullback as Cucurella, as a last-ditch attempt at salvaging the situation, tried to grab onto the shorts of Neto, but the winger, knowing his former teammate's tricks, evaded the hand sharply and got a touch to the ball.

That touch got him inside the box, and once he lifted his head, all he saw was João Félix arriving at the far post completely free.

Without thinking too much, Neto squared it as the Spanish backline watched the ball streak across the face of their goal.

"Surely..." Clive Tyldesly called as Félix stretched, but then a knight in maroon and white appeared.

The teenager launched himself across the six-yard box, his right shin somehow meeting the pass before it reached Félix.

"CUBARSÍ'S THERE!" the commentary called almost like the centreback had scored, but for a defender that save was as good as a goal as the ball ricocheted behind.

Corner.

"OH, THAT BALL WAS DESTINED TO BE A GOAL BUT AT THE LAST SECOND!"

"PAU CUBARSÍ PULLS SPAIN FROM THE BRINK OF ANOTHER GOAL!"

"What a recovery!"

Once he came to a stop, João Félix stood frozen with his hands on his head.

"I thought he'd scored," the co-commentator responded on the broadcast, and it seemed the rest of the stadium agreed.

On the other flank, Cucurella climbed back onto his feet, wearing an embarrassed smile.

He walked towards Cubarsi and then patted him on the back.

"Thanks for saving me."

Hearing that, the centre-back merely waved him away.

"Later. Let's focus on clearing this corner!"

After finally dealing with the spoilt chance at scoring, João Félix turned and began walking towards the corner flag.

Opposite him, bodies began gathering in the Spanish box.

Every Spanish shirt found a Portuguese on, but in the case of Ronaldo, Laporte found him, but not without Rodri joining.

Neither intended giving the Portuguese captain a free run.

"You can see what they're thinking," the co-commentator noted.

"They're doubling him, and that looks like the right call. He's a man with a repertoire for these kinds of situations!"

Once his teammates settled, Félix stepped back a bit and then ran into the ball, curling it high and with a dip into the back post.

Then suddenly...

Back across Laporte's body, the defender gritted his teeth and leapt.

"I need to get to this," he thought, but it seemed that Ronaldo wanted it more as the veteran kept climbing.

In a second, his forehead met the ball as Ronaldo redirected the power behind the effort of pace and precision from the corner downwards and towards goal.

"CRISTIANO RONALDOOO!" the commentary roared on the broadcast as the header skipped viciously toward goal.

It hit the ground once and then bounced up again, and in reaction to that, Unai Simón reacted brilliantly.

He got a strong hand to it, but instead of pushing it clear, his touch only diverted it toward the inside of the post.

"Oh, is it in?"

The ball seemed like it would roll agonisingly across the line as it bounced off the turf and for one terrifying second...it looked certain to creep over.

Then Pau Cubarsí arrived again.

Throwing himself backwards, the teenager headed it off the line before collapsing into the side-netting.

"OFF THE LINE! AGAIN AND THAT IS INCREDIBLE. SPAIN MIGHT HAVE JUST USED THEIR ENTIRE LUCK FOR THIS TOURNAMENT!"

The stadium gasped as the clearance spun towards the touchline, where Lamine rushed towards it.

Collecting the clearance, he immediately drove away toward Spain's byline, hoping to get a goal kick by kicking the ball against the Portuguese shirt that was coming, but Nuno Mendes chased, caught him and won the duel again.

Without waiting for the deal to end, the left back sent the ball arcing back into the box where the players contested it again, but this time Unai Simón rose confidently and claimed it cleanly before being shoved to the ground by a loose hand as he came down, and the referee didn't hesitate making his whistle heard.

"And Unai Simón has been fouled," Clive narrated on the broadcast!