The striker was eager to restart the match as Juventus was still at a disadvantage due to the away-goal rule. If they didn’t score another goal within the next few minutes, they would be the ones bowing out of the Europa League at the end of the night.

*FWEEEEEEE*

The referee blew the whistle a few seconds later and motioned for the Rosenborg players to restart the game. Nicki Nielsen once again kicked off the game by passing the ball back into his midfield.

Thomas Partey received it and immediately kicked it into the wings towards Mikael Dorsin, Rosenborg’s left-back. Mikael also hastily flicked it over to Takumi Minamino, who’d just run into space in midfield.

But by then, the Juventus players had already surged into Rosenborg’s half like a swarm of locusts. They quickly marked all the Rosenborg players and closed off all passing angles, making it hard for the Troll Kids to pass the ball.

Takumi Minamino held on to the ball for a few more seconds, seemingly looking for an outlet for it. However, all his teammates were already tightly marked. His eyes reflexively passed over Zachary’s position the next moment. But the playmaker had it even worse, with two bodyguards constantly keeping an eye on him. He was the player receiving the most ‘care’ from the opponents.

Takumi could only release a long-range pass into the wings, hoping to find Alexander Söderlund, the Rosenborg winger who’d just made a daring off-ball run through the left flank. However, Alexander couldn’t connect with his pass, and the ball went out of play for a throw-in.

The Juventus players took the throw-in very quickly. Giorgio Chiellini fetched the ball from the sidelines and immediately threw it to Leonardo Bonucci, his counterpart in defense.

Leonardo controlled the ball deftly and threaded an instant pass to Paul Pogba in the middle. The latter received it and skipped over a challenge from Zachary. The Frenchman then passed the ball into the wings to find Mauricio Isla, the right midfielder.

Mauricio Isla burst forth with speed and dribbled past Mikael Dorsin. He beat the defender for pace, and when the passing angle opened up, he flicked the ball to Arturo Vidal, who was running in sync with him through the middle.

The two Juventus men exchanged a couple of exquisite one-two’s as they continued zeroing in on Rosenborg’s goal-like two whirlwinds. Before long, they were already in the final third, and the ball naturally came back to Arturo Vidal.

Arturo immediately played the ball to Pogba, who’d also moved forward to attack. The latter controlled it well before chipping it over the defense to find Carlos Tévez, who’d run into space just outside the left edge of the box.

Carlos Tévez controlled the ball skillfully with an outstretched boot. Before any of the Rosenborg players could close him down, he unleashed a deadly cross that soared into the box and skimmed across the mouth of the goal like an arrow.

Daniel Osvaldo and the just-arriving Pogba jumped up to meet the incoming cross near the far post. Their imposing shapes in the air were enough to cause shudders within most of the Rosenborg fans present in the stadium.

However, Daniel Örlund, the Rosenborg keeper, was alert and a step ahead of the two Juventus men. He timed his leap perfectly and came out on top in the aerial battle. He successfully punched the ball away to save Rosenborg from conceding another goal during the 83rd minute.

However, the hearts of most of the fans were still in their throats as the danger was still at large for Rosenborg. That was because the punched ball hadn’t moved far. Instead, it had soared through the air before landing in front of the box where Arturo Vidal was lurking.

—–

Alarm bells went off within Zachary’s mind when he saw Arturo Vidal lunging at the bouncing ball. At that very instant, there was nothing he could do to stop the Juventus midfielder since he’d chosen not to defend during that wave of attack from the opponents. He could only watch from near the center circle as Arturo Vidal drew his leg back and smashed the ball towards the goal after its second bounce.

But fortunately, his racing heart settled down the next instant when he saw Eric Bailly, Rosenborg’s young defender, throw himself at the ball. The Ivorian dived in without fear and used his head to block the heavy shot that was clearly bound for goal.

The deflected ball then zoomed away from Rosenborg’s box before dipping towards the left side of the box. Thomas Partey, the Rosenborg defensive midfielder, didn’t let it bounce. He timed it perfectly and kicked it far and away to avert the dangerous situation.

Audible sighs of relief arose from the stands as Rosenborg had survived another dangerous situation. But those sighs of relief soon turned into excited cheers as Zachary chased after the just-cleared ball soaring high up in the air.

Since nearly all the Juventus midfielders, including Pogba and Vidal, had moved forward to attack, Zachary had gotten a rare moment of opportunity. If he could get to the ball, maybe he would create a chance for his team to cement their place in the Europa League’s next round. So, he’d gotten into action without hesitation.

Heart racing fast like a predator’s on the hunt; he sprinted from near the circle to the left flank in a mere few seconds. He caught up with the ball just as it was about to move out of play and controlled it on the stretch. Before any of the opponents could close him down, he brought it down and turned around to face Juventus’ goal.

His ears picked up Coach Conte’s roars from the sidelines. But since he didn’t understand Italian, all the words sounded like gibberish to him. He just closed off all his senses to the outside and burst forth with speed through the left flank.

Claudio Marchisio, the Juventus midfielder who’d stayed back in defense when the others were attacking, soon came forward to stop his run. The midfielder opened his arms wide as if he was playing defense in basketball while his narrowed eyes followed Zachary’s movements closely.

However, Zachary didn’t lose his composure even after the midfielder had blocked his path. He dug his boot below the ball and looped it just barely over the approaching defender’s head, almost without slowing down. Before the man could discern what was going on, Zachary circumvented him with another instantaneous burst of speed from the right.

The counter was on, and soon, his long strides were once again eating up more yards of space as he raced towards Juventus’ goal like a cheetah in the wild.

Giorgio Chiellini, one of the Juventus defenders, was the next opponent that stepped forward to stop him. But Zachary only executed a couple of side steps before losing the defender. His footwork was just too potent as the defender couldn’t even get a chance to tackle him due to his trickery.

Adrenaline soon flooded Zachary’s systems as he cut into the pitch and approached the box from the left flank like a raging tsunami. He looked up once, and his incredible spatial awareness instantly registered everything within the box.

There were still two Juventus defenders that could potentially block his path if he attempted to score by himself. But he didn’t panic as he also noticed that he had support in the form of Nicki Nielsen. The striker was approaching fast and was about to step into the eighteen-yard box.

Several thoughts flashed through Zachary’s head within an instant. But they didn’t cause him to slow down. He kept dribbling the ball forward to draw in the defenders, and when they reacted and approached his position, he acted on instinct.

He executed a couple of side steps with the intent to confuse the defenders for a few more seconds. Then, when he noticed that Nicki had gotten into the perfect position within the box, he flicked the ball to him.

His pass was simple and on point. The ball just flashed through the narrow space in-between the two defenders before halting in the path of the sprinting Nicki.

And, of course, the ever-reliable center forward didn’t disappoint. Nicki connected with the pin-point pass with the side of his boot, smashing the ball past the keeper’s despairing dive to score Rosenborg’s first goal for the night.

The center forward then rushed towards Zachary to celebrate while shouting at the top of his voice. He was grinning from ear to ear as he spread his arms out and gave the teammate, who’d provided the assist for his goal, a bear hug. The rest of the Rosenborg players soon joined them and started singing and chanting like madmen.

—–

Rosenborg BK 1 (4) : Juventus 2 (3)

—–

The excitement was in the air as Rosenborg had just overtaken Juventus when considering the aggregate score. The cheers reverberated across the stadium for minutes as the home fans celebrated their team’s effort.

”What an effective style of play from Rosenborg,” the commentator’s voice sounded a moment later. “They’ve accomplished an incredible feat with only a single counter and a single shot on target. They’ve scored the long-awaited goal during the 85th minute and are now ahead of Juventus by an aggregate score of four goals to three. If they can defend well and prevent the Italian giants from getting a goal back, they’ll be the team qualifying for this season’s Europa League quarterfinals.”

—–