?


    After making sure that the yers, the other officials, and everything else were ready, the referee blew his whistle to signal the start of the match.


    "There''s the whistle and we are on the way."


    As soon as Fredinho heard that whistle, he quickly passed the ball to Ferran who didn''t hesitate in sending it to Martinez.


    Unlike in their match against Lazio where they used the four-four-two formation, they were back to using their normal formation in this one.


    Four-three-three formation with Martinez in the defensive midfield position and Ferran and Minino upfront as the attacking midfielders.


    Norman Kole was in the right back position with Adolf and Pirlo covering the center and Rnd on the left.


    Their attack had Mateo on the left obviously, Fredinho in the middle, and Merino on the right.


    Virreal were also ying with the four-three-three formation but it was the normal type with just three central midfielders.


    It had already been three minutes since the match kicked off and so far, Unique FC were still passing the ball around mostly in their own half as they had not been able to progress far enough in Virreal''s side of the pitch.


    Mateo received the ball from Martinez and just before Fraser could run into him, he sent the ball rolling to Ferran with a neat pass.


    Ferran tried to move forward with the ball but his path was blocked so he had to send the ball rolling back to Martinez who trapped it neatly under his foot before he pushed it forward a little and sent it flying over to Merino with a nice long pass.


    "Unique FC is really being cautious here, they don''t want any slip-up."


    The atmosphere in the stadium was quite lively as the fans of both teams were continuously cheering their team on.


    Virreal''s Estadia de Ceràmica wasn''t even in the top ten of thergest stadiums in La Liga but it was a pretty stadium with a nice atmosphere and that was something.


    Right now, Unique FC had managed to get closer to Virreal''s box as Merino was fast enough to pull one the midfielder marking him and quickly get past him.


    He was still with the ball now trying to confuse the left-back trying to stop him and get past him but he quickly checked back to the possibility that he could lose the ball there and sent it rolling back to Minino before the defender could pounce on him.


    "Back to Minino, surely they must have an option."


    Minino sent the ball to Ferran who quickly found Mateo making a run down the left wing and lobbed the ball over to him.


    Mateo wasn''t able to get the ball as it was aggressively headed back by the yer marking him but fortunately for the away side, the ball fell directly to the feet of Rnd who found Merino making a run into the box and immediately sent the ball rolling to him.


    Merino managed to get past two defenders and even got pulled down by one of the defenders in the process but he wasn''t going to let that stop him.


    He got his foot on the ball while he was still on the ground and sent it flying toward the goalpost.


    "I said they must have an option!"


    There was nothing the goalkeeper could do as he was rushing out to grab the ball before Merino fired it, but there was really nothing to be worried about as the ball ended up hitting the left post before rolling out for a goal kick.


    "I cannot believe that didn''t go in! That was sooooo close." Jim expressed.


    "That could have been a nice early opener if only his uracy hadn''t been off by millimeters," Stevemented.


    "Well, he was a bit off bnce given that he took the shot from the floor, I doubt that he would have missed that if he was standing." Jim expressed.


    That was a moment of relief for Virreal yers and everybody supporting Virreal.


    They knew how hard it could be to get back into a game after conceding the first goal and they didn''t want to go through that here.


    They have lost three league matches so far this season and during those matches, they were the first to concede and after that, they just weren''t able to get back into the game.


    They knew how tough Unique FC could be just by seeing their result against Lazio.


    They were aware of the type of defenders and goalkeeper they had, it was pretty clear to them that conceding first wasn''t going to be a nice experience for them and they had no intention of letting that happen.


    With ten minutes being disyed on the match time and still moving, Virreal were the ones moving the ball around now trying to find a way through.


    Unique FC were keeping them at bay for now as they seem to have shut all the possible gaps for them to get closer to their box.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Their only option now was to try and draw out the defense a bit and that was exactly what they were doing.


    Slowly moving the ball back and dragging them out.


    Norman became aware of this pretty quickly and immediately instructed the two center backs not to move too far away from the box.


    Frazer received the ball down the right wing and just before both Mateo and Ferran could get to him, he sent the ball rolling to one of the midfielders who had the name Conrad written above the number six on the back of his jersey.


    Conrad got hold of the ball and quickly spotted their center back zooming past Martinez so he had to send the ball flying over to him with a lob.


    That was a mistake as he failed to take notice of how close the striker had gotten to Adolf or maybe he was just taking a gamble hoping that his teammate would get past Adolf and do something.


    Well, that didn''t work out particrly well for him as Adolf got to the ball with a header before the striker could do anything with it and sent it flying toward Martinez who caught hold of it and quickly sent it Rolling to Rnd before the yer right behind him could attempt to take it from him.


    Rnd caught hold of the ball but he wasn''t allowed to take a break as the midfielder on his side quickly rushed to him with a desperate sliding tackle attempt.


    Rnd was quick enough to read his movement and all he needed to do was tip the ball over him while jumping over him at the same time.


    "That''s just wow, nicely done by Rnd, that could have turned into something else if that ball was taken from him," Jimmented.


    The wingback moved down the middle with the ball before quicklyying it off to Minino who had to pass it back to him before both of the yers around him could gang up on him.


    Rnd received the ball and pushed a little forward with it before passing it to Ferran who quickly passed it to Mateo.


    Mateo zoomed past the right back with the ball before passing it back to Ferran who sent it rolling back to the winger as soon as he forced himself past the defender to get inside the box.


    The defender was pulling on his shirt but he ignored him and sent the ball flying toward the goalpost as soon as he got his foot on the ball.


    The ball was sent flying directly toward the goalkeeper who was able to block it with his body and send it out for a corner kick.


    "Oh, that was so close, that''s their second chance in the match while Virreal has not even been able to get to their goalpost."


    "I''m not sure the goalkeeper would have been able to save that if he wasn''t right there but now they have a corner kick to deal with." Steve expressed.


    Ferran was standing over the ball in the corner spot now while the goalkeeper was making sure that everything was ready.


    The yers from both teams were running around inside the box now, and after making sure that everything was ready, the referee blew his whistle.


    The midfielder slowly took three steps backward before he quickly closed up on the ball and sent it flying into the box.


    The ball was sent flying toward Fredinho but he wasn''t able to get his head on it as the defender right in front of him rose and nodded it away.


    Fredinho and a couple of his teammates seemed to have spotted something at that moment as they quickly turned their gaze to the referee raising their hands.


    Virreal yers wanted to carry on with y but the referee had to bring the match to a halt as the linesman had his g raised for a foul.


    A couple of Unique FC yers were gathered around the referee now iming that the ball made contact with the defender''s hand before he nodded it away and of course, Virreal yers were there to deny it.


    In the end, the referee had to go check VAR to confirm things for himself.


    "Right choice, he''s going to check VAR, Virreal won''t be happy if hees back and awards Unique FC a penalty," Jimmented.


    <That was clearly a handball>


    ''If you think it was a handball then it has to be a handball.''


    As soon as the referee got to the VAR monitor, the screen above the stadium turned and there was something there now confirming that VAR was checking the footage.


    It didn''t take long before the result popped up on the screen.


    ''Handball, penalty decision.'' Dave read subconsciously.


    "Looks like they''re giving it, it was a handball after all and it looks like Unique FC now have a massive chance to take the lead after missing the first two chances they got." Jim expressed.