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Chapter 281: The Bue Side of Manchester V

The Manchester City left-back, Oleksandr Zinchenko had been instructed by Pep Guardiola to stay behind with the two center-backs so he could join hands with them to stop Jesus Corona should he be the one to start a counter.

Unlike the pace attributes of Kyle Walker, which allowed him to track back and catch up with Luis Diaz whenever Porto was on the counter using that flank, Zinchenko did not have anywhere near enough pace or even defensive acumen to hold back Jesus Corona.

In the first place, he was originally a center attacking midfielder who was only playing in the left-back position because there was no space for him in the midfield with players like Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Rodri, Fernandinho, Bernando Silva, and even Phil Foden competing for spots.

Thus he had been converted to a left back and thanks to Pep Guardiola’s playing style that allowed wingbacks to influence the team’s attacking options, he had been performing quite well, but that was only offensively.

His defensive skills still left a lot to be desired, hence the manager’s choice of tactics.

Luckily for the Manchester City team, they were able to keep the Porto team at bay with this change in tactics, but before long, misfortune struck them when Kyle Walker suddenly developed a cramp as he chased Luis Diaz down on one of Porto’s attempts at a counter-attack.

The referee quickly blew a whistle and called for medical attention for Kyle Walker who sat down while holding his thigh, no longer able to stand due to the pain shooting his leg.

The medics quickly ran to the field and started checking his leg, but even after spraying painkillers and massaging his legs, Kyle Walker still felt too much discomfort to be able to complete the match and was soon helped off the field by the medics while Joao Cancelo began to warm up on the sidelines.

Kyle Walker was helped off the field and Joao Cancelo ran onto the field, taking his position, and the match resumed with a drop ball.

With a new injection of fresh legs, Luis Diaz who had been managing to launch a counterattack every now and then for the Porto side was now kept in check by Joao Cancelo and was unable to do much for his team.

Porto tried to find new avenues for an attack, but they were unable to do much on the attacking side any longer and were stuck with defending the Manchester City team’s constant attacks and despite some close calls, the two teams held each other to a draw by half time.

With the referee blowing for halftime, the match paused and the players of both teams walked off the field tiredly, needing a rest after such an intensive first half.

The Porto players arrived in their locker room where their head manager waited patiently for them, looking to be deep in thought as he tried to think of how his players should approach the second half of the game.

So far, things were going reasonably well with them staying on the defensive, but with Manchester City adjusting to their attacks and finally being able to put a stop to almost all their counterattacks, it remained to be seen if they could go on to win by staying on the defensive.

Sergio Conceicao doubted that they could win by staying defensive, but he was even more apprehensive about opening up his team’s defense and putting more focus on attacking.

This stemmed from the fact that by staying defensive, they were just barely managing to keep the Manchester City team in check, and opening up would inevitably lead to them conceding a goal.

By going on the attack, the game would become a matter of who could outscore the other rather than who could keep the other in check, but Sergio Conceicao knew that his team did not have as much attacking power as the Manchester City team and would most likely lose in a scoring competition against them.

This was not a speculation on his part, it was a known fact, especially after checking the records of the Manchester City team in the previous season where almost all their matches ended with them scoring at least three goals past their opponents, whoever they were.

The Porto team also had a lot of attacking firepower, but the Manchester City team was just a lot more than they could handle and Sergio Conceicao did not want to take such a risk on the first game of their Champions League campaign.

This was no time for experimentation, they had to get as many points as possible in every match in the group stages and a drop in morale was the last thing they needed.

“Good work boys, we’ve done well to keep them at bay in the first half, but we need to do more in the second half,” Sergio Conceicao pulled himself out of his thoughts and began addressing his players.

“We stick with what we are already doing, stay defensive, keep ourselves sharp and ready for the counterattack,”

“Diaz has done well so far, but you guys also need to step up. There should be more of you guys bursting forward on the counterattack,”

“It’s a team effort and not a single person’s job,” Sergio Conceicao stressed his words as he began to give instructions to the other players on what he expected from his players in the second half.

The fifteen minutes of halftime quickly came and went and the players were soon back on the field and the match resumed.