THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME

Half-time arrived after a few more minutes of gameplay, and the players of both teams returned to their respective dressing rooms. They were eager to get out of the rain and enjoy a few minutes of rest before returning to the pitch for the second half.

"That was an embarrassing performance," Age Hareide, the head coach of Malmö Fotbollförening, said after his players had taken their seats within the visiting team's dressing room. "We were like complete amateurs against Juventus in the first half."

"I am amazed and puzzled by how you all failed to stop a single player from scoring twice using almost the same run through the middle. I can accept the first goal, as that came as a surprise to me. Zachary was exceptional on the ball and easily cut through our entire midfield to score the first goal. But what I cannot accept is the second goal!"

The coach swept his gaze across the players. "Zachary utilized the same run through the middle of the pitch, dribbled past a few of us, and even had time to make his way into the box to score his second goal for the night. What the hell were all of you doing? You already knew that he was on form. You had all witnessed how deadly he was on the ball when he scored the 1st goal. So, why didn't you try your best to stop him?"

The coach paused and glanced around before starting to pace around the dressing room. He stopped beside one of his defensive midfielders a few seconds later and said, "Forsberg! What went wrong? Where was your fighting spirit? A simple tug on Zachary's shirt would have been enough to slow him down and create more time for your teammates to react. Why didn't you do just that and stop him from scoring?"

Emil Forsberg sighed and shook his head on hearing the coach's question. "Coach! Please consider that Zachary is quite fast when you're facing him one-on-one. His long strides allow him an almost-instantaneous acceleration during crucial moments, and he can inch past any of us defensive players with his crazy footwork. Moreover, Zachary uses both legs equally well — an attribute that makes him almost impossible to outwit during one-on-one encounters. You can choose to check his run on your right, but he will alter his center of gravity within a second and break past you from the opposite direction. And before you realize what's happening, he is already far away, causing damage to your side."

"Coach!" Emil Forsberg continued. "I know my words might sound like excuses for my sub-par performance during the 1st half, but I still need to say them. We need to accept and treat Zachary like a world-class player and find an appropriate strategy to contain him. Otherwise, he'll continue causing problems for us during the second half. That's my honest opinion."

"I was just getting to that," Coach Hareide said, stepping back towards the center of the dressing room. "Zachary Bemba is obviously a talented and skilled attacking player. He can spot opportunities in a flash and create goal-scoring opportunities. But that shouldn't cause us to lose our fighting spirit. We can still do our best and use hard work to check his runs. And if that fails, we can foul him. But we can't allow him to continue doing as he pleases. We must not allow him to cut through our entire midfield as if we don't exist. We must play aggressively against him and disturb his rhythm, repeatedly, again and again. That's how we play against a creative player. Do you understand what I'm trying to say, Forsberg?"

"Yes, coach," Forsberg replied. "But you have not clarified how to stop him exactly during the second half? We need an easily executable and realistic strategy if we are to contain him."

"Our only solution is to avoid one-on-one encounters with him during the second half," the coach replied while walking towards the tactics board. "That means we'll need to double-team him while defending against his runs through the middle. Forsberg, you can partner up with Adu to complete this task. Your role is to stop him from breaking through the middle at all costs. You can foul or pull his shirt, but I don't want to see him creating another opportunity during the second half. Understood?"

"Yes, coach," Both Forsberg and Adu replied.

Coach Hareide nodded and spent a few more minutes explaining the tactics for the second half. He then said a few more motivational words to inspire his players before sending them back to the field of play. He had done all he could as a coach and what remained was for his players to execute his plan and stop Juventus' momentum during the second half.

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The game restarted almost immediately after the fifteen-minute halftime break. And as before, the Juventus players used high pressing tactics to pressure the opponents and win the ball back within seconds. In a short while, they were once again controlling the game with their fluid passing while occasionally launching attacks on Malmö's defense.

Juventus was obviously still the better team during the first ten minutes of the second half. But no matter how hard the Old Lady players tried, they still failed to bag the third goal. Their tactical prowess wasn't sufficient enough to allow them to tear through Malmö's defensive shape. They couldn't link up well to create clear goal-scoring chances as they had done during the first half.

"They are double-teaming Zachary and killing off our direct routes to goal," Coach Allegri said to his assistants. "I have to say that it's quite a good strategy."

The Juventus coach smiled and continued assessing the proceedings on the field of play. And within seconds, he finished a complete analysis of Malmö's defensive strategy for the second half. He could tell that Age Hareide, Malmö's head coach, had switched to a 5-4-1 defensive formation since the start of the second half. Hareide had delegated Emil Forsberg and Enoch Kofi Adu, his two defensive midfielders, to mark Zachary and prevent him from creating more scoring opportunities for Juventus. The two Malmö midfielders, in turn, had followed their coach's instructions to the letter and would sometimes even resort to fouling Zachary whenever they couldn't stop him. Obviously, they were not giving the young playmaker a moment of peace on the field of play.

"Coach!" Maurizio Trombetta, the assistant coach in charge of the first team, intoned. "What's your plan?"

Coach Allegri smiled and said, "These double-teaming defensive tactics can only work against small teams that can only field a single playmaker. But we're Juventus! We have many world-class players that can rise to the occasion and become impressive playmakers. Do we need to fear such tactics? Obviously, that is a big NO. We'll allow the opponents to continue wasting their energy, double-teaming Zachary. As for us, we'll create another route towards their goal by introducing Andrea Pirlo into the game. I dare them to double-team two playmakers on the field of play."

"Nice plan, coach," Maurizio Trombetta said with a chuckle. "Zachary can occupy the two defensive midfielders and draw them away from Andrea. Andrea, in turn, can take advantage of the circumstances and become the effective deep-lying attacking pivot that initiates our attacks with his excellent passing abilities. It's indeed a good plan. But who are we taking out?"

"Let's take out Arturo Vidal," Coach Allegri replied. "We no longer need his defensive capabilities within the midfield, especially since Malmö has already lost all the zeal to launch attacks against us. Let's introduce Andrea Pirlo in his place immediately."

"Okay," Coach Trombetta agreed. "I'll tell Andrea to start warming up immediately. He should be ready to step onto the pitch within six minutes."

"That's okay by me," Coach Allegri said before returning his focus to the game. He was still assessing and analyzing the abilities and habits of his field players. He was also planning while watching the game with the intent to build a side that was capable of winning trophies on both the Italian and European scenes.

-----

Andrea Pirlo immediately took control of the midfield after coming on for Arturo Vidal during the 71st minute. He started utilizing his excellent passing range and vision on the pitch to link play with Fernando Llorente and Carlos Tévez, the two strikers. His technical abilities were the best of the best on the ball, and it wasn't long before he created a goal-scoring chance for Juventus.

During the 76th minute, Pirlo skipped past a tackle and unleashed a long-range pass towards the other side of the field. He took out all the midfielders and defenders with a single lofted ball to release Carlos Tévez on a straight course towards Malmö's goal.

Carlos Tévez's pace was as impressive as ever. He escaped the harassment of the opposing center-backs and attempted to connect with Andrea's pass close to the border of the final third.

The atmosphere within the Juventus Stadium became more electrifying as the Argentine stretched out his leg to bring the ball under his command. The home fans cheered at the top of their lungs as they could smell another goal for their club. They were obviously already picturing Tévez scoring the third goal for Juventus on the night.

But regrettably, Tévez's control was not the best, and his first touch carried the ball a considerable distance away from him. As a result, he was forced to run an extra seven or eight yards to compensate for his blunder. And, of course, that extra distance allowed the Malmö defenders to track back and block his route towards their goal. His chance was gone, and his only option was to keep the attack going by passing to another teammate.

"Carlos!" Claudio Marchisio shouted as he ran into an unmarked pocket of space within the final third. "I'm here!"

After hearing Claudio Marchisio's shout, Tévez reacted immediately. He inched past an opponent, heading back towards Juventus' half, before squaring a pass to Marchisio. The latter connected with the ball before passing to Andrea Pirlo. Andrea, in turn, unleashed a long-range raking pass to find Stephan Lichtsteiner on the right flank.

The attack was on as Lichtsteiner controlled the ball perfectly close to the touchline. The speedy wing-back fed the ball past an opponent and exploded with pace, racing along the touchline like a bullet train on the rails. When the angle opened up, he unleashed a perfect curling cross that darted towards Malmö's box like a surface-to-surface missile.

Whoosh!

Zachary, who had remained quiet over the past few minutes due to the pestering of his two bodyguards, reacted immediately. He exploded with speed and tore through the final third, racing into Malmö's box like a lightning bolt.

His long strides ate up yards of space like there was no tomorrow, and he arrived close to the near post in a matter of seconds. A wave of adrenaline flooded through him as he kept track of the fast-approaching ball using his peripheral vision. Not even the aggressive defenders in his vicinity could disturb his focus, as the only thing within his eyes at that moment was the fast-descending ball. He wanted to get the header right and score the third goal for Juventus by hook or crook.

At the right moment, Zachary's previously-mastered CR7 Aerial Finishing Juju worked like a charm, and he pushed off the ground without a care for anything. He towered above everyone else in the box and seemed to hover in the air for a few seconds while angling his head to brush the ball. His heading technique was excellent, and he directed the ball towards the inside of the far post with the slightest of touches. And naturally, his almost-point blank effort flashed past the seemingly dazed keeper and homed into the back of the net.

"GOAL!"

Zachary yelled at the top of his lungs as his feet touched back on the ground. He felt a sudden flare of joy as he had scored his first hat trick as a Juventus player. He whirled around and raced towards the sidelines before punching the corner flag repeatedly to express his delight.

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