Chapter 14 Drop To Europa League
Supreme United had come into the second half with the goal of getting an equalizer and maybe a winning goal but the FC Barcelona players had kept that goal away from them long enough for Ciro to come in and completely shatter it.
Supreme United were down three goals to one now and with the way they were playing and Ciro now in the game, it looked like they were going to concede more if they didn't do something about their defense.
"It's Supreme United one, FC Barcelona three," Jim said.
"A wonderful header from Lelemar to complete his hattrick," Steve said.
"Yeah and a wonderful pass from Ciro to set that up," Jim said.
"We said he was going to do it and it didn't take him up to five minutes to do it and now he has surpassed Churro in the champions league top assist race," Steve said.
The FC Barcelona fans were happy, jubilating, and cheering their players on.
Roland had a really frustrated look on his face as he stood over the ball in the kick-off spot.
He had every right to be frustrated, he was trying his best to get forward, create chances, and all that but his teammates weren't really doing much to him, of course, there were those who were trying like Foden in midfield.
Roland's main cause of frustration was the fact that they were going to drop to the Europa League if they fail to win this match and every hope of winning had already been taken away from them.
The referee blew his whistle to signal the kick-off as Roland quickly rolled the ball to Foden with a back heel pass.
Supreme United tried to keep the ball while thinking of the best-attacking options and how to build their attack because getting past Barcelona's defense wasn't usually an easy task.
Foden made a ball through the middle after receiving the ball from Michael.
He passed the ball to Roland who tried to make a run past Frednado but Frednado quickly drew back to block his path and aware that he couldn't get past him and even if he did Pedro would be there to steal the ball rolled the ball Pelcao.
"Frednado will be like 'not this time," Steve said.
"We're entering the seventieth minute and there has been no action from both sides so far and we really need to see some action from Supreme United," Jim said.
Pelcao sent the ball back to Derik who moved forward toward the eighteen-yard box before finding Zlensky with a short long pass.
Zlensky tried to get past Andrew before playing a pass to Foden who quickly lobbed the ball to Diego on the right wing.
Diego ran past Pierre to get a foot to the ball before bringing it down.
He was now in possession of the ball as he made a run down the right as Arnold tried to stop him.
He feigned crossing the ball to get Arnold out of the way before drilling a low cross towards Roland.
Roland had run past Pedro to meet the ball close to the goal post but now he wasn't in a good position to take the shot but as always he had a trick up his sleeves.
He let the ball roll past him a little before trying to stuff it past Frank with a back heel shot.
"What was that?!" Jim exclaimed.
The ball had almost gone in before Frank had caught it with the help of the crossbar.
He lost balance but he was able to press the ball against the crossbar with his left hand before it could go in.
"That was really close," Steve said.
"Yeah and that back heel shot from Roland was something else," Jim said.
"I think that if Roland was playing for a top-tier club like Real Madrid or Barcelona he would have been a champions league winner by now," Steve said.
"Yeah."
The match continued with Barcelona dominating with their long spell of possession.
They tried many times to get a fourth goal in but all their attempts were either sent flying wide, hitting the crossbar, or getting saved by Perez.
"Barcelona are terrorizing Supreme United here as we enter the ninetieth minute," Jim said.
Carlos had lost the ball to Jeffrey when he tried to enter Barcelona's eighteen-yard box with the ball and now it looked like Barcelona were cooking up something dangerous.
Jeffrey quickly rolled the ball to Frednado who made a long run down the middle and just before entering Supreme United's side of the pitch sent the ball rolling towards Ciro.
"This could be their last attack before the final whistle," Jim said and you could tell he was really excited to see what Barca was going to conjure.
Ciro made a run down the right wing before passing the ball to Vasquez who tried to find shooting space and when he couldn't find any, sent the ball back to Frednado.
Frednado didn't quickly move with the ball as he spotted Ciro making a run into the eighteen-yard box.
The midfielder looked for open spaces in Supreme United's defense and through those spaces, he drilled a low pass to Ciro who got a foot to the ball, eliminated Conan, and took the shot aiming for the bottom left corner.
"Ciro takes the shot! Oh, it's hit the crossbar!" Jim had almost jumped up from his seat.
"And again Supreme United getting saved by the crossbar," Steve said.
"Forty-five percent of their shots tonight had hit the crossbar it's as if part of the reason they came here tonight is to practice hitting the crossbar," Steve said.
"That's funny because hitting the crossbar intentionally is one of Ciro's specialties," Jim said.
Ciro stood there staring at the crossbar before Vasquez came to pull him along.
"He would have stirred four goals clear of Fernandez if he had scored that goal," Jim said.
"Yeah but what about that pass from Frednado, what a neat pass through the legs of Supreme United players in the box," Steve said.
"I've said it before as a Midfielder he has what it takes to become the best in the world," Jim said.
Perez dropped the ball in the eighteen-yard box as the referee checked his watch.
As soon as Perez played the ball in, the referee blew his whistle thrice to signal the end of the match.
"There you have it, the match has finally come to an end," Jim said.
"As expected Lelemar gets the man of the match award," Steve said.
Roland had gone to meet Ciro as soon as the match was over, maybe he wanted a jersey swap.
Although they had just dropped to the Europa League, the Supreme United players didn't make a big deal out of it and neither did the fans. At least now they had hope of winning three trophies this season as they had already won one.
"What a match, entertaining from both sides but the stronger team had to make it out on top. It's Supreme United one, FC Barcelona three." Jim said to conclude the commentary for the match.
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