Harbinger Of Glory

Ukraine retreated, quickly hoping to break any Italian counter while the latter sidey spread back out across the pitch, but their worries were unfounded as Donnarumma took his time in getting up and then servicing the ball to his mates.

From there, Italy settled into long spells of possession, and as they did, almost every attack found Leo somewhere near its beginning.

He dropped alongside the centre-backs when they needed an extra passing option, drifted forward when Barella pushed on and was always there again by the time the ball came back.

He kept it moving with little fuss, switching play one moment, threading simple passes through the lines the next and never lingering on the ball long enough for Ukraine to settle around him.

It gave Italy control and most of all, it forced Ukraine to shuffle from side to side, chasing the ball more often than winning it, but for all of Italy’s possession, the final opening refused to appear.

The moves reached the edge of the Ukrainian block before running out of room and transitioning into another pass, another recycle or another attack beginning where the last had ended.

The San Siro recognised what it was watching, represented by the applause that sounded through the stadium, appreciative of the control their team had established.

But then the chants returned.

Louder this time, and they weren’t asking Italy to keep the ball.

They were asking them to do something with it.

”The stadium, at least the home half of it, is making itself heard,” the commentator said. ”The supporters want Italy to cut loose, and you can feel it from up here.”

Leo took possession again, and the crowd responded instinctively, their anticipation rising with every touch as he carried the ball into the Ukrainian half.

He fed Barella with a crisp pass, but the midfielder, aware of Stepanenko bearing down on him from behind, bounced it straight back.

Still, the Ukrainian didn’t break stride.

He continued his press, closing the final few yards and arriving at Leo’s shoulder just as the return pass rolled into him, hoping to trap him before he had time to think.

But just as it seemed like he’d caused a turnover, Leo used the lightest of touches to push the ball past him and stepped around the other side before collecting the ball again.

The crowd in the stands rose a notch in their chants as well as their postures.

The little movement from the player in the number 22 shirt was nice to see, but they felt like they didn’t want to miss what was going to happen next.

With the ball almost glued to his feet, Leo drove forward in a more controlled acceleration, getting into the space that Stepanenko’s forward run had vacated on the right side of midfield.

”Here’s Leo Calderon...” the commentator’s voice followed him as the noise in the stadium got louder by the second. ”Italy might have something here.”

He opened his body as Chiesa showed short for the ball.

From behind him, Mykolenko moved, sliding across to cut off the passing lane between Leo and the winger after anticipating what he thought was coming.

He could only watch as Leo scooped the ball inward in the next moment instead, his body language suggesting he was going through the central gap himself.

The Ukrainian right back bought it, and so did Sudakov, who collapsed across from the other side, both of them converging on a space that Leo had no intention of going into but was dragging them towards him nonetheless.

From behind him, Stepanenko had recovered enough ground to stick a challenge in from behind, his boot coming through looking to take the ball.

Leo felt it coming and got the ball away just before the contact, bringing his right foot up and down in the same motion before hitting it into the turf beneath the ball with the outside of his boot, the ball taking the grass and skipping right past Mykolenko, who stretched with everything he had and got nothing, turning to chase it into the space behind him.

Chiesa watched all this and had even stepped up a bit to help Leo; he was forced to rethink that as the ball fell right at his feet, slowing down even like some extra help from Leo to keep it from bobbling away.

With little to no hesitation, he took it in his stride and immediately cut inside across Mykolenko’s recovery angle, using the defender’s momentum against him, drawing him across and slowing him down before he then rolled it into the yard of space ahead of the advancing Raspadori with an understated precision of a pass that knew exactly where it needed to go.

Raspadori took one touch to use the pace already on the ball and went past Zinchenko before the Arsenal man had properly set himself.

With nothing else left in his arsenal, Zinchenko reached and found a handful of shirt and held it.

The referee waved play on for a moment, holding the whistle, watching to see if something would come of it anyway, when Raspadori kept going, but despite his best efforts, the grip he tightened more and brought him down eventually.

The referee, seeing that, blew his whistle as the yellow card followed immediately,

Zinchenko received it without any qualms, knowing that something much more detrimental would have come from the move had he let the ball go.

”Beautifully worked from the Italians even though the move’s been halted!” the commentator said.

”And I can not say enough about how important that player was to the grand scheme of things,” the commentator continued as the broadcast cameras found Leo.

”Italy now have a freekick in a very good position,” the co-commentator added.

”This is a dangerous area. Not quite central but close enough that Italy have genuine options here, that is, whether going for it or finding a teammate.”

...

[A/N: I think I made a mistake earlier while writing, with the said mistake being about Zinchenko’s team at this time. So I wrote, ”Former Arsenal man,” but at this point, he was still playing for Arsenal, so my bad if you see it here or in the earlier Chapters. Highlight it with a comment, and I will fix it because I just can’t find it even after going through all my drafts! Thank you]