Chapter 217 Sent Off

The first half of the match had finally come to an end with Barcelona still leading two goals to one.

Unique FC had tried their best to convert with the few chances they had gotten after that goal from Ciro but getting the ball past Frank wasn't as easy as Mateo made it seem when he got the ball past him for that equalizer, the goalkeeper was one of the best shot-stoppers in the world and he wasn't afraid to sweep whenever he gets the chance to do so.

Unique FC had gotten a few chances after that goal from Ciro but FC Barcelona had gotten a lot of chances but Dave didn't want to concede any goal and the defense were trying their best to prevent that too.

Dave had been the most crucial player for the Bilbeth Premier League side so far, the goalkeeper had been saving shots from Lelemar, Vasquez, Ciro, and even the midfielders who wanted to try their luck from far out and ended up being on target.

The best save of the shot so far came from a shot from thirty yards out, Vasquez received the ball from Frednado and just moved a little closer down the middle before he sent the ball flying toward the goalpost.

The ball was sent flying toward the top right-hand corner of the goalpost.

Just to be on the safe side, Dave decided to turn on something as he dived toward it.

[ Ball magnet activated ]

That would have been a great goal but Dave made sure that Vasquez didn't get to celebrate a goal that wonderful as he pushed the ball over the bar with the tip of his glove.

[ 50% stamina remaining ]

'This is the first time since we started this pre-season matches that my stamina has fallen this low during the first half, the lowest it fell was against Manchester United until now.' The goalkeeper said subconsciously as he walked down the tunnel with his teammates.

<Well, your opponent is Barcelona so there's nothing to be surprised about, it would have been lower than this if you had not added those stat points to dexterity>

'Yeah.' The goalkeeper replied. 'At least my energy didn't fall that low and a little percentage of it will be recovered at the locker room along with my stamina.'

[ 89/127 Energy ]

After getting scolded, informed, and reshuffled a bit in the locker room, the players made their way back to the pitch to kick off the second half.

"Welcome back everyone, the second half is about to kick off as we can see the players making their way back to the pitch now," Jim said.

[ 77% stamina remaining ]

[ 99/127 Energy ]

'I think I won't have any problem with these until the match is over.' The goalkeeper said before he began to make his way onto the pitch.

"This scoreline is very surprising from what we've seen so far in the first half, Barcelona should be five goals up now at least but they're just one goal up." Steve articulated.

"Dave Richards is a beast, he's the reason why they aren't getting trashed yet, if the defense had been a little more efficient in doing their job, the match would still be on leveled terms by now," Jim said. "Unique FC usually turn into a different team in the second half whenever their performance in the first half isn't that good, let's just hope this is one of those times, I want to see a heated match."

Mateo was standing over the ball now at the kick-off spot waiting for the referee's whistle and as soon as he heard it, he quickly sent the ball back to Martinez who received the ball and quickly sent it back to Dave who moved closer to the edge of the box to receive the ball.

"They've moved the ball back to Dave, it looks like he's going to try that impossible shot of his," Jim said.

"That's definitely what it looks like, alright," Steve said.

The winger moved the ball back before he pulled his right leg back and quickly sent the ball flying toward Barcelona's goalpost.

"Have a test of this!"

The ball was sent flying toward the top right-hand side and just as it got closer, it curved a little to the middle.

Frank dived toward the ball and had almost missed it but luckily for him, his arm wasn't out of the picture yet so the ball ended up hitting it before flying off toward the left side, right where Mateo could easily pick it up just as he had done now.

"That was a wonderful save but Mateo's with the ball now, things aren't looking good for Barcelona," Jim said.

The winger quickly made his way into the box and was about to release a shot toward the goalpost when he was quickly brought down under a rough challenge.

"Oh, that was rough," Jim said.

"And I don't think there was any contact with the ball," Steve said.

The referee blew his whistle before he quickly rushed to the area and booked the player but it was just a yellow card.

"As expected, he is going straight into the books and now Unique FC have a massive chance to level the game once again." Jim articulated.

The fans, the coach, and his teammates were all happy to see the winger get up from that tackle like it was nothing, it was nice to see that he wasn't injured.

"This game is going level again." The goalkeeper said as he moved closer toward the edge of his box.

<You think?>

Mateo was standing over the ball now waiting for the referee's whistle with both of his hands on his waist.

After making sure that all the players were out of the box, the referee moved to the side and blew his whistle.

"A massive chance for Unique FC to once again level the game," Jim said.

Mateo removed his hands from his waist and slowly took two steps backward before he quickly closed up on the ball and sent it rolling toward the far right of the goalpost with no elevation.

Frank was glued to the spot as the ball rolled into the goalpost to put the Bilbeth Premier League side back on level terms with the Catalans.

"It's in! Unique FC has started the second half of this match with a bang! What a perfectly executed penalty kick from Mateo and now they're back on leveled terms with the Spanish giants."

"I think Barcelona must have gotten the idea now, the idea that the team they're playing against are no pushovers," Steve said.

"I'm just surprised by how that guy was able to make a shot from that far that powerful," Frank said with his gaze on Dave who was standing inside his box now.

"I told you to watch out for it, you would have known if you had watched the highlights of their match against Eibar, the guy scored from the middle of the pitch," Frednado said.

The players were really happy to get that equalizer but Mateo didn't go that crazy for the goal, he never goes crazy after scoring a penalty.

"Let's just hold onto this one, I'll be fine with a draw against Barcelona," Dave muttered.

<Yeah, but I don't think they'll agree with you>

The match resumed with Barcelona immediately going for the attack, it seemed like Unique FC had finally clicked their rage mode button.

Ciro raced past Harry and passed the ball to Frednado before he zoomed past Roland and received the ball back from Frednado.

"Barcelona are going on a full-fledged attack here, they're clearly not happy," Jim said.

The winger feigned shooting toward the goalpost before dropping the ball off to Vasquez down the ball, just where he wanted it.

"Vasquez!"

The shot was sent flying directly toward Dave so blocking it wasn't a problem but the rebound was sent rolling toward Ciro and since there was no one there, the goalkeeper quickly rushed outside of the box to stop him before he fired the shot.

"This could be the moment!"

Ciro still got to fire the shot but it ended up getting blocked by Dave again, this time from outside the box but this time something seemed to have gone wrong as the referee blew his whistle before making his way to the goalkeeper.

"What's going on here?"

The referee pointed toward his hand to indicate that he had used his hand to block the ball outside the box before showing him a straight red card.

"Oh, my goodness! Dave Richards' been sent off for handling the ball with his hands outside of the box."

****

New year mass release goals.

A magic castle= one extra chapter.

Two magic castles= two extra chapters.

Mass release for goals met last month will still be rewarded on the due dates.