บท 51: Battle against The Fox (2)
Nicola Cortese, president of Southampton club, applauded seeing Kazuki's goal. Nicola sat on the VIP seat at the Luxury Box. He sat next to the president of Leicester City, Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha.
Nicola is the president and owner of 68% of holdings of Southampton. To be specific, he is someone who has the biggest vote rights in the Southampton club. Nicola is not an idealist, he bought Southampton stock holdings not because he loves football, but because he wants money from it.
For him, football is a business, which is why he has not hesitated about selling Gareth Neill, and several other talented players. However, just because he didn't love football, it's not mean he didn't understand football. Most of Southampton's revenue comes from broadcast as well as ticket sales.
Meanwhile, Southampton rarely makes money on player transfers, as very few players are 'worthy' to sell. Nicola himself understands that there are some players that he cannot sell. They are players like Hugo and Simone, although both players are playing quite well, they are past their golden age, and Southampton needs to keep players like that.
For that reason, Nicola was very happy with Kazuki's appearance. Unlike Hugo and Simone, Kazuki would move to another club, meaning it was a good time for him to profit from player transfers. After listening to the Director of Football, Susan Whalen, Nicola understood that the upcoming summer transfer window was not the right time for Southampton to sell Kazuki.
Recently, the dispute between Kazuki and also Denilson had Nicola heard. Denilson's agent continued to pressure the club to sanction Kazuki, but Nicola naturally paid no heed.
Nicola's eyes stared at Kazuki who was celebrating, he whispered, "It's clear who is more important."
He opened his cellphone and gave Susan a message.
[Include Denilson to the list of summer transfer window player sales.]
Next season, Kazuki will be the core of Southampton's team. To support Kazuki so that he can play better, Nicola will get rid of Denilson who has been a thorn in the Southampton team since he rejected Kazuki's appearance.
***
The match between Leicester and Southampton continued after Southampton managed to score the first goal. Leicester had the ball, while Southampton put a low block line. In midfield, Maddison was moving here and there, he was the link point between one player and another.
In the 28th minute, Leicester got a golden opportunity. Maddison got past Simone, he brought the ball forward. Rudolf tries to snatch the ball from Maddison. The Leicester City midfielder provided a pass to Perez. Ayoze Perez and Alphonso Davies made a one-two pass, Alphonso entered the box and received a pass from Perez.
Alphonso provides a pass into the middle of the penalty box. Adama Traore failed to get the ball, but the ball continued to move to the left side of the Southampton defense. Danny Ward came on and delivered a powerful shot, but the shot was far from the target, the ball flew far into the stands.
In midfield, Maddison who saw that cursed loudly, "Fucking dumb forward."
Maddison is frustrated with Leicester's forwards. The Foxes made it to 9th position, largely due to the services of Leicester's midfield. Maddison wonders if he has a good striker, how many assists can he get? Seeing Leicester's useless forwards, Maddison made up his mind to leave this club.
In the 35th minute, Southampton launched a counter-attack. Okhalo managed to cut through Maddison's pass to Adama Traore, then he brought the ball forward and passed it to Simone. Simone passed the ball to Benson, who did the Overlap. Benson dribbles the ball across the half-line. He provided a long pass towards the left-wing. Kounde and Ngogi Kante compete for the ball.
Kounde adjusted his position, the ball that flew towards him was met by the outside of the right foot, the ball bounced back over Kante's head. Kounde carried the ball at full speed, he did a step-over to pass Evans. Kounde dribbles the ball into the penalty area, just as the Leicester goalkeeper stepped forward to grab the ball. Kounde provides the pass to the right side of the penalty box. Osmund came and put the ball into the Leicester City net.
"Goaall! A beautiful counter-attack from Southampton. Kounde's speed and skill broke the Leicester defense. Osmund put the ball in after receiving a pass from Kounde. Southampton went 2-0 up against Leicester."
Leicester continued to struggle for goals, but until the end of the first half, Leicester failed to score.
After 15 minutes of rest, the game started again. Leicester replaced Adam Traore with Okazaki. Okazaki is a Japanese player who plays as a substitute striker at Leicester City. Kazuki didn't expect Okazaki to play. Even though Kazuki didn't close with Okazaki but as a fellow Japanese player, he felt excited.
The second half of the match between Leicester and Southampton begins. One of Nigel Pearson's instructions for the second half was to score as soon as possible. Leicester immediately did pressing on Southampton, who had started the kick-off. Southampton's formation is slightly closer to make it easier to pass between players. With a tight formation, Southampton was able to withstand pressing from Leicester.
In the midfield, Kazuki actively helped Simone and Rudolf. He connects the players with his passes and dribbles. Kante continued to annoy Kazuki, but without making any fouls, Kante seemed to have a hard time stealing the ball from Kazuki. To fight Kante, Kazuki made good use of his posture.
In the 51st minute, Daniel Aimerte managed to cut off the pass that Kazuki gave to Kounde. Daniel takes the ball across the half-line. After that, he gave the pass to Maddison. Simone used physical confrontation to annoy Maddison, but Okazaki stepped in and helped Maddison with a one-two pass. Maddison brought the ball to the front of the penalty box, at the same time, Both Leicester wingers ran towards the penalty box. However, just when everyone thought Maddison was going to pass, he instead kicked the ball from outside the box.
The ball flew like a rocket into the top right corner of the Southampton goalpost. Dean Smith jumped up and extended his arm, but only his fingertips hit the ball. The ball failed to be reflected, finally, the ball went into the Southampton net.
Leicester City fans cheered. Noise filled the King Power stadium. Leicester City managed to reply with a goal against Southampton. There is still enough time for Leicester City to turn things around.
Maddison celebrated while repeating the words, "This is how to fucking score a goal." He vented his frustration on Leicester's forwards. Alphonso Davies and Danny Ward could not deny Maddison's words.
In these circumstances, Southampton must choose whether they will attack to increase the goal advantage, or maintain goal advantage with a defend? A wrong choice can lead Southampton to defeat.
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