บท 15: Chapter 15: A Kick To The Knee
After pulling off the link up to that first attempt, Axel believed that things weren't going to be as hard as he thought but perhaps he made that conclusion a little too soon.
The match was in the twenty-seventh minute now and so far both teams were still locked in a stalemate.
Manchester City were doing okay in pushing the ball upfront but whenever they tried to make a decisive move, there was always an Arsenal player there to make an interception.
Arsenal had not been able to fire a single shot on goal so far but they were doing really well in keeping Manchester City at bay.
That was the reason why the home team had five shots on goal but only one of them was on target.
Surprisingly, that only shot on goal came from Axel. Obviously, he wasn't one to attempt shooting on goal whenever he got every little chance to do so, but in this situation, he just had to.
Merino cut through the defense to get into the box and lay the ball off for him inside the box, there was no one in a good position for him to attempt passing it, so he decided to take the shot.
However, an Arsenal player got in the way with a slide just in time to deflect it upward and make it an easy catch for the goalkeeper.
The match had just entered the twenty-ninth minute now and Manchester City were with the ball after Andrea managed to take it off the feet of Arder to stop their annoying passes.
The midfielder quickly sent the ball rolling to Maxi but his position soon got crowded so he pushed it a little further to Axel who moved forward with it a little before he laid it off to Merino down the right wing.
"Merino."
The winger had a player right in front of him but he was able to get past him with a body feint, another one quickly closed up on him from the front with the one he had just taken care of still behind him.
He couldn't take care of them but he still fought hard enough just to see that they sent the ball out for a throw-in, and that worked quite well for him.
"It's a throw-in for Manchester City."
Andrea quickly rushed to the sidelines, picked up the ball, and without hesitation threw it toward Merino.
The opposing players there quickly rushed to the winger to take the ball off his feet but with a backheel nutmeg, the winger was able to quickly get past him.
There was another player right in front of him, but he had no intention of taking him on.
He pushed the ball to Andrea before quickly moving past the left back and Andrea did well to return the ball to him.
"That's great teamwork from Merino and Andrea."
The winger raced down the wing with the ball before attempting to cut into the box with it.
One of the center backs in the area quickly closed up to try and stop him but the winger feigned firing at the goalpost to get him to act up before quickly moving past him with the ball.
"He's still going, this could be their chance to take the lead!"
He had clear sight of the goalpost now, and without hesitation, he fired straight toward the goalpost.
He was on the right side so he attempted to stretch the goalkeeper toward the left but Allen got the gist of what he was going to do on time and quickly dived toward the ball.
"Wonderful save from Allen but it's in the box now and up for grabs!"
Axel was one of the closest Manchester City players in the area and without hesitation, he quickly rushed to the ball which had just bounced inside the box once.
"Above everything else, we have to win this match."
He was just about to get his foot on the ball and push it into the box when an Arsenal player, one of the defenders to be precise came in from the side and brushed him off in an attempt to get his foot on the ball first.
His left boot hit the youngster right on his knee and now he was tumbling on the floor with both of his hands on the spot where he had received impact.
"Uh oh, that doesn't look good."
The referee blew his whistle before quickly rushing to the area to show the defender a yellow card.
"That's a yellow card for Belman but Axel is still on the floor."
"Just a yellow card? Come on, that's a red card offense!" Maxi snapped before quickly making his way to the referee.
Getting a penalty just wasn't enough for him, he wanted Arsenal to be short of one man too.
"Looks like Manchester City players are not particularly happy with the referee even after making that call, but I don't really blame them, that looked quite intentional, his foot was just too far away from the ball," Mike commented.
The home fans agreed with that notion and were causing a ruckus about it now.
However, it didn't look like the referee was going to change his mind and he even ended up showing Maxi a yellow card because he was talking too much.
"That's Maxi's fifth yellow card now, looks like he will be missing the trip to West London."
Axel received treatment from the medical team while everyone else were busy talking to the referee and after a couple of minutes, he was able to get up on his feet.
He leaped a step forward before raising his hand to inform everyone that he was going to be okay, he also weaved in a smile to make sure he got that message across properly.
"Good news for Manchester City, it looks like Axel will be able to continue but he appears to be limping a bit." Tony articulated.
"That sure hurt a lot." The youngster muttered before moving closer to the box.
It was time to take the penalty kick now as Tacky could be seen standing over the ball with his gaze on Allen who was busy jumping on his goal line.
Everyone else was standing behind him outside the box with the referee making sure that none of them were encroaching into the box.
"This is City's chance to take the lead, they can't mess this up."
After making sure that everything was ready, the referee blew his whistle, and as soon as Tacky heard that, he slowly turned his gaze to the ball.
He was already standing a good distance away from the ball, so without hesitation, he closed up on the ball and fired it toward the goalpost.
He sent it flying toward the right side with just a little bit of elevation while Allen dived to the left side.
"He makes no mistake! They have the lead, it's one-nil!"
The striker raced off to the side with his teammates quickly running after him and the fans screaming at the top of their voices.
"He just sent Allen the wrong way, brilliant penalty kick."
Axel didn't feel like going to join them but he just had to, while all his teammates were smiling, he had a rather gloomy look on his face and he was trying to hide that by keeping his gaze on the floor.
'Coach is going to replace me earlier than expected now that this happened, and worst of all.'
"This still hurts." He bit his lower lip before shifting his gaze to his right knee.
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