My Goalkeeping System

Mateo received the ball from Ferran and quickly got past the right back with a snake bite and when the next player tried to stop him, he got past him with wonderful ball control and neat footwork to get inside the box.

"Mateo's through and he's got a shooting opportunity here," Jim said.

The winger was about to release the ball toward the goalpost when the ball was aggressively taken off his foot causing him to fall in the process.

He raised his hands and called for a foul and a penalty kick but there was no response from the referee.

"Nice defending, they're trying their best to hold on to the lead with Unique FC attacking aggressively now," Jim said.

"Never in my life would I imagine Unique FC putting this much pressure on Barcelona," Steve said.

Since that wonderful free-kick goal from Ciro, Unique FC seem to have gone into rage mode, attacking with everything they had and quickly recovering the ball after they've lost it.

The only thing good about Barcelona at this point of the game was that their defense could handle that ferocious style of attack well and their midfield still make important interceptions but their attack had become less efficient.

The clock had just hit the ninetieth minute and the Catalans were still with the ball, all they wanted to do now was stall them by passing the ball around pointlessly until the added time was complete but not everybody agreed to that.

The official with the board raised his board to indicate that there was going to be five minutes of added time.

Unique FC players thought it was going to be enough time for them to get their equalizer until something happened.

Vasquez received the pass from Lelemar inside the box and was about to fire toward the goalpost when he was pushed down by Pirlo inside the box.

The referee didn't need to look twice before blowing his whistle while pointing to the penalty.

"Vasquez has been brought down inside the box and it's a penalty for FC Barcelona in added time," Jim said.

The players tried to talk the goalkeeper into rethinking his decision but it didn't look like he was going to listen to them, the penalty was going to stand and that was that.

"The match is about to come to an end and now they have been given the chance to end it with a two-goal lead." Steve said.

The ball was dropped at the penalty spot as Ciro Martinez made his way toward it.

'If he scores this, it will mean that he has completed his hat trick against me.' The goalkeeper said subconsciously as he adjusted his gloves.

<You should know that there's a deduction for conceding a hat trick>

'A deduction? Seriously?'

<Yeah, the exp will be deducted from your match rewards and if the exp you earned there is not enough, it will be taken from your exp bar>

'I don't like the sound of that.'

<And you shouldn't but don't worry, the exp isn't that much>

'Are you sure?'

<Yeah>

Ciro was standing over the ball now waiting for the referee's whistle with the rest of the players standing behind him outside the box.

"If Ciro scores this, it will complete his hat trick," Jim said.

The referee blew his whistle but the winger didn't quickly move toward the ball, he quickly observed Dave's movements between the sticks for a while before he slowly took two steps backward.

'His penalty kicks are mostly to the right with a little elevation.'

<But you can't be too sure, the only way to be sure and save this penalty kick is to use that skill>

'That skill? No, I'm not using that painful skill.' The goalkeeper said subconsciously as he shook his head.

<Suit yourself then>

Ciro quickly closed up on the ball and sent it flying toward the goalpost.

Dave guessed right in the direction but he was pretty wrong with the elevation, the winger had fired the ball toward the top right-hand corner while his dive was mid so he wasn't able to get his hand on the ball and it ended up falling into the back of the net.

"What a way to put it away, Dave went the right way but he couldn't get the elevation," Steve said.

"And that's his hat trick, Ciro Martinez doing what he does best," Jim said.

<And now you're going to get that deduction>

'Keep quiet.'

"Unique FC tried their best but it looks like it's another win in the bag for FC Barcelona," Steve said.

There was nothing more Unique FC could do and once the added time was complete, the referee blew his whistle thrice to bring the match to an end.

Other teams would be sad after losing a match like that but not Unique FC, the fact that they were able to put up a fight against FC Barcelona was enough reason to be happy with themselves.

Norman was even smiling at them as they came off the pitch and the coaching team were really happy with them.

The statistics board showed that they had a total of forty-six percent ball possession in the match while Barcelona had fifty-four percent. They played sight shots with five being on target while Barcelona played twenty-five shots with eighteen being on target, Dave had a lot to deal with in the match, and the fact that he faced all those shots and only conceded four goals was proof of how impressive he was.

The goalkeeper didn't hesitate to make his way to Ciro to ask for his shirt as soon as the match was over.

"Unique FC had just proven today that they have what it takes to fight for the Bilbeth Premier League title this season and that Conference League trophy, I can't wait for the season to kick off so we can see how things will play out." Jim expressed.

"Yeah, they're showing a lot of promise." Steve said."

"Alright, that brings us to the end of our coverage today, goodbye and we'll see you all next time."

Ciro wasn't that good with English and Dave wasn't that good with Spanish either but he still managed to get the shirt.

Just looking at the number on the back was enough to put a bright smile on his face.

"Hey, guess what I got?" The goalkeeper asked as soon as he caught up with Mateo just as he was about to start heading down the tunnel.

"Ciro's shirt." The winger replied.

"How do you know?"

"Because I saw you exchanging your shirt with him." He replied.

"Oh," The goalkeeper said before bringing down his gaze to see that his teammate was also holding a Barcelona shirt with the number eleven on it. "I see you got Lelemar's shirt."

"He was the one that asked for the swap and how could I ever refuse? I wanted to get Ciro's but you were already there so…." The winger said.

"Oh, I see." The goalkeeper said.

"Hey, guys!"

The two turned their gaze toward the area to see Emma and Emilia standing near the stands.

"What's up?" Dave said after getting to the area with Mateo.

"At some point, I thought you guys were going to draw with Barcelona until Ciro struck with that free kick and I realized that it was just impossible," Emma said.

"Did you call us here to taunt us?" Mateo said with a grim look on his face.

"Hey, Mateo!"

The winger quickly looked up to see Sofia in the stands right above them.

"I thought you had gone down the tunnel but it's a good thing you're here." The blonde-haired teenager said. "Nice work but you guys still got trashed just as I predicted!"

"Two goals isn't exactly trashing, you know." Mateo said.

"Who's she?" Emma asked after taking a glance at her.

"She's…um… Mateo's friend." Dave replied.

"Friend." She said before returning her gaze to the blonde girl, she kept her gaze on her for a while before bringing it down to her little brother.

*****

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.