Soccer: I became Bruno Fernandes.

Chapter 6: Finally, It's My Turn

On the second day of Bruno's 18th birthday, the entire Novara team headed south to Cesena. They would challenge Cesena in an away game on the evening of September 9th, local time in Italy.

This was the last match of the third round of Serie B.

Cesena is a beautiful seaside town, and its quiet streets exude a rich historical and cultural atmosphere. In this highly inclusive small town, football has become an important factor in uniting the entire city. Two top-level coaches who shook the world of football, Sacchi and Lippi, emerged from here.

However, Cesena's club performance has been quite ordinary, with no glorious history despite competing in Serie A for several seasons in the past.

As the bottom team of last season, Cesena's performance in the first two rounds after relegating to Serie B was disappointing. They suffered humiliating defeats with scores of 0:3 and 1:3 against Sassuolo and Vicenza, respectively. Excluding the point deduction, they were the true bottom team of Serie B.

In this match between the relegated brothers of Serie A this season, Novara, playing away, unexpectedly played at a high level in the first half. Their Albanian forward, Argon Muhamedi, scored a hat-trick in just 21 minutes, causing a major collapse for the home team.

To make matters worse, under the circumstances of mental imbalance, their midfielder, Iori, was maliciously fouled and sent off with a red card in the 42nd minute, directly putting the home team in dire straits.

Everyone knew that there was no suspense in this match anymore. Cesena would suffer another heavy defeat in the third round of the new season, while Novara would secure their first victory of the new season.

...

At halftime, Coach Tesser instructed his assistant to inform Bruno to warm up well as he would be substituted in the second half at an appropriate time. This made Bruno very happy. After joining the team for a month, he finally got the chance to make his first-team debut.

This would also be the first official match of his professional career!

However, good things never come easy.

Just when Bruno thought he would get the chance to play in the second half soon, time kept passing because the team conceded a goal early in the second half.

Perhaps the three-goal lead established in the first half and the overwhelming advantage of playing with an extra player made the Novara players too relaxed at the start of the second half. They showed obvious problems in their performance at the beginning of the second half, and Cesena seized the opportunity. Their forward, Gaffed, took advantage of Novara's defensive loopholes and scored a goal in Cesena's first attack of the second half.

This conceded goal made Tesser very angry. He ran to the sidelines to reprimand some careless Novara players, then stood on the sidelines to supervise the game, even forgetting about substitutions.

It wasn't until the 60th minute, after Novara had resisted Cesena's onslaught and stabilized their defense, that Tesser finally remembered to let Bruno substitute. He quickly instructed the assistant coach to inform Bruno to warm up.

...

Although Bruno was very eager to play when he entered the game, he knew the importance of preparation. He rigorously warmed up on the sidelines, returning to the bench only after five minutes to receive tactical instructions from the assistant coach.

Tesser's intention was very clear: Bruno would become Novara's midfield commander after coming on, organizing the team's attacking system. The head coach gave him almost half an hour to show convincing performance, hoping he could impress Tesser.

Of course, the latter part was Bruno's own understanding. He was very clear that if his performance after coming on was not good, his playing time in subsequent matches would be greatly restricted.

When Bruno changed into his jersey and stood on the sidelines waiting to come on, there was still no dead ball situation on the field. It wasn't until the 72nd minute of the game that he finally came on as a substitute.

Seeing Novara substitute off midfielder Francesco Paravisi and replace him with an 18-year-old rookie, almost everyone thought Tesser was ready to seal the win.

This was also a common practice. When a team led by two goals and had an extra player advantage after 70 minutes of play, they would generally choose a more conservative approach to secure the victory. After all, most players would encounter physical fatigue at this time and wouldn't be as aggressive.

The league is a long process, a 42-game marathon, requiring reasonable distribution of physical energy.

However, Bruno didn't think so. In his view, the remaining twenty minutes were the performance time given to him by the head coach. In order to leave a deep impression on the head coach, he needed to fully display his skills and abilities in this short twenty minutes, to impress Tesser.

...

When making the substitution, Paravisi, who was replaced, patted Bruno on the shoulder with some sympathy on his face: "Poor kid, his debut is most likely going to pass by in garbage time."

As both teams settled into their positions, the camera focused on Bruno.

The handsome young man stood proudly among the team.

"Ladies and gentlemen! This is Bruno Fernandes, the Portuguese youngster signed by Novara in the summer! He is about to make his debut for Novara, marking his first appearance since joining the team and the beginning of his professional career!"

The voice of the local Cesena TV commentator rang out.

As Bruno ran onto the field and stood at the midfield position, Paravisi, who received a red card in the first round and just returned in this round, came over and said somewhat wordily, "Later, make a few more passes, demand the ball more, move around more, be patient. We're leading now, no need for risky choices. When we attack later, I'll find you first, and if it doesn't work out, just keep possession, I'll come to support..."

Paravisi was also well-meaning. As a defensive midfielder, he worked tirelessly on the field, often taking the blame for attacking players. He received his second yellow card in the first round, just to cover for Paravisi.

"Okay, Daniel!" Bruno replied absentmindedly, his eyes fixed on Cesena's goal.

After nearly a month of learning Italian, Bruno could now communicate with his teammates simply, but he still didn't understand much of what Paravisi said.

Of course, even if he could understand completely, he wouldn't do it.

He was an attacking player!

...

With the referee's whistle, the game resumed.

Novara had the throw-in as it was their ball before the break, so Novara had to take the throw-in.

Coming from Milan's youth academy, Giringelli passed the ball to Bruno, who passed it back to Paravisi, then ran forward with his head covered.

At the same time, Cesena's players also quickly pressed up, preparing to regain possession with high pressure in the midfield and frontcourt, then counterattack Novara.

Although trailing by two goals and playing with ten men, Cesena did not intend to give up. Their counterattacks at the beginning of the second half had already achieved results. Now, with nearly twenty minutes left, they still had a chance!

As the ball returned to defender Giringelli's feet, Cesena forward Gaffed had already reached the front.

Moreover, Cesena's other two attacking players also rushed up like tigers coming down the mountain.

"Cesena high press! Novara just made a substitution, this is our chance!" the Cesena local TV commentator exclaimed loudly.

Giringelli looked up and saw Bruno's direction, then kicked the ball out with a big foot. The football drew an arc in the air and fell towards Bruno's running position.

At the same time, Cesena's defensive midfielder and left-back had already quickly approached Bruno.

(End of Chapter)