Soccer: I became Bruno Fernandes.

Chapter 285: Hidden Threat

After receiving the ball, Alexis Sánchez faced Udinese's defense without hesitation and chose to make a strong breakthrough! Confident in his skills and speed, Sánchez didn't take his South American compatriot, Udinese's right-back Iván Piris, seriously.

Piris wasn't slow either, but he still struggled against Sánchez. With a quick turn, Sánchez gained a body length lead. Sánchez thought that after breaking through Piris, he would easily enter the penalty area. However, he soon found another player blocking his path—a guy in an Udinese jersey with the number 8 on it.

From the moment Arsenal kicked off, Bruno had been watching Sánchez closely. Even though Arsenal's starting forwards included the Frenchman Olivier Giroud and the Englishman Theo Walcott, Bruno knew that Sánchez was the real threat.

Sure enough, Özil passed the ball to Sánchez instead of Walcott or Giroud. As soon as the ball was transferred to Sánchez, Bruno rushed over. Seeing Piris easily bypassed, he sped up to close in on Sánchez, positioning himself to force Sánchez either towards the corner flag or into a one-on-one duel. Bruno was not afraid of such a confrontation.

"Sánchez thinks he's broken through, but now he's facing another tough opponent—Bruno! Bruno is Udinese's offensive playmaker, but people often overlook that he actually possesses strong defensive abilities," the Italian commentator explained. After two and a half seasons, Italian commentators were well-versed in Bruno's abilities.

No longer did they ignore Bruno's contributions, knowing that doing so would make it impossible to properly commentate on Udinese's matches. "Bruno is pushing Sánchez out wide..."

Sánchez was contemplating whether to force his way past this annoying player. He had been pushed to the side of the penalty area. Initially, after breaking through Piris, he was in front of the penalty area, but now he was pushed to the side. If he didn't break through, he would only earn a corner, which was not the result Sánchez wanted.

Sánchez suddenly stopped abruptly, intending to shake off Bruno and break into the penalty area from the inside. But as he stopped, he realized that Bruno had also made an abrupt stop, as if they had planned it together. Sánchez was surprised, thinking he hadn't given any obvious sign of his intention to stop. To deceive his opponent, he hadn't even slowed down.

How did that guy guess? Sánchez didn't know that Bruno's intuition had already told him what Sánchez was planning. So, as Sánchez stopped, Bruno's brain had already commanded his body to slow down and stop.

With his sudden stop failing to deceive Bruno, Sánchez found it hard to break through. Typically, a forward in such a situation should pass the ball back to a teammate and then cut inside to find another opportunity. But Sánchez, confident in his skills, decided to force his way through.

As he restarted, Bruno followed suit, continuing to push him outward. Sánchez aimed to reach the baseline and slip in from there. When Sánchez made another feint to break through, Bruno didn't fall for it. Instead, he decisively went for a sliding tackle.

Bruno's tackle was bold and without hesitation, going straight for the ball between Sánchez's legs. Worried about injury, Sánchez slightly pulled back his right leg. Bruno seized the opportunity to slide and hook the ball away.

Sánchez, trying to avoid injury, sidestepped the tackle. Bruno quickly got up, leaving Sánchez no chance to reclaim the ball. Seeing the ball wasn't out of bounds, Sánchez turned back, but Bruno had already secured it.

Bruno's successful defense against Sánchez elicited cheers from the traveling Udinese fans, and the commentators praised his impeccable defense. Intercepting the ball without letting it go out of bounds and maintaining possession demonstrated great skill.

After gaining control, Bruno didn't hold the ball, knowing that Arsenal's left-back Nacho Monreal and left midfielder Aaron Ramsey were closing in, along with Sánchez. He quickly passed to Piris and moved forward, with Udinese gaining possession just a minute after kickoff.

With the ball back in their control, Udinese executed their pre-game strategy—to engage Arsenal in an offensive duel. Bruno was determined to lift his teammates' confidence in beating Arsenal.

Bruno moved to midfield, leaving his defensive position. Arsenal deployed a 4-3-3 formation with Coquelin as the defensive midfielder, Ramsey as the attacking midfielder, and Özil as the playmaker. This trio had strong offensive capabilities but was weaker defensively.

Coquelin, once a strong defensive midfielder, hadn't regained his form since returning from injury in January. When Bruno approached, Coquelin kept an eye on him but didn't press immediately, lacking firsthand experience against Bruno.

Ramsey, familiar with Bruno, moved to intercept him. Bruno received a pass from teammate Badu but quickly passed to Immobile to handle the attack. Positioned between a midfielder and forward, Immobile had the flexibility to adapt. Following coach Guidolin's instructions, Bruno trusted Immobile's talent to threaten Arsenal's goal.

Immobile faked a pass, tricking Koscielny before sending the ball. Unfortunately, Di Natale and Immobile weren't on the same page. Di Natale had already moved, resulting in an offside. Bruno continued to hand over the playmaking duties to Immobile, making Arsenal realize he was the main playmaker, not Bruno.

Özil was surprised but quickly deduced that Bruno's task was likely to mark him. Bruno's subsequent actions confirmed this, consistently defending Özil instead of Badu. Immobile was also puzzled, expecting to share playmaking duties. However, with Bruno's lack of defensive pressure, he took on the responsibility without hesitation, though his timing with teammates was still off.

Although Immobile followed Guidolin's instructions to play decisively, he struggled to synchronize with his teammates. Bruno, with superior vision and timing, was unmatched. Only Real Madrid's Modric, Barcelona's Iniesta, and Arsenal's Özil could rival Bruno as top playmakers. These four were often cited by the media as the best playmakers in world football.

Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.

Read 20 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/cortez10