Real Madrid was quick to react after conceding Brighton's goal.
The Whites, wounded in their pride, increased their pressure in midfield, trying to regain control of the possession ga.
Óscar Rodríguez and César Gelabert, who ca on to help turn the ga around, intensified their movents in midfield, trying to distribute the ball quickly to the wingers.
In the 67th minute, Real Madrid put together a promising move. Antonio Blanco received the ball in the middle and, with a sweet pass, found Gelabert on the edge of the box.
The midfielder dominated and unleashed a right-footed shot.
Anton was alert and parried it away, but the ball fell to Borja Mayoral, who finished with a first-ti shot. To Brighton's relief, Luiz Fernando appeared again, blocking the shot at the last mont.
Brighton's defense remained solid, because of the tactical and physical improvents made over the last two months, but Real Madrid wanted an equalizer at all costs.
Lucas, sensing that his opponents were dominating possession, called for more calm and organization. He didn't need to kick the ball away from the defense every ti they had it just because Real Madrid was pressing, because if Brighton wanted to keep the lead, they needed to breathe and keep the ga under control.
In the 71st minute, Brighton regained possession after a mistake by Blanco. Javier, alert, intercepted the ball and played it quickly to Felix, who found Lucas in the middle.
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Brighton's No10 dominated and raised his head. Hakimi was already closing in to press him, but Lucas knew exactly what to do.
'Ti to return the favor,' he thought.
Activating his Explosive Acceleration, Lucas shot forward. Hakimi tried to keep up, but Lucas had already gained two ters of advantage and had a breath that seed inexhaustible. With a dry dribble, he passed Gelabert, who stretched out his leg to intercept him, but missed.
However, when he least expected it, Lucas felt a defender was coming at him. Adrián de la Fuente, a strong and experienced defender from Real Madrid's youth academy, wouldn't try to disarm him with precision. The furious look on his face clarified he was only coming to bring Lucas down and stop his advance at any cost, in order to avoid a repeat of the move that led to the goal.
Lucas realized the danger and, in an instant, activated his ability. A sudden impact ran through his body and his weight tripled.
De la Fuente, when he ca to knock his shoulder against Lucas' shoulder, felt the resistance that he hadn't expected. Instead of knocking Lucas down, it was he who felt the impact and almost stumbled backward in disbelief.
'What? How is this guy so heavy?' De la Fuente opened his eyes wide, completely stunned.
Lucas felt the effect of the skill, his body heavy and slow. There was no way he could run when he was so heavy and there was a cooldown to deactivate. De la Fuente was close enough to realize this in a few monts and easily took the ball off Lucas' slow feet.
Then Lucas pulled the ball back with a subtle touch, suddenly stopping his run. The Real Madrid defender braked to get back and mark Lucas, but Lucas had already looked ahead.
There was no one well positioned in the area to finish imdiately. Arthur was still running to get into position, but Lucas saw an opportunity.
Goalkeeper Mohad Ramos was slightly ahead of him.
With an ambitious and unscrupulous soul, Lucas took a chance. With one touch, he lifted the ball and unleashed a long-range shot aid at the top corner of the goal.
Once again, a Lucas' move had the whole stadium holding its breath.
The ball traveled in an almost perfect arc, forcing Mohad Ramos to desperately jump backward. With that leap, the rengue goalkeeper could reach out with his fingertips and deflect the ball out over the goal, saving Real Madrid from conceding a stunning goal.
The Brighton bench put their hands on their heads in disbelief at Lucas' move.
"HOW DID HE GET THAT BALL!!!?" exclaid Kevin.
"What a vision of the ga from the boy, Tanaka!" The comntator exclaid. "He almost surprised Mohad Ramos with a daring shot from midfield!"
Lucas smiled, catching his breath. "I think I was selfish. Playing it to Raphael on the left would have ensured the play continued."
The corner was taken, but the Real Madrid defense cleared the danger. The ga continued to be frenetic, with Brighton trying to keep possession and cool down the rengues' pressure.
In the 79th minute, a controversial move inflad the match even more. Javier clashed with Blanco in midfield, and the Real Madrid midfielder fell to the turf demanding a foul.
The referee allowed play to continue, and Lucas took advantage of the space to avoid repeating the sa mistake as before and released Raphael on the left.
The left winger advanced, but before he could break into the area, he was stopped by a trolley from Sergio López.
The referee blew for a foul, but the Real Madrid players were furious, claiming that Blanco should have been fouled earlier.
Blanco quickly got up and went over to the referee. Other Real Madrid players surrounded the referee, protesting vehently. On the other side, the Brighton players also approached, defending the decision.
The tension between the teams increased considerably towards the end of the match, and the referee had to hand out yellow cards to both sides to calm tempers. As a result, they lost Javier and Luiz Fernando for the next ga.
Brighton took the free-kick when things had cald down and tried a cross for a goal, but Real Madrid was on their guard.
The last few minutes were pure tension. Real Madrid went on the attack, while Brighton held on as best they could and counter-attacked. At 90 3, on the last play of the ga, César Gelabert received a cross on the area and headed it in. The ball got past Anton and was heading for the goal, but Daniel Riber, with spectacular reflexes, cleared it off the line and shoot wide.
The referee looked at his watch and blew the whistle. Partial victory for Brighton!
Brighton held on for a 1-0 win against the mighty Real Madrid and was one ho ga away from disqualifying one of the big favorites.
Hakimi approached Lucas and tapped Lucas lightly on the shoulder with his own shoulder. "You've won this ti... But there's still the second ga."
"I'll make a point of welcoming you to our ho."
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