"GOAL! The 'Grand Old Lady' has been stunned into silence!"
Martin Tyler's voice crackled with an electricity usually reserved for title deciders. "It's the German, Mario Gomez, but make no mistake—that goal belongs to the boy from Florence. Or should I say, the boy from Liverpool? Renzo Uzumaki has just produced a pass that belongs in a museum!"
In the away end, the thousand traveling Viola fans were delirious. They weren't just cheering a goal; they were witnessing the birth of a European star.
Inside the net, Gomez grabbed Renzo in a bear hug, lifting the teenager off his feet. "Renzo! That was telepathic!" he roared. The rest of the squad swarmed them, but Renzo immediately broke away to point at Milan Badelj.
"This is your goal, Milan!" Renzo shouted over the noise. "That tackle on Barkley started it all. You broke them, I just finished the job!"
Badelj, the stoic "Wild Bull," just offered a rare, humble smile. He knew his role: he was the armor, so Renzo could be the sword.
On the Everton bench, Roberto Martínez felt a cold sweat. He looked at the replay on the stadium's giant Jumbotron. The trajectory of Renzo's outside-of-the-foot pass—the Trivela—was impossible. It had bypassed three international defenders with the curve of a heat-seeking missile.
"Barry!" Martínez barked, signaling his most experienced general. "Stop the kid. I don't care if you have to sit on him. If Renzo touches the ball, you are his shadow!"
Gareth Barry—a man with more Premier League appearances than Renzo had weeks of life—nodded grimly. He had marked Gerrard, Lampard, and Scholes. He wasn't about to be embarrassed by a sixteen-year-old loanee.
In the 52nd minute, Renzo dropped deep to collect a pass from Savić. Barry was there instantly, his massive frame looming over Renzo's shoulder, using his veteran "dark arts" to lean into the boy's center of gravity.
The reports said he can't dribble, Barry thought, shifting his weight to the left, anticipating the standard turn-and-pass. He's going to try and spin away. I'll just poke it away.
Renzo felt the pressure. Two weeks ago, Barry would have eaten him alive. But the Reforging Mode and those 3 Dribbling Points had changed everything.
Renzo feinted a shoulder drop to the left. Barry bit, sliding his foot in to intercept. But in a blur of motion, Renzo's right foot didn't push the ball—it hooked it. A Reverse Heel-Drag.
The ball zipped behind Renzo's standing leg, and in one fluid motion, the teenager spun 180 degrees in the opposite direction. Barry, committed to the tackle, could only watch as Renzo glided past him like a ghost.
"OH! He's sent Gareth Barry to the shops!" Tyler screamed. "The veteran is left grasping at thin air! Since when did this young man have feet like Lionel Messi?!"
Martínez's jaw dropped. The scouting report from Liverpool was clear: 'World-class vision, but lacks the footwork to beat a man in the Premier League.' "Average ball control?" Martínez whispered, watching Renzo drive into the final third. "Who scouted this kid? They should be sacked!"
[Reforging Mode: Stage Two Progressing (28%)]
[Mission Objective 3: Threatening Passes (2/6)]
Renzo didn't stop. He saw Salah making a diagonal run. He saw the Everton backline scrambling. The "Rejects" weren't just equalizing; they were taking over.
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