Soccer System: All the Skills, One Player!

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 game.

Óscar Rodríguez and César Gelabert, who came on to help turn the game around, intensified their movements 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-time shot. To Brighton's relief, Luiz Fernando appeared again, blocking the shot at the last moment.

Brighton's defense remained solid, because of the tactical and physical improvements 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 time they had it just because Real Madrid was pressing, because if Brighton wanted to keep the lead, they needed to breathe and keep the game 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.

Discover stories with My Virtual Library Empire

Brighton's No10 dominated and raised his head. Hakimi was already closing in to press him, but Lucas knew exactly what to do.

'Time to return the favor,' he thought.

Activating his Explosive Acceleration, Lucas shot forward. Hakimi tried to keep up, but Lucas had already gained two meters of advantage and had a breath that seemed 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 <Titanic Weight> ability. A sudden impact ran through his body and his weight tripled.

De la Fuente, when he came 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 moments 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 immediately. Arthur was still running to get into position, but Lucas saw an opportunity.

Goalkeeper Mohamed 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 aimed 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 Mohamed Ramos to desperately jump backward. With that leap, the Merengue 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!!!?" exclaimed Kevin.

"What a vision of the game from the boy, Tanaka!" The commentator exclaimed. "He almost surprised Mohamed 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 game continued to be frenetic, with Brighton trying to keep possession and cool down the Merengues' pressure.

In the 79th minute, a controversial move inflamed 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 same 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 vehemently. 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 game.

Brighton took the free-kick when things had calmed 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 game, 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 home game away from disqualifying one of the big favorites.@@novelbin@@

Hakimi approached Lucas and tapped Lucas lightly on the shoulder with his own shoulder. "You've won this time... But there's still the second game."

"I'll make a point of welcoming you to our home."