Rise of a Football God

After the game at the Santiago Bernabeu, a big celebration started in Barcelona as the fans in blue and red flooded the streets.

New banners of Sam were made all across the city of Barcelona.

Banners dubbing him the King.

With that performance against their bitter rivals in their own stadium, Sam truly bought the hearts of every FC Barcelona fans, including the greatest skeptics.

They all now believed in him.

That night alone, the FC Barcelona online store experienced a sudden upsurge in the number of orders for Sam's No. 40 jersey.

More fans now wanted to wear Sam's no. on their back, flaunting it everywhere they went. Sam became an even bigger hit overnight.

The players also celebrated their victory as they returned to Barcelona from Madrid. After getting home though, Sam bid farewell to his friends in the squad before driving straight home.

He did the rest of the celebration at home with his girlfriend.

Kayla surprised him after such a performance on getting home. She made his favorite food again, Banga Soup and starch to celebrate the occasion.

Sam ate to his fill, feeling lucky for dating her again.

That night, laying down on his bed with his girlfriend sleeping in his arms, Sam reminisced, looking back on all he had achieved in his football career at the young age of just 20.

Yes, he rarely kept track since he was so busy but he was 20 now.

It still felt like just yesterday when he was 17.

'Time moves so fast'.

In the end, he just focused on his statistics for this season.
Read latest chapters on My Virtual Library Empire

He normally didn't pay much attention to them but after arriving home and eating, Kayla showed him some posts on social media that raved about him, and the incredible reactions to his performance today.

Among them, he saw multiple posts highlighting his stats for the season.

(2025/2026 Football Season:)

(All Competitions:)

(Goals: 14)

(Assists: 7)

(Games: 10)

(21 goals + assists in 10 games)

"Hehe," he chuckled. "Great for my debut season in La Liga".

"I wonder how it'd be at the end of the season".

That night, Sam slept soundly like a baby.

The next day, Sam did something that he had not done before, he invited his friends in the FC Barcelona squad to visit him for dinner.

And then, later in the night after a training-day off since Hansi Flick gave his players a break after the impressive victory against Real Madrid, Gavi, Pedri, Lamine Yamal, and Alejandro Balde visited Sam.

And for the first time in their lives, the 4 Spanish players got exposed to the beauty of African delicacies, delicately prepared by Kayla.

At first, it was weird, the sight, the smell, but the taste…, boy was it heavenly!

Lamine Yamal was the first to fall in love.

Balde quickly followed, and eventually Gavi and Pedri also ate the food.

After eating, spending quality time together, they discussed different topics but the main topic of their discussion was the big footballing event that was scheduled to take place tomorrow, 28th October.

Tomorrow, the biggest award ceremony in football was to take place, France Football's Balon D'or ceremony.

The Balon D'or was the biggest individual award in football, and so the award ceremony was held in high esteem in the football community.

And for the first time in his career, Sam was invited for the ceremony.

Alongside his teammates, his friends who visited him today, tomorrow, they would be in Paris for the award ceremony.

After his record-breaking 2nd season with Fulham in the English premier league, leading them to a history-making season, Sam's efforts were finally about to be recognized and rewarded by football's big awards.

He already got the PFA Footballer of the Season for the English Premier league, his biggest individual award so far, and Sam was due for more.

That evening, in his mansion in Barcelona, Sam discussed the ceremony with his friends, debating the type of suit that they would wear tomorrow.

They also guessed what position each of them would take in the Balon D'or rankings when the final ranking was released tomorrow at the ceremony.

Individually, they had terrific campaigns last season but none of them were quite confident of lifting the big trophy, the Balon D'or award itself.

"Tomorrow, we'll know who lifts it".

With that, Sam finally bid his friends farewell, doing the final fashion brainstorming with his girlfriend before going to sleep.

Fortunately, Kayla managed to choose a fashionable Gucci suit for him.

His preparations for the ceremony were complete.

…

The next day, Sam gave himself completely to his girlfriend as Kayla did what she did best, prepping him for the big occasion.

She did her magic so perfectly that when Sam came out of his mansion, he looked like a model about to enter the walkway.

She grinned. "You look dashing!"

"Thank you, my love". Blowing a kiss at her, he entered his luxury car and quickly drove off to where he was scheduled to meet his teammates who were also invited to the ceremony in Paris.

After arriving at the hotel, Sam met up with his teammates who were also invited for the ceremony.

Barcelona's President, Joan Laporta was also there at the hotel alongside Hansi Flick, the FC Barcelona coach.

The President would be following his players to the ceremony.

After making their final preparations at the hotel, making sure that everything was in order, the contingent from FC Barcelona finally went to the airport where they took their private jet to France, Paris.

They arrived to much fanfare.

Click! Click!

The cameras went haywire in Paris, FC Barcelona fans who were based there coming out to welcome their beloved club's superstars.

And like expected, most of the attention was on Sam and Lamine Yamal.

Raphinha, Pedri, Gavi, and other superstars of the Catalan club received their fair share of attention as they got a triumphant welcome in Paris.

About an hour later, when the ceremony was scheduled to start, Sam and his teammates finally entered the walkway.

Today, Sam looked especially dashing.

The cameras focused on him.