Rise of a Football God

"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!"

"1-1!"

"BARCELONA HAS DONE IT!"

"THE KING HAS STRUCK AGAIN!"

"SAMUEL MOSES, IMMORTAL, RELENTLESS!"

"AND FINALLY, THE BLANCOS DEFENSE HAS BREEN BREACHED!"

It was not just the commentators, the Estadio La Cartuja de Sevilla in Seville literally exploded as tens of thousands of fans with pent up emotions in this stadium for 84 minutes finally let loose.

Most FC Barcelona fans simply tore their shirts in the stand in the passion of the game, beating their chest, roaring excitedly.

As for the culprit?

As soon as he struck the ball, Sam fell down. But following the ball with his eyes, as soon as he saw it enter the net, he rose up to his feet and like a mad man, with dilated pupils, he charged towards the corner flag.

His teammates charged after him excitedly amid the boiling stadium. Arriving close to the corner flag, Sam jumped down, sliding towards the flag on his butt.

And then, he kicked the corner flag before jumping back to his feet.

"COME ON!!!" He roared, pumping his fists excitedly.

Raphinha jumped on his back, celebrating with him excitedly even as Lamine Yamal went to his front, holding his face and touching his head with Sam's head.

The whole Barcelona team was suddenly feverish with excitement and energy. Since, they've been trying their best to no avail even as Real Madrid played unhinged and dirty football.

Finally getting a result now? They were emboldened, they felt unstoppable.

FWEEEE!

After the passionate goal celebration, the referee's whistle sounded to continue the game.

Real Madrid kicked off, continuing the game but it was never the same.

For the whole of this 2nd half, most especially after that Kylian Mbappe goal, Real Madrid played this game, hanging at a delicate balance.

The FC Barcelona pressure was just too much.

And yet, by playing dirty, they managed to hold on for so long. Unfortunately, they couldn't do it for the full 90 minutes.

After that goal, uncertainty invaded like an insidious poison.

If Barcelona scores one, what is preventing them from scoring two?

Will they score two?

Real Madrid was the mentality monster club. A club that other clubs across Europe feared, the club renowned for their remontada spirit, clawing victory from the depths of defeat and yet against this Barcelona side, they felt fragile.

And once that insidious poison invaded, there was no stopping it.

Real Madrid no longer attacked, rather, they spent the next few minutes desperately defending more Barcelona attacks after the Catalan giants won back possession as the game continued.

That belief that they could do it, that they could hold on against all odds was what held the team in white together against the onslaught of attacks since.

But that goal put a dent on that belief, a crack, small and insignificant but at this moment, all Barcelona needed was a crack.

They had the tools to widen the crack.

84 minutes, 1-1…

5 minutes after Sam's first goal, Real Madrid won back possession, Jude Bellingham leading the charge to get the all-important 2nd goal to win the game.

And yet, that was the moment when Sam decided to drop back.

Due to his exploits in front of goal and his clutch factor, Sam already built such a fearsome reputation for himself that fans thought his shooting was his best attribute. But in reality, his stamina remained his strongest attribute.

It was already the 89th minute of this grueling and punishing final, and yet, Sam was not tired yet.

Fatigue was settling in, but the mamba mentality kept him going.

'Win!' 'Win!' 'Win!'

One goal was good, but it was not enough.

Sam wanted more. To win, he needed one more.

And so he dropped deep, chasing after the ball.

Federico Valverde was the one who halted the Barca sequence of play, stealing the ball and immediately passing towards Jude Bellingham.

Pedri pressed Bellingham but with his superior physicality, the Englishman shrugged of the Spaniard's challenge, spinning past him with a roulette.

After that roulette, Bellingham looked left and right, scanning his options, and then he pushed deep with the ball.

That was his mistake. He scanned left and right, but due to being tired after such a grueling game, he forgot to scan behind him.

Whoosh!

Sam arrived like a storm. Unstoppable.

He rushed past Bellingham, stealing the ball from him. Bellingham tried to challenge immediately for the ball back but with more energy at this stage of the game, Sam flexed his physicality and shoved the Englishman aside.

Jude Bellingham fell down, and Sam was left alone with the ball, in the middle of the pitch.

Looking forward, Sam's eyes narrowed as he saw an uneven line that led through the heart of the Real Madrid formation.

He moved.

BZZZ!

Pushing the ball forward, he ran.

He met Fede Valverde's challenge first but with silky smooth step overs and a drop of the shoulder, he left the Uruguayan captain for dead, blasting away with speed on the other side.

Other players in white tried to stop him, but Sam was unstoppable, charging through the middle of the pitch with blistering speed.

He didn't seem tired at all.

Everything happened within just a few seconds and now, Sam was before the Real Madrid 18-yard box, about to step into it.

The Real Madrid defense stirred, reacting.

But he never entered the 18-yard box, Sam had the ball right where he wanted it. At that moment, his eyes narrowed into slits like those of a snake. He narrowed his vision towards one corner of the post, and then…

BAM!

The motion of swinging his leg back and striking the ball was so fast that it seemed like one movement.

The ball moved with the force of a missile.

Rushing so fast through the ground that grass were left swirling in its wake, defenders' leg trailing helplessly in reverence of its passage, and then…

Thud!

Thibaut Courtois dived but after that first goal, his voodoo this night was already broken. The tall Belgian could not get to the ball on time.

Whoosh!

The ball kissed the bottom left corner of the net at such an acute angle that it seemed to have been measured before being shot.

BOOM!

The Estadio La Cartuja de Sevilla erupted.