Rise of a Football God

"Woah! Is that what I think it is?"

"Yes! A bicycle kick and OH MY GODDDDDD!!!!"

"WHAT A GOALLLLL!"

"Damn! This came straight right out of the playbook of the football gods!"

"What a goal!"

"What a moment!"

"See how much it means to the fans!"

Craven Cottage erupted loudly.

At some point in time, some of the disappointed Fulham FC fans already started leaving the stadium but when they heard the loud roars tearing through the roofs of this stadium, all of them rushed back in to see the cause of the commotion.

Those that already exited the stadium were not let back in, and these devastated fans could only rue their luck.

"What a moment for the young Nigerian!"

"He has singlehandedly dragged Fulham out of their ruins!"

"Now that I remember, back in Nigeria, they called him the African Zidane, and my God if this was not a Zidane moment!"

"A goal straight out of the top drawer!"

"A moment of magic!"

Right at that moment, they didn't know who started it but a chant immediately started blasting through Craven Cottage.

"Sam!" "Sam!" "Sam!"

The ecstatic Fulham FC fans sang at the top of their voices.

In the 90th plus 4 minutes of additional time, the very last minute of the game, Sam pulled Fulham FC from the very ruins of defeat, bringing the game level.

The final whistle sounded soon after.

The game went to extra-time.

During the short break, an overwhelmed Marco Silva did not know what to say to his players. Heck, he could not even look Sam in the eye. He only said a few words of encouragement before sending them back into the pitch.

FWEEE!

When extra time started, the players of both teams were already tired but determined to win, they continued playing their football.

After that goal from Sam, the spirits of the Fulham players returned but not enough for them to suddenly start dominating the game.

As soon as extra-time started, a rampant Liverpool determined to put in more effort to finish off the game started dominating again.

Diogo Jota was a menace in extra-time, terrorizing the Fulham FC defense but determined not to let another goal in and riding the energy of their fans, the Fulham defenders defended like their lives depended on it.

And no longer under such a tight time limit, Sam finally settled into this game, entering his element as the main Fulham man throughout extra time.

Settling into his attacking midfield role, Sam pursued the 2nd goal like his life depended on it, playing defense-splitting through passes to Jimenez 1 or 2 times only for the Fulham striker to the thwarted by Van Dijk's imposing presence.

With his presence, the level of the Fulham team as a whole improved a notch.

Sam took 1 or 2 outside the box shots too as he tried even more to impose himself, forcing Kelleher into 2 impressive saves.

The midfield battle was like a war, physical and chaotic.

And in this chaotic battlefield in the middle of the pitch, an 18-year-old dominated, rising above all the veterans competing with him on the same battlefield, making his impact known and felt.

The first half of extra-time ended goalless, Fulham FC was still winning 2-1 and the aggregate score was still 3-3.

In the second half of extra-time, despite playing over a hundred minutes already, it was a Liverpool player who came closest to breaking the duck.

Receiving a looping ball that beat the whole Fulham defense from the imposing Netherlands International at the back, Virgil Van Dijk, Luis Diaz beat his man for pace before chasing down the ball and charging towards goal.

It was a one-on-one situation.

For the umpteenth time this game, Craven Cottage became deathly silent, breaths held as Luis Diaz took his shot only for Bernd Leno to pull off an incredible save, keeping his team in the game.

Just 4 minutes later, the same Luiz Diaz was at it again as he went on a mazy dribble through the Fulham FC defense before looping a pass to Diogo Jota.

The Portuguese International did not think, riffling the ball in only for Bernd Leno to make another impressive save. Unluckily for the Fulham goalkeeper though, the rebound fell perfectly for the rampaging Luiz Diaz.

Luis Diaz poked the ball into the net, briefly silencing Craven Cottage again but immediately after, the flag was raised.

FWEEEE!

The call was offside.

The Colombian International ruffled his hair in frustration. The game continued as both sides tried to impose themselves into the game and in the final minutes, a familiar name seemed to have gone anonymous till the 118th minute.

By now, legs all across the pitch were heavy from exhaustion. It was incredibly hard to string a few passes together.

But in the 117th minute, starting another attack, Muniz bombed through the right-hand side of the pitch, charging past Joe Gomez and beating him for pace as he crossed the ball into the Liverpool 18-yard box.

Raul Jimenez jumped but Virgil Van Dijk beat him in the air again, jumping higher as he cleared the ball back into the field only for Alex Iwobi to quickly spray the loose ball to the left side of the pitch where a tired Willian ran.

As the ball went towards Willian was when Sam finally started executing his late run into the Liverpool 18-yard box.

Having been anonymous for the past few minutes of this last half of extra time, no one detected him, he was like a ghost.

Exhaustion in the part of the Liverpool defenders played a part in why he was so elusive like a ghost.

Afterall, football was not just a physical game, it was a mental game too.

The tired Willian didn't even try to take his man on and dribble, simply throwing a blind cross into the 18-yard box again.

As soon as Willian's leg hit the ball, Sam felt his adrenaline levels rise again.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

That mantra was still chanting in his head.

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

At the last moment, Virgil Van Dijk saw him move as the alert Liverpool defender reacted to his movement.

But Sam also saw the Liverpool defender move. Even as he paid attention to Virgil Van Dijk, he also watched the incoming ball and this was when Sam noticed that the cross was not a perfect one, it was lower than intended.

But in that moment, Sam used it to his advantage.

Virgil Van Dijk moved, reacting to his movement but Sam changed his movement at the last moment, ducking and rushing underneath the outstretched left arm of the Liverpool defender as the ball floated in.

Sam ducked, rushed, and then he dived after the ball.

Sam jumped, executing a low diving header as his head hit the ball even at the incredible speed that it moved at.

BAM!

Kelleher barely reacted, flailing his arms but it was not enough as the ball snuck into the embrace of the Liverpool net.

It was a goal.

Silence, then…

"GOALLLLLL…!" Craven Cottage exploded!

The commentator exploded with the fans, screaming at the top of his voice. "Zinedine Sam!"

"Zinedine Sam!"

"ZINEDINE SAM!"

"WHAT A GAME! WHAT A GOAL! HE HAS DONE IT!"

"The Nigerian prodigy has done it!"

...

[NOTE: All the Paul mistakes have been edited, sorry guys, Ali especially lol. A surprise is coming on the 10th, hope I can excuse the past editing mistakes with that. Anyways, that's that.]