Rise of a Football God-Chapter 295: Debut game; against Girona [2]

31 minutes, 0-1…

The hitman was Robert Lewandowski, but the provider was a certain Spaniard, the youngest in the FC Barcelona squad, Lamine Yamal.

Like a wizard brandishing his wand, after receiving a pass from Pedri from midfield, from the right, Lamine Yamal went on an unstoppable mazy run.

With a drop of his shoulder, he beat his man before charging inside. More defenders closed him down but with a few body feints, tidy ball shifts, and a la croqueta, he opened up enough space to chip the ball over to a lurking Robert Lewandowski who aligned his positioning with his run.

The Polish striker’s positioning was inch-perfect, he was in the right place at the right time to volley a first-time shot in.

BAM!

The goalkeeper was rooted to one spot, unable to react to the shot.

It was when Lewandowski was already whirling off in celebration that he reacted, turning and angrily kicking the ball back into his own net.

"What a vintage FC Barcelona goal!" The commentator raved.

"Started by Pedri, created by Lamine Yamal, finished by Robert Lewandowski! What a perfect sequence, just as it should be!"

"Lamine Yamal…, the boy is a wonder of nature!"

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After that goal, onlookers expected Girona to finally give up on their conservative approach, coming out to open the game up and chase after the equalizer but wary of Barcelona’s ability still, Girona remained in their shell.

For the rest of the first half, Barca kept on improving even as Sam finally started growing into the game, showing his creativity but still, a 2nd goal failed to materialize as the first half ended 0-1 in Barca’s favor.

During half-time, Hansi Flick told his players a few words and quickly summed it up. "Let’s go claim victory!" He declared in Spanish.

FWEEE!

2nd half started and the FC Barcelona domination continued.

Girona continued defending.

’Weird’.

’Weird…, this is so weird’.

As the game continued, Sam could not help but think this.

All his career, all the way from Enyimba, Sam was used to playing for the underdog team. He was so used to being an underdog that he developed a habit of drawing his energy to create miracles from being underestimated.

When his team’s chances were written off, that’s when Sam shines.

When his team was underestimated, that is when Zinedine Sam bares his fangs and sink it into enemy flesh with ruthless efficiency.

This was why he felt so weird playing this game.

Sam was so comfortable.

His team was almost never under pressure in this game. Barca dominated possession, created the most chances and as the attacking midfielder of this team, he rarely had an opportunity to track back and defend since there was really no need for it.

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This was why Sam felt weird. ’I’m not used to this’.

He struggled to motivate himself to do more in this game.

Even the commentator echoed the thoughts of a lot of spectators today. "Sam has not exactly hit the heights that we expected of him in this game".

"He’s not having a bad game by any means, but…, that spark, that energy that premier league fans are used to seeing, this is not it".

"It’s almost as if he’s lacking the spark today".

"Well, that is to be expected, he’s still in his adaptation period. I guess even Sam has to go through an adaptation period".

Sam struggled to play at that extraterrestrial level this game but FC Barcelona dominated still. In the 56th minute of this game, Barca scored again.

This time, it was the electric Pedri again as after wriggling through challenges in midfield, he played an unreal through pass for Raphina to run into as abusing his speed, the Brazilian winger quickly ran ahead of the defenders.

Taking the ball in his strides, he took aim before unleashing a powerful shot, rifling the ball into the roof of the net to make it 0-2 to FC Barcelona.

"GOALLLL…!" The fans celebrated excitedly.

Just 2 minutes later, in the 58th minute, the game was finally put to bed as Lewandowski struck again, this time rising high to latch into a perfect Alejandro Balde cross, heading the ball past the Girona goalkeeper and into the net.

With that goal, the outcome of this game became final.

Girona also lost all momentum.

In the 75th minute, Hansi Flick made changes, taking off Lamine Yamal and Robert Lewandowski out of the game as he introduced Ferran Torres and Fermin Lopez to add more energy to the game.

The outcome was that FC Barcelona continued dominating in this game.

In the 82nd minute, Hansi Flick finally pulled the plug, removing Sam from the game even as Gavi entered in his stead.

Just 3 minutes after Gavi replaced Sam, Pedri looped a perfect ball above the Girona defense as the energetic Gavi ran into it, taking one touch to raise the ball beyond the goalkeeper’s grasp before rifling it into an empty net.

"GOALLLLL…!" Noise erupted again from the away stands as the traveling FC Barcelona fans screamed at the top of their lungs in celebration.

85 minutes, 0-4…

For the remaining minutes of this game, Pedri and Gavi were by a mile the best players in this pitch as they tormented Girona’s defense.

The 2 wonderkids kept on creating chances but due to profligacy in front of goal, FC Barcelona was unable to score another goal.

From the bench, Sam watched the reminder of this game.

"…"

His head was blank.

What was he thinking about? He didn’t know.

As a midfielder, he didn’t have a bad game by any means as he created his fair share of chances. He had a solid game by all standards but still…, was this the level that he wanted to play at in this club?

Sam could not answer his own questions as he kept watching till the end of this game.

FC Barcelona won the game convincingly 0-4.

Pedri won the man of the match award for this game due to how he controlled the game, and also due to his 2 unreal assists.

Sam got a good 7.4 rating by the end of the game, but at the end, there was a question mark in his head.

"…?"

Was this his level?