Rise of a Football God

"Zinedine Sam!"

Your next journey awaits at empire

"Zinedine Sam!"n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"ZINEDINE SAM!"

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

"The Nigerian prodigy has done it!"

As the commentator roared, the realization of his goal dawned on Sam and his teammates and immediately, all of them went gaga out of sheer euphoria.

Sam felt liberated, emotions that he had been suppressing since finally hit a crescendo as they cascaded like a flood.

Dodging his teammates who tried to hug him, Sam charged towards the corner flag, a look of sheer joy on his face as he dived on the pitch on his belly, sliding forward even as the fans roared his name.

"SAM!" "SAM!" "SAM!"

His teammates did the same celebration as him, diving on the pitch and sliding after him and after they slid to a stop, Sam jumped back on his feet, pupils dilated in euphoria as he roared back at the fans.

"YEAHHHH…!" His vocal cords vibrated, riding the energy wave of the fans.

And finally, his teammates started jumping on him from behind, celebrating the goal excitedly and it was not even just the players.

Having been on the touchline, fidgeting anxiously since, as soon as the ball entered the Liverpool FC net, Coach Marco Silva lost his composure.

Forgetting the rules, this coach removed his black suit top, throwing it away as he charged into the pitch, running as fast as his leg could carry him towards his players as he lost himself in the celebrations.

When the Fulham players saw their coach coming, they moved out of the way, giving him free access to his savior as without giving a damn about the way he looked to the public, this coach jumped on his player.

Sam caught the coach, laughing even as Marco Silva screamed in his ear at the top of his lungs. "Hell yeahhhh!"

"F*cking yesss Sam!"

Coach Marco Silva was so happy he could not control his emotions, he kissed Sam repeatedly on the forehead as soon as he stood on his feet again and then he whispered into his ear. "That starting spot, it's yours".

Hearing that, Sam grinned and then he muttered. "Thank you, coach".

Coach Marco Silva laughed. "You earned it".

While the Fulham FC players celebrated euphorically alongside their fans, most of the younger Liverpool players collapsed on the pitch, exhausted and tired.

The older players went up to them, consoling them and helping them up, telling them that the game was not yet over.

At that moment, the referee finally ran towards the gathering of Fulham players where their coach was before showing a yellow card to their coach for his misbehavior on the pitch.

Marco Silva did not mind though, laughing even as he hugged the referee before running back out of the pitch to the touchline.

After about a minute more for the chaos to die down, the referee finally blew the whistle to continue the game.

For the remaining 2 minutes, Luis Diaz tried going solo to create something but he was eventually thwarted by the suddenly energetic Fulham FC defense.

That was the only meaningful attack they could create in 2 minutes.

FWEEEEE!

The semifinal EFL Cup game finally came to an end.

After an incredible game stretched across 2 legs, Fulham FC prevailed over the English footballing giants, Liverpool, beating them with an aggregate of 4-3.

And just like everyone expected, Sam won the man of the match award of this game despite the fact that he was introduced only 2 minutes to fulltime during the normal time period.

Having won his first man of the match award since coming to England, shortly after the final whistle, Sam saw himself standing before English reporters.

"Sam, how do you feel? You just showed off an incredible performance to the whole world, singlehandedly dragging your team to create an off-set against Liverpool and book a spot in the EFL Cup final, how do you feel?"

Sam grinned at the camera, wiping off his sweat even as he breath heavily. "Of course, I feel great".

"For a while now, I've been at the periphery of the team, I didn't even play in the last game against Chelsea so I was eager to prove my worth to the team".

"To come in and score 2 goals to equalize and win the game for my team," he shook his head, smiling. "I couldn't have scripted it any better than this".

"I'm just grateful to my family, they supported me through this difficult period". He grinned at the camera. "Mom, you can calm down now, no need to fight the coach again, your son has done it".

"I love you!" He blew a kiss at the camera.

"And dad, thank you for everything. Sophia, you too, I hope you're seeing this, your brother is close to standing on top of the world". He grinned cheekily.

The female reporter smiled. "How did you feel coming into the game so late and with such a score line? Did you know that you would score that goal ahead of time?"

Sam looked at the reporter incredulously. "Are you for real?" He chuckled. "I believe in myself but I'm no seer. In fact, that goal was purely instinctive, that is my first time scoring an overhead kick goal in my career".

"Congratulations Sam," the female reporter smiled. "I also hear this is your first time scoring a headed goal too".

"Ah!" Sam touched his head. "That too, I didn't even know". He laughed.

The interview continued as the reporter asked him a few more questions about the game, his 2 goals, and his mentality on the pitch. Sam answered everything before he was finally vindicated from the press.

After posing with his man of the match trophy before the camera, he finally returned to the dressing room to join his teammates where they were still celebrating.

None of them thought they could do it, yet here they were.

As soon as he entered, Alex Iwobi walked up to him, hugging him excitedly. "Bro, you're a monster!" He said, laughing.

A few more minutes of celebration later, the players finally left.

All in all, it was an unforgettable semifinal game for Fulham FC.

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