Rise of a Football God

~----~

[You have ingested a high-grade physical conditioning elixir!]

[Your physical constitution has improved!] Continue reading on empire

[Your bone structure and constitution has improved!]

[Your physicality attribute has increased by +3!]

[Your injury recovery time has been reduced!]

[Recovery time: 1 month]

[Full recovery date: 27th January, 2025]

…

[Player Attributes:]

Player Attributes:

*Pace: 81

*Shot: 85

*Pass: 80

*Dribbling: 78

*Defending: 38

*Physicality: 79

*Stamina: 84

Overall Rating: 83

~----~

Not only did his injury recovery time lessen considerably, but his physicality attribute experienced an upgrade to boot!

Staring at the notifications on his system screen, Sam could not help but grin happily. It truly felt nice to have a system.

The effects of the high-grade physical conditioning elixir were so thorough that he felt like he had been recuperating for months already.

All the niggling pain, the uncomfortable feeling in his ankle after the surgery, all of it was gone like it was never there.

Sam was convinced that his system already accelerated his recovery process to the level where he could start walking immediately but of course, he would not walk now, that would attract too much attention.

He would play the part and recuperate normally in the hospital.

…

While Sam recuperated at the hospital, his teammates prepared for their next game which was a premier league home clash against Bournemouth.

After the game against Chelsea on the 26th, the Fulham players had only 3 days of rest before their clash against Bournemouth. A day after Sam's surgery, it was finally D-day when his teammates were put to the test.

Craven Cottage was filled to the brim with tens of thousands of fans, and the home fans did a surprising gesture as giant banners of Sam in Fulham's white and black jersey were paraded in the stadium stands.

{Samuel Moses}

{No. 11}

{Get well soon champ, we miss you!}

The biggest banner of all had Sam's image, his name, his jersey number, and then that write-up.

Watching the game from the hospital on the hospital TV, Sam could not help but smile as he felt a warm feeling in his heart.

After that fanfare did the attention finally turn to the game.

Like expected, both teams approached this game with their strongest lineup.

Occupying 10th position in the league, Bournemouth were in a positive run of form and with Fulham's talisman out, this team came to Craven Cottage with high hopes of getting something back home.

For Fulham, Raul Jimenez started as the striker while behind him was the trio of Alex Iwobi, Emile Smith Rowe, and Adama Traore.

Further behind them was the duo of Lukic and Andreas Pereira, while the 4-man defense comprised of Robinson, Diop, Calvin Bassey, and Tete while Bernd Leno naturally started in between the posts.

For Bournemouth, starting in the same 4-2-3-1 formation as Fulham, Evanilson started up top as the striker while behind him was the dynamic trio of Semenyo, Kluivert, and Ouattara.

Behind them was the midfield duo of Christie and Cook, while their 4-man defense comprised of Smith, Zabarnyi, Huijsen, and Kerkez.

Kepa Arrizabalaga, the ex-Chelsea goalkeeper was their no. 1 who started in between the posts as the last man in defense to thwart Fulham attacks.

Under the loud noise being made by the Fulham fans to support their team, the referee's whistle finally went off, giving the signal to start the game.

FWEEEE!

Bournemouth started kickoff but from the first whistle of this game, Fulham came charging out with energy like Sharks that smelled blood.

Their high-energy press forced Bournemouth to play backwards, all the way to their goalkeeper and that ended up being a mistake because as soon as the defender passed back, Raul Jimenez engaged in a sprint.

While Kepa waited for the ball to get to him, the Fulham striker ate yards of space, chasing after the ball and by the time it got to him, the goalkeeper was already panicking as he tried to clear it in a fluster.

As soon as he hit the ball, Jimenez jumped, placing his leg on the path of the ball as it hit his leg.

Bam!

The ball rebounded, straight into the Bournemouth net.

"GOALLLL…!!!" Craven Cottage erupted.

In just the 1st minute of this game, their team actually managed to score already, putting themselves on the lead.

In the hospital, Sam pumped a fist at the air in celebration.

The mood in Craven Cottage improved immediately as the home fans started singing songs, it was clear that their team was cruising to victory this game.

That first goal set the tempo for Fulham's domination. Even with Sam not on the pitch, the impact was hardly felt as the Fulham players desperate to prove themselves used Bournemouth as the experimental board for their conviction.

Bournemouth was run ragged in the first half, the only blemish to Fulham's play being that they could not get the second goal.

When second half eventually started, the Fulham domination continued and 15 minutes after the restart, in the 60th minute, Fulham finally got their second goal of the game as Adama Traore scored an incredible solo goal after a simple pass from Emile Smith Rowe to set him up.

By the 60th minute, Fulham was already cruising to victory, it was easier than the home fans and even Coach Marco Silva expected.

Bournemouth barely threatened as Fulham continued dominating, until the 86th minute when Bernd Leno was stunned.

It was a blind cross into the box from Ouattara, the Bournemouth winger. Nobody expected Evanilson, the Bournemouth striker to successfully squeeze past Fulham's 2 center backs, poking the ball past Leno and into the net.

"…!" Craven Cottage was stunned, nobody saw Bournemouth scoring a goal due to how they dominated this game since the first minute.

But it was just one goal, they were still leading.

That goal was a fluke, no way was Bournemouth going to score another goal but then, 2 minutes of additional time after fulltime, Bournemouth had a corner kick and that was where scenes from a nightmare happened in Craven Cottage.

As soon as the corner kick was floated in, Zabarnyi, the Bournemouth center back rose highest in the Fulham box, planting a powerful header towards goal that beat Bernd Leno.

"…!" Watching the ball in the back of their net, the Fulham players and fans felt like they were dreaming as they watched, baffled.

The away fan section erupted for the first time this game.

An ecstatic Zabarnyi jumped, pumping his fists excitedly as he screamed at the top of his lungs. That shocker was a wake-up call for Fulham.

The remaining minutes of additional time could be described in a simple sentence; Fulham attacks, Bournemouth defends.

The Bournemouth coach made changes, flooding the pitch with defensive players as they defended with their lives in the last few minutes.

Raid after raid of Fulham attacks were launched, led by Emile Smith Rowe and Muniz who was already introduced into the game at some point but a rugged Bournemouth defense was able to hold the fort.

FWEEEE!

When the final whistle sounded, the Fulham players could not believe it.

They actually drew the game!