Rise of a Football God

Sam struck, and in scintillating fashion.

Liverpool was given just 4 minutes to celebrate their 2nd time leading in this game as the Nigerian Zidane took the game by the scruff of the neck.

From the beginning of this game, Sam found it incredibly difficult to go on those mazy runs of his, cutting through players simply because the intensity of this game was so high and his opponents were playing at such an elite level.

But in football, there was a level above the elite level.

As soon as Salah scored, Sam also entered the zone state and in that state of flow, his level exceeded the elite level.

Receiving the ball in his half, Sam went on a lumbering run, cutting through Liverpool players with impunity, shoving aside the ones he couldn't dribble past as he singlehandedly penetrated into the Liverpool 18-yard box.

Thud! Thud!

His run sent trepidations through the Liverpool defense, forcing them to react to his movement and before they knew it, 4 players swarmed Sam inside the Liverpool 18-yard box.

Virgin Van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Ryan Gravenberch, and Andrew Robertson all surrounded him, a fatal mistake that Sam took advantage of.

Sam was boxed in, but someone else was left unmarked in the box.

Tick! Tock!

Time moved…

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as soon as he was surrounded.

Before the defenders could make a move to dispossess him of the ball, Sam executed a delicate touch, flicking the ball up and behind him, and then with the heel of his right boot he kicked it to the left.

"Woah…!" Gasps of amazement erupted around this stadium.

Fulham fans recognized that pass, it was extremely similar to the pass that he used to neutralize William Saliba and set up Emile Smith Rowe in the Arsenal game but this time, Sam set up someone else.

"…!" Virgil Van Dijk was alarmed immediately.

But before the Dutch defender could react, the ball already got to Muniz who was left unmarked in the 18-yard box due to the Liverpool defenders' overzealous approach to dispossess the rampant Sam off the ball.

Besides, it was a perfect pass, too sweet for Muniz to miss.

Raising his right leg up, this player unleashed a volley.

Bam!

His boot kissed the ball perfectly, shooting it with devastating force and rifling it into the roof of the net as Alisson Becker was left rooted to one spot.

"GOALLLLL…!!!" The commentator screamed.

"2-2, Rodrigo Munizzzzz!!!"

"And the game is level again!"

"What a game!"

Charging towards the corner flag, Muniz slid on his knees in celebration even as the Fulham fans rose to their feet, roaring in ecstasy.

"Does this game still have more juice in it?"

The commentator just had to go and jinx it.

Liverpool was not done yet, nor was their Egyptian King.

Fulham equalized this game a second time in the 80th minute of the game and from then on till the 90th minute, Fulham felt the full brunt of Liverpool's offensive ability as they were pushed back to their own half.

Mohamed Salah played like an Egyptian god reincarnated.

Antonee Robinson was having a horrid time against the Egyptian as he dazzled, going at it a few times while at other times, setting up his teammates.

In the 90th minute, in one last devastating attack at fulltime, he set up Alexis Mac Allister who unleashed a powerful volleyed shot from outside the box, completely beating Bernd Leno but just sliding past the Fulham goalpost.

"F*ck!" Cursing, the Argentine International grabbed and ruffled his hair, not believing how close that was.

The tension in this game was at an all-time high as all the Fulham players were forced to defend, including Sam and Muniz.

3 minutes of additional time was added to this game.

In the 2nd minute of additional time, the inevitable Mohamed Salah went on the attack again, dribbling, teasing, and weaving through defenders till the angle opened up for him and without hesitation, his left leg whipped a powerful shot.

BAM!

Just before Salah could whip that shot which was definitely goal-bound, he saw a familiar white and black jersey flash past him.

Having read the Egyptian King's threat as he weaved through his teammates, Sam burned through his stamina reserves and charged back, arriving just in time to jump and put his body on the line to block the shot.

The ball hit him on the head, leaving him dizzy for a moment.

But with a shake of his head, Sam's clarity returned as his eyes shone with fire. 'One last counterattack!' He thought.

Antonee Robinson got to the loose ball first and not taking any risk due to the Liverpool jerseys all around him, the left back cleared the ball up field.

As soon as he cleared the ball, 2 players erupted…

Thud! Thud!

From the right, Adama Traore who was already substituted into this game charged forward while on the left, Sam who just intercepted Mohamed Salah's shot dug in again, chasing after the ball.

The ball was not a free ball though, Conor Bradley who was already introduced to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold also chased after the ball.

But… Sam was faster.

Thud! Thud!

Sam could feel his lungs burning, leaving him breathless and dizzy but his legs never stopped moving, eating yards of space.

Conor Bradley started ahead of him but Sam overtook this player in no time, chasing after the ball as Fulham fans stood up around the stadium.

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

Familiar chants started around Craven Cottage.

Beating the young Liverpool right back for pace and getting the ball first, Sam shrugged him off with his physicality as he recovered before cutting with the ball towards the Liverpool 18-yard box.

There, he met Ibrahima Konate as the last man of defense again.

And this time, Adama Traore was bombing down the right, almost there to support him again which made it a 2 vs 1 scenario.

Again, the towering French center back was made to shadow 2 players.

Raising his leg, Sam moved like he wanted to initiate a pass but when his leg hit the ball, instead of a pass, he executed an elastico dribble.

BZZZZ!

Ibrahima Konate already slid in to intercept the pass before he realized that it was a fake pass, Sam already left him scrambling in the box.

Whoosh!

Conor Bradley arrived the next moment, pressing Sam but slowing down, Sam nutmegged the young right back, making him fall on his butt as this left him one-on-one with Alisson.

"Now, it's just Sam and Alisson!"

"Can he do it?"

"Will he do it?!"

Alisson Becker charged out aggressively but keeping his calm, Sam lobbed the ball above the goalkeeper and into the empty net.

Even before the fans realized what just happened, Sam was already whirling off towards the corner flag with a look of pure joy and ecstasy on his face, his pupils dilated in ecstasy.

When he arrived at the corner flag, Sam crossed his arms the Black Panther way, debuting his Wakanda Forever celebration.

"Come on!!!" He screamed and the Fulham fans responded.

"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL…!!!"

Craven Cottage went haywire! Stay tuned with My Virtual Library Empire

A few seconds later, the referee's whistle sounded, bringing this incredible game to an end.

What… a game!