Rise of a Football God

The atmosphere in the El Sadar Stadium in Pamplona, Navarre, Spain was electric as over 23,000 football fans gathered in this stadium, majority of them being part of the home supporters.

Yes, a big scandal involved FC Barcelona recently, the scandal of Samuel Moses but that was just one tiny event in the Spanish La Liga.

Yes, it was a big deal because the person affected was Samuel Moses, but that did not mean that the world stopped due to him.

The world continued moving, the Spanish La Liga campaign continued.

Among the Osasuna fanbase, there may be some fans who sympathized with Sam due to how much he suffered due to being unjustly defamed but all that sympathy disappeared as soon as the players lined up on the pitch.

On the pitch in the El Sadar Stadium, to the fans, it was all business.

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It was either of 2 sides claiming the victory today, Osasuna or FC Barcelona, there was no in between and was why the Osasuna fans didn't give a damn about the fact that Sam was returning to the game after such a damaging scandal.

Heck, they didn't want him to perform in this game at all.

They wanted Sam and his teammates to play awful this game, resulting in their team losing. After that, they could sympathize with him, but before that, all is fair in love and war.

Osasuna started with their strongest lineup.

Starting in a 4-3-3 formation, Herrera stood in between the posts while ahead of him was a sturdy quadruple defense comprising Areso in right back, Boyomo and Catena in center defense, while Cruz started as the left back.

In midfield stood the trio of Moncayola, Lucas Torro, and Oroz while ahead of him stood the offensive trio of Garcia, Barja, and the imposing striker, Budimir.

It was a fairly formidable Osasuna lineup.@@novelbin@@

As for FC Barcelona, they didn't start with their theoretically strongest lineup as most predictions disagreed with Hansi Flick's decision, staying adamant that Sam was not yet fit to start in a league game.

Hansi Flick didn't care about outside opinion though, he started the young 19-year-old midfielder nonetheless.

FC Barcelona started in a familiar 4-2-3-1 formation. Wojciech Szczesny started in between the posts for the Blaugrana while ahead of him stood a formidable defense of Jules Kounde, Ronaldo Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, and Alejandro Balde.

Ahead of the defense stood the midfield duo of Pedri and Marc Casado, while further ahead of them stood the infamous Barca attack.

Robert Lewandowski led as the tip of the spear, the striker. At either of his flanks lined up Lamine Yamal and Raphinha, while behind the Polish striker returned a familiar face, Samuel Moses.

FWEEEE!

As soon as the referee's whistle sounded, the game started even as the energy of the fans in this stadium rose through the roof.

Like in similar situations in the Spanish La Liga when other top flight clubs take on the big 2 Spanish clubs, Real Madrid or FC Barcelona, despite starting in a 4-3-3 formation, Osasuna employed a defensive strategy against the Blaugrana.

This well-drilled team played in a low block, attempting to weather the onslaught of Barca attacks that would surely come as they hoped to hit the Catalans hard on the counter.

With the strong striker, Budimir upfront, their chances of getting a result from counterattacks was pretty high.

This was the strategy that was employed by the Osasuna head coach.

As for Hansi Flick's strategy for this game, it was the normal one, he gave his team freedom to carve the opponents apart.

And trust Barca, they started.

Bam! Bam!

For the first few minutes of this game, FC Barcelona played fluid attacking football as they dominated possession for large swathes of the first half.

In front of their home supporters, Osasuna was forced to defend desperately and yet despite this display, the Osasuna fans loudly supported their team. This was because of the caliber of opponents they were playing against.

In this game, a few FC Barcelona players dazzled and among them all, Lamine Yamal and a certain Sam was chief.

From the middle of the pitch to the right-hand side, a deadly partnership blossomed in this game, a partnership between Lamine Yamal and Sam.

Back in the English premier league, with Emile Smith Rowe playing in a similar position as the Spaniard, Sam formed a devastating partnership with Smith Rowe and now, due to his growing relationship with Yamal, he finally developed that lethal partnership with the 17-year-old Spaniard.

Tiki! Taka!

Bam! Bam!

Sam and Lamine Yamal ran rings around the Osasuna defense, trying every weapon in their repertoire to pry their tight defense open.

In the 33rd minute of the game, it finally happened.

After receiving a pass from deep from Pedri, Sam executed an immaculate touch to bring it under control and instantly as the nearest Osasuna player pressed for the ball, Sam staggered and then with a clever Cruyff turn, he left the player for dead, re-arranging his position before playing a diagonal pass to the right.

Lamine Yamal took the ball in his strides with his left foot, one touch, and then with his second touch, he unleashed a ridiculous trivela pass that cut through majority of the Osasuna defense like a hot knife through butter.

Having dropped back to support the build-up and switch things up, Robert Lewandowski was not in the box to poach the ball, instead leaving Raphinha there.

Raphinha jumped but the Brazilian could not beat the tall and imposing Osasuna center backs in the air as they beat him in the aerial battle, heading the ball away but it was not a perfect clearance.

Due to Raphinha's pressure, the ball was cleared half-heartedly, falling in the direction of the deadly Polish striker who was making a recovery run.

"…!"

As the ball floated towards him, the Polish striker's eyes widened as his body became adrenaline-infused!

Lewandowski was just outside the Osasuna 18-yard box.

Instinctively, he swung his right foot back, about to unleash an absolutely venomous volleyed shot when one of the Osasuna players jumped in on a dangerous tackle, taking Lewandowski out in mid-air.

It seemed like he actually aimed for the ball but missing it, he caught Lewandowski's knee instead, bringing him down.

"Arghhhh!" The Polish striker screamed out in pain, holding his knee.

"Ref, red card!" Raphinha and a few other FC Barcelona players quickly rounded the referee, clamoring for a red card but the referee with an impassive expression on his face brought out a yellow card, brandishing it at the Osasuna player.

The FC Barcelona players fumed but there was nothing that they could do.

As for Lewandowski, he remained on the ground, grabbing his knee in pain till the FC Barcelona medical team entered the pitch to attend to him.

About a minute later, the Polish striker finally stood up.

He could continue the game.

FWEEEE!

The referee blew for a freekick for FC Barcelona just outside the box.

Raphinha was the one who stood over the ball, about to take the freekick. After a short run, he unleashed a powerful shot that rounded the defensive block, going towards the top left corner only for it to be batted away by the Osasuna goalkeeper's outstretched hand.

"A loose ball!" The commentator screamed, and then…

Thud!

The Osasuna attackers reacted immediately, charging out of their 18-yard box as they smoothly transited from defense to attack.

Bam!

Boyomo, the Osasuna center back who got to the loose ball first played a lovely lobbed pass for Garcia, the right winger, taking out Alejandro Balde who was out of position in the process.

Taking the ball in his strikes, Garcia exploded down the wing with speed.

The counterattack… was on!

FC Barcelona players scrambled to retreat and defend but the Osasuna counterattack was just too fast. Garcia almost ran the full length of the pitch and just as Pau Cubarsi was to intercept him, he played a pass to the middle where a certain Budimir lurked.

The imposing striker's eyes gleamed as soon as the ball was passed.

Slowing down, he used his first touch to bring the ball under control and then…

WHOOP!

He unleashed an absolutely thunderous shot, sending it into the top right corner and leaving Wojciech Szczesny no chance as the FC Barcelona goalkeeper was left ball-watching in an incredible moment.

There was silence for a brief moment in this stadium, and then…

BOOM!

The home supporters erupted, screaming at the top of their lungs as against the run of play, Osasuna scored to go ahead in this game.

"What a goal!" The commentators raved.

"What a counterattack!"

"Vintage Osasuna! Vintage Budimir!"