Rise of a Football God

The sun set in Barcelona, the prelude to the clash that was scheduled to take place at night in one of the recognized venues of the Catalan City.

The atmosphere at the Spotify Camp Nou on a UEFA Champions League night is always electric, and tonight was no different.

As the sun set over the city, the towering stands of the legendary stadium began to fill with a sea of Blaugrana-clad supporters, their voices merging into a low, expectant hum that rippled through the air.

In the dressing room, the players sat, letting the electric energy seep into their bones, energizing them and one of the FC Barcelona players felt this energy even more as it infused his body like a super serum.

Sam's body was literally shaking, not out of fear, but out of excitement.

As soon as the champions league anthem started playing, the entire stadium erupted, thousands of scarves held high as chants and cheers echoed off the concrete. Sam resonated with all of it.

The feeling he was experiencing at this moment, he could not describe it.

Euphoria, pure euphoria and nothing else.

When the players finally came out of the tunnel, stepping into the pitch, they felt the energy of this stadium in a more raw form.

The air was thick with the scent of fresh grass, sweat, and the distant aroma of Catalan street food from vendors outside.

A UEFA champions league game in the Spotify Camp Nou, it was a cultural phenomenon as much as it was a football game.

As the players lined up, ecstatic fans stomped their feet, their voices rising in unison as Barca's stars shone like beacons on the field, the lights illuminating every blade of grass like a stage set for war.

Like expected, both teams started with their strongest lineup for this UEFA champions league game.

For the away side, Brest started in a 4-3-3 formation with Lopes as their goalkeeper while ahead of him stood the 4-man defense of Coco, Sow, Castelleto, and Coza.

Ahead of them was the 3-man midfield of Lepenant, Chrivella, and Augusto while the attacking trio comprised Abline in right wing, Moses Simon, the Nigerian International as the left winger, while Mohamed as the striker.

For the home side, FC Barcelona's lineup was much more star-studded.

Starting in their regular 4-2-3-1 formation, the 4-man defense comprised of Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, and Alejandro Balde in defense protecting the German, Andre Ter Stegen in between the posts.

Last season, the German goalkeeper suffered an ACL injury that ruled him out of the season, pushing Inaki Pena to prominence and forcing the Catalan club to go for Wojciech Szczesny, convincing the Polish goalkeeper out of retirement.

But after being out for almost a whole season, Andre Ter Stegen made his return some time ago and finally, he was fully match fit.

He made his return to the pitch in this UEFA champions league game against Brest at the Spotify Camp Nou.

Ahead of the Barcelona defense lined up Marc Casado and Pedri, while further ahead of them lined up the formidable 4-man offense.

Robert Lewandowski started as the striker leading the line for the Blaugrana, while to his left and right were Raphinha and Lamine Yamal.

Directly behind the Polish striker lurked the Nigerian phenom, Samuel Moses, the attacking midfielder whose form was taking Europe by surprise despite having just concluded such a damaging scandal.

FWEEE!

As soon as the referee's whistle sounded, the game started.

For the first few minutes of this game, it was a tight and even game even as Brest played like a cohesive and well-gelled team.

They attacked and defended perfectly like a team.

The French side did more of defending this game but they didn't come to Barcelona with intentions to play a cowardly game.

They didn't play in a low block, they defended more but they came out of their shell often to attack the Catalan club, keeping their defense on tenterhooks and scaring them from becoming too adventurous in attack.

This dynamic set the stage for an exciting game at the Spotify Camp Nou.

Despite Brest's energy and cohesive teamplay though, in the end, they were playing against one of the strongest and most in-form clubs in Europe.

Under Hansi Flick, FC Barcelona was deadly, especially in the big games and this game was no different as the tides soon turned around.

The Catalan club amped the tempo!

They soon started dominating, forcing the French club to defend deep as they started running them ragged with crazy offensive plays.

And this energy excited the home supporters to no end.

They roared their team on excitedly.

During the match, every pass, every tackle, and every moment of brilliance was met with roars of approval or groans of frustration from the fans.

Sam, Lamine Yamal, Pedri, and Raphinha led the way in eliciting reactions from the fans as their electric plays turned the Brest players inside out.

The famous "Mes que un club" motto which translated to "more than a club" in English is not just a slogan, it's a feeling that pulses through the stands, especially when the home side pushed forward in attack.

"Barca!" "Barca!" "Barca!"@@novelbin@@

The rhythmic chant swelled to deafening levels.

The atmosphere in this stadium rose to a fever pitch, hitting stratospheric levels and the performance of the FC Barcelona players on the pitch rose with it; Brest was being tortured.

The stage was set, it would not take too long for FC Barcelona to open the deadlock in this game but when it seemed inevitable, something unexpected happened, stunning this stadium.

Having received a sweet defense-splitting pass from Sam that set him up one-on-one with the goalkeeper finally, Robert Lewandowski was poised to score the first goal of this game only for him to run into an incident.

Cozza, the Brest left back rushed back like a hurricane to defend, recklessly sliding in just as Lewandowski was about to shoot.

He seemingly aimed for the ball but due to placing his right leg down to angle himself for the shot, Cozza clattered into his right let instead of the ball.

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His speed, momentum, everything turned it into a dangerous situation as Lewandowski was swept off his feet, somersaulting in mid-air.

When he landed, he collapsed awkwardly on his knee, and then…

Snap!

"ARGGHHHH…!!!!!!!!" The Polish striker immediately clutched his knee, screaming in agony, the same knee that was fouled in the last game.

FWEEEE!

The referee blew the whistle immediately as he noticed the severity of the situation, calling the attention of the medical staff who rushed into the pitch.

"…!"

The FC Barcelona fans were mortified as they watched their striker being attended to, they were too stunned to react or speak.

Just about a minute later, a stretcher was brought to the pitch and Robert Lewandowski was carried out of the pitch in tears.

The Polish striker was injured and from his reaction, it was no minor injury either.

It was a disaster.

From the heavenly cloud 9 where they hovered and feasted before for 26 minutes of this game, FC Barcelona was brought crashing back down to earth.

"Wow…, this does not look good". The commentators echoed the sentiment.

"Robert Lewandowski in tears, that definitely does not look good for FC Barcelona. Now, how will Hansi Flick react to this situation?"

"The bigger question should be, what will the referee do?"

FWEEE!

Calming down and blowing his whistle again, the referee finally penalized the Brest player, giving him only a yellow card which the FC Barcelona players protested to no avail.

But to compensate Barcelona, they were awarded a penalty kick.

Raphinha took the ball, he was to play the penalty kick in Robert Lewandowski's absence.