Rise of a Football God

Could Fulham recover from this?

The Fulham of earlier in the season would have given up, admitting defeat to this behemoth of English football, succumbing to Trent Alexander-Arnold's freakish brilliance but this was no longer the Fulham of yesterday.

This was the Fulham of Sam's era, and post-Sam Fulham feared no opponent.

They already beat the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea once already, and they could do it again.

The commentator asked if they could recover from this, the Fulham players' inner response?

'Definitely!'

And Sam led this rally.

FWEEEE!

After the 3rd goal, the Liverpool players expected to have broken the Fulham players' spirits. They thought having broken their opponent's spirits, they could finally dominate, riding this game out but they were in for a rude awakening.

After that goal in the 72nd minute, Fulham became even more dangerous, more reckless, and much more assertive.

After the 72nd minute, Fulham played high octane football!

Bam! Bam! Bam!

They pinged the ball around at a rapid tempo, slicing through the Liverpool press again and again while the offensive players ran their defenders ragged, unleashing shot after shot, forcing Allison Becker into impressive save constantly.

For the last 18 minutes of this game, the whole Fulham team played like a tireless monster. The only reason why they didn't score yet was because of 2 Liverpool players, Virgil Van Dijk and Alisson Becker.

Buoyed by the incredible performance level of his attacking midfielder behind him, Muniz played like a man possessed, striving to get his 2nd goal by any means possible.

Virgil Van Dijk's clever defending helped nullified his threat, including Sam's, but more credit was on Alisson Becker's streak of form for the last 18 minutes.

The Liverpool goalkeeper already saved his team from 2 one-on-one situations, and his lightning-swift reflexes helped him save lethal shots, keeping his team on the game and in the lead.

If Liverpool won eventually, it would be a hard-fought one, but the Fulham players had no interest in just making it hard for them.

They wanted to score!

They wanted to equalize!

They wanted to win!

But it was hard…

75 minutes passed, no goal.

80 minutes passed, no goal.

85 minutes passed, no goal.

Then, in the 88th minute, it happened and this time it was all Muniz.

After a bad Liverpool clearance from Quansah after another game-winning save from Alisson, Muniz pounced on the loose ball.

As soon as Muniz pounced on the ball, Quansah recovered, trying to redeem his mistake as he closed the striker down aggressively only to be nutmegged by the striker who was already in the zone state.

"…!" The fans around the stadium gasped at the nutmeg.

Muniz charged after the ball, arriving first but he could not shoot as another enemy shadow outstretched a leg to block his shooting angle.

Immediately, Muniz improvised, cutting the ball to the right to wriggle past again but Virgil Van Dijk got in his way with his other leg, poking the ball away as this imposing defender saved his team again.

But it was a loose ball, and before any Liverpool player could get to it, Pereira who already replaced Alex Iwobi in this game rushed at the ball, then…

Bam!

One-time shot, goal!

Craven Cottage exploded as Pereira charged toward the corner flag, waving his arms wildly as the riled up and excited Fulham fans roared.

"Oh my God!"

"Holy chills! What a super-sub performance!"

"Pereira has done it! It's 3-3, what a thriller! What will the end be like?"

"If it ends like this, then Fulham have succeeded in doing the impossible!"

All the Liverpool players felt deflated after that goal, but they didn't give up. As soon as the referee's whistle sounded again, they regrouped and went again, Trent Alexander-Arnold once again leading the fight-back from the right to get the winner the 4th time in this game.

After 90 minutes, 8 minutes was added to this game.

Those 8 minutes were 8 minutes of war!

It was pound for pound football, both teams trying to impose themselves on the game and then, in the 90th plus 8-minute, mere seconds away from fulltime, Quansah fouled Muniz, bringing him down just outside the box.

FWEEEE!

It was a freekick.

In training, Muniz was the designated Fulham freekick expert but at this moment, this striker felt tense as he stood before the ball.

The freekick would likely be the last play of this game.

It was the game-decider.

Standing before that ball, Muniz felt like the weight of the whole world was on his shoulders. The weight of tens of thousands of Fulham supporters were on his shoulders, hoping that he would score and win them the game.

The tension was fever-high.

And that was when Sam approached the striker. "Please, let me take it".

Muniz looked at Sam. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure, I want to try it".

Seeing the look in his eyes, Muniz obliged, patting Sam on the back. Nobody saw this coming, not even the other Fulham players as they were perplexed.

"Now, what is going on here?"

"Muniz actually left the chance to Sam, the young Nigerian".

"We know Sam is good, the boy is a prodigy but a freekick? In a game of this importance? In this time of the game? That's just reckless, that's too much pressure on his young shoulders".

Sam ignored the words of the referee as he walked up to the ball. His eyes were wide, fire burning in them, blazing with the fiery zeal to win.

As soon as he stood before the ball, he did it.

~----~

[You have accessed ability card: Bend it like Beckham!]

[Card Effects:]

>This card can only be used during a set-piece. Once used, for 10 minutes, for every freekick that your team gets, you gain the ability and technique of a prime David Beckham, giving you a +80% scoring buff when taking a free-kick<

…

[You have made use of ability card: Bend it like Beckham!]

~----~

Sam closed his eyes and looked up. He took a deep breath, then he did a short-angled run before doing his thing.

Bam!

Wrapping the inside of his right boot around the ball, Sam unleashed a curled shot towards the top right corner that evaded the wall of players.

"…!" Craven Cottage froze, watching.

Alisson Becker went on a full-stretch dive; and again, his hand grazed the ball but it was not enough. He was just unlucky this game.

The ball nestled into the top right corner.

"SAMUEL MOSESSSSS…!!!" The commentator roared.

"WHAT A GOALLLL!!!"

"Zinedine Sam has done it again!"

"What a moment! He's singlehandedly won Fulham the game!"

"All game they've had to chase the game from behind Liverpool, and what a way to end it! Finally going ahead in the last minute of the game!"

Sam charged towards the corner flag amid the roars of the stadium.

Spreading his arms like a King, he embraced the adoration of the fans and once he got to the corner flag, he did the Jude Bellingham celebration.

"Sam!" "Sam!" "Sam!" Chants broke around the stadium.

As the fans chanted his name though, Sam could not help but notice a familiar face in a corner of the stadium stands.

He was surprised. 'Huh? Kayla?'

Fulham won the game 4-3 after an unforgettable thriller.

Despite Sam's clutch moment, there was another player that was just above him through the course of the game.

Despite being on the losing side, with a hand in all 3 of Liverpool's goals including his freekick, Trent Alexander-Arnold won the man of the match award.