Rise of a Football God

During half-time, Marco Silva had a smile on his face as he addressed his players. "Congratulations guys, we played like warriors that first half".

"This second half, we have no intention of letting up and giving them the game, let's finish it like warriors just like we started!"

"Get me that winning goal!"

It was a short speech but it made the players' blood boil.

FWEEEE!

After the players made their way back to the pitch, as soon as the referee's whistle sounded again to restart play, the battle between Fulham and Liverpool restarted with the same intensity that they played the first half.

This second half, Sam was already in the zone.

'Win!' 'Win!' 'Win!'

The mantra chanted in his head and with it, his focus became narrowed, ignoring every other distraction as all his attention became abstracted to the ball.

Just 3 minutes after restart, Sam came closest to pushing his team ahead in the 48th minute. After winning the ball back in midfield from Wataru Endo, he drove forward a bit with the ball, skipped past 2 challenges, set himself up, before unleashing a thunderous outside the box shot.

The ball just barely missed the post, rushing out for a goal kick.

"F*ck!" Sam cursed, grabbing his head in regret.

He didn't linger on his regret though. After that test shot, his legs felt like more alive they were on fire, he was ready to impose himself on this game.

But as the game progressed though, Sam learned that he was not the only player with the intention and ability to impose himself on this game.

Trent Alexander-Arnold, the maverick Liverpool right back also imposed himself upon this game as he tortured Robinson down the right-hand side, orchestrating clever plays and playing in a few dangerous crosses.

For years in the premier league, Trent Alexander-Arnold has been crowned with the title of the best crosser of the ball in the league and in this game, this Liverpool phenom was showing his skill with the ball at his feet.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

In the first few minutes of this second half, Sam and Trent Alexander-Arnold stole all the attention with their incredible plays once the ball was with them.

And in the end, one of them got the result first, Arnold did.

After another Liverpool attack was thwarted, receiving the ball in the right-hand side even as Lukic closed him down aggressively, Arnold swiftly floated a cross into the Fulham box that was still congested by Liverpool players.

The Liverpool players leaped desperately to clear the ball but unfortunately for them, a Liverpool player rose highest.

Ryan Gravenberch rose highest, planting a firm header towards goal.

Leno dived, his hand grazing the ball but it was not enough as the ball snuck through and into the net, breaking the deadlock again.

"GOALLLL…!" The away fan section erupted again.

Gravenberch charged towards the corner flag, sliding on his knees and pumping his fists as he celebrated his goal excitedly.

In the 53rd minute, Liverpool went back on the lead again.

Fulham was on the backfoot again.

"Come on!" Sam clapped, yelling. "We're still in this!"

"One goal to turn the tides!"

"We need just one goal!"

When the referee's whistle sounded again, the Fulham players truly came out of their shells as they took the battle to Liverpool.

And again, Sam was the orchestrator.

With the urgency to score settling in his brain, setting off all his electrons in an excited state, Sam played at an extraterrestrial level.

With the ball, he dribbled, skipping past challenges and when he was about to lose it, he played crazy passes, splitting the Liverpool defense open time and time again and finally, it paid fruit.

In the 60th minute, Sam slipped a pass through the Liverpool defense to Alex Iwobi on the right who did not hesitate, crossing the ball into the box to Muniz.

The cross was not accurate though, going behind Muniz instead of coming at his front, leaving this striker no choice but to improvise but Muniz did it perfectly.

With one hand on his jersey, cleverly pulling, the imposing Virgil Van Dijk kept this striker in check but Muniz was unwilling to give up. With eyes dilated in focus, as the ball floated in, he raised his right leg behind him, then…

BAM!

Muniz improvised, executing a scissor kick as he unleashed a volleyed shot at goal. Allison reacted, diving and touching the ball but again, it snuck past him.

"YEAHHHH…!" Muniz jumped, pumping his fists excitedly as he riled up the Fulham fans who roared with him.

"Damn! What a game this is turning out to be!"

"2 teams that are in form, 2-2, what a game!"

"Muniz, what a goal! Sam is on fire! He played his role on that goal to perfection though it is recorded as an Alex Iwobi assist".

FWEEEE!

The game restarted again as both teams played with even greater intensity.

It was a cagey affair filled with exciting battles all over the pitch, and again, it required a moment of individual brilliance to break the deadlock a 3rd time, and again, it was in Liverpool's favor.

And again, it was the menace, Trent Alexander-Arnold.

"What a pass from Arnold!"

"Straight through the heart of the Fulham defense! Jota gets it but he's sandwiched from both sides by Adarabioyo and Bassey, can he wriggle through?"

"Oh! Twinkle feet, Leno is coming out, and ohhhh… GOALLL!"

"Diogo Jota has done it! Liverpool is in the lead again!"

"And that is the 3rd time this game, can Fulham recover from this?"

Having drifted into midfield with the ball at some point, Trent Alexander-Arnold played an accurate slicing pass through the middle of the Fulham team, right into Diogo Jota's legs.

The Liverpool attacker was sandwiched from both sides by Fulham's center back duo but managing to stand his ground, he pushed forward, keeping the ball away from them with his quick feet.

Bernd Leno charged out, closing him down.

And just as Calvin Bassey slid in to clear the ball, like an assassin, Diogo Jota unleashed a whipped shot into the bottom left corner, giving his team the lead for the 3rd time this game.

In the 72nd minute, it became 2-3 to Liverpool.

Could Fulham recover from this?