God Of football

Chapter 34: Going up against Sergio Ramos

[Few seconds before substitution]

”Huh I donʼt want to us lose the final game of the season but it is against Sevilla so Iʼm not talking much” a fan said.

”Weʼre past our glory days. We used to be competing in the champions league just 2 years ago but now *sigh*,we are struggling to even enter the top ten in laliga” another Valencia fan said.

[Announcer]

ʼNumber 21, Izan comes on for ilaix moriba and number 17 pietro comes on for Marco Andreʼ

”I always told you guys but Iʼm gonna say it again. What the hell is wrong with that Coach. We need a goal and heʼs bringing on some unknown kids”.

”Relax,thatʼs pietro. He played last season and actually did good. The other seems like its some kid ”. A valencia fan said.

Suddenly someone besides them raised his voice,”Wait I know him. He was the kid who scored Valenciaʼs last goal against Espanyol. He was actually good in that match so letʼs see”.

”He was the one who scored against Espanyol. He looks Asian. Bet heʼs weak” a sevilla fan who had found himself amongst a few Valencia fans said.

”You donʼt always have to be stereotypical about such things. Look at Son Hyeung Min. Heʼs an Asian but heʼs a great footballer. Does football have anything to do with race” a Female voice said.

The Sevilla fan who had been shut up looked at the woman with an annoyed face.

”Shouldnʼt you be in the kitchen right now ” he threw a jab again at the woman.

”Shouldnʼt you have some sense you prehistoric ape ” another female voice said.

”Donʼt encourage him Joana” the other female voice said.

”But heʼs annoying Miranda. You shouldnʼt let them have the last say in these instances ” joana said.

”Well thatʼs not the reason we came right. The reason why we came has just entered the pitch so letʼs watch him” Miranda said.

Miranda had come to seville the day before and she had decided to watch the match against Sevilla after she found out that Izan would be on the matchday squad.

Her younger sister, Joana had tagged along as she was intrigued by the player who her sister had supposedly signed an Agent-player contract with.

”Oh,he got the ball” Miranda said prompting Joana to look on the field.

Back to the pitch, Izan had gotten the ball on the flanks. He looked up at the opposition and saw a way out.

Izan with his pace sped up through the opposition half. He came up against 2 Sevilla players who were trying to retrieve the ball from him.

But Izan,with a nice change of pace and a few stepovers got rid of them. Izan coming up along met someone he didnʼt want to meet up with just yet.

It was none other than Sergio Ramos,the Real Madrid legendary defender who had signed for Sevilla a while back.

Izan with his pace tried to move the ball to his left but Ramos followed suit. A few of the Sevilla players were approaching and Izan knew he had to get rid of Ramos somehow and fast.

”Vamos chico, ven a mí. no tenemos todo el dia[come on boy come at me. we donʼt have all day] ” Ramos said.

A light bulb suddenly hit Izan as he saw Pietro coming from his left. Izan smartly tried to pass the ball to Pietro with his left leg.

Ramos seeing Izanʼs movement moved in to block the pass but Izan connected with the ball to perform an Elastico.

Ramos who had already anticipated such a move came back to tackle the ball. Izan raised his leg to pass the ball to Pietro who was already near him.

Ramos in an awkward position tried to block the ball. Unfortunately for the veteran defender, Izan had also already anticipated Ramosʼs last stitch defending and had therefore pulled the ball to the left with the inside of his right foot making a fake pass.

Ramos couldnʼt hold the pose he was in and fell down. Izan didnʼt lag around and immediately sped up before passing the ball to Pietro.

Pietro didnʼt take too many touches and passed the ball back to Izan after taking a touch.

Izan controlled the ball deftly when he was close to the arc of the box. Izan came against 2 defenders again but this time it was easy.

With a few fake shots of his left and right foot,Izan got rid of them and came One on One with the keeper.

By this time,all the Valencia Fans had gotten up from their seats. What were they watching. Who was this kid? Where the hell is he from? What is he doing?.

All these were words and questions going on in their heads. The fans didnʼt really know Izan well except for a few staunch fans who followed the youth teams news.

Valencia had tried their best to prevent the news of Izan from going out as a lot of teams would try to sign him. Him winning the uefa youth league and the copa de Campeones in his youth team made it even hard for them to keep it up.

Izan in Oblivion nutmegged the goalkeeper,Bounou before heading towards the corner flag even before the ball was in the net.

ʼGoooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllsooooooooooʼ the announcer screamed.

Izan slid on the ground infront of the Valencia fans who had gone crazy. The goal they had seen was simply outstanding.

The Valencia players rushed Izan and pulled him to the ground. ”What in the world was that kid” Jose Gaya said to Izan.

”I donʼt even know myself ” Izan said and he was not lying. After dribbling Ramos, Izan felt his body moving on its own. Just as Izan was thinking,

[Ding, host has unlocked ◇flow◇]

Description: A state that is triggered by the host when he feels the urgency to score. It mostly happens in the late stages of the game and the possibility of triggering it is very low.

Izan stared at the screen until his teammates woke him up from his stupor by picking him up from the ground.

”Lets focus on the match and look at everything later” Izam thought.

The referee restarted the match after the players had gotten into position.

After the restart,the Sevilla players started double teaming Izan whenever he got the ball. They knew what he had done was not a fluke and only a fool would underestimate him by saying heʼs only a kid.

Izan was amazed by the Sevilla team and continued pushing forward. The match turned into a ping-pong game as both teams went on the attack immediately after they got the ball from the opponent.

Izan was in the heart of all this. Giving passes like a mad man. Running around the pitch like he had 2 hearts. Izan was in the moment and he was really having fun.

”Heʼs actually smiling” Pietro said as he looked at Izan who was moving in the middle with the ball.

Izan passed the ball to Jose gaya who had moved from his left back position to a more middle position.

Jose Gaya neednʼt tell Izan as Izan moved into space immediately after passing the ball.

Jose gaya layed off the ball to Izan who let the ball pass through his legs after he saw a Sevilla player approaching him.

Izan then moved to support the player who was Daniel wass. Izan formed a triangle with the two players as they moved towards the opposition goal.

Hugo duro who now had the ball passed to Izan. Izan who felt the match was being a bit pacey decided to slow it down since the situation would be grave if they lost the ball.

Izan looked up and passed the ball to Carlos soler who was making a run. Carlos soler after controlling the ball from Izan nicely shot the ball towards the bottom corner.

Ruben baraja had already raised his hand and so had most of the Valencia fans but they were dissapointed as Bounou made a spectacular save.

”Weʼre fucked ” were the thoughts of Izan and the other Valencia players as Marcos Acuna took the ball from the corner flag before passing it to Susó who had already gone ahead of the others.

Suso deftly controlled the ball and sped towards the Valencia half. Izan with his electrifying pace darted towards him.

Susó was already near the left flank of the Valencia side when Izan was near him. Izan knew Susó was going to pass and he tried to assess who Susó was going to pass to.

He saw Ivan Rakitić moving into space and decided to gamble on him. Izan dashed towards the right side and was right when Susó sent a pass to Rakitić.

Izan got near Rakitić and slid into a tackle. Izan cleanly got the ball off of Rakitić who didnʼt see Izan coming.

It was now the turn of the Sevilla players to chase the ball. Izan with the ball at his feet sped up towards the Sevilla goal once more.

He knocked the ball around Ramos when he saw him approaching before deciding to speed up to catch up to the ball.

Ramos who saw Izanʼs intentions tried to grab him but Izan quickly evaded Ramosʼs hand which was trying to grab him.

Izan caught up to the ball and immediately went up against Yassine Bounou. This time Izan chipped the ball over Bounou who had come out to meet Izan. The ball went in a high arc and rustled the net as is it went in for a goal.

[COMMENTATOR Pov]

ʼGoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllll. The kid has done it again. Izan has turned it around for his team. Magical scenes here in the Ramon sanchez-pizjuan stadium here.

Izan after coming on equalised the match for his team and has now scored again after a splendid dribbling run.

What a revelation he has been in both of the 2 matches he has played. 3 goals in 2 matches for the kid whoʼs not even 16 years old. I donʼt know the future but next Season is going to be a great season for him if he plays the way heʼs playingʼ

Izan went to the corner flag before pointing to the back of his shirt as if to say ʼwho am Iʼ.

The Valencia fans started chanting Izanʼs name after seeing his celebration. Most of the fans got the pronunciation wrong(probably some of the readers too) but Izan just laughed.

Izan smiled as his teamates jumped on him. He finally fell down under their weight. Manager Ruben baraja and Patricio Moreno were already running on the touchline.

It was the 82nd minute and the match was far from over but they didnʼt think about that now.

The Valencia players finally stopped the Celebrations and headed for the rest of the match.

Ruben Baraja made a tactical change as he brought on a defender for Hugo duro.

He pulled back all the players except for Izan and seems to be settling for a 2-1 win.

The Sevilla players attacked relentlessly as they tried to even it out and they came close to doing so on several occasions but they couldnʼt make it count.

In the final minutes,the ball went out for a corner. Sevilla tried to score as Ramos headed the ball towards the goal after a wonderful ball was sent to the box.

Cillessen also proved amazing as he nudged the ball out towards the corner flag . Izan chased after the ball and got to it before the others could.

Izan held onto the ball whiles moving towards the opposition goal. Unfortunately for him,that was all time allowed as the referee blew the whistle for the end of the game.

Izan fell to the ground after he heard the whistle. He looked towards the area where the digital scoreboard and smiled.

Valencia CF [2]-[1] Sevilla Fc was displayed on the screen. He was on the ground when Coach Moreno came to stand over him.

”Get up kiddo. Its time for your man of the match award”.

”Wait what” Izan said. Coach Moreno laughed as he pulled him up. Izan went towards the area where a middle aged man was waiting for him.

”Well done kid” the man said as he handed the award to Izan. Izan took the award as the fans clapped for him.

Even the Sevilla fans clapped for Izan as what he had just done was no normal feat.

”Sis, are you sure that player is a kid ” Joana said as she looked at her sister who was also dumbstruck.

She had been amazed throughout the match as she watched Izan.

”Tomorrowʼs news is probably going to be about him in both Valencia and here in Seville” Miranda thought as she stood up to go.

Joana looked at Izan once more before following her sister.