God Of football

Chapter 88: Prelude To The Atletico Madrid Game

The morning sunlight streamed through the thin curtains of Izan’s small room, casting a warm glow.

The faint chirping of birds and the distant sound of children playing outside signal the start of another day.

Izan stirred beneath his simple blanket, his dark curls tousled and his face relaxed. As his alarm clock buzzes, he groggily reaches out to silence it, yawning deeply.

It’s been a few days since school opened, and he had, and it hadn’t been as bad as he thought it would. He had thought his 2nd year would be tiring but the school had helped him accommodate to the schedules.

Izan could now close early on the pretext of going to train, and he did. Izan was putting in a bit of work than he had done for a few days.

Well, any player playing against Atletico de Madrid would also train extra. Today was a Friday meaning the following day was the bout between Valencia CF and Atletico de Madrid.

The Latter side had won against Real Madrid by a score of 3-1 the previous matchday and were looking to continue this run of form.

After matchday five, the Laliga top 5 looked something like this.

Team. Mp. W D L pts Gd

1. Valencia 5 5 0 0 15 8

3. Girona 5 4 1 0 13 7

4. Barca 5 4 1 0 13 9

2. R. Mrd 5 4 0 1 12 7

5. At. Mrd 5 3 1 1 10 7

Izan stretched his arms and legs, shaking off the last remnants of sleep, and quickly got out of bed. Izan’s morning routine was quick but purposeful.

He splashed cold water on his face before brushing his teeth. After putting on his gear, he went out to complete the task of the day.

After finishing his tasks, Izan came back home and started getting ready for school. It had been 5 days seen school reopened.

....

Standing tall with a lean athletic build, Izan stood at the school gate with his bag slung over his shoulder.

His schoolmates passed by him with a few girls throwing glances at him while giggling. [Cliche but we gotta do what do we gotta do]

With a sigh, Izan headed towards his classroom.

Izan’s day at school was a blend of learning, fun, and a bit of mischief.

The morning began with a bright smile as he entered the classroom, greeting his friends with high-fives and jokes.

Sosa had called in sick the previous day so Izan’s desknate was nowhere to be found.

His first lesson was mathematics, where he eagerly solved problems on the board, impressing his teacher with quick answers.

”This is really not fair. He’s good at football and studying. How can you write a character like this” a student said.

”His contract with Valencia makes him a lot of money annually. I also saw his sponsorship deal with Adidas. Author-nim, This is too much”.

”I’m surprised the girls haven’t even thrown themselves at him yet”.

” If he writes something like that, it’d be too cliche, but we love cliche”.

The conversation alternated between 3 friends who thought that life was unfair.

During recess, Izan and his friends played a competitive game of football, dribbling past defenders and scoring the winning goal that earned him cheers from everyone.

”Professional players sure are different,” a voice said.

Science class followed, and Izan was fascinated by an experiment involving colourful chemical reactions, asking curious questions and taking detailed notes.

The highlight of the day was art class, where he took inspiration from a picture on Google and sketched a vivid drawing of a Maradona with his hands raised, earning praise from his peers and teacher.

As the final bell rang, Izan packed his bag, still buzzing with energy, and waved goodbye to his classmates.

After school, Izan took a cab to the Cuidad Deportiva de Paterna. After arriving, Izan changed into his training kit before heading to the pitch.

After finding no one else on the pitch, Izan set up a few cones that led to a row of dummies. After setting up the cones and dummies to look like an obstacle course, Izan went through this self-made course like a pro does.

Coach Baraja, who was in his office, felt a presence on the field behind him, so he looked through the glass window and found the familiar sight of Izan training before anyone did.

”This kid, ” Baraja said with a smirk. After a while, the players started arriving. Seeing Izan already there and training, the others just smiled and walked to the locker room.

After changing, the rest of the players joined Izan on the pitch. The players played and joked around since the training hadn’t started yet.

Soon enough, Coach Baraja joined the players on the pitch. He talked with the other Coaches for a while before telling the players to loosen their muscles.

Izan, who had already warmed up, decided to visit the player recovery room until the drills began. After a massage on his thighs and calves, Izan went back to the training field.

The drills were hard-core, pushing the players to their limit. It seemed the conversation between Coach Baraja and the other coaches was about the drills.

”Coach knows we have a match tomorrow right?” Pietro asked before adding, ”So why is he trying to kill us before I even get to score against Atleti?”.

”Just shut up. It’s because of this training that we are at the top of the table,” Gaya said, but Pietro refuted it.

”It’s because we haven’t faced that many challenging teams, and that is why we are top of the table”. ”Also, Izan carries us a bit so...”.

”Sevilla isn’t a challenge for you, but I don’t remember you playing, and if we don’t do our jobs well, how can Izan focus on helping the team?” Gaya shot back. ”Fair point,” Pietro said before returning to his workout

The players around him all shook their heads at this teammate of theirs. ”How are you feeling”. Izan, who was tightening his loosened boots, looked up and saw Baraja.

”I’m doing good, Coach,”, Izan said with a smile. ”Good. Atletico are going to be rough with you but I still want you to play. Can you start?” Baraja asked.

Izan nodded at his words. His body wasn’t like other players his age and the medicals he had done after he returned from the national team proved it.

As a plus, he also had injury immunity pills but he couldn’t tell them that could he? ”They’re going to play rough, so try to protect yourself tomorrow, okay?” Baraja spoke.

”Don’t worry, Coach, I won’t get injured”, Izan said while rising from his kneeling pose. ”Very well then. Join the other guys for the scrimmage after you’re done,” Baraja said whilst leaving.

After Izan joined the team, Baraja made the attackers play against the defender with the 2 central midfielders joining the attackers and another 2 defensive midfielders joining the defenders.

The defensive team faced an onslaught from the attackers. They weren’t weak but Izan was cleverly using each defender’s weakness against them.

In a play, Izan sent a cross to Gaya’s side of the box. Taking advantage of Gaya’s short height, Hugo Duro towered over the former and sent the ball into the net with his head.

In another instance, Cenk Ozkacar was beaten by Izan using a sudden change of pace and suddenly accelerating once Cenk slowed down.

Marmadashvili was the one having it rough in this session as almost all the shots from the attackers were in target.

After saving a few balls and crashing to the ground a few times, Marmadashvili felt his body ache.

Seeing Marmadashvili’s crunched face, Coach Baraja quickly made him stop and changed him for the second-choice keeper.

After being subbed out of the scrimmage, Marmadashvili was checked by the team medics.

After inspecting, the medics found a few bruises but other than that, the keeper was fine.

Coach Baraja finally sighed after the Medics’ inspection. The players finally showed a relaxed face and continued with the scrimmage but this time, the intensity had toned down a bit since no one wanted an injury the day before a big match.

After the scrimmage, the players returned to the locker room. In the locker room, the players washed down before wearing a new training kit.

After they changed, the team went to the video and tactical room.

After settling down, Coach Baraja led the team in discussing the recent matches of Atletico Madrid while pointing out a few errors of the opposition team.

The players all started making notes about the opponents’ weaknesses. After they finished discussing the opponent’s weaknesses, they discussed theirs as well.

A few players like Hugo Duro and Correira were singled out with the former’s problem being his inability to capitalise on some clear chances while the latter’s problem was his abandonment of defensive duties.

The team also discussed tactics and effective ways to shut down Atletico de Madrid.

After this, Coach Baraja announced the 22-man squad that would be going into this game.

The main players just smiled when they heard their names, while the ones who heard their names for the first time or in a while showed excitement.

After seeing his name on the sheet, Izan felt an indescribable feeling. Unknowingly he had become an integral part of this side.

”Okay, guys, I’ll see you tomorrow and don’t be late or else you’ll be out of the squad for a few matchdays,” Coach Baraja said before walking off.

A few players who felt that the words were directed towards them couldn’t help but gulp.

”Izan, do you want to go and buy the new fC 24 game,” Sosa said after he saw Izan packing.

”Maybe after the Atleti game. I’ll probably not sleep if I buy it today, and that would affect my game,” Izan said with a slight smile.

Even if he didn’t sleep, he could use a conditioning pill, and that would bring him back to his best condition, but using it felt a bit artificial and couldn’t compare to true rest.

”Okay, then, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Sosa said before leaving. He had been selected, but it was obvious that he wasn’t going to play, and even if he did, it would happen in the final minutes of the game.

If he wasn’t lucky, he would substituted late and would not even get a chance to touch the ball. Izan slung his bag over his shoulder once more, stepping out of the locker room.

A/n: ....., umm have fun reading