Rise of a Football God

Chapter 337 A new King in Catalan

Bam!

Sam's leg perfectly connected with the ball, hitting it at the optimum position that he wanted and sending it on a deadly curling trajectory towards goal.

The ball rose, curling, over the wall of players, towards the goal…

The goalkeeper reacted, taking a step and another before diving but the curvature of the ball was just too acute, taking it away from his grasp.

Whoosh!

The ball went past him, into the net as it rippled.

And then, the Spotify Camp Nou went haywire.

BOOM!

"ZINEDINE SAM…!!!"

"ZINEDINE SAM…!!!"

"ZINEDINE SAM…!!!"

"They called to God, they prayed for a miracle, Sam answered!"

"It is finished!"

"Sensational! Crazy! Clutch!"

"From 2 goals down, to 3 goals up and the victory! This is sensational! This is stuff of legends! This is stuff of fiction!"

"A Zinedine Samed game!"

"And this game shall be remembered as the Samuel Moses game!"

Amid the roar of the commentators, deflated, the 10 Dortmund players collapsed on the pitch, unwilling to believe what was happening.

At some point in this game, they were 2 nil up!

So how?!

Just how did this happen?!

And then from the floor where they laid, deflated and defeated, they stared at him, the cause of their misery who now celebrated.

The Spotify Camp Nou was a cauldron of noise as the FC Barcelona fans paid homage to his performance, to the miracle that he just performed.

And riding the energy generated by the noise, including the familiar "Sam" chants, he charged towards the corner flag, sliding on his knees in celebration and this riled them up even more, taking the noise through the roof.

BOOM!

Sam's teammates swarmed all over him as they also celebrated.

"Bastardo!" Behind him, Gavi roared, pushing him, shoving him excitedly.

Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, all the FC Barcelona players swarmed Sam, celebrating with him excitedly.

This goal came at just the right moment, in additional time.

Now, Dortmund had less than 1% chance of actually getting back on the game. It was virtually over.

When his teammates finally gave him some space, Sam removed his jersey, showing it to the FC Barcelona fans, including his number that was attached to the back of the jersey.

[Samuel Moses] Explore more at My Virtual Library Empire

[No. 40]

It was the no. 40 that was at the back of his jersey but at this moment, looking at him, the FC Barcelona fans seemed to see the no. 10 jersey.

They were too emotional, their emotions quickly cascading as they could not hold it in any longer.

"Sam!"

"Sam!"

"Sam!"

The whole stadium chanted.

"I feel like I'm bearing witness to history". One of the commentators chuckled. "This 'Sam' chant, I think it's something that's going to quickly become iconic and a staple of the Spotify Camp Nou".

"This Sam boy, he really is the deal".

"Barcelona struck it big with him. As an attacking midfielder, he's already a menace, to think he can also be this good as a false 9".

"Hansi Flick has really unlocked more of Sam!"

FWEEEE!

The referee's whistle sounded, showing a yellow card to Sam before blowing for the game to start even as Sam reacted nonchalantly to the yellow card.

The game continued and like expected, Dortmund could not create anything of note before the referee's whistle sounded again, bringing the game to an end.

Sam got a 2nd consecutive man of the match award in the UEFA champions league. This time though, he didn't get the match ball as he scored only 2 goals, but those 2 goals translated to more 3 points for FC Barcelona.

Well, if Sam was just a high profile signing for FC Barcelona fans previously, after his performance that night against Dortmund at the Spotify Camp Nou, his status changed overnight.

To many fans, they no longer cared about his age, the fact that he was just 19. To them, Sam was the new King in Catalan.

For a long time, the best part of almost 2 decades, there was a King in Catalan, the Argentine maestro, Lionel Messi.

The Messi era was one of the best eras of FC Barcelona as a club.

Led by the mercurial Argentine, Messi pushed the boundaries of reality and expectations, setting a new standard for the club with his record-breaking statistics and performances every single season.

Since Messi left, FC Barcelona was never quite the same.

To the fans, the King was gone.

Even the prince was gone too, Neymar Jnr; he was gone far before the King, leaving FC Barcelona fans grasping for straws.

Since Messi left, the expectations of FC Barcelona fans became a bit tempered with season after season of heartbreak. Last season seemed like their best chance of reclaiming their spot as Kings of Europe.

But agonizingly, they lost it against a rampant Liverpool in the semifinal.

To the fans in recent years, it was nothing new, losing it when it seemed like they were perfectly poised to win it.

It only tempered their expectations even more.

A few seasons earlier, the rise of Lamine Yamal made them believe that the Spotify Camp Nou had its new prince.

All they needed was patience, patience for the prince to blossom and mature, metamorphing to become the new King.

To think that the Spotify Camp Nou would get a King even before Yamal fully matured.

After the performance against Dortmund, to many FC Barcelona fans, the Spotify Camp Nou now had its new King.

"Zinedine Sam will lead us to the UEFA champions league trophy!" They bragged and claimed in the streets.

"Sam is unstoppable!"

"Samuel Moses is the most in-form player in Europe!" The FC Barcelona fans claimed and it was not just delusion, they had the statistics to back up the claim.

***

[Samuel Moses stats in the 2025/2026 season in all competitions:]

*Games: 9

*Goals: 13

*Assists: 5

…

[International games- Nigeria:]

*Games: 4

*Goals: 3

*Assists: 2

…

[UEFA champions league:]

*Games: 2

*Goals: 5

*Assists: 2

…

[18 goals + assists in just 9 games!]

***

Considering the fact that Sam missed a chunk of games due to the scandal that he got involved in, he was having a truly terrific season so far.

And after the Dortmund game where he successfully proved himself again, Sam got his greatest test of the season. The greatest test of any new FC Barcelona player that plied his trade in the Spanish top flight.

FC Barcelona's next game was the first El Clasico of the season!