Rise of a Football God

33 minutes, 1-0…

Even in the rain, as soon as the ball entered the net, the Spotify Camp Nou erupted, briefly drowning the deafening clangor of the heavy downpour.

The FC Barcelona players reacted, celebrating the goal as Pedri ran towards the corner flag before sliding on his knees in celebration.

Due to the slippery pitch, he slid for a long time before coming to a stop.

His teammates swarmed him. And when Pedri stood back up, with a big smile on his face, he pointed at Sam, acknowledging him for the role he played in creating the goal.

While the Barcelona players celebrated, for a few seconds, there was an argument among the Inter Milan players till Yann Sommer, their goalkeeper intervened, separating them with a few heated words.

The celebration soon came to an end, and the Barca players returned to the pitch.

FWEEE!

The game continued.

And finally, FC Barcelona got a firm grip over the game.

During training, Hansi Flick never anticipated for a heavy downpour and this was why the fluid FC Barcelona team struggled to set a steady tempo at first.

But after that Pedri goal, the team finally adapted.

They learned to play in the rain.

FC Barcelona finally gained the decisive advantage in this game, dominating possession and posing significant threat in attack, forcing Inter Milan to focus more on defense as the pressure mounted.

"Visca Barca!"

With the fans roaring nonstop on the fans, the players played their hearts out. For the next 10 minutes after Pedri's goal, it was literally 70% to 30% possession in FC Barcelona's favor.

They were passing their opponents to death in the rain!

Somehow, they learned to pass better in the rain.

And then, in the 43rd minute of the game, the game was sealed.

Pedri intercepted a pass aimed to Lautaro Martinez with his chest, bringing the ball down before quickly playing it up, lobbing it over the Inter Milan defense.

The Inter Milan defense reacted, but someone was faster… Samuel Moses.

BZZZ!

Sam left a blur, turning into a speeding train on the spot.

"Sam!" "Sam!" "Sam!"

The Sam chants erupted at the Spotify Camp Nou as evading the reckless challenges from the defenders to hold him down, he sped past them, running with the ball towards the goalkeeper as he was suddenly one on one with Yann Sommer.

The Inter Milan goalkeeper was one of the best goalkeepers in the world, but against the best striker in the world, even he was not confident in this scenario.

Yann Sommer bid his time a bit, and then he sudden rushed out, rapidly closing the distance to the striker as he slid towards him.

'Shoot…!' Tens of thousands of Barca fans definitely thought that as their blood pressure rose, but Sam didn't shoot, rather…

Bam!

He passed it to his left.

To his left where Alejandro Balde was.

It was crazy for a left back to be in this position in the first place. But when Inter Milan was about to attack before Pedri's interception, Balde was caught out of position and this was the reason why he managed to appear here when Sam looked for a partner in crime.

Besides, he recognized the fact that it was Balde running besides him and since his friend rarely received opportunities like this to score was why he passed.

That pass obliterated the goalkeeper out of the equation.

Balde ran with the ball towards an empty net, and then he smashed it in.

"GOALLLLLL…!!!"

The Spotify Camp Nou erupted again.

Alejandro Balde scored in the 44th minute, effectively sealing the game, or so Barca fans thought but Inter Milan had something else in mind.

The first half came to an end 2-0 in Barca's favor.

During halftime, Hansi Flick only had a little words for his players, telling them to seal the game so he could sleep on time.

The players laughed to his joke. And then, they entered the pitch.

FWEEE!

Inter Milan restarted the game.

As soon as Inter started the game, Lautaro Martinez, the Argentine striker started running straight at the Barcelona defense.

For a moment or two, the Barca defenders were confused, then…

Bam!

Nicola Barella hit a long pass towards Martinez just before he could be caught by the infamous Barcelona offside trap.

All of a sudden, in one hit, Martinez was one on one with Ter Stegen!

The German goalkeeper charged out to meet the Argentine striker but keeping his cool, Martinez kicked the ball forward, past Ter Stegen's reach, rounding the goalkeeper before scoring a smooth goal.

"GOALLLL…!!!"

The away stands at the Spotify Camp Nou that had been quiet for over 45 minutes erupted suddenly, brought back to life by that goal.

Lautaro Martinez pumped a fist at his fans with passion but he didn't celebrate, rushing into the net, picking the ball and rushing back to the center of the pitch to restart the game.

Inter Milan scored in the very first minute of the 2nd half.

The game continued, but that lightning-fast goal seemed to have rattled FC Barcelona's nerves because just 3 minutes later, in the 48th minute of the game, Pedri played an uncharacteristic loose pass, letting Federico Dimarco to pounce.

The Inter Milan wingback intercepted the pass and without waiting for a single moment, he kicked the ball forward, pursuing it with speed.

With a one-two pass with Calhanoglou, he evaded Jules Kounde before running deep down the left flank of the pitch.

Before the Barcelona defense could properly recover, he hit a silky trivela pass with the outside of his boot, sending it into the 18-yard box.

Inigo Martinez and Pau Cubarsi both kept an eye on the suddenly crazy Argentine striker, but Lautaro Martinez was just too elusive.

The striker was already in the flow state!

He jumped in between both defenders, flinging his body acrobatically at the ball as he played a beautiful scissor kick, sending it towards the top left corner.

Marc Andre Ter Stegen was rooted to one spot.

GOAL.

The Spotify Camp Nou was stunned.