Rise of a Football God

Watching Spain's game on day 2 of Euro 2024 left Sam feeling heated up.

His reason was because of a young winger that he just watched in action, the 16-year-old Lamine Yamal.

'Damn, that boy is a monster!' He thought, feeling genuinely impressed.

As an avid FC Barcelona fan since 2011, Sam always kept tab on the Spanish club and he knew of Lamine Yamal, the young Spanish winger who made his debut for FC Barcelona last season.

During his debut season, Lamine Yamal was able to showcase his incredible talent to the world despite being just 16.

For a while, Sam had been impressed by Yamal's story and brilliance but after the game between Spain and Croatia, it grew from just impression to motivation.

'Damn! At just 16?!'

He grinned. 'If Yamal can do it at 16, who am I not to do it at 18?'

'I'm literally 2 years older than him!'

For a while in the premier league, most especially in the Fulham team, Sam always saw himself as a prodigy due to how much older his teammates were but after today's game, he was grounded in reality again.

'I'm not special, I need to work harder, much harder!'

'If Yamal can do it, I definitely can!'

That day, Sam was left grinning from ear to ear, baffling Kayla and his best friend. Sam didn't tell the reason though, he showed it with his actions.

That night, Sam hit the gym, focusing on working his way back to full fitness even as the season was still far away.

'This long holiday is a privilege that I won't have always'.

'Others are playing in the Euros; I have the privilege to rest. I will take advantage of it to the fullest to make sure I resume the season in better form than most if not every player in the premier league!'

This became his first marker for the incoming new season.

After the June 15 games, Euro 2024 continued. The outstanding game of the next matchday was between Serbia and England where the most talented group of English players were expected to blow their opponents away.

Having played an incredible debut season with Real Madrid, winning the la liga player of the season award for it, Jude Bellingham was the face of this new England side but the game didn't exactly pan out as people expected.

England did win, but it was a narrow 0-1 win after a towering Jude Bellingham header dragged the English side over the line.

The next matchday on 17th, the outstanding team was a Kylian Mbappe-led France against Austria but once again, it was a narrow 0-1 scoreline in France's favor.

The big teams were yet to show up to the tournament.

The next matchday on 18th, excited Cristiano Ronaldo fans all over the world tuned in as they watched their G.O.A.T lead Portugal out again as the skipper.

Portugal recorded a narrow 2-1 victory over Czechia.

The group stage continued for the next few days and after 26th June when it eventually came to an end, Euro 2024 viewers arrived at a conclusion.

Most of the big national sides were yet to show up to this tournament, and it was increasingly clear that Germany and Spain were the clear favorites to go all the way and win the trophy.

England kept on dazzling to deceive but nobody dared underestimate the 3 Lions; after all, they had a star-studded squad.

In the round of 16, the battle for European glory heated up.

The first big upset came directly from the first day of the round of 16 on June 29th as Italy was eliminated from the tournament after losing 2-0 to Switzerland.

Germany swept Denmark aside with a comfortable 2-0 score line.

On 30th, Georgia faced Spain and were seemingly on the way to creating another upset after scoring an early goal till Rodri, the Spanish talisman evened the score line before halftime. And when second half started, it became a riot.

Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams dazzled again as Spain tore Georgia apart, ending the game with an impressive 4-1 score line.

"Spain are definitely the favorites!" Sam gushed, fully in love. "I can't wait to line up with both Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams soon enough".

"But Williams is not a Barca player right?" Ian asked.

Sam smirked. "Just give it time, our president will sign him".

"But Barca is broke".

Sam glared at his best friend. "Get lost!"

Ian laughed. "But I didn't lie, did I?"

Sam refrained from paying attention to his best friend, giving his time to Kayla instead as he slowly indoctrinated this girl into the love of football.

These days, they were almost always together.

While Spain tore Georgia apart on the 30th, on the same day, England once again recorded another narrow victory over England and this time, they even needed last-minute heroics from Jude Bellingham again.

England was walking a tight rope this tournament. Sam predicted that they won't make it past the quarterfinals playing like this.

On July 1st, France swept a Kevin De Bruyne-led Belgium aside with a 1-0 score line even as Portugal needed penalty heroics to win over Slovenia.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

On this day, it was safe to say that Cristiano Ronaldo fans across the world were devastated as not only did their G.O.A.T miss a penalty, he also collapsed in tears on the pitch but none of it did anything to diminish the greatness of the Portuguese legend.

Sam was a Lionel Messi fan but not once did he ever dismiss Ronaldo's greatness. 'At 39, he's done more than enough for football'.

'We shouldn't be sad that it's ending, rather, we should be glad it happened'.

He grinned. 'The suiiii is still an iconic celebration that gives me the jitters!'

On 2nd July, the last of the round of 16 games were played as Netherlands swept Romania aside convincingly with a 3-0 display.

And on the same day, the young Real Madrid prodigy, Arda Guler announced his name to the rest of Europe as he dazzled, leading his nation Turkiye to a 2-1 victory over Austria.

Watching the likes of Arda Guler and Lamine Yamal dazzle, Sam felt wistful. 'I wonder when I'll get to dazzle for my country too'.

Nigeria was yet to give him his first international call up.

Yes, Sam would play for Nigeria. Not once did he even think of playing for another country. 'Nigeria is my nation'.

With the Turkey game, the quarterfinal fixtures were decided as 5 heavyweights in Spain, Germany, Portugal, France, and England made it.

It was originally going to be an exciting battle for European glory, but then 2 specific fixtures spiced it up even more.

(Euro 2024:)

(Spain – Germany)

(Date: 5th July, 2024)

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(Portugal – France) Find more to read on empire

(Date: 5th July, 2024)