THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME
chapter-509

Having rested for two days, Zachary and his teammates returned their focus to their domestic duties. Under the guidance of Max Allegri, their coach, they trained intensively on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday while doing all they could to refine their tactics and hone their match fitness. Then, when Sunday, 14th December 2014, arrived, they put on their match gear and welcomed Sampdoria at the Juventus Stadium for yet another breathtaking Serie A battle.

The game was an early kick-off scheduled to commence at 12:30 PM. But even then, it still attracted an enormous crowd of roughly 39,000 football fans, most of which were Juventus supporters. And since Juventus had been performing incredibly well since the start of the new season, those fans were in high spirits while awaiting the commencement of the game. Their enthusiasm was so out of this world, and they went all out to sing the popular Juventus chants.

But there were still exceptions in the crowd, and not all the supporters were busy chanting Juventus songs. Instead, there were also those within their ranks huddled together in the middle section of the stands while discussing their expectations for their team.

"If we defeat Sampdoria, then we will have extended our perfect winning streak in the Serie A to fifteen matches," Paolo Favero, a staunch supporter of Juventus, said to his friend. "We're really flying, man."

"Yeah! We're indeed flying." Luca Maroni, his friend, who was also naturally a Juventus supporter, agreed. "If we factor in our Champions League campaign, then we already have a perfect winning streak of twenty-one games. It's simply unbelievable!"

"We've really become invincible after acquiring Zachary," Paolo said.

"Yeah, we have," Luca agreed. "By the way, how many goals does he have at the moment?"

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Paolo replied, "Thirteen goals in the Serie A and nine in the Champions League. It's simply unbelievable! He plays as an attacking midfielder in most games but still scores all those goals."

"Well, I think he's scoring a lot becomes of how Coach Allegri utilizes him," Luca said. "Within our standard 3-5-2 formation, he often starts in central midfield alongside Andrea Pirlo, our deep-lying playmaker, and Claudio Marchisio, our defensive midfielder. However, he usually pushes forward and joins our strikers as an additional attacker during critical moments. And that allows him more room and flexibility to provide assists or shoot and score goals."

"True," Paolo agreed. "He's a true in-and-out creative midfielder who can play as a Mezzala, a box-to-box midfielder, a false nine, and an advanced playmaker. Man! We're so lucky to have him."

"Indeed," Luca agreed again. "But he will face a tough challenge when we play against Cagliari Calcio next Thursday. You know how the Cagliari fans are. They will always use whatever means possible, including racial insults, to help their team win the game."

"Yeah, I know," Paolo said. "It's a must that they will use racial insults to throw Zachary off his rhythm. And since he's the best player in the Italian Serie A at the moment, they might take the insults to a never-before-seen level. I hope things won't get so bad to the point of forcing him to walk off the pitch."

Shaking his head, Luca sighed and said, "Let's pray that the worst won't occur. I don't want us to lose the game against Cagliari because one of our players walked off the pitch. That would truly be unfortunate."

"Yeah..."

The minutes passed quickly, and soon 12:30 PM arrived. And with the referee's whistle, the Serie A battle between Juventus and Sampdoria kicked off right on time under the fire of the noon sun.

For that game, Coach Allegri had brought out most of his top guns. Gianluigi Buffon was in goal, while Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci, and Martín Angelo Ogbonna were the three defenders. Then, Arturo Vidal, Andrea Pirlo, and Zachary Bemba were the three players holding the reigns in central midfield, while Kwadwo Asamoah and Stephan Lichtsteiner were on the flanks to complete the midfield of five. And finally, Fernando Llorente and Carlos Tévez were playing as the two strikers to complete Juventus' 3-5-2 starting formation against Juventus.

The start of the game was pretty intense, as the Juventus players flew forward and launched spectacular attacks through their creative midfielders linking up play with the wide players. And for the next few minutes, stunning runs through the wings became the order of the day until Juventus finally created a real goal-scoring chance during the 11th minute.

Stephan Lichtsteiner was the man in action at that moment. After controlling a pin-point pass from Zachary, he raced forward and speared deeper into Sampdoria's half like a bullet train on the rails. He skipped past a sliding challenge from an opponent and then stepped into the final third. Then, after the angle opened up, he unleashed a raking cross into the box where Fernando Llorente was already lurking.

"Whoosh!"

Fernando Llorente reacted immediately and leaped for the incoming ball. He effortlessly outmuscled Alessio Romagnoli, the Sampdoria center-back, in a battle for aerial superiority before heading the ball past the keeper to score Juventus' 1st goal during the 12th minute.

The game continued after the celebrations, and like always, Juventus didn't turn down the heat even after scoring the opening goal. The Old Lady players remained rampant while launching more relentless attacks on Sampdoria's defense. And as the game proceeded forward, they created more breathtaking chances as they searched for their second goal.

Firstly, Carlos Tevez threatened to double the lead during the 22nd minute. However, a slight deflection on an opposing center-back's boot took the Argentine's shot wide and away from the goal.

Moments later, during the 24th minute, Zachary was also about to score after unleashing a long-range missile from the outside-of-the-eighteen. But a stunning save from the keeper denied his effort, and he could only place his hands behind his head dejectedly.

But that was not all. Fernando Llorente and Carlos Tevez, the two Juventus strikers, were again just inches away from scoring during the 33rd and 41st minutes, respectively. But another spectacular save from the keeper and a moment of brilliant defending by one of the center-backs denied the two strikers the opportunity to extend the lead before half-time. As such, the game headed into the break with Juventus only leading by a goal to nil against the underperforming Sampdoria side.

After the fifteen-minute break, Juventus was even more threatening going forward — and Sergio Romero, the Sampdoria keeper, soon had to make yet another vital save to deny Fernando Llorente's finish after a sweeping counter. But that was not the end of Sampdoria's nightmares. Minutes later, during the 61st minute, the busy keeper was called into action again to deny Juventus from taking the lead through another long-range shot from Zachary.

The game was obviously one-sided, with the Juventus players looking ever more dangerous on the attack as the match approached the 70th minute. Moreover, the Old Lady players didn't just continue relying on wing play and long balls but also utilized the brilliant passing abilities of their players to hoard more than 70% possession during most moments of the game. And with that, they created even more opportunities on goal by relying on fast and snappy exchanges through the middle.

They were really doing their utmost to score the second goal and seal their win against Sampdoria, and as a result, everyone watching the game thought their win was a sure-and-done deal.

But football can change in moments, as it takes only seconds to create an opportunity. And such a scenario soon transpired in the game between Juventus and Sampdoria.

Three of Sampdoria's attacking players took one opportunity to race forward after a failed Juventus corner kick during the 76th minute. They exchanged lightning-fast passes as they launched a counterattack that caught Juventus napping.

Then seconds later, the ball naturally found its way to Stefano Okaka, one of Sampdoria's strikers, who remained composed and hammered it into the back of the net to score the equalizer for the visitors during the 77th minute. And with that, the score was back to 1:1 with only 13 minutes + added time remaining to the end of the game.

"This is bad," Coach Allegri exclaimed as he watched the Sampdoria players celebrating their equalizing goal on one side of the pitch. "I fear that the chances we missed early on may come back to haunt us."

"True, we have a tricky situation on our hands." Maurizio Trombetta, his assistant, nodded with a frown. "This is one of those strange games of the season where our luck is always at its worst. We've been the dominant team ever since the start of the match. We have also created many opportunities and attempted more than fifteen shots on target. However, we still couldn't score and kill the game off. And even worse, we conceded an equalizing goal during the 77th minute. Truly unfortunate!"

"Yeah, we're very unlucky today," Coach Allegri agreed. "But fortunately, we still have thirteen minutes to make something happen. As long as we utilize our players well, we'll create more chances and hopefully score before the ninety-minute mark."

"What's your plan, boss?" Coach Trombetta asked.

"The key to winning such matches is trusting and relying on our best players," Coach Allegri said. "We need to push them to work harder and create more opportunities. And with that, their individual brilliance will bloom in great splendor, and they can make something happen out of nothing. That's what we need at this moment. That's what we need to win this game and maintain our perfect winning streak in all competitions."

"Okay," Coach Trombetta said with a smile. "So, going by your words, we must rely on Zachary?"

"Not just Zachary alone," Coach Allegri said, "We also need Andrea Pirlo, Stephan Lichtsteiner, and Carlos Tevez if we want sure results."

And with that said, the coach didn't wait for a response from his assistant. Instead, he walked towards the touchline, ready to summon Andrea Pirlo before giving him the match instructions for the final minutes.