THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME
chapter-601

Zachary was brimming with happiness after the game ended. A soft smile lit up his facial features as he watched his teammates celebrate the win against Verona.

Juventus had finally concluded all 38 matches of the Serie A season without ever suffering a defeat. As such, he had completed the system mission milestone to help his teammates achieve an unbeaten run throughout the 2014-15 Serie A season and secured himself yet another potent S-grade vitality-enhancing elixir.

Aside from that, his thirteen assists during the season also allowed him to remain at the top of the assist leaderboard. Even though he didn't play Juventus' last two fixtures, he was still ahead of the other Serie A's most creative players, including Marek Hamšík and Paulo Dybala, who had eleven assists that season.

For that one reason, he had also completed the 3rd milestone of the 2014-15 Serie A challenge and won himself more Juju points. Adding on the ones he had secured after Juventus won the title seven days prior, he had raked in a total of 64,000, plus 20,000 bonus Juju points after completing six of the seven milestones of the mission.

The only imperfection in his mission completion rate was that he had only scored 35 goals in the Serie A. As such, he didn't meet the mission requirement to bag 40 goals and thus missed out on the handsome reward of 100,000 Juju points.

Zachary had long become aware that the usefulness of system perks like Juju points and even the skills mastering functions towards him were diminishing as his skills approached the SSS grade. But he still wished to collect the rewards and upgrade the system. He yearned to see whether it would eventually produce an elixir reward above the S grade that would make his abilities almost inhuman.

"Why are you spacing out here?" Patrice Evra's voice sounded beside him. "Why not come into the pitch and celebrate the final day of the Serie A season with your teammates?"

"Sure," Zachary grinned and agreed. His calf contusion had already mostly healed after undergoing the best of the best rehabilitation sessions at the JMedical. He walked without discomfort and followed Evra onto the pitch.

Before long, he started hugging the teammates and coaches he chanced upon. He congratulated them upon concluding the season without facing any defeat. In turn, they replied with warm words, which included compliments about his winning the Golden Boot and Serie A Player-of-the-Season award.

Zachary didn't stop at just hugging his teammates but eventually approached the stands where the excited Juventus supporters were seated. He waved at them, and they replied excitedly and yelled his name as if there was no tomorrow.

The fans closest to the pitch even started asking for his autograph. But he politely ignored them before turning around and heading towards Coach Max Allegri.

"Zachary! It's nice to see you walking without crutches again," Coach Max Allegri smiled and hugged him. "We didn't get an opportunity to talk before the game. I hope you're recovering well."

"I am," Zachary assured the coach. "The doctors have already cleared me from using crutches. But they warned me against kicking the ball before Tuesday, June 2nd."

"That's reasonable," Coach Max Allegri said with a nod. "A contusion usually requires two weeks to heal. You should count your blessings since you will only take twelve days to recover. That aside, I hope you have been studying past Barcelona games during your injury spell."

"I have," Zachary said. "I have watched many of their recent matches, including their two semi-final legs against Bayern Munich. Their tiki-taka style, combined with the individual brilliance their attackers and midfielders command, is something else. We must play our best football to beat them during the UEFA Champions League finals."

"That's true, but they must also be at their best to beat us," Coach Max Allegri said with a chuckle. "Many eyes are watching, so let's not discuss sensitive issues like the Champions League now. We'll talk more when you come for training on Tuesday."

"Okay," Zachary said. He then exchanged some more small talk with the coach and a few other teammates before heading back to the dressing room with them. The whole team planned to clean up quickly before taking their bus back to Turin that very night.

The following day was a Sunday. As always, Emilia Vasquez's ESPN Sunday morning sports show commenced at 11:00 AM, with her introducing Alessandro Costacurta, Joshua Morales, and Charles Adams, the three pundits to the viewers.

She then made a few jokes before smiling at the cameras and saying, "Our dear viewers! Yesterday was the final match day of the 2014-15 Serie A season. We all witnessed the performances of the various big names in Italy, with the highlight being Juventus having to push through a stormy evening at Verona's home ground to extend their unbeaten run with a 2:2 score."

"The Old Lady players were shaky on the night. But they still managed a draw against Hellas Verona and pushed their season tally to a record 106 points. That also implies that they completed the Serie A season without ever facing a defeat and also extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to 65 games. They have set a new record in Europe."

"They surely have," Alessandro Costacurta, one of the pundits, agreed. "As we said before, Bayern Munich was previously the team with the longest unbeaten run after they played 58 games without facing a defeat from 1991 to 1993. As of now, Juventus has long smashed this record with their own 65-game-long unbeaten record. Moreover, they are in a good position to extend it to 66 games unbeaten after the Champions League final scheduled for next weekend."

Emilia Vasquez smiled and asked, "Do you think they can win? Can they beat Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League final next weekend? Let's not forget that they last won the competition in 1996. Can they finally put smiles on the faces of their fans by bringing that glorious European Trophy back to Turin?"

"That's a hard question," Alessandro Costacurta replied. "Barcelona and Juventus are all great European teams that have performed brilliantly all season long. I don't have to say much about Juventus with all their feats, including three domestic trophies and an incredible unbeaten run. If they can get Zachary Bemba back to full fitness before the final, they could win the UEFA Champions League trophy."

"Nonetheless, we also can't count out Barcelona, the Catalans, from the final. Yes, they have had it rough a few times and suffered some defeats here and there. But they are a team with an incredible Tiki-taka playing style made possible by all the brilliant stars on their starting line-up."

"Their world-class attack-minded players like Andrés Iniesta, Neymar, Luis Suárez, and Lionel Messi can make the impossible happen. Their presence is why Barcelona has already won this season's La Liga and Copa del Rey. I won't be surprised if they perform incredibly well and destroy Juventus during the final."

"You talked about a crucial point of Juventus having to get Zachary back to full fitness before the final," Emilia Vasquez chipped in. "News out of the Juventus camp is that he's recovering well from the calf contusion, and he will likely make it in time for the final in six days. We also saw him walking comfortably around the pitch after Juventus's match against Verona yesterday. But even if he recovers, there's another issue for Juventus to consider. Will the injury affect his form in any way?"

"That is indeed an important point," Charles Adams, the other pundit, replied. "We all know that injuries in sports are not just a physical issue. Excluding the obvious matter of affecting the athlete's fitness, they can also bring about mental challenges like the fear of reinjury and a drop in confidence levels. Aside from regaining fitness, Zachary must overcome all these within the next six days if he wishes to play at his best during the final."

"I agree that all that Charles said is true," Joshua Morales, the last pundit, remarked. "But let's all not forget that Zachary Bemba is an incredibly talented player who has achieved so much during his debut season at Juventus. He should possess the mental fortitude to overcome all those issues before playing the final. Moreover, Zachary's half-best might still be among the top performances during any football match. Even if he's not fully match-fit, he will still impact the final."

"If we're to look at both teams objectively, Juventus is still the underdog for the final," Charles Adams said. "They already have two crucial players who might not be fully fit for the game against Barcelona. Let's put aside Zachary's injury concerns for a moment. But I still haven't heard any news about Andrea Pirlo's recovery from the Juventus camp. I'm not certain, but he could also miss the final."

"Then, let's look at Barcelona," he continued. "All their crucial players, including Dani Alves, Gerard Piqué, Ivan Rakitić, Sergio Busquets, Andrés Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, and Neymar, are all fully fit and available for selection. I can't guess how the final will end. But I'm sure all those world-class players, especially Messi, Iniesta, and Neymar, will be a nightmare for Juventus during the game."

"I think that's enough about the Champions League final," Emilia Vasquez, the presenter, hurriedly said before the debate could continue. "We'll delve into more discussions about the UEFA Champions League final again on our Wednesday night show. But for now, let's return our focus to the just concluded Serie A season."

The three pundits smiled and nodded. They then started discussing the season performances of the other Italian teams until the show ended after an hour.