THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME

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FK MINSK 0        : ROSENBORG BK 2

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Coach Johansen nodded to himself, suppressing a smile after taking a fleeting glance at the stadium's jumbotron. His players had put up another incredible display to dominate FK Minsk while playing away. As a result, Rosenborg was leading 2:0 in the 80th minute against the tricky Belarusian side in the first leg of the Europa League qualifiers third round.

Zachary was as brilliant as ever. He'd put up a commanding performance in the attacking midfield and even scored both of Rosenborg's goals. Coach Johansen wasn't the least bit surprised. He'd long grown numb to seeing the young prodigy perform miraculous feats on the field.

What had amazed him instead was the display put up by Thomas Partey, his new signing, in the defensive midfield position.

The Ghanaian was a natural-born mechanic on the pitch. He could tackle, jump high to win aerial duels, and also pass the ball brilliantly. Coach Johansen was already glad he'd decided to bet on Zachary's list and secure the four defensive-minded players. He couldn't wait to test the skills of the other three in a real game since he'd already deemed them incredible talents during training.

'I wonder how Zachary managed to spot such talents!' He mused, sighing. He was still in awe that the 18-year old prodigy, who spent almost all his free time training either in the gym or at Lerkendal, could manage to scout out four talented players. Moreover, that was all in one go. Even the most seasoned scouts, like Mr. Stein, would find it nearly impossible to accomplish such a feat.

"Coach," Trond Henriksen, the assistant head coach of Rosenborg, intoned from beside him, breaking him out of his reverie. "Have you noticed that Zachary has been running with a slight limp in his stride since he scored the second goal? I'm guessing he took a knock during the collision with the defender. Maybe, we should substitute him out and have him checked by the medics to avoid future problems."

Coach Johansen's eyes narrowed, his heart starting to race with anxiety on hearing his assistant's assessment. He immediately cast his gaze on Zachary, who at that moment was jogging back towards the Rosenborg half to defend against an FK Minsk corner. To Coach Johansen's horror, the young prodigy was limping slightly for sure.

"Immediately signal for the fourth official to announce a substitution right away," he ordered, his voice laced with urgency. "Hurry up! Also, tell Jonas Svensson to start warming up. I need him on the pitch, in place of Zachary, immediately." The coach spat out words at the pace of the machine gun. He was worried that Zachary would worsen his injury if he stayed on the field any longer. He had no intention of losing his best player.

"I'll talk to the fourth official right away," Trond Henriksen replied solemnly. "We should be able to make a substitution within three minutes at most."

"Make it two minutes."

"Okay, I'll try," Trond Henriksen replied as he walked away, leaving Coach Johansen with a head pounding with nervous tension.

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Zachary suppressed a rising panic as he leaped high to defend the corner. He could feel a sharp, stinging pain in his thigh as his feet landed back on the ground after heading the ball out of play for another FK Minsk corner.

'Oh my, not this! Have I gotten injured?' He mused, frowning.

Ominous thoughts spun at the back of his mind as he stretched out his leg a few times to determine whether something was amiss. To his terror, he could still feel a mind-numbing pain in his thigh muscle every time he moved his leg around. It caused him an immense amount of discomfort that tickled at his nerves, making even simple leg movements all but impossible.

"Is something wrong, Zachary?" Mikael Dorsin, the assistant captain, inquired after arriving beside him a short while later. "You seem to be experiencing some discomfort! What's wrong?"

Zachary could feel that his tone was filled with sincere concern. So he honestly told him about the sharp pain in his thigh.

"Oh my, sorry to hear about that," Mikael said, eyeing his right leg. "When did you first experience the pain? Don't tell me it's when you collided with the defender before you scored the goal."

Zachary sighed, nodding. He'd silently confirmed the assistant captain's guess since he'd first noticed the pain while he was celebrating his second goal. Over time, it'd grown to an unbearable level, especially after leaping to head the corner ball out of play.

"Oh, my!" Mikael exclaimed, narrowing his eyes. "Then, why didn't you say anything? Sit down, first. I'll signal the medics to come over before the FK Minsk players can take the corner. We can't let you continue running on that injury."

Zachary nodded as he lowered himself onto the ground. He couldn't believe that he'd gone ahead and injured himself right before qualifying for the main competition of the Europa League tournament. His only hope at that moment was for the system to have an immediate solution for his predicament. Otherwise, he would have it rough over the following few weeks since he couldn't imagine a life without competitive football.

The referee stopped the gameplay right after Zachary had sat on the green, within Rosenborg's box. Within a matter of seconds, the Rosenborg medics had rushed on to the pitch and started checking his right thigh. As expected, they immediately hypothesized that he'd hurt his thigh muscle when he collided with the FK Minsk defender. So, they conducted some first aid procedures on his thigh, mainly cooling it with an ice pack, before advising him to get off the pitch without any delay.

'Why is this happening now?' Zachary wondered, watching the sky as he lay on a stretcher, being pushed out of the pitch by the two medics. He could hear the Rosenborg fans clapping their hands rhythmically and shouting his name at the top of their voices, probably to send him off.

But he wasn't in the mood to revel in their passionate applause at that moment. Instead, he'd broken his iron rule and started communicating with the system's AI mentally. He was trying to ascertain whether the system had an immediate solution for his injury. That was because he'd recalled that a system vitality-enhancing-elixir had cured his ankle injury when he'd just returned back in time. So, he was hoping that the system would help heal him once again. That way, he would be able to partake in Rosenborg's upcoming games without any need for any medical attention.

However, the system's AI crushed his hope the very next instant.

"It's unfortunate to hear that the user has gotten injured," the AI said in its feminine apathetic voice, bland without any trace of emotion. "And yes, even a B-grade vitality-enhancing-elixir can cure your injury within a short period if you consume it. However, the user must understand that such an elixir is among the highest prizes in the system store. Thus, the system can only offer it to the user as a reward after he has completed a corresponding system mission. That is an iron-core rule in the core programming of the system. It cannot easily be changed unless the user can upgrade the system to the highest grade possible to unlock more privileges."

Zachary felt his mood sink. He ceased all mental communication with the system AI after discovering it couldn't help him recover immediately. He could only gnash his teeth and wait for the medics to make a more detailed diagnosis before finding out how long he would take to overcome the thigh injury.

"Don't worry about anything and take a moment to rest," Coach Johansen said, placing a hand on his shoulder when he arrived in Rosenborg's technical area on a stretcher. "Just relax and leave the game to the rest of your teammates."

"Yes, coach," Zachary replied.

"Status report," Coach Johansen then said, turning to the medics.

"He seems to have hurt a thigh muscle," one of the medics said. "But we need to carry out a more detailed diagnosis in the hospital to find out more. We recommend taking him to the hospital right away."

"Oh!" Coach Johansen said, frowning.

"Is it possible to first finish watching the game before heading to the hospital?" Zachary could not help but interrupt after hearing the recommendation from the medic. "Only seven minutes are till the end of the game."

The medic frowned slightly at Zachary's request. He seemed to ponder on it for a few seconds before begrudgingly nodding his head in consent. "It's okay to watch the remainder of the game. But stay still, and don't try to move your leg until we've made a full diagnosis. Okay?"

"Okay," Zachary concurred, nodding. He then propped up his head from the stretcher and started following the proceedings on the pitch from the sidelines.

The FK Minsk players had grown bolder and started launching prolonged attacks on Rosenborg's goal. But the Troll Kids were putting up an incredible defense-minded performance to deny the Belarusian side any chance of scoring.

Thomas Partey, the newly signed defensive-midfielder, was especially impressive in the last minutes of the game. His sense of positioning on the pitch was incredible. On several occasions, he managed to intercept dangerous through-passes at the edge of Rosenborg's defensive third, further frustrating the efforts of the FK Minsk players. He was a player destined to mature into a beast in defensive midfield, for sure.

With all the Rosenborg players giving their all to defend against the FK Minsk attacks, the score remained 0:2 until the referee blew the final whistle. But that was after an intense six minutes of added time.

"Zachary, let's head to the hospital," the medic said, placing an arm on his shoulder immediately after the game had ended. "We shouldn't delay any longer."

"That's okay, doctor," Zachary said, laying his head back on the stretcher and closing his eyes. "We can leave right away."

He'd calmed down considerably after watching his team go on to win the game. At least his teammates were trying their best to keep Rosenborg's Europa League hopes alive, even in his absence. That put him at ease.

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