THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME

After Rosenborg's domestic game against FK Bodø/Glimt, Zachary and his teammates started preparing for the Europa League semi-final match against Sport Lisboa e Benfica. They trained arduously over the next few days with the intent to improve their match fitness and to also master the tactics for the game. The team training covered all the essential areas of any typical football match, including physical conditioning, passing, off-ball movements, plus zonal and man-marking strategies.

Coach Johansen even went further and compelled the players to practice their penalty-taking techniques on a daily basis. He would summon them and have them take dozens of penalties against the Rosenborg keepers during the evenings. He would then end the day's training by giving lectures about theories covering effective shooting techniques.

The Rosenborg schedule became packed, and all the players, including Zachary, became busier. The days flashed by quickly, and eventually, Wednesday morning arrived. The players, who had made Coach Johansen's squad, boarded a KLM Airlines flight from Trondheim to Lisbon.

The plane had only a single stopover in Amsterdam, and six hours later, at around noon, it touched down on the runway of the Humberto Delgado Airport. The Rosenborg players and staff avoided all the fanfare within the airport's hallways and collected their luggage. Before long, they exited the airport and boarded the team bus to their hotel.

Since their hotel was close to the airport, the traveling time on the team bus was brief. In around 15 minutes, the driver rounded a corner and pulled up in front of the grand Lisbon Marriott Hotel.

The players and staff alighted from the bus and picked up their luggage before stepping into the hotel. Under the guidance of a group of dedicated hotel staff, they soon checked into their hotel rooms. After unpacking and settling in, they headed to the hotel's restaurant for lunch.

"The meal is surprisingly good," Mikael Dorsin said after tasting his braised pork chops. He was at the same table with Zachary, Nicki, Eric Bailly, Thomas Partey, and Kasongo. "I should visit Lisbon more often to enjoy this delicious food." He smiled as he swallowed down another piece of meat.

Nicki Nielsen glanced up from his plate filled with tofu lettuce wraps. "Mikael!" he said. "Be careful not to overeat. We don't want you to underperform tomorrow evening."

"Says the man enjoying a vegetarian meal before the game," Mikael countered. "Aren't you worried that you'll lack stamina tomorrow evening?"

"Guys!" Zachary interrupted before Nicki could reply. "Do you know the program for the afternoon?"

Mikael nodded and said, "The coach has already informed me that we won't have any training today. A fraction of us will instead utilize the time to survey the stadium. On the other hand, you and Coach Johansen will stay at the hotel to attend the pre-match press conference."

"I have to attend the press conference!?" Zachary narrowed his eyes as he glanced at the assistant captain. "Coach Johansen can manage by himself. Why do I have to go?"

Mikael sighed and placed his table knife and fork down. "Over the past few days, there have been rumors that you're very ill. These rumors have caused our fans to become agitated as the Europa League semis draw near. So, I'm guessing that the coach wants you to be at the press conference so that you can clear up those rumors."

"I see," Zachary said as he sunk his table knife and fork into his steak. He diced a piece and placed it in his mouth to appreciate the taste and rich flavors of the meat before swallowing it down.

Ever since turning pro, Zachary had always endeavored to eat well before any game. That time was no different as he had a tray filled with various types of food before him. Vitamin-rich vegetables, carbohydrate-rich foods like bread, and protein-rich meat dishes were all part of his diet. He was going the extra mile to ensure that he would have enough energy stored for tomorrow's game.

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As planned, the Rosenborg delegation split into two groups after lunch. The larger batch, comprising most players and staff, headed to the Estádio da Luz to survey and familiarize themselves with the stadium venue for their game against Benfica the following day. On the other hand, the small cluster, comprising just Zachary and Coach Johansen, remained at the hotel to undertake the pre-match press conference duties.

"Welcome to Lisbon, team Rosenborg," a female journalist said after Zachary and Coach Johansen settled down in a relatively large conference room at the hotel. "My first question is to Coach Johansen. Can you tell us about the team's current status? Are all the players in good health?"

Coach Johansen smiled at the reporter. "Except for Tobias, who received an injury a few weeks back, all the other players on the team are in great shape. Their match fitness is exceptional, and they're ready to give their all in tomorrow's game."

"What is your take on Benfica?" The same reporter asked after jostling down a few notes in her notebook. "Do you think you can defeat Benfica and qualify for this year's Europa League finals?"

"Benfica is a great team with great history, especially in Portugal," Coach Johansen said. "The Benfica players are also in great shape as they have already defeated Tottenham and AZ Alkmaar on their way to the Europa League semi-finals. However, I still believe that we can overcome them. Our results during this Europa League campaign speak for themselves. We've already defeated strong teams like Juventus, Fiorentina, and Lyon. We're ready to do the same during the semi-finals, and we'll only be playing for a win and nothing else."

"I have a question for Zachary Bemba," another reporter chimed in. "Zachary! There have been rumors that you have been seriously ill over the previous two weeks. Many Rosenborg fans were even worried that you might miss today's game due to illness. Are these rumors correct?"

Zachary smiled. "As you can all see," he said, "I'm in good health and here in Lisbon to play the match against Benfica. I was indeed suffering from a common cold some days back. But I recovered and returned to training on time. I'm now in good health and ready to perform as usual during tomorrow's game."

The same reporter smiled. "Another query," he said. "I have been looking at your stats for this Europa League campaign, and they are just incredible. You've already surpassed Radamel Falcao's 2010-11 goal-scoring record of seventeen goals by netting nineteen goals for Rosenborg in the Europa League this season. How do you feel about breaking this record as you head into tomorrow's semi-final? Do you think breaking the record will motivate you to perform better?"

Zachary smiled. "First of all, I would like to clarify that I previously didn't know that the record number of goals ever scored in a single Europa League season was seventeen before this year. So, I was definitely not playing with the intent to break the record. Of course, I feel happy to break records. But that isn't my focus during any match. Since football is a game of eleven, my only aim will always be to play in a way that can help my team achieve victory."

****    ****

Jorge Jesus, the head coach of Benfica, yearned to win a double that season. He was already five points ahead of the second-placed Sporting CP and only needed three more to win the domestic league. So, if Benfica could win the Europa League, the coach would achieve his wish and end the season on a high note. But before thinking about the final or the trophy, he had to find a way to defeat the dark horses - Rosenborg first. Otherwise, all his wishes would remain pipe dreams.

Coach Jorge Jesus met up with his players in the tactics room that evening. As usual, he spent time analyzing the opponents' weaknesses for the first half an hour before diving into the actual tactics of the game.

"By now, you should all be aware that Rosenborg is a team that relies on counterattacking tactics to score goals in the Europa League." He spoke in Portuguese as he began pacing around the room. "The Rosenborg players spend most of the time defending, and when you relax, even a bit, they hit you on the counter. So, to deal with them, we'll have to find ways to render those counters useless. And the only way to do that is by imitating them and playing a defensive game while also containing Zachary Bemba, their playmaker."

"I repeat," the coach continued, "the most crucial task for us is to mark Zachary and prevent him from scoring during the match. As long as we guard against Zachary, all Rosenborg's counterattacking strategies will become useless since the clinical abilities of their other players are just subpar. I believe that after taking him out of the equation, Rosenborg will become just another team from the lower tier leagues of Europe. We'll then defeat them by relying on our tactics and superior skills."

"But we all need to know that the million-dollar question that'll enable us to win this game is how to contain Zachary? We all know that we need to stop him. But the tricky part is: can we actually stop him? I'm pretty sure that Lyon wanted to prevent him from scoring. But in the end, he scored six goals against them. The same applies to previous teams like Juventus and Fiorentina. They all knew how to stop Rosenborg but failed due to Zachary's presence on the pitch."

"So, guys," he continued in Portuguese, "What can we do differently to ensure that the same thing that happened to Lyon, Juventus, and Fiorentina doesn't happen to us? The answer is simple. We should not let Zachary receive the ball in the first place. We need to utilize zonal marking to limit his movements and time on the ball. We also need to harass him constantly to stop him from settling down in midfield."

"André, Rúben, and Pérez: this task will fall upon you, our three central midfielders. You only need to form defensive triangles around him throughout the entire game so that we discourage his teammates from passing to him. And if they do pass to him, we need to close him down fast and stop him long before he reaches the box. I don't care what you three have to do. You can even pull his shirt or foul him. But I don't want to see him making runs into our box. Is that clear?" He focused his scorching gaze on the three midfielders.

"We understand, coach," the three replied almost in chorus.

"Excellent," Coach Jorge Jesus said. He was confident that his team was ready to face off against the dark horses. And if luck was on his side, he should be able to frustrate them defensively in the same way they had frustrated their opponents during the previous stages of the Europa League. So, the coach only assigned a few more roles to the rest of his players before ending the tactical meeting about thirty minutes later.