THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME

Forty minutes later, the Juventus players returned to their hotel and headed straight to the restaurant to enjoy their late dinner. Zachary, who was quite exhausted after playing his first 90 minutes as a Juventus player, quickly ate his meal before saying his goodnight wishes to his teammates and coaches. He then exited the restaurant and returned to his room.

After cleaning up and brushing his teeth, he stepped onto his room's balcony and dialed Camilla's number using WhatsApp. She picked up almost immediately, and they wasted no time immersing themselves in a deep conversation that touched upon all topics, big and small. They even talked about all the irrelevant things, like what they had had for dinner, before exchanging intimate sweet nothings and saying their goodbyes.

After ending the call, Zachary immediately stepped away from the balcony and returned to the spacious interior of his hotel room. The artificial lighting lit up his face as he settled on his bed and sank into a moment of contemplation.

A few seconds elapsed as he sat there, staring blankly at the wall — until he made a resolution and picked up his phone again. The corners of his lips rose into an arc as he navigated his phone book and dialed another number.

"Hello, Zachary," the voice of Angelo Mattiello, his guide and interpreter, sounded from the other end of the line after the international call connected. "I watched your game today. You were incredible on the pitch. Congratulations."

"Thank you," Zachary responded. "How are you doing?"

"I'm okay," Angelo replied. "But just bored since my main client is away on tour in Asia."

Zachary laughed. "Don't worry! Your boredom will end soon since we're returning to Turin tomorrow. That aside, I need some help."

"Speak away. I'm all ears."

"Can you link me up with a reliable estate agent after I return to Turin tomorrow?" Zachary said. "I wish to buy a good house in a good neighborhood at a good price."

"Oh," Angelo intoned. "What's your budget?"

"One to two million," Zachary replied.

"You will get a luxurious Villa, not a house, at that price," Angelo reminded.

"That's my intent," Zachary said. "I want to purchase a spacious place that can easily accommodate most people working for me. It should also have amenities like a swimming pool, a sauna, an indoor gym, and expansive gardens, among other things."

"I get you, my man," Angelo said from the other end of the line. "I'll immediately get in touch with an estate agent I know. Then, when you arrive in Italy, you can link up with him, and he'll take you to see the houses available for sale in Turin. Does that work for you?"

"That's what I need," Zachary responded. "You can schedule the meeting with the real estate agent for Wednesday morning. By then, I should have already recovered from the jetlag."

"Okay, boss," Angelo said. "I will schedule the meeting for Wednesday at 10:00 AM."

"Excellent," Zachary intoned. "I have to go to bed now as it has already clocked eleven here in Singapore. See you tomorrow when I return to Turin."

"Okay," Angelo replied. "Have a good night, and see you tomorrow. Bye."

Zachary smiled and ended the call without any more needless words. Without further ado, he placed his phone on the bedside table before switching off the lights and jumping into bed. A short while later, he descended into slumberland and was soon dreaming about his would-be-mansion in one of the good neighborhoods of Turin.

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As planned, the Juventus team returned to Turin the following day and started the next phase of their intensive pre-season training program. After only a single day of rest, they were back on the turfs at the Juventus training center, going through fitness and tactical drills like exercising maniacs.

Under the supervision of the overly-strict coaches, they trained from early morning to late evening from Wednesday to Friday. In those three days, they covered all areas relevant to football players, including physical fitness, ball skills, and tactical ingenuity, during their team sessions to prepare for the upcoming season. Anyone watching from the sidelines could clearly see that they were men on a mission as they went about their training without ever voicing a complaint.

Zachary, on his part, was as busy as the rest of his teammates and barely had time to attend his language classes during those three days. He had even failed to turn up for his appointment with the real estate agent on Wednesday morning due to the intensive schedule placed upon his shoulders by his new team.

But he wasn't complaining as he enjoyed the process of training and improving himself to become a better footballer. He would rather delay other things, like purchasing a house, rather than offend his new bosses by missing a training session. That was how desperate he was to gain acceptance in his new team. And that was how much he was obsessed with football.

The three days quickly flashed by as the Juventus players trained themselves at the training center. And soon, Saturday, the day when Juventus would face off against AC Milan and Sassuolo in the TIM Trophy, arrived with regal ease. It was finally the time for the Old Lady players to test themselves against top Italian opponents before the commencement of the new season.

The first game that day was at 2:00 PM in the fully-packed Mapei Stadium of Reggio Emilia, Italy. The Juventus players played an intensive forty-five minutes of football against the highly tactical AC Milan side, which gave them a hard time.

Zachary, who had gotten his second start for Juventus in a row, was slow to grow into the game. He struggled in the midfield to cope with the highly intensive pressing tactics of the team from Milan and committed a couple of mistakes during the first ten minutes of gameplay. He was clearly not at his best — and on several occasions, Andrea Pirlo and Claudio Marchisio, the other two midfielders, had to cover for him so that Juventus would not concede an early goal.

But, of course, that couldn't help for long. The AC Milan players quickly noticed that he was the weak link in the team and started applying more pressure on him. Sulley Muntari and Nigel de Jong, the two opposing midfielders, harassed him and denied him even a few seconds to relax and grow into the game. And naturally, it wasn't long before they forced a costly mistake out of him.

It all began when Zachary drifted back into his half to collect the ball from Leonardo Bonucci, Juventus' center-back, during the 36th minute. After connecting with Bonucci's pass, he panicked and tried to dribble past Sulley Muntari, the AC Milan midfielder, who had been marking him the entire game. But since he was yet to return to his peak, he failed to beat the midfielder with his sub-par dribbling skills and lost the ball.

What followed was a nightmare for Zachary. Sulley Muntari quickly stepped away from him to initiate a counterattack against Juventus. The Ghanaian midfielder worked his magic to find Stephan El Shaarawy, his teammate, who had just run into a pocket of space at the edge of the box.

El Shaarawy controlled the ball well and stepped past Martín Cáceres, one of the Juventus center-backs, with a deft touch. And without losing his composure, he rounded Gianluigi Buffon, the Juventus keeper, and riffled the ball into the back of the net to score AC Milan's 1st goal for the night.

"Damn it!" Zachary cursed as he watched the AC Milan players heading to the corner flag to celebrate the goal. A sense of guilt had already flooded his entire being, especially since he was the person that had committed the mistake that led to his team conceding the first goal. He couldn't even think straight as he couldn't understand what had given him the confidence to dribble when he was yet to return to his peak.

*FWEEEEEEE*

After the goal celebrations, the referee blew the whistle and signaled the players to return to their positions. Like the rest of the players, Zachary began making his way to his midfield starting spot, just outside the center circle. But before he could even cover half the distance, a signal from the bench caused him to stop in his tracks.

Zachary looked towards the sidelines and realized that the fourth official had already raised the board to signal his substitution off the pitch. And by the official's side was Arturo Vidal, the other Juventus midfielder who seemed to have already warmed up in preparation to enter the game.

"Phew!"

Zachary expelled a lungful of air as he started walking towards the touchline. His shoulders slumped a little, and his heart sank into the abyss of frustration as the inevitable had finally happened. For the first time since he started his professional career in his second life, he wasn't being taken out of the game for tactical reasons but due to his horrible performance. And to make matters worse, there was a possibility that he wouldn't get an opportunity to make amends before the pre-season ended.

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