THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME

Saturday, September 27, 2014.

Stadio di Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy.

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It was a breezy evening in the scenic city of Bergamo, located in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy. Thick clouds blotted out the stars, and a chilly wind occasionally blew in from the north — all clear signs that it might rain anytime. But the promise of bad weather couldn't stop the enthusiastic Italian football supporters from heading to the Stadio di Bergamo to watch that evening's Serie A match between Atalanta and Juventus.

By 8:30 PM, more than twenty thousand fans had already taken up the seats in the stadium. They sang at the top of their voices as they awaited the match kick-off, which was only fifteen minutes away. Their enthusiasm was obviously already shooting into the sky.

Emily and Kristin, the two ladies who had journeyed all the way to Bergamo to watch Zachary play, were also among the group of zealous supporters. Their beauty made them stand out from the crowd as they craned their necks to watch what was transpiring on the field of play.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" The Italian commentator's voice reverberated around the stadium when the teams started marching out of the tunnel. "Welcome to Stadio di Bergamo! We're about to witness this season's first Serie A battle between Atalanta and Juventus. Atalanta will be looking to overcome their poor start of the season, while Juventus will be looking to continue their winning streak and strengthen their position at the top of the Serie A table. So, sit tight and be ready for a tantalizing 90-minutes of football as both teams look forward to winning the game..."

"This Italian commentator is really boring. His voice makes me feel like sleeping. They should hire Peter Drury to do the commentary for the upcoming Serie A matches." Emily remarked in English after listening to the commentator for a few more seconds.

Kristin chuckled. "Maybe, you find him boring because you don't understand Italian that well. But according to the Italians, he might even be a more skilled commentator than Peter Drury."

Emily smiled but chose not to respond. She was fluent in many languages, including Italian, and had no trouble understanding and following the commentary in Italian. But that didn't mean that she found it engaging and fascinating. It was instead the opposite. It was monotonous and a bit too flat for her liking.

"I heard that Zachary traveled back to Trondheim a few days back," she said to Kristin. "Do you know what he was doing back there?"

Kristin shook her head. "I don't know. I even had no idea that he was out of Turin."

"Oh!" Emily said and turned her attention back to the proceedings on the pitch. The players of both teams had just finished their pre-game handshake routine. They were, at that moment, taking their position on the field of play. A few others were completing some last-minute preparation, like tying and tightening their shoelaces before kick-off.

Emily's eyes kept wandering the field until they lingered on the tall visage of Zachary. He looked more striking and imposing after changing his hairstyle to simple braids with a fading style on the sides. His eyes were darting around the pitch — a tell-tale sign that he was observing and analyzing his opponents. He was as focused as ever as he prepared to face off against the opponents.

"Let's hope everything is okay with him," Emily thought, turning his eyes away from Zachary. When they talked on the phone the previous night, she could sense that a little bit of something was off with his mood.

He hadn't even been overly excited after hearing that a new sporting goods manufacturer had offered him a hard-to-refuse endorsement deal. It was as if his mind had been elsewhere throughout the phone conversation — a signal that caused Emily to worry. But even after sensing all that, Emily had held herself back from asking what was on his mind. She had decided to first watch his performance against Atalanta before choosing a way forward.

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On the pitch, Zachary was in an intense state of focus. He pushed all the distracting thoughts out of his mind as he settled into his starting position outside the center circle. In the meantime, his eyes were in constant motion, observing, analyzing, and assessing his opponents as he geared himself up for the action about to commence.

As a person living his second life, he understood that he couldn't let distractions off the pitch affect his performance during matches. If he wished to succeed, he would have to leave all his worries outside the stadium and focus only on defeating the opponent. So, not even Camilla's tricky situation could weigh down his mind while awaiting the kick-off whistle. He was as ready as he could be to play his heart out and help his team overcome Atalanta.

*FWEEEEEEE*

The referee finally blew the whistle to kick-start the game at 8:45 PM. Carlos Tévez immediately went into action. He unleashed a back pass into his midfield to find Zachary and kick off that day's battle between Atalanta and Juventus.

"Juventus! Juventus..."

The cheers around the stadium hit a thunderous crescendo for the first time that night as Juventus started controlling the game with their fluid passing. Zachary passed to Andrea Pirlo, who in turn passed to Claudio Marchisio to initiate a long spell of possession for Juventus. The football flowed like water, and soon, the Old Lady players started casting waves of attacks on Atalanta's defense.

It was only on a few occasions that they lost possession to Atalanta. But even then, they utilized high-pressing tactics to pressurize the opponents and win the ball back as quickly as possible. They were, for sure, the more dominant team during the opening fifteen minutes of the game.

However, even after dictating the tempo for all those minutes, they still couldn't find the back of the net. It was not that they didn't try to test the keeper with all the various tricks in their arsenal of tactics. They went all out while attacking but only failed to score due to the brilliance of Marco Sportiello, the Atalanta keeper, who made more than six saves during the first 45 minutes of gameplay.

Zachary tried his luck with shots from outside the box during the 20th and 24th minutes. But, on both occasions, the keeper negated his efforts by making incredible saves. But those weren't the only missed chances for Juventus. During the 32nd minute, Carlos Tévez beat the offside trap and connected with a pass from Andrea Pirlo. The Argentine forward controlled the ball well before riffling in a left-footed shot toward the bottom right corner. But alas, his efforts didn't bear fruit due to the inhuman reflexes of the keeper. The shot-stopper's performance was clearly the only factor preventing Juventus from scoring the opening goal.

As for the rest of the Atalanta players, they were harmless going forward. They only focused on weathering Juventus' unending barrage of attacks and didn't bother to create any significant chances on goal. Due to their docile approach to the game, they didn't manage to threaten Juventus' goal even once throughout the entire first half. And quite frankly, they were fortunate not to be behind at the break.

After the fifteen-minute half-time break, the game restarted. Everything went as expected, and the Juventus players continued to dictate the tempo with fluid passes. They seemed like a team on track to win the game and go home with three points at the end of the game.

But circumstances changed twelve minutes into the second half when the downpour started falling from the skies. They found it hard to continue playing their grounded and short passes in the heavy rain. As a result, they could only resort to changing their strategy and playing long balls to overcome the hardships posed by the wet playing surface.

Zachary, on his part, also found it a bit challenging to perform as usual in the rain. The heavy pelting of water constantly showered his already miserable frame with bouts of fresh and chilling torrents of merciless precipitation. He couldn't dribble with ease over the wet surface. He also couldn't see the ball clearly at times. But he still hardened himself and continued focusing on the game without minding the unfavorable conditions. He wished to win, and nothing could stop him from doing so, not even the rain.

"Zachary!" Coach Trombetta yelled from the sidelines when the ball went out of play for a Juventus throw-in during the 64th minute. "Move forward and play as a false-nine. We no longer need you in the midfield, as we can't play short passes in this weather. You need to be active in searching for the goal."

"Aye, coach," Zachary replied and raised his thumb to indicate that he had understood. He agreed with the coach's decision, as that was the only way to add numbers up front and increase his team's chances of scoring a goal.

He had to play as an attacker to help his team overcome the barrier of the wet surface with long balls. The rest would then fall in place, and he would find opportunities to connect with the defense-splitting passes from Andrea Pirlo and the crosses from the attacking wing-backs.

*FWEEEEEEE*

The referee blew the whistle and motioned for the Juventus players to take their throw-in. Patrice Evra, Juventus' attacking wing-back, immediately made a short run toward the touchline on the left flank before throwing the ball into the pitch. His accuracy was spot on, and he found Claudio Marchisio, one of the Juventus midfielders.

Claudio Marchisio, on his part, controlled the ball while skipping away from an opponent. When an angle opened up, he squared the ball to find Andrea Pirlo in the space on his right.

Andrea Pirlo, being the Maestro he was, surveyed the entire situation on the pitch as he connected with Claudio's pass. He found the perfect outlet for the ball within seconds and unleashed a lofted pass toward the other side of the pitch. And with that single ball through the rain, he released Carlos Tévez on a straight course toward Atalanta's goal.