Rise of a Football God

Again, it was Phil Foden and again, it was another silky-smooth dribble.

Having caused the first goal through his mazy dribbling, Phil Foden went on another of those mazy runs again.

Palhinha tried to hold the English forward down but with his flair, Foden left him for dead, drifting into the Fulham 18-yard box like he was surfing a wave.

Calvin Bassey slid in for an aggressive sliding tackle only for this player to flick the ball above him, jumping after it and as Diop blocked with his leg, Foden unleashed a whipped shot, shooting the ball in between the legs of this defender.

The ball rushed towards the bottom left corner like a missile. This time, Leno dived, almost hitting his head against the post but it was not enough.

Agonizingly, the ball snuck past.

1-2.

Charging towards the corner flag, Foden jumped and pumped a fist in celebration as his teammates swarmed him.

When the game eventually restarted, the situation became cagey again as Manchester City regained their dominance, Kevin De Bruyne occasionally showing his ability even as Erling Haaland was locked all game.

Manchester City dominated for large swaths of the second half after getting the second goal, but 2 minutes of ridiculous brilliance turned the game on its head.

The first happened in the 67th minute.

It was from a corner kick and rising above every player in this pitch, Sam managed to get to the ball, powering a header past Ederson to draw his team level in the 67th minute of the game.

And just a minute later, almost immediately after Manchester City restarted play, Sam managed to steal the ball before driving with it at the Manchester City defense without hesitation.

No one supported him but Sam did not hesitate due to that and already in the zone state, he seemed to turn into a replica of Messi.

Sam skipped past one, beating Rodri with his pace, before obliterating Mateo Kovacic with his technique, skipping past him with a roulette.

And as he approached the defense, Nathan Ake and Ruben Dias shadowing him from both sides, Sam managed to do the impossible, cutting through 2 of the best defenders in the world with an immaculate executed elastico dribble. This was still the most lethal weapon in his arsenal.

With that dribble, he went through the whole Manchester City team and as Ederson rushed out, Sam poked the ball with the outside of his right boot.

It just rolled past Ederson's outstretched legs.

"GOALLLLL…!" The commentator screamed.

"2 minutes of madness!"Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"2 minutes of pure Sam magic!"

"My GODDD! Can anything stop Sam?!"

"What a solo run, what a solo goal! Against Manchester City!"

"Damn! He's the sky blues' bane, that's 6 goals in just 2 games against them! What a record!"

"Sam definitely loves playing against City!"

It was 3-2 to Fulham all of a sudden, it seemed like magic.

'Another hattrick!' Sam thought, drenched in euphoria.

Not able to contain his overflowing emotions, Sam charged towards the corner flag and once he got there, he leaped into the air, executing an acrobatic backflip even as the Fulham fans started with the chants.

"SAM!" "SAM!" "SAM!"

Once Sam landed, acknowledging the fans, he kissed the Fulham badge passionately and then, the game eventually resumed.

Both coaches made changes after that goal, making contrasting attacking and defensive changes as Pep Guardiola turned in the heat.

And on the pitch, after the referee's whistle sounded again to continue the game, the Fulham players felt the heat.

Erling Haaland who had been anonymous for most of this game became bullish, physically torturing the Fulham center back duo and stretching the defense to let those behind him thrive.

And thrive was exactly what those behind him did.

Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne led the offense, Bernardo Silva sprinkling salt on top, but then, it was the Man City left back that produced the goods again.

This time, Josko Gvardiol started the play all the way from deep in his half. This powerful left back went on a marauding run with the ball through the left-hand side of the pitch.

Bombing past Castagne with his physicality and technique, the bullish left back managed to hold off the challenge from the Fulham center backs long enough for him to power a shot into the bottom left corner, beating Leno in his corner.

It was uncharacteristic poor goalkeeping from the Fulham no. 1.

But it had massive repercussions, Manchester City were back level just 3 minutes after going behind as Gvardiol drew the game level again in the 71st minute of this game.

This game was proving to be a similar thriller to the one Fulham and Liverpool played almost 2 weeks ago.

With that goal, the tension became even higher.

Manchester City dominated, threatening and constantly forcing the Fulham players to put their bodies on the line to defend.

The Fulham players played like they were in a battlefield.

They defended with their lives and this was when Sam showed his specialty, locking out his area of the pitch completely with his incredible stamina till an error from Ederson, the Man City goalkeeper proved the decider in the 83rd minute.

It was a gamble outside the box shot from Palhinha after trying other means to no avail. No way was that shot supposed to enter the goal, but after catching the ball, handling it, Ederson bounced it on the ground.

Instead of hitting the ground though, the ball hit his boot instead, bouncing backwards instead of back up as it rolled into his net.

"…!"

Craven Cottage was briefly silenced; this was the most inexplicable of own goals but then this stadium erupted again.

"GOALLLLL…!" The Fulham fans celebrated wildly.

The Fulham players also celebrated, even God seemed to be on their side this game.

For the final minutes of this game, it was Man City offense vs Fulham defense. Literally all the Man City players camped in Fulham's half, bombarding them with attack after attack as Fulham defended with their lives.

90 minutes, no goal…

90 plus 1 minute, no goal…

90 plus 2 minutes, no goal…

90 plus 3 minutes, no goal…

90 plus 4 minutes, no goal…

90 plus 5 minutes, it finally happened as Diop took one for the team, dragging Julian Alvarez down in the box who already replaced Erling Haaland at some point.

FWEEE!

The Fulham center back received a straight red card, and then a penalty was awarded to Manchester City.

The fans felt a bit disappointed but they didn't show it as they applauded their center back as he walked out of the pitch.

When Alvarez stood to take the penalty, the Fulham fans drowned him in an ocean of boos, trying to affect his concentration.

The pressure of the moment was immense but having won a World Cup already after playing a starring role, this striker had nerves of steel.

He calmly sent Bernd Leno the other way, shooting towards the left and into the net to score and drag Manchester City back level in the dying minutes of this game.

4-4, and that was it.

After an incredible thriller where both teams played their best football, football won as both teams shared the spoils.

Fulham broke Manchester City's winning streak and vice versa.

But from a Fulham perspective though, it was still a win as they extended their unbeaten streak to 6 games unbeaten.