Rise of a Football God

(UEFA Champions League:)

(Matchday 4 of 8:)

(Dynamo Kyiv – FC Barcelona)

(Date: 6th November, 2025)

After the 8-0 drubbing of Espanyol at the Spotify Camp Nou, just 3 days later, Barca got a UEFA champions league date with Dynamo Kyiv in Ukraine.

Like expected, Sam made the FC Barcelona squad for the game.

There was no change to Hansi Flick's starting XI for this game.

As for the home side though, the Ukraine club started with their most formidable lineup against the visiting Catalan giants.

Starting in their customary 4-3-3 formation, Neshcheret started in between the posts for the Ukrainian club. Starting ahead of him was a quadruple defense of Tymchyk, Popov, Mykhavko, and Vivcharenko.

In midfield was a trio of Buyalskyi, Mykhaylenko, and Pikhalyonok.

And then in attack was the attacking trio of Yarmokenko, Vanat, and Kabayev, forming a dangerous Dynamo Kyiv side.

Against the Catalans in their home stadium, the Ukrainian club bared their fangs first, getting an early lead in just the 3rd minute of the game from an absolute thunderbolt of a shot.

From outside the box, Mykhaylenko set himself up before unleashing an absolute piledriver that tore its way into the bottom left corner of the net, leaving Marc Andre Ter Stegen with no chance.

That goal woke Barca up but before they could bite, the home side struck again from a lightning-quick counterattack.

The ball moved from defense to attack in nothing but a second.

Before the Catalans knew it, Yarmolenko, the Dynamo Kyiv right winger already poked the ball past Marc Andre Ter Stegen into the net.

2-0 in 20 minutes…

Well, that did make the Catalans finally bare their fangs.

Raphinha started a famous comeback night in the UEFA Champions league for the Catalans, buoyed by an absolute Pedri masterclass in midfield.

Pedri was silky this game, silky and smooth like a prime Andres Iniesta.

After helping the Catalans dictate the game, settling his team into the game and dictating the tempo, he amped it, suddenly playing a defense-splitting pass in the 34th minute, setting Raphinha up.

The Brazilian did not miss his mark, shooting from a tight angle to score.

34 minutes, 2-1…

Raphinha's celebration was short but passionate, the comeback was on.

After that goal, Dynamo Kyiv tried to rally but in midfield, Pedri ran circles around their midfielders, setting the tempo for the game.

Pedri was having an absolute midfield masterclass.

In the 43rd minute, he played a lobbed pass over the Dynamo Kyiv defense, setting Raphinha up to score his brace from an all too familiar volley.

The first half ended fiery but it was a draw.

In the 2nd half, Pedri continued his masterclass, passing to Dani Olmo who set up Lamine Yamal to get the 3rd FC Barcelona goal of this game.

That was when the away fans erupted.

"GOALLLLLL…!!!" They celebrated madly, the comeback was done, for a time.
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Unwilling to give up, the Ukrainian club rallied, pouring a mountain of attacking resources at the Catalans and in the 80th minute, it bore fruit.

Vanat, Dynamo Kyiv's striker finally shot.

Again, it was a counter-attack.

2 touches, that was all it took.

One touch to skip past Pau Cubarsi, overpowering the young defender with his physicality and his next touch was the shot, beating Ter Stegen easily.

3-3!

What a game!

The atmosphere in this stadium was now extremely frightening.

3-3, the score was level, a fitting way to end such a fiery and exciting game but the Catalans had no intentions of going home with just 1 point and Pedri made sure of it, combining with the King in one moment of genius in the last minute of the game in the 90th minute.

Bam!

Another silky lobbed pass from Pedri.

Bzzz!

Finally, after 90 minutes of a pretty subdued performance compared to his normal standards, Sam finally erupted, coming up clutch.

He jumped for the aerial ball, fighting, and he won the aerial battle.

With his head, he pushed the ball from the physical center backs who wrestled with him all game and then with his chest, he protected it, then…

…he struck!

They thought they had Sam marked, blocked, but he improvised.

Yes, they blocked all normal shooting options and so leaping up into the air and twisting his body in mid-air, Sam swung his left leg, executing an incredible scissor kick in the last minute of this game with his left leg.

Bam!

Neshcheret, the Dynamo Kyiv goalkeeper dived but the ball already went past him, nestling into the net.

"GOALLLLLLL…!!!" The away fans roared.

"ZINEDINE SAM…!!!"

"ZINEDINE SAM…!!!"

"He's struck again, clutch! Assassin!"

"When Barca needed him the most, he struck!"

"They kept him quiet for 89 minutes, but not for a full game!"

"He's the King, and he's arrived in Ukraine!"

Charging towards the corner flag, Sam slid on his knees in celebration even as he pointed at his head, highlighting his mentality.

"Vamos!!!" He roared at the camera.

His teammates arrived, swarming him.

That goal, Dynamo Kyiv was not recovering from it anytime soon.

A few minutes later, the referee blew the whistle, finally bringing this incredible UEFA champions league game to an end.

Sam may have grabbed the front papers with that clutch game-winning goal but in this game, Pedri was the star.

The midfielder got rewarded for his masterclass display with a deserving man of the match award.

Afterall, he got 3 assists in this game plus a pre-assist.

Pedri had his prints over all 4 goals that FC Barcelona scored.

Apart from Pedri's masterclass, with this performance, Sam took his tally to 17 goals in just 12 games for this campaign, also making it 6 goals now in 3 games in his debut UEFA champions league campaign.

The 2026 ballon d'Or race was on.

As for FC Barcelona, off to their next challenge, a domestic one.

They would be taking on Real Sociedad next in the league.

***

(La Liga:)

(Real Sociedad – Barcelona)

(Date: 10th November, 2025)

***

For FC Barcelona, it was another game to extend their lead over Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid at the forefront of La Liga.