(La Liga:)
(Barcelona – Espanyol)
(Date: 3rd November, 2025)
These days, there was a popularized term among football communities, 'Football before the ballon d'Or' and 'Football after the ballon d'Or'.
It did not just circulate among fan circles, it also circulated among player circles, the FC Barcelona circle not excluded, Sam and his friend circle in particular.
After the 2025 ballon d'Or ceremony in Paris, France, Sam's very first ballon d'Or ceremony and his first taste of a big individual trophy, the Golden Boy award, Sam's heart was ignited with passion once again.
Not just him, his close football friends experienced the same thing.
Afterall, just like him and apart from Alejandro Balde, Pedri, Gavi, and Lamine Yamal were all winners of the Golden Boy award before him.
Now, they wanted to level up and broaden their horizons.
They didn't want to be just the best youth player anymore, rather, they wanted to become the best player in the world.
And their ballon d'Or bid already started.
This was why Sam and his friends trained for the Espanyol game differently.
In the build-up to the La Liga clash against Espanyol, the group of friends trained harder than usual and also worked harder than usual.
It was not just because of their ballon d'Or bid though, it was also because like usual, they decided to turn it into a close circle competition.
Gavi suddenly brought it up one morning while they jogged.
"Hehe".
Hearing that chuckle, they knew that the fiery and short Spaniard was up to no good and when Gavi opened his mouth, they confirmed it.
"Just competing against others for the ballon d'Or is too boring and fleeting. Let's make it our competition like usual. Just like our sprint competitions, and the late-coming competitions".
"Let's turn the ballon d'Or bid into a personal competition".
It was a crazy idea from Gavi, but why not?
This was why Sam put even more effort into prepping for the Espanyol game. Days before the game, Hansi Flick revealed his starting XI.
All 5 of them made it to the starting XI.
Just like that, a few days passed in a jiffy and it was D-day already.
30 minutes before the game, the starting XI for both teams was released officially. Like expected, they both started with strong lineups.
For Espanyol, starting in their regular 4-2-3-1 formation, the visitors started with a defensive quadruple of Romero, Cabrera, Kumbulla, and El Hilali, with Garcia protecting them in between the posts.
The midfield duo comprised of Gonzalez de Zarate and Lozano.
As for the 4-man attack, Puado started in left wing, Kral in attacking midfield, Carreras in right wing, and Fernandez as the striker.
On the opposite side, the home side started in the same formation.
Marc Andre Ter Stegen started in between the posts with a defensive quadruple of Alejandro Balde, Pau Cubarsi, Ronaldo Araujo, and Jules Kounde sitting ahead of him. The defensive duo comprised of Pedri and Gavi.
And then up ahead, Dani Olmo started in attacking midfield, flanked by Lamine Yamal on the right and Raphinha on the left.
And then like usual, Sam started as the striker, Barca's false 9.
FWEEE!
As soon as the referee's whistle sounded, from the first minute of kickoff, led by Sam at the tip of the attack, FC Barcelona went about dissecting their opponents.
Visiting their opponent's imperious backyard, nobody expected Espanyol to play attacking football and like expected, they played defensive.
What nobody expected was just how thorough their defensive set-up would be ruthlessly torn apart by a rampant FC Barcelona attack.
At first, it was tough to break down, solid defensive play shutting out a rampant Raphinha and Lamine Yamal through the wings.
Playing in his false 9 position, the 2 center backs pushed up, not giving Sam any space to work his magic.
For 10 minutes, this worked until Sam decided to fall deeper to create.
Just 3 minutes after he did this, he erupted.
BZZZ!
A receive, one delicate touch, a flick to evade a tackle, an ankle-breaker body feint, a delicious elastico to open up space, and then a penetrating through pass.
In one moment of individual brilliance, Dani Olmo and Sam swap positions, Sam playing the ball in for the Spaniard who didn't miss his mark.
With a silky smooth la croqueta, Dani Olmo rounded the Espanyol goalkeeper, Garcia before poking into an empty net to make it 1 nil.
The Spotify Camp Nou erupted.
13 minutes, 1-0…
That…, opened the floodgates.
Just a few minutes later, in the 18th minute, it was Lamine Yamal's turn to provide the assist, playing Dani Olmo on again to score after a moment of the Spaniard showing his mastery in the tight spaces.
18 minutes, 2-0, Dani Olmo 2 goals.
After that, Sam, Raphinha, Dani Olmo, and Lamine Yamal went haywire, cutting Espanyol open repeatedly like a hot knife through butter.
Espanyol defended with their lives, for a time, but it was not enough.
In the 29th minute, Raphinha did it, getting on the end of another Sam pass before playing a thunderous volley past the Espanyol goalkeeper.
In the 35th minute, Pau Cubarsi got on the end of a Raphinha cross, putting it past the Espanyol goalkeeper to make it 4 nil.
It was a drubbing already, but they were not done, not yet.
In the 45th minute, piling on Espanyol's misery, Sam went on an incredible solo run after a pass from Lamine Yamal, going through 5 players before burying the ball into the net in a display of skill and sheer brilliance.
FWEEE!
The ref finally blew for halftime after that.
45 minutes, 5-0…
Espanyol were being humiliated by the champions.
When 2nd half started, FC Barcelona removed their foot off the gas even as it gave Espanyol some ideas.
In the 68th minute, they scored from a corner.
Was that the catalyst for a comeback?
No.
It only gave them a false hope, false hope that was dashed in just 2 minutes.
In the 70th minute, Sam got his brace, stealing the ball with his aggressive pressing up the field and catching Espanyol off-guard before scoring an easy goal.
6 nil to FC Barcelona.
And then just 7 minutes later, in the 77th minute, it happened again.
Alejandro Balde started an overlapping run from deep after winning the ball, starting an FC Barcelona counterattack.
He passed to Raphinha who poked to Sam who flicked the ball back to Balde for the young Barcelona fullback to smash past the Espanyol goalkeeper.
GOAL…, 7 nil.
Sam was substituted after 80 minutes, Pau Victor coming on in his place but he already did the damage with his 2 goals and 3 assists.
In additional time, Pau Victor got a goal for his troubles to end the rout.
8-0 to FC Barcelona, an imperious victory.
Sam got another man of the match award.
The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!