Rise of a Football God

11 minutes, 1-0…

17 minutes, red card…

Everything happened so fast, it felt like a dream to the Liverpool fans, or more like a nightmare. In 17 forgettable minutes to the fans in red, all the plans and hopes that they had for this game came crashing down in oblivion.

The context of this game changed completely.

Anfield became as quiet as a mouse.

The home fans already made all the noise that they could, protesting the referee's decision but the man refused to budge to the whims of the home fans, he stuck with his earlier decision.

And since VAR didn't stop him, his decision stood.

The Liverpool fans in Anfield watched in disbelief as a dejected Andrew Robertson trudged off the field with drooped shoulders.

In the build up to this game, Liverpool fans approached the game with the superior mentality, adamant in teaching the pretend table toppers a lesson in football but 17 minutes into this game and they were tongue-tied.

Pereira's goal so early in the game already rattled their nerves, and now this red card made them lose their composure completely.

While Liverpool reeled in disbelief, Fulham thrived as they were suddenly doused with confidence. Fulham was on course to a famous victory in Anfield.

For their opponents, for the first time in a long time, Liverpool fans felt trepidations at Anfield, a rarity.

But this was not a situation that was entirely new to them.

This was not a situation that they had not encountered before. Afterall, they were trailing behind by just 1 goal and with a handicap.

Could this handicap compare to trailing 3 goals down against a strong FC Barcelona team led by a prime Lionel Messi in 2019 who was plundering all types of goals for fun?

The Liverpool fans gave their reply to this question with their next action.

BOOM!

Loud chants and cheers blasted around this stadium.

At this moment, the home fans already adopted the us against the world mentality, mostly due to the referee's decision.

Their already loud voice since the beginning of this game truly went through the roof this time, turning Anfield into a literal microphone to channel their loud voices as the referee got prepared to blow his whistle to restart play.

And when the whistle eventually sounded, the game continued, but in an entirely different vein.

FWEEEEE!

A lot of people expected Arne Slot to make a defensive change after Andrew Robertson's red card but this coach didn't, rather giving his players the go ahead to take the game to their opponents.

And the Liverpool fans responded to their coach's instructions with gusto.

Liverpool was no weak team; it was a strong premier league team comprised of talented young lads and centurion veterans of countless battles on the pitch from the Egyptian King, Mohamed Salah to Trent Alexander-Arnold, to Virgil Van Dijk.

They were a well-equipped weapon of mass destruction.

Besides, Anfield was the best advantage that they could ever hope for, a stadium where they were famous for historically creating miracles.

It didn't matter that they were trailing 1 goal behind their opponents, it didn't matter that they were playing with 10 men, all they wanted was to equalize this game and eventually win it and they would do everything possible in their power to achieve that objective.

If it was their will to win, who could stop them?

After the game restarted, Liverpool took it slow at first, teasing their way back into the game as they got used to running around with one man less than their opponents.

It was hard, but nothing too hard for this elite team to do.

After a few minutes of acclimatizing to their handicap, their warm up was complete as the Merseysiders ramped up the pressure, taking the game to their opponents in aggressive fashion.

The game changed immediately, turning into a ferocious pound for pound battle between 2 heavyweight title challengers.

While Sam led the Fulham charge, Liverpool's Egyptian King led their charge.

Bam! Stay tuned to empire

A dozen minutes after the red card, in the 29th minute of this game, Liverpool came close to leveling the game as Luis Diaz's shot grazed the post, going out for a goal kick.

It was a goal kick but the Liverpool fans roared their players on like they just scored a goal; their passion was in full display.

The atmosphere in Anfield now was like a battlefield.

Despite Liverpool's seemingly unstoppable drive and relentless energy though, in the end, the reality was that they were playing with less men than their opponents and Fulham was not going to let that advantage slide easily, not with the black mamba himself playing for them.

The home fans may be doing their best to create a hostile environment for them, but the Fulham players did not lose their ability to play football so easily.

They followed the mamba spirit exuding from their talisman, Samuel Moses.

The S factor did not really work this game as the energetic Liverpool players locked Sam and Smith out through their sheer work rate, preventing them from connecting to devastating effect the way that they normally did but this did not stop Sam from doing ridiculous things on this pitch.

Afterall, before the S factor became a thing, he was used to creating miracles on his own on a football pitch.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The more Liverpool played, suffocating this game, the more Sam's competitive spirit grew and the closer he got to the state of flow.

When Liverpool threatened to score, Sam was the tip of Fulham's spear that retaliated, constantly taking the battle to their opponents with his mazy runs, stunning physicality, and incredible technique.

From the halfway line up, Sam was a threat wherever he got the ball.

With a defender gone, the Liverpool defense was more open for him to play his penetrative through passes.

Virgil Van Dijk's impressive defensive display this game was the only reason why Sam's name was not yet on the scoresheet.

Last time out, it was the Frenchman, William Saliba against Arsenal and now, the Netherlands International was hoping to do the same thing against the electric Sam. For now, and maybe till the end of this game, it was working.

In the end, despite an incredible first half, after those early shocking proceedings, this game became all bark and no bite.

The first half ended with Fulham still leading 0-1 in Anfield.

During half-time, a slightly uneasy Coach Marco Silva simply told his players to calm down, to not fall into Liverpool's intensity trap.

This coach was uneasy simply because this was Anfield.

And just like he predicted, Liverpool came out for the second half with even more intensity, Mohamed Salah especially playing like a man possessed.

The second half barely started when the complexion of the game changed.

"The ball goes to Salah, and he loops it over the Fulham defense".

"Who will get on the end of this one? And ohhhh, Luis Diaz!!!"

"Goal, finally!"

Instantly, like a dynamite, Anfield exploded as the ecstatic Liverpool fans roared at the top of their lungs.

"And all of a sudden, Liverpool are back in the game!"

"What a pass, what a header!"

Just 2 minutes into the second half, in the 47th minute of this game, Liverpool finally got their equalizer.