THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME

Zachary spent the morning hours going through his physical fitness routines. Under the guidance of Coach Bjørn Peters, his fitness trainer, he first went through a gym workout to hone his endurance, strength, and body control. Then, when the clock hand pointed to the eleven o'clock mark, he rested for two hours before enjoying a sumptuous lunch prepared by Inger, his chef.

After lunch, he didn't continue lounging around in his mansion. Instead, he got into his new Audi RS 7 and headed to the Vinovo for Juventus' afternoon training.

As usual, Zachary found dozens of fans and a few journalists waiting around the gates when he arrived at the training center. He rolled down his window and waved at them before continuing towards the parking lot.

He eased his car into one of the empty parking spots and alighted from the vehicle. He smiled as his eyes caught the visage of Coach Maurizio Trombetta, the assistant coach, who happened to have just arrived at the training center at the same time as him. The middle-aged coach was in full winter gear, with a thick jacket, a head sock, and gloves to keep the December chill away from his body. His eyes shone when he spotted Zachary.

"Zachary!" The assistant coach exclaimed. "Good afternoon!"

"Good afternoon to you too, coach," Zachary responded while picking up his gym bag from the back seat of his car. He then locked the doors before turning to the assistant coach again. "Coach! You seem to be in a good mood. Where's Christmas?"

"It's too soon to think about Christmas," Coach Trombetta replied with a chuckle. "Congratulations upon winning the Golden Boy award, by the way. Your form over the past year was incredible. You really deserved the honor."

"Thanks, coach," Zachary responded, grinning. He was in a good mood, especially after consuming an S-grade elixir and improving his game intelligence stats. He felt like everything around him was more vibrant than usual, and he couldn't stop himself from walking with a slight swagger as he headed toward the inside of the training center.

"Honestly," Coach Trombetta continued with his praise, "I'm really impressed with your capabilities on the team. Your goal-scoring form is excellent, and if you can continue maintaining your form, you might be able to make it into this year's Ballon d'Or shortlist."

Zachary chuckled. "The Ballon d'Or is still a bit far away from me. Setting it as my target would distract me from my current priorities. I only need to continue performing well, and if lady luck is on my side, I'll make the shortlist."

"That's a good mentality," Coach Trombetta said. "It's always good to focus on the present. The Supercoppa Italiana is only two days away. It's a chance for you to pick up your first silverware with Juventus. In this year's match-up, we'll face off against SSC Napoli in the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar. Are you ready?"

"Yes, I am," Zachary replied, oozing confidence. Consuming the S-grade mental-conditioning elixir had allowed his stats to gain a timely boost right before the Supercoppa Italiana. He was in the best state he could ever be as a footballer. If all went as planned and nothing unexpected happened, he would perform beyond all expectations in the Supercoppa Italiana final.

"I like your confidence," Coach Trombetta said as they continued further into the training center. "But please note that you must give it your all for the Supercoppa. We have to win. Evra, Marchisio, and Pirlo are missing due to the injuries they picked up during previous matches. You're the only remaining playmaker in the starting eleven. As such, your influence in the midfield will be one of the most important determiners of the result of the Supercoppa Italiana. You'll have to play intelligent football and find a way to create as many chances as you can against Napoli. Additionally, you have to be quick with your decision-making while on the ball — or else, the opponents will find a way to mark you and stop you from making your mark in the final."

"I understand, coach," Zachary said, feeling even more determined. "I'll do my best during the final. When are we setting off for Qatar?"

"Tomorrow," Coach Trombetta said. "We'll fly to Qatar in the morning. If everything goes as planned, we'll arrive in Doha by 6:00 PM and spend the night there. Then, on Monday morning, we'll go through a light training session to polish our tactics for the match before spending the rest of the day resting. Finally, in the evening, we will head to the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium for the Supercoppa Italiana final against Napoli. That's the plan."

As the two conversed, they finally arrived before the dressing rooms. Coach Trombetta said a few more encouraging words to Zachary before heading off toward the coaching staff's dressing room. As for Zachary, he stepped towards the player's locker room while thinking about the Supercoppa Italiana final that was only two days away.

Inaugurated in 1988, the Supercoppa Italiana was an annual football match contested by the Serie A champions and the Coppa Italia winners from the season prior. However, if the same team had won both competitions for the previous football calendar year, the Supercoppa would instead be a match-up between the Serie A champions and the Coppa Italia runners-up.

During its first few years after its inauguration, the Supercoppa was often—scheduled in the summer as a super cup curtain-raiser to the new season played in the home stadium of the Serie A champion. However, in recent years, the Italian football league's governing body had started scheduling the match during the winter. Moreover, the match would often be hosted in stadiums outside of Italy, probably to attract more publicity for Italian football.

Previous Suppercopas were played in countries such as Italy, the United States, Libya, and China. As for that year, the match was to be held at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, all the way in Qatar. So, for that matter, the Juventus squad needed to make the more than eight-hour-long flight to Doha to participate in that year's Supercoppa Italiana.

Zachary, on his part, was not against making the trip to Qatar. He had already spent roughly four months focusing only on football at Juventus. The daily training and packed match schedule had worn him out to a certain extent, and he figured that a change of scenery would be perfect for him. As such, Zachary was eager to travel to Doha and face off against Napoli there.

"Maybe, I can also spend a few more days on holiday there after the match," Zachary thought. "Doha should have many world-class sports facilities. Spending the Christmas break there won't affect my training plans. I only need to inform the coaches in advance."

Zachary finally arrived before the player's locker room after a few seconds. He pushed the door open and noticed that most of his teammates were already in the dressing room. Some had even already donned their training gear and were about to head out for the training.

"Ciao ragazzi! Come stai?"

Using his mastery of broken Italian, Zachary greeted them, one after the other, after stepping into the room. His teammates returned his greetings humorously and congratulated him upon winning the Golden Boy award. A few experienced players, like Gianluigi Buffon and Stephan Lichtsteiner, even encouraged him to keep working hard so he could compete for the Ballon d'Or. He could tell that they were truly happy for him for winning the Golden Ball award.

Thirty minutes later, at 2:15 PM, all the Juventus players had long assembled on the main training turf. The winter breeze sweeping across the ground assaulted them, causing them to tremble as their bodies fought against the cold environmental conditions. But they remained attentive as they listened to Coach Max Allegri's address.

"As you all know, the Supercoppa Italiana is only two days away," Coach Max Allegri said as he swept his gaze across his players. "But the time we have for training is even less than a single day, especially since we'll spend the entirety of tomorrow traveling. So, guys! We must utilize the limited time today to finalize all our preparations for the Supercoppa Italiana. We must refine our game plan for the match against Napoli or risk embarrassing ourselves on Monday evening. Are we together, guys?"

"Yes, coach!" The players replied more or less in unison.

Coach Allegri nodded and flipped his notebook open. "To save time, I'll first name the match squad for the game. That will allow all the players on the starting eleven to train in their individual roles today."

"Gianluigi Buffon will be in goal," Coach Max Allegri announced in a solemn voice. "In defense, we'll utilize three defenders. They are Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci, and Angelo Ogbonna. Moving on to the midfield: we'll employ Simone Padoin, Arturo Vidal, and Zachary Bemba as our three central midfielders. Simone Padoin and Arturo Vidal will be the holding midfielders, while Zachary will play as the attacking pivot. The three will also work together with Kwadwo Asamoah and Stephan Lichtsteiner to complete our midfield of five. Lastly, Fernando Llorente and Carlos Tévez will play as our forwards to complete our 3-5-2 formation. That's it for the starting eleven. Any questions?"

All the players remained silent and didn't respond.

"Now, to the substitutes," Coach Allegri said with a slight nod. "On the bench, we'll have Rubinho, Marco Storari, Martín Cáceres, Filippo Romagna, Federico Mattiello, Roberto Pereyra, Kingsley Coman, Simone Pepe, Sebastian Giovinco, and Álvaro Morata. That's it for the match squad. So, let's start our training for today."

With the coach's declaration, the training officially started.

The players began by going through a thirty-minute warm-up routine before moving on to the actual tactics session. And as planned, they focused on refining their tactics until all the players on the match squad had committed their roles for the game against Napoli to mind. Finally, in the evening, after working so hard for hours, the Juventus players said their goodbyes to their coaches and returned to their respective homes to rest for the night. They had done all they could to prepare for the match. All that remained was for them to travel to Doha and face off against Napoli in the much-anticipated Supercoppa Italiana final.