There's a price for everything, including brilliance.
Pedri, Sam, Lamine Yamal, and Raphinha stole the show in Turin, but there was a price for that performance. Targeted by Juventus's aggressive center backs all game, Sam suffered a knock.
The cameras never caught it.
The world only saw the smile, the sweat, and the raised arms under the lights of Turin. They saw the celebration, the calm walk to the tunnel, the handshakes and the replays of his assists.
But what they didn't see was the limp.
What they didn't hear was the muffled groan echoing down the hallway once the roar of the Allianz Stadium had faded.
Injury was never a pleasant situation for any professional football player.
The pain, the discomfort, and with his history with injury, Sam hated all of it, but this time, he couldn't help it.
It was such a long time since he suffered any injury that it felt like a novelty experience for him, but the discomfort remained all the same.
