THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME
Against Sarpsborg-08 I

Three days later, on a rainy Thursday night, Zachary was on the bench once again as Rosenborg faced Sarpsborg-08 at Lerkendal Stadium.

He watched the game without worry as the coach had promised that he would be in the starting line-up for the next game against Molde. So, he leaned into his seat in the home team's dugout to enjoy the process on the playing field.

Buoyed by the cheers of enthusiastic home fans, the Troll Kids performed well enough to continue ripping through their opponents' formations in the first half. They had the motive to attack from the first minute and once again played impeccable football under the millions of raindrops that fell from the sky that night.

Zachary judged that they had executed coach Johansen's game plan perfectly in all areas of the field. They set up a 4-3-3 attacking formation to increase attack after attack in waves, never giving Sarpsborg-08 time to rest throughout the first half.

Nicki Nielsen is excited. He skilfully linked up with Mix Diskerud in the 33rd minute, utilising a pass just before shooting and scoring Rosenborg's first goal for the day. A minute later, in the 34th minute, he cleverly passed centre-back Sarpsborg and connected with Mikael Dorsin's cross from wing— to beat the goalkeeper with a header from around the edge of the box.

In the span of two minutes, Rosenborg enlarged his lead with two goals. The home fans at Lerkendal became splashy as their team looked fine on their way to continuing their winning streak to five games in a row.

But early in the second half, Zachary was stunned when the Rosenborg players started to perform badly. They become messy in midfield and start giving the ball possession more often. Although they managed to create a few chances in the final third of the pitch, they still could not turn them into goals. They could not extend their lead and found themselves in a situation similar to the one they experienced during the second half of the match against Honefoss.

As a result, Sarpsborg-08 players take advantage of the weakness of the intensity of Rosenborg play to calm down and become more comfortable in the game. Their defence and midfield stabilised in no time as they turned things around in Rosenborg's underperforming squad in the first few minutes of the second half. They continued to build momentum and managed to hit Rosenborg through counter-attacks using a long ball strategy to their two attackers on several occasions.

In the 52nd minute, Magnus Olsen, one of Sarpsborg-08's attackers in their 4-4-2 formation, hit the ground running, complete a lightning-fast game switch from defensive to attacking by utilizing a long pass deep within the Rosenborg defensive area. . He showed his class as a Tippeligaen professional attacker by passing Stefan Strandberg, one of Rosenborg's centre-backs, with deft footwork before firing on goal and scoring Sarpsborg-08's first goal.

But that wasn't the end of Rosenborg's troubles that day. In the 64th minute, Martin Wiig, another Sarpsborg-08 attacker, capitalised on a breakthrough pass from one of his team-mates in the final third of the game— before attempting to dribble past Stefan Strandberg, Rosenborg's centre-back.

However, Stefan has no nonsense. He slid wholesale and tried to tackle the ball from the feet of the Sarpsborg-08 attacker. But bad luck would befall him, he missed the ball just a few centimeters and caught a quick forward on the left ankle. The referee immediately blew his whistle and awarded a free kick to Sarpsborg-08 which was only a few meters away from the Rosenborg penalty box.

Gudmundur Thoarinsson, left winger Sarpsborg-08, advanced and converted a free kick to score both visitors. Lerkendal's stand with the home supporters' seats became silent for a moment as Rosenborg was once again in a precarious situation after conceding an equalising goal.

Coach Johansen reacted immediately after Rosenborg conceded the second goal. But that time, he did not choose to bring Zachary into the game.

The boy has played four games in a row over a span of 12 days and needs to rest his legs. That is the only way he will be ready and in good shape for the Molde game in four days.

So, the coach replaced Ole Selnaes and Mix Diskerud to strengthen his team's midfield. He then brought in Tobias Mikkelsen, a fast winger, to improve Rosenborg's attacking play.

Minutes after Coach Johansen made the substitution, Rosenborg's situation on the pitch stabilised. Tobias Mikkelsen started cutting wings and sending crosses into the box until Tarik Elyounoussi, Rosenborg's left-hander, connected with one of them to score Rosenborg's third goal.

The cheers of the home fans rose to their peak, as if almost blowing up the roof of the Lerkendal Stadium. The Rosenborg players have made it out of a precarious situation. They scored in the 84th minute to secure their lead once again.

Coach Johansen smiled broadly as he celebrated a goal in the technical area. But he made a mental note to find an immediate solution to his side's usually lethargic performances, especially early in the second half.

In the previous few games, Rosenborg had already dominated in the first half. But after halftime, it seems like his players always leave their boots in the dressing room. That was the reason why Rosenborg conceded the most goals during the first twenty minutes of the second half.

"Should we tell the players to form and defend our one-goal advantage?" Trond Henriksen, his assistant, asked from beside him. "We have to do our best to avoid conceding another goal in these remaining minutes."

"Don't worry," replied Coach Johansen, shaking his head. "Our players are playing at their best in attack. So, having them defend is like eliminating their best quality, which is their creativity on goal hunting."

"But isn't that too risky?" Coach Trond Henriksen investigated.

"Not at all" replied Coach Johansen. "We're a better team. So we are not going to play a conservative type of football against a weaker team. Moreover attacking was the best—" He stopped in the middle of the sentence, his eyes fully focused once again on the course of the match.