“My God!
It really was the Chinese kid who played that ball?!”
“How did he even see that pass?!”
“It tore Genoa’s back line apart in a split second.
You don’t fluke a ball like that.”
“Look at the replay.
The ball was at his feet for maybe a second before he released it.
A perfect assist in that window?
Unreal.”
Fiorentina fans looked up at the big screen above the pitch.
The replay showed Ethan Cross’s assist from every angle.
Some fans genuinely hadn’t noticed who played the pass and needed the replay to confirm it.
Others had seen it live but assumed their eyes were lying.
No one wanted to believe that a sixteen-year-old, on his professional debut, had just produced a through ball that precise.
Mario Gomez was ecstatic.
He sprinted straight to Ethan.
“Ethan!
What a pass!
That was a work of art!”
“Their midfield was packed, and you still threaded it through.
Incredible.”
During training, Ethan had always been on the reserve side.
He and Gomez had never played together.
Today was their first real partnership on the pitch.
Gomez had wondered whether Ethan’s passing talent would translate to a real match.
Now he had his answer.
Ethan hadn’t expected to get an assist on his debut either.
The thrill hit him hard.
The rest of the team piled in to congratulate him.
“An assist on your debut!
That’s how you do it, Ethan!”
“That pass was brilliant.
Just like training.”
“I told you.
A passing talent like Ethan was always going to make a difference.
I just didn’t think it would happen this fast.”
The Fiorentina bench erupted. Find the original chapter at g.com.
Montella pumped both fists.
He’d sent Ethan on to unlock the attack with his passing.
The kid had delivered.
The equalizer lifted the whole team.
And Ethan’s assist earned him even more trust from his teammates.
82nd minute.
Badelj won the ball in midfield and fed Aquilani.
Aquilani didn’t hesitate.
He shook off his marker and moved it sideways to Ethan.
Ethan took one look and released it instantly to Cuadrado on the right.
The pass was perfectly weighted.
Cuadrado cut inside and entered the box.
The Colombian unleashed a fierce shot.
Only a flying save from the Genoa keeper kept it out.
Fiorentina fans groaned at the missed chance.
But their view of Ethan had already changed.
“That pass was sharp.
This kid really has something.”
“Cuadrado wasted it.
That ball deserved a goal.”
“I’m starting to think even Borja Valero couldn’t have played that pass better.”
The chance didn’t end in a goal, but it rattled Genoa’s defense.
Genoa’s manager, Gian Piero Gasperini, saw the shift.
Fiorentina had momentum now.
He ordered his players to drop deep and protect the back line.
Ethan’s passing had left a deep impression on Gasperini.
He didn’t know who this young Serie A newcomer was.
But his experience told him this kid was the most dangerous threat on the pitch.
Losing the lead was disappointing.
But a home draw against a stronger Fiorentina side wasn’t a disaster.
With Genoa fully committed to defense and only about ten minutes left including stoppage time, the plan was obvious.
They wanted to kill the game at 2-2.
Montella wasn’t having it.
“Push up!
“Don’t give them a second to breathe!”
He wanted everything thrown forward.
But he also knew the truth.
Breaking down a packed defense in the final minutes was brutally hard.
Fiorentina’s main weapons were the wings.
And both Cuadrado and Salah had been running all match.
Their legs were heavy.
Their sharpness was fading.
Dense defense is a nightmare for any team.
Late in a match, with everyone exhausted, it’s nearly impossible.
Montella frowned.
Maybe a draw was all Fiorentina would get today.
Then, in the 87th minute, everything changed.
Fiorentina kept passing around midfield, probing for gaps in Genoa’s wall.
Nothing opened.
The ball came to Ethan again.
And no one expected what happened next.
He didn’t take a touch.
He flicked the ball forward with the toe of his right boot.
A first-time, lofted through ball.
It sailed over Genoa’s entire packed midfield and defense, dropping directly into the path of Mario Gomez.
One touch had erased Genoa’s whole back line.
Gomez’s elite striker instincts kicked in.
He read the flight and burst toward the ball.
Any other forward might have been caught flat-footed, just like the Genoa defenders.
Gomez muscled off his marker, took the ball, and fired.
The shot slipped past the keeper’s fingertips and into the net.
3-2.
Fiorentina had won it in the 87th minute.
No one could believe it.
Ethan Cross, thrown into a losing battle, had done the impossible.
Two assists on his professional league debut.
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