THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME

As an active General Manager at Juventus, Giuseppe Marotta was the man who oversaw most or all of the club's marketing and sales functions as well as the day-to-day operations. He was responsible for effective planning, delegating, coordinating, staffing, organizing, and decision-making to attain desirable profit-making results for Juventus.

Giuseppe was always among the first group of people to arrive at the Juventus head office in Corso Galileo Ferraris as he was a very busy man. His early bird routine was the same on the Wednesday after Juventus' Champions League game, especially since he planned to read through and sign Juventus' financial statements for the previous months.

"Anything interesting in the news today?" He asked his secretary when he walked into his spacious office that morning.

"Well," the secretary said, "There are a lot of catchy headlines about Zachary Bemba's hattrick in today's newspapers. Does that count as something interesting?"

"That's the only interesting piece of news today!" Giuseppe Marotta sighed as he settled down in his office chair. He was not that concerned about Juventus' performances on the field of play as he knew that his competent colleagues were properly overseeing the football side of the club. What troubled him instead were the fluctuating revenues that had constantly impacted the club's day-to-day activities since the time of the Calciopoli scandal. In particular, he'd been worried about Juventus' declining shirt and season ticket sales over the past few months.

"What are the journalists saying about Zachary this time around?" Giuseppe Marotta asked in passing as he booted up his laptop, ready to begin his work for the day. "Are they still predicting he will become a flop at Juventus?"

"Not at all," his secretary replied. "This time, the journalists haven't been shy to give Zachary over-the-top compliments for his stunning display last night. Some have described his performance as the 'wrath of a god' while others were not ashamed to compare him to greats like Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Ronaldinho. I'm telling you: everyone is going crazy about Zachary's hattrick on the internet."

"Is that so?" Giuseppe Marotta said, glancing up from his laptop. His eyes lit up as the gears in his mind churned and whirled to formulate a bold plan. He smiled and instructed, "Bring me all the newspapers for today. I want to see with my own eyes what the journalists are saying about Zachary."

"Okay, I'll bring them over to you immediately," the secretary agreed before stepping out of the spacious office. She returned a few minutes later with a bundle of all the famous sports newspapers and magazines. She placed it on the General Manager's table and said, "Here they are. Enjoy reading."

"Thank you," Giuseppe Marotta said and instructed her to go and mind her business. And without further ado, he began the tedious task of reviewing the content of that day's newspapers.

After a few minutes of reading, the General Manager confirmed that all the sports headlines in major Italian newspapers that morning were about Zachary's stunning hattrick against Malmö. The often cut-throat Italian men and women of the press couldn't restrain themselves as they praised Zachary for producing one of the finest European displays of his short and budding career. They associated Zachary with several catchy catchphrases and headlines to capture their readers' attention.

"It's the Genesis of a New Legend as Zachary inspires Juventus to a 3:0 Champions League victory over Malmö with a sensational hattrick." That was the headline in Gazzetta Dello Sport - a famous Italian daily newspaper dedicated to coverage of various sports. The journalist who wrote the article then described Zachary's performance on the night with Italian terms like Mostruoso and L'ira di un dio. But that was not all. Other media outlets, including Tuttosport, an Italian sports newspaper published in Turin, portrayed Zachary's hattrick as something from another planet. The press was literally promoting Zachary as the new deity of football in Italy with their exaggerated and over-the-top praises of his performance.

"This is fantastic! It's a rare opportunity to improve our shirt and ticket sales." Giuseppe Marotta thought, smiling. He placed the hard copy magazines to the side and turned his attention to his already booted laptop's screen to peruse more articles about Zachary on the internet.

Naturally, Giuseppe Marotta soon noticed a few voices of descent among those who reacted to Zachary's stunning performance on the night. A few haters attributed his impressive achievements to the glaring weaknesses of the opponents, while others just expressed that his hattrick was because of luck rather than individual skill. The critics and haters were obviously not ashamed to post such senseless words on the internet.

"Yes, Zachary scored a hattrick," Roberto Juarez, a famous sports critic, wrote on his blog. "He scored three goals against Malmö, a weak team from the low-tier Swedish league. Big Deal! Why all the hype? I have to point out that I have absolutely nothing against Juventus or Zachary Bemba. I'm even quite happy for him as he's finally beginning to make his mark in Juventus. But all I'm saying is that this Italian media's reaction to a hattrick against a weaker side shows how desperate Italian football is on the European Stage."

Roberto Juarez had only written the article as a passing comment after noticing the over-the-top reaction of the Italian press to Zachary's hattrick. But that one publication caused him problems on that Wednesday morning. A large group of Italian football fans reacted almost immediately and replied to his post with sharp words. Some people called him a loser desperate for attention, while others labeled him an incompetent journalist who didn't understand the game of football. They didn't mince words with the guy who had just insulted the performance of their new football icon.

But that was not the end of all the drama on the internet. A war of words erupted at nine in the morning after a Juventus fan compared Zachary Bemba to Cristiano Ronaldo in a Twitter post. The ever-vocal Real Madrid and Manchester United supporters, making up a considerable fraction of CR7's fanbase, were quick to reply to the Tweet with fierce comments. They dubbed the person who posted the Tweet delusional and reminded him about CR7's multiple Ballon d'Or awards. As usual, they couldn't allow anyone to compare their footballing icon to any other player, with the exception of Messi, of course.

"Giana!" Giuseppe Marotta called out to his secretary after reading the articles about Zachary. "Come here for a second. I have some instructions for you."

"Yes, boss," the secretary said as she stepped back into the office. "How can I be of service to you?"

Giuseppe smiled, glancing at his secretary. "Giana! Please head to the publicity office and inform them to find ways to make Zachary's story more popular. I want him to become a household name in Turin as soon as possible. Only then will we be able to witness a rise in his shirt sales. Understood?"

"Yes, boss, I'll go and inform them," the secretary replied dutifully.

"Good." Giuseppe nodded and returned his focus to his computer screen. He was ready to begin the tedious work of reading the club's financial statements before signing them. He couldn't afford to waste time since he had a long day ahead.

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After Giuseppe Marotta's secretary delivered his directive to the people concerned, the highly-efficient machine that was Juventus' publicity office went into motion. The publicity officers didn't waste time posting articles and videos about Zachary to make his story more widespread on the global web. They also worked with their contacts in leading media houses, television studios, and radio stations to advertise the product that was their new number 10. They were relentless in their publicity efforts, and it wasn't long before Zachary's hattrick became a top trending topic in Italy.

But that was only the beginning, and what followed was only natural. The rest of Europe caught on to the craze, and several Spanish, English, and French pundits, among others, held talk shows to assess Zachary's Champions League performance. They dissected his every move during the game against Malmö and evaluated all his goals on several platforms, including YouTube, live television, and radio programs. And like their counterparts in Italy, they were soon showering Zachary with praises and going on about how he was maturing into a footballing sensation very quickly. All that triggered more discussions about Zachary within the European football community, making him a trending topic all over the continent. He was fast becoming a superstar without even trying hard.

"Boss! Boss!" Giana, the secretary, said as she rushed into Giuseppe Marotta's office on the evening of the same day. "Your strategy worked. There has been a significant increase in the revenue from Zachary's shirt sales in just a span of six hours. Our outlets are still selling thousands of Zachary's number 10 shirts even as I speak now."

"Excellent," Giuseppe Marotta said, smiling. "Inform the publicity office to keep up the hard work. We must utilize this rare opportunity to create our own superstar. We must make him into a global sensation so that he can, in turn, elevate our club's brand. I can already smell more revenue from shirt sales, mega sponsors, and TV rights. We have a rare opportunity to go big on our hands."

"But sir," Giana said, "What if Zachary fails to remain consistent and doesn't perform well during the upcoming games? Won't all our publicity efforts come back to bite us in the ass? And aren't we just setting up Zachary for a terrible fall if it so happens that he doesn't live up to expectations?"

In response, Giuseppe smiled and said, "I have already talked to the coaches. They all assured me that Zachary is a very disciplined player who's hardworking both on and off the field. Additionally, Coach Allegri has praised him on several occasions as the most focused and most talented player he has ever met in his entire life. Giana! Speak honestly. What are the chances of such a player failing to live up to the expectations?"

"Very minimal," Giana replied honestly.

"Then, what's stopping us from promoting our brand around him?" Giuseppe said. "We only need to incur minimal risk and push him to global stardom. The rest will naturally fall into place, and we'll start harvesting rewards from his fame soon."

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