Musa Barrow is that undercurrent no one seems to see until it leaves behind a trail of devastation.
He has been coming against the very best of strikers, some of them, world stars in the Italian league.
Talk of former Manchester City goal-lord Edin Dzeko. The sensation not only humbled the Bosnia international but brought AS Roma flat back down to earth with haunting stories to tell of.
Inter Milan -another league moneybags -and their striker Romelu Lukaku have seen gravity of Barrow’s potent. Bologna will emerge unscathed in the end.
The erstwhile Manchester United scored the lone goal but the 21-year-old West African made sure it counted for nothing with his detectable left-footed low drive ten minutes from time pocketing in all points on offer.
The point is Musa has come up and delivered against one of the finest of teams in the European country and not leave anyone disenchanted.
Tomorrow it will be AC Milan’s turn, unavoidably pitting him with Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
The Swede may have gone past his best in the game but age certainly has not caught up with him. In fact he has always left critics head-bowed, kicking derrieres week after week after week.
Milan’s initiative to still take a gamble on the 38-year-old is influenced by his 31 goals in 32 games for LA Galaxy.
It’s easy to dismiss the United States’ Major League Soccer as a non-serious league however Zlatan’s feat makes signing him a temptation difficult to bypass.
Coming in eventually as a free agent, the ex-Red Devil or PSG goal-getter is firing in the goals, notching in five already in eleven games with a combined nine hundred and fifty-four minutes of total football with a single caution to put his ego to check.
However, he will be squaring in an individual battle with Barrow who is in the form of his life. Eight goals in fourteen matches, ten from the start speaks volume of a man who could wreak defenses at a flicker and touch of a trigger.
He too has one yellow card but played a total one thousand and sixty-four minutes, coming off the substitutes’ bench four times.
Zlatan has his height to count on for aerial duels and a huge frame to employ in warding off markers threatening his space. Not to forget his power shots.
Barrow, on the other hand, possesses none of Ibra’s qualities but is certainly gifted in ways different. Pace comes in handy. He is a box of tricks and can count on a devastating left-foot. Napoli and Inter Milan can testify to this.
So who will come out on top? The game is 7:45pm tomorrow Gambian time.
