Chapter 250: Chapter 250

Just when Guardiola thought—no, when everyone watching the match thought—Tang Long, facing the block from two Seville defenders, would brave forward and fire a high-difficulty long shot with his weaker left foot.

The ball, instead, "whooshed" past between Tang Long’s legs!

"What? He let it go?"

Guardiola was taken aback and jumped up in surprise.

This astounding dummy move completely fooled the two Seville defenders who came up to block him.

Caliso and Krychowiak’s sliding tackles were already unleashed.

Their sharp studs tore up a large piece of turf at the arc of the penalty area, but they looked bewilderedly as the ball rolled past right in front of them!

Tang Long’s dummy not only fooled the Seville defenders but also tricked his teammates!

Bonazzoli at the penalty spot inside the box had already squatted down with his hands over his head, fearing Tang Long’s long shot might hit his back;

Another attacking player, Podolski, who had rushed into the opponent’s penalty area, jumped furiously to make space for Tang Long to shoot a ground ball.

After attracting the attention of two defenders, this dummy move left the space behind thrillingly open!

The ball was slowly rolling horizontally, when a blue-black figure rushed in like a sword in the vertical path of the ball!

"Got it! This one’s in!"

Medel, charging forward like a black whirlwind, hadn’t even connected with the ball for the shot, but on the stands, Guardiola already thrust both fists into the air!

He didn’t know much about Medel as a player or his long-shot prowess.

But such a brilliant dummy from Tang Long, finding the teammate rushing in from behind so precisely, along with a comfortable buildup for the shot — if this play doesn’t result in a goal, it would be an insult to the sport of football, that would be so unfair!

Medel approached with an extraordinarily tense yet excited heart and struck fiercely!

Long shots aren’t the strong suit of the solidly built Chilean midfielder.

His true skill lies in battling opponents in the defensive midfield, providing surveillance, defense, and protection for Tang Long.

Medel played over 40 matches this season, yet managed just one assist and no goals, although he contributed the highest number of interceptions on the team.

From the data, he is a typical midfield butcher, somewhat resembling Gattuso from the past.

But now Medel faced a long-shot opportunity just as easy as in training, free from any defensive pressure.

He quickly took a deep breath, adjusted his stride, and chose a shot line for the lower left corner!

The ball, like a ground-hugging meteor, accelerated after one rebound, scraping past the fingertips of the opponent’s goalkeeper, Reagan, darting into the lower left dead corner of the net!

Watching the ground-hugging ball connect with the netting, then crawling to the top of the goal like a dog climbing a tree—

Medel felt an enormous roar in his heart, his legs like iron rods suddenly kneeling on the ground...

He looked up at the star-filled sky of the Berlin Olympic Stadium and pointed both hands towards heavens!

"Haha, I’ve broken my duck at Inter!"

Following Obi’s goal to break his duck, Chilean midfielder Medel also opened his account for Inter for the first time!

This goal ignited the passion hundreds of miles away in Santiago City, Chile!

This is Medel’s birthplace and the city where he received his football enlightenment.

Here, elders and folks throughout the city stayed by their TVs to watch the pride in their hearts—Chilean international Medel, representing Inter Milan against Seville in this UEFA Europa League final.

Upon seeing Medel receive Tang Long’s brilliant dummy and score with a low shot.

This South American city erupted with fiery energy like a dormant volcano!

Rumble rumble rumble~

Medel’s 60-something mentor, Old Simeone, was surrounded and ushered to the TV in a bar by the crowd.

"Mr. Old Simon’s Shop, your disciple Medel scored, look quickly!"

"Awesome, I used to sit next to that guy in elementary school, didn’t expect he’d become a Chilean international!"

Old Simeone was already in tears, continuously wiping his eyes with a handkerchief.

"Oh God, I can’t believe I actually saw that rascal Medel score a goal!"

"From age 10 to 14, I coached him for a whole 4 years, and in those 4 years, he only scored two goals, and those were penalties!"

"His long shots would either skyrocket or go out of bounds, he never had a reliable one."

"He’s really grown up now, managing to score from a long shot in the UEFA Europa League final, this is a gift from God!"

The crowd, upon hearing this, laughed and drew crosses on their chests.

Thanking God’s benevolence!

Old Simeone paused, calmed his emotions, looked around, and waved his hands,

"Listen up, God isn’t up there, He’s on the field."

The crowd froze, and Old Simeone’s words that followed were even more invigorating.

"That black-haired lad in jersey number 99 is Medel’s God!"

"His back pass was a gift for Medel!"

Everyone was surprised by Old Simeone’s statement and turned to look at Tang Long on the TV...

The thunderous applause persisted, echoing like waves in the Berlin Olympic Stadium.

Guardiola watched the Inter players celebrating taking the lead, his jaw dropping almost to the point of dislocation!

He punched his chin forcefully, finally closing his mouth.

"P-Perfect art, this Tang kid, p-played the pinnacle of artistic football in my heart!" Guardiola stammered with excitement.

Medel’s long-range shot was indeed brilliant, but Guardiola’s focus was not on the Chilean who scored the go-ahead goal.

All his attention was fixated on Tang Long alone!

As everyone knows, Coach Guardiola is a manager with lofty ideals.

Many times, he doesn’t prioritize the result of the match—rather, he values the process even more than the outcome.

In his mind, the climax of this attack wasn’t Medel’s shot but Tang Long’s miraculous pass!

What an astonishing pass it was!

Guardiola has an extraordinary memory.

The replay on the stadium’s big screen hadn’t started yet; in his mind, it was like a film running on a reel, going over the entire process again.

"He obviously didn’t look back, so how did he know Medel was behind him?"

"This is unscientific. Throughout the entire process, he was always facing Shaqiri on the left, while Medel inserted from the right rear."

"I’m certain, he never looked back at Medel’s position..."

Guardiola frantically searched his mind, trying to figure out the logic behind Tang Long’s pass.

Could it be that Tang Long had a slight head-turning action that I missed from the stands because of the distance?

But even when the big screen began its replay, Guardiola watched the clear screen three times and finally confirmed a fact.

From the start of this attack, Tang Long never looked to Medel’s side!

Not even a slight glance back.

"If that’s the case, there’s only one explanation: he doesn’t need to look back to predict the position of his teammate behind him!"

Sweat dripped down from Guardiola’s forehead.

He wiped his bald head, like touching a rock baked under the desert sun, hot and scorching.

At this moment, Guardiola thought of many things.

He recalled his own playing career and then considered those top players he coached.

Players who, like Tang Long, could predict a teammate’s position without looking back are rare!

Harvey, Busquets, and Iniesta might occasionally do it.

But that would be in short-range, tight-knit play.

But this Inter attack, from Tang Long intercepting Banega, to Shaqiri breaking through two opponents, and finally passing back from the baseline.

This series of plays took over ten seconds.

During this process, Tang Long always faced the left side and never looked to the right.

In fact, Guardiola had particularly noted Medel’s initial position.

When Shaqiri was bypassing the last man on the right and preparing to cross,

Medel was still at the center circle arc top!

He and Tang Long were almost standing one in front of the other.

Tang Long simply couldn’t have seen him behind!

But in that final pass, Tang Long’s back of the head seemed to have eyes, not only precisely predicting someone behind but also Medel’s run forward!

This season, Tang Long has made at least three such stunning predictive passes in Serie A.

But it’s the first time Guardiola saw it in person.

Especially witnessing it live brought him even greater shock!

"With such a magical spatial awareness in football, forget about Busquets, even if Cruyff were alive, it would be hard to match..."

Just as Guardiola was muttering to himself, his phone rang.

During halftime, Pep sent a text to Busquets, and now he finally received a response.

{"Pep, thank you for your regards to me and my family! I’m preparing for the Champions League final, looking forward to seeing you during our match against Juventus."}

{"As for the live video you sent, I’m sure I’ll run to the far post. Clearly, it’s a set-piece tactic that Inter practiced beforehand. They succeeded with beautiful coordination! Enjoy the game—Sergio"}

After reading Busquets’ reply, Guardiola laughed heartily twice.

He quickly replied, {"I was hesitant ten minutes ago, but now I can confidently tell you that it’s definitely not a planned tactic. It’s all about the spontaneous prediction by that Chinese player named Tang!"}