Chapter 365: Chapter 365
After Tang Long scored, he looked up and coincidentally, right in front of him was Anfield’s die-hard KOP stand.
The Red Army fans were stunned!
Everyone was in unison, holding their heads in disbelief!
Many had heard of the legend of Ronaldo’s Pendulum, but this legend was from as far back as 1998, during the UEFA Cup final between Inter Milan and Lazio.
Witnessing the legend once again on the spot, the impact was far beyond what a blurry video could compare!
What drove the die-hard KOP fans crazy was that the one doing the move was actually the opponent’s striker, Tang Long!
The score was overturned, and the fans’ hearts felt like they were on a roller coaster, plunging from the top of a mountain to the depths of the Mariana Trench.
The Red Army fans, snapping back to their senses, erupted into a sea of boos directed at Tang Long!
Middle fingers raised, eyes squinted, various discriminatory actions came flooding back.
This time, Tang Long decisively retaliated.
He rushed under the stands.
Wearing the blue jersey, Manchester City’s number 9, he placed both hands on his ears, looking up with a smile at tens of thousands of fans in vivid red jerseys!
Facing thousands alone!
This was the signature ear-cupping move of his former teammate Icardi, at this moment, Tang Long felt that only this gesture could respond to these barking opponents!
Keep shouting, keep barking!
Louder, Grandpa can’t——hear——you!
Whoosh whoosh whoosh——
A storm whipped up around Tang Long!
The overwhelming boos crashed towards him like an eighth-degree tsunami!
"Haha, I’m here too!"
Iheanacho, Ranocchia, Fernando, Navas, and many teammates rushed over, standing in line beside Tang Long at the center position, all making the ear-cupping gesture towards the Liverpool die-hard KOP stands!
Let the tsunami, the storm, the hail, come even fiercer, oh dear!
"Milner, are you okay!"
"Why is your face swollen!"
"Oh no, when you go home tonight, will your wife still recognize you, will she let you in?"
In the goal area, players from both teams gathered around Milner.
Manchester City players offered friendly greetings to Milner.
The friendliest was Yaya Toure.
He and Milner both joined Manchester City in 2010.
In the words of ancient Chinese scholars, those who passed the imperial examinations in the same year were considered "fellow scholars", and their friendship was indeed deep, more so than ordinary people’s.
Milner’s enthusiastic slide celebration after scoring first against his former club in the first half made his friendship with Yaya Toure even deeper.
His affection for him burned like a blazing fire.
Toure rushed to Milner’s side, squatted down, and slapped Milner’s face while he was on the ground!
"Wake up, Milner, you can’t be dead, can you? Wuwuwu..."
Lying on the ground, Milner had regained about thirty percent of his consciousness, vaguely seeing Toure’s crying face, he thought, Toure is still nice, even after I scored against them, he still cares for me, truly a good buddy.
Unexpectedly, his face was suddenly slapped hard, his head tilted from the hit, and his tongue, which he had retracted into his mouth, "hissed" out again.
His eyes closed and he fainted again~
"Medic, medic come quickly, Milner fainted again!"
Toure stood up with a regretful expression, calling for Liverpool’s medical team to hurry onto the field.
After some fiddling by the medical team,
Milner wobbled as he was helped to sit up.
Tang Long poked his head through the crowd and shouted, "Milner, is your head okay?"
Seeing Tang Long, Milner shuddered, as if he was about to fall backwards again.
Liverpool’s doctor quickly supported him, pushed Tang Long away, fearing that seeing Tang Long might provoke an overreaction from Milner.
Worried that Milner had a concussion, the doctor shone a small flashlight into his pupils, then held up a finger, asking what number it was.
At this moment, Milner, whose sight was gradually recovering, saw the scoreboard in the far corner of Anfield Stadium, which clearly displayed:
Seeing that they were behind, with Manchester City scoring two goals in the second half, Milner’s eyes widened, shouting, "two, two, two!"
The doctor’s face turned stern, thinking it’s over, seeing one as two, Milner might be demented.
However, Milner suddenly sprang up like a spring!
"I’m okay, I’m not fainted! I can still walk in a straight line, I want to keep fighting! I want to defeat Manchester City, I want to make them regret it!"
After saying this, he did a high-knee sprint in place.
On the sidelines, Liverpool’s coach Rodgers also let out a sigh of relief, turning to the players on the bench and saying:
"Look at Milner, this fighting spirit, learn from him!"
Rodgers originally intended to substitute Milner, but seeing Milner’s high morale, he let him stay on the field, hoping to use his indomitable spirit to inspire the team, putting more pressure on Manchester City, and equalize the score.
Liverpool players were also deeply moved.
They cast admiring glances at Milner.
Hit on the head and knocked out, yet upon waking continued the fight, even though he’d just joined Liverpool, even though this was his second match representing the team, this spirit of not leaving the field despite serious injury is the true KOP spirit!
Amidst the crowd’s cheers of "Milner, You will never walk alone".
Rodgers also made tactical changes, substituting the ineffective striker Firmino for forward Benteke;
Then subbed out the exhausted Lallana for Sturridge.
Liverpool also switched to a 442 formation, with double forwards!
Liverpool launched another offensive!
However, Manchester City, having finally taken the lead, wouldn’t let those three points be snatched away easily.
Pellegrini made substitutions.
In the 77th minute, the exhausted Navas was substituted, and Silva, who had better control, was brought in to strengthen the midfield control;
In the 82nd minute, the 176cm Klichy was replaced by the 187cm Klarov to bolster physical confrontations and aerial balls.
In short, whether it’s footwork or body-to-body combat, we at Manchester City are not afraid of you, Liverpool. Bring it on!
As for Tang Long, Pellegrini decided to keep him on the field, but moved his position back to attacking midfielder, reverting from 442 to 4231, using Tang Long’s ball control and distribution in the midfield to slow down the pace of the game as much as possible.
And it worked well for Pellegrini.
After Tang Long moved back from forward to attacking midfielder.
Although Manchester City’s offensive did not continue, thanks to the increase in midfield thickness, the five midfielders kept the ball firmly at their feet.
Compared to Navas, Silva’s mastery of tempo was more adept, and coming off the bench, he had no stamina issues.
Centered around Tang Long, Silva, Yaya Toure, and Nasri, these three teammates began playing a rotating triangle passing game.
Ranocchia’s role also came to the fore at this moment!
As a ball-distributing center-back, Ranocchia took advantage of his distribution and dribbling skills fully in front of the penalty area.
Despite Benteke and Sturridge, the two Black strikers, frequently pressing like mad dogs, forcing Ranocchia into passing errors.
Nonetheless, the Italian defender always managed to pass the ball in time, either distributing to the side full-backs or directly connecting with the midfielders Yaya Toure and Fernando, avoiding the press.
Ranocchia and Tang Long, one at the back and one at the front, securely maintained Manchester City’s ball possession!
However, Liverpool, playing at home, did have their chances too.
Starting center-back Demichelis, in the 85th minute, due to exhaustion, slipped when receiving a pass from Ranocchia, failing to control it, and directly gave it to Benteke.
Benteke was overjoyed!
After fighting to win the ball all this time, it was finally gifted to my feet; it’s like searching tirelessly for something only to find it effortlessly!
Benteke drove forward with the ball, forming a 1-on-1 with Manchester City goalkeeper Caballero.
However, also in a one-on-one with the keeper, the difference shows between Benteke and Tang Long.
Benteke tried to feint Caballero by shifting the ball left, aiming to use his footwork variation to bypass him and shoot at an open goal.
But even though Caballero isn’t particularly tall, his footwork was quick, and Benteke failed to get past, almost losing the ball.
Benteke barely retrieved the ball, thinking this shift in rhythm would surely trick him?
Yet Caballero wasn’t fooled, and by then, Demichelis had gotten up and charged forward, while Ranocchia was closing in on Benteke.
The chance was fleeting!
Benteke suddenly panicked!
He hastily shot the ball toward Caballero’s underarm, but the shot lacked both power and angle. Caballero didn’t even need to go to ground, simply reaching out to stop the ball firmly.
Meanwhile, in a distant Chinese broadcast studio, a commentator slammed the table in anger, cursing vehemently.
"Benteke! Fucking Benteke!"
"Why not just shoot at the open goal earlier, damn it!"
Having missed a great opportunity, Benteke did not receive encouragement from the Anfield Stadium fans, but rather a chorus of boos.
Milner watched, feeling both anxious and angry!
Although not a forward, he felt confident that if he were in Benteke’s position, he had a 98.82% chance of scoring that goal!
In the 4th minute of extra time in the second half.
Tang Long stationed himself at the flank with the ball, glanced at his teammates, and instead of passing back, he sprinted with the ball toward the corner, trying to waste the last minute of extra time.
Manchester City players understood that he was trying to kill time.
"Intercept the ball, don’t let him succeed!" Milner yelled as he rushed toward Tang Long.
Milner’s running looked awkward, maybe due to some residual effects of his past concussion impairing his cerebellum, making him limp and appearing comically handicapped.
He came into a physical clash with Tang Long, the ball rolling ahead, while their arms jostled each other.
Actually, at this time, Milner didn’t hold much hope of equalizing anymore.
But remembering Tang Long’s nasal injury, a surge of spite surged within him, deciding that even if they couldn’t win, he must teach Tang Long a lesson!
He deliberately swung his palms towards Tang Long’s face.
However, due to his poor cerebellar coordination, his arms flailed vainly in the air without touching Tang Long.
Missing repeatedly, Milner was humiliated and grew enraged. Just as Tang Long secured the ball near the corner flag, preparing to face the challenge once more.
Milner suddenly leaped up like a spring, raising his elbow to lunge at Tang Long’s back!
Seeing that Tang Long was back-facing, and fearing he wouldn’t notice Milner’s sneak attack, Ranocchia shouted, "Watch out for the thief behind!"
But Tang Long apparently anticipated Milner’s move long ago.
He planted the ball there, quietly waiting for Milner’s move up.
Tang Long spun around, dragging the ball with him, vanishing from right in front of Milner.
Milner lunged at empty air with a face of terror, falling heavily to the ground.
He heard a cracking sound, his wrist slamming into the turf, sending a wave of excruciating pain straight to his head, and large beads of sweat burst from his forehead.
Tang Long also heard the sound, smirking slightly as he nudged the ball towards Milner’s legs, which rebounded off the byline. Without looking at the fallen Milner, Tang Long turned and walked back toward the box.
This time, Milner couldn’t get back up.
The bone-deep pain from the fractured wrist was far greater than the dizziness he had previously experienced when Tang Long had struck him fiercely.
The stretcher came on, carrying him away!
The referee took the opportunity to blow the whistle for full time.
With Tang Long’s brace, Manchester City came from behind to beat Liverpool 2-1 at Anfield, thus ending their downward spiral after the previous home defeat to Southampton and securing three points to make their escape!