Chapter 487: Chapter 487
[Tang, don’t worry, with me here, no one in this team can bully you!]
That night when he got home, Agüero sent Tang Long a text message.
Early the next morning, before training even started, he united with Manchester City’s captain Kompany and the leader of the English Language Gang, Joe Hart, to confront CEO Belgistan in his office.
Belgistan had also returned from a meeting at the UEFA headquarters just last night and was back at the club to handle affairs.
When he saw the three leaders of the team come together to see him, he felt that something was definitely wrong.
Sure enough, after hearing Agüero’s account and seeing the conclusive video evidence, Belgistan was furious!
He slammed his laptop shut with a bang, took off his suit jacket, and aggressively threw it onto the sofa.
"This kind of thing happened? Nasri is simply irrational!"
Since the Abu Dhabi Consortium took over Manchester City, dealing with the rampant British media has been a major daily problem for the Manchester City CEO to handle.
In the past month, the core player Tang Long has twice made it to The Sun, giving Belgistan a headache.
After all, this 19-year-old Chinese youngster was brought in with a hefty investment as a core asset of the club!
Not only is he a strong assurance for the team’s championship pursuit, but he also represents the club’s image.
Belgistan initially thought that where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Although The Sun was clearly in the wrong, Tang Long’s indiscretions in his private life were also a trigger point;
His purpose for rushing back from Switzerland overnight was to have a good talk with Pellegrini to restrain Tang Long’s off-field private life.
In addition, he needed to meet with Gracie’s father, the mayor of Manchester City, and privately warn The Sun’s editor-in-chief.
But now it seems that this whole spy shot incident is just a huge misunderstanding!
Tang Long hadn’t done anything. He was completely above board.
Even worse, the person stirring trouble behind the scenes wasn’t The Sun’s paparazzi, but the player Nasri from the team!
"We have a mole among us!"
To resolve external issues, internal peace is necessary. Now it seems to Belgistan that controlling the media narrative might not purely be an external media issue;
It is urgent to catch the mole in the dressing room and discipline the team.
Tang Long’s personal image must not suffer further damage, nor can it affect the reputation of Manchester City, the most important asset under the City Football Group.
However, Belgistan is Belgistan after all, poached from Barcelona as high-level management particularly for his insights in team management.
Belgistan believes that now is not the time to publicize the conflicts.
The team will be facing Juventus at home in two days.
This Champions League group stage match of the 5th round is critical to determining whether Manchester City can secure the top spot in the group and get a favorable draw in the round of 16 to advance further in this season’s Champions League.
If they make a big fuss about it now, causing internal turmoil and stirring emotions, it would benefit Juventus.
"Kompany, Agüero, Hart, I assure you here that your demands will be addressed, Nasri must be severely punished. He will receive the heaviest punishment in the club’s history!"
"But I also require you to promise me that until I’ve discussed the results with other high-level executives, you will inform Toure that no participant in this meeting can leak anything to the outside. Not internally either; you can’t even tell your coach Pellegrini."
"After the match against Juventus, I will give you all a satisfying answer."
Juventus training ground.
The Juventus Corps’ players are training vigorously.
In the Mediterranean climate of Turin in November, the morning temperature is only around seven or eight degrees.
Yet the players are dripping with sweat, their jerseys already soaked.
Two players are training particularly hard!
One is Buffon, and the other is his old teammate Chiellini.
The two nearly 70-year-old veterans together are fighting harder than the young Juventus players on the field.
For they are determined to avenge themselves on Manchester City’s home turf!
"Keep going, Morata, one more!"
"Whether it’s the spoon penalty, the support foot touch, or any other fancy tricks, throw everything at me!"
"I can’t believe it, I’ve played football my whole life in Italy, and a 19-year-old Chinese kid can toy with me?"
The continuous sound of penalty shots comes from the penalty area.
Buffon has been tirelessly practicing penalties with the team’s number one striker Morata.
Buffon is in exceptional form in today’s training.
With a notebook in hand, the assistant coach praises as he records from the side:
"Very impressive, Buffon! Out of 50 penalty shots from Morata, you saved 21; your penalty save rate exceeds 40%!" Chapters fırst released on 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝⚑𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖⚑𝕟𝕖𝕥
Buffon just saved a powerful shot to the lower left corner from Morata and swiftly bounced up with a kip-up, returning to the goal line.
"40%? That’s too low, far from enough! With this success rate, how can I face Tang!"
Pogba wobbles over and jokingly tells Morata, whose feet are about to cramp from exhaustion:
"Looks like after getting tricked by Tang three consecutive times on penalties, Grandpa Buffon is truly infuriated, take a break, let me have a go!"
Over on Chiellini’s side, he is continuously practicing small steps and moving his center of gravity back and forth.
The technically skilled small forward, Dybala, feints left, cuts right, using various dribbling tricks;
Yet Chiellini continuously blocks them with strategic foot pokes, destroying the ball accurately and fiercely!
"No more, no more, I’m exhausted. This whole morning I hardly trained on shooting, just practicing one-on-ones with you!"
Dybala turns to run, only to be grabbed by Chiellini.
"Don’t leave, let’s do ten more rounds. In the team, your footwork is the most similar to Tang’s. If you don’t practice with me, who will!"
Allegri and the assistant coach.
The two stood on the sidelines holding a tactical board.
"Boss, it’s the last training session before facing Manchester City. I just took a look around; Buffon and Chiellini are in great shape. I’m confident we can have a brilliant comeback at the Etihad Stadium!" The assistant coach was full of confidence.
During the first leg of the Champions League group stage at home against Manchester City, Allegri suffered the most humiliating defeat of his career!
Juventus, leading by three goals at their home ground, thought victory was assured;
Unexpectedly, the tables turned, and Manchester City came back from three goals down to win with four, escaping with victory!
The last-minute killer blow from Manchester City in that match left Allegri so furious he nearly spat blood.
Chiellini conceded a penalty in the box, Tang Long toyed with Buffon with his penalty kick, and took away three points in the 95th minute!
That game was really frustrating, so much so that after the match, Allegri was cornered by a group of local Turin media journalists at the press conference, demanding an explanation and refusing to let him leave.
He almost got into a fight with Allegri!
Humiliation, true humiliation! I never imagined that I, a renowned Italian coach, would be treated this way by my own people.
After that match, Allegri found it impossible to sleep at night.
When he finally managed to sleep, his wife woke up the next day, looking at him fearfully and said that Allegri grinded his teeth in rage during the night, making a constant crunching sound, fearing he might hit her.
"Let what’s past be past, haha."
Allegri suppressed his inner anger, pretending to be calm and said to the assistant coach, "Today’s Manchester City is not the same as before. They’ve lost three key players, and their possession-based system has collapsed."
"I watched a few Manchester City games in succession; they played terribly, especially Pellegrini, that old man is stubborn, insisting on possession play despite not having a full squad."
"In their last league game against Chelsea, they barely won by luck, with an attack that was terrible. Heh, with such constipated offense, playing against our Juventus, I guarantee they won’t score a single goal!"
The assistant coach laughed flatteringly, starting to praise Allegri.
"That’s right, with Boss’s wise leadership, Manchester City’s possession play is worth nothing!"
"We just need to watch Tang closely, and they’re finished!"
Upon hearing the name Tang Long, Allegri’s heart sank as if stabbed deeply.
Tang Long repeatedly ruined his plans when he was at Inter last season, and Allegri utterly hates him.
"Tang?! Football is an eleven-man sport; no matter how strong Tang is, can he play from defensive midfield all the way to striker? He doesn’t have the stamina for that, you know. That’s where Manchester City’s problem lies this time! Remember, what we Juventus need to do is not target one person; we need to dominate them in totality!"
Despite saying this, Allegri had been pondering over the past few days and began crafting comprehensive tactics to target Tang Long...
Manchester local time 7:30 PM.
In 15 minutes, the fifth round of the group stage, Manchester City hosting Juventus, will kick off.
Manchester City manager Pellegrini was delivering his final pep talk.
Pellegrini emphasized that this match would be the last hurdle Manchester City faces in the Champions League group stage; a victory over Juventus would ensure they top the group.
The Chilean engineer knew this match would be tough because Manchester City itself was undermanned, coupled with a Juventus side recovering from conceding four goals last match, would surely aim to prove themselves at the Etihad.
Thus, the Chilean who had always been confident in his possession strategy surprisingly asked his team to moderately pull back in the first half.
"Don’t go head-to-head with Juventus; we need to avoid their sharpness, gradually drain them, and when their stamina drops, we’ll attack in the second half!"
Many in the dressing room lit up, seeing this absolutely as a positive signal.
It seems the stubborn old Chilean finally sees sense~
Nasri, standing to the side, brightened even more, eyes sparkling!
We’ll attack when Juventus’s stamina drops?
This means that even without starting in this match, sitting on the bench, once he gets a chance in the second half, that would be Manchester City’s time to counterattack.
Once the team was ready and walked out of the dressing room.
The clueless Nasri, unwittingly heading into danger, even quickened his steps to Tang Long’s side, affectionately slinging an arm around his neck.
"What are you doing?"
"Dear Tang, did you hear what the old man said? Attack in the second half, haha, if I get a chance as a substitute, you better feed me the ball like you did for Bony in the last game against Chelsea!"
Home team Manchester City: 4231
Sterling/Tang Long/Navas
Kolarov/Kompany/Demichelis/Sagna
Away team Juventus: 352
Sandro/Pogba/Marchisio/Sturora/Lichtsteiner
Chiellini/Bonucci/Barzagli
The referee’s whistle blows, and the match begins!
Juventus starts with the ball.
Marchisio didn’t even look at the ball before sprinting to Tang Long, patting his shoulder.
"Tang, I’m going to play with you all night!"