Chapter 494: Chapter 494

"I didn’t touch him, I didn’t..."

Just after he spoke, Chiellini, who had slowed down and almost stopped, suddenly knocked Sterling over from behind!

The referee, who had been watching from behind, decisively blew the whistle and pointed towards the penalty area.

Then he pulled out a red card and directly sent Chiellini off!

Applause erupted from Manchester City’s fans in the stands, who were all celebrating with joy.

This was a Champions League match, against Juventus no less, with two consecutive red cards. Manchester City’s fans hadn’t seen such a scene in many years.

"Oh my, another red card? Now it’s good, the opponents have only 9 players left!"

"Juventus never learns, one Marchisio wasn’t enough, now there’s a Chiellini, what a joke!"

"I’ve always said, when they were already one player down, and Allegri still sends off a forward, isn’t that courting disaster?"

"Exactly, Juventus brought this on themselves, not our fault, hahaha~"

"Next game, their two key players will be suspended, Juventus is losing out both ways. What was the point?"

Chiellini looked up at the referee holding the bright red card towards him, as if he were looking at a judge announcing a death sentence.

He stood there, dumbfounded.

At this moment, his mind was somewhat in shock.

The Italian defender remembered clearly, he had definitely already stopped completely!

When he was standing still, he was at least 50 centimeters away from Sterling, it couldn’t be possible to hit him.

I’ve been playing in Italy for ten, twenty years, still a national team main player, how could I make such a basic mistake?

Chiellini wanted to complain about Sterling’s dive.

Nevertheless, he also felt it clearly, the moment Sterling fell, he indeed heavily collided with him, knocking him down from behind.

This was really strange!

Clearly when standing still, Sterling’s back was at least an arm’s length away from him, yet he indeed collided with Sterling forcefully, knocking him over—

So where exactly did he hit Sterling?

It wasn’t until Sterling, with his shapely butt bouncing, ran to celebrate with Tang Long that Chiellini finally understood!

"Oh God, I knew when I hit him it felt bouncy, turns out I hit the kid’s butt!"

Looking at Sterling’s somewhat misshapen, camel hump-like protruding butt curve;

Chiellini desperately covered his face with both hands.

The moment he stopped, his gaze was level, he hadn’t even noticed Sterling’s protruding butt, so his knee crashed right into it.

Tang Long was once again standing in front of the penalty spot!

This was the fourth time in his career facing the Italian goalkeeper Buffon at the 12-yard mark.

Inter Milan twice, Manchester City twice.

In the first two occasions, Tang Long used two Panenka penalty kicks to toy with Buffon, humiliating the goalkeeper skilled at saving penalties!

The third time was in the first round of their Champions League group stage match.

Then, Tang Long used a very unconventional planted foot shooting method, completely bewildering Buffon!

For a while, not just in the United Kingdom, but in Italy, numerous media outlets were using mocking words towards this 37-year-old veteran goalkeeper, saying he was old and useless, and a 19-year-old player could continuously toy with him three times.

Fortunately, Buffon drew strength from knowing shame!

Lately in training, he often pulled the team’s penalty experts for penalty training.

Moreover, his save success rate was extremely high, much to the amazement of Juventus’s assistant coach!

Buffon knew, if Manchester City got a penalty, and he couldn’t save it, he really couldn’t face people, might as well retire at the end of the season!

Whether it’s a Panenka, planted foot strike, deceiving eyes, half-jump step, sudden slowdown at the last step, various penalty techniques, Buffon practiced with Pogba, Morata, Mandzukic and others no less than hundreds of times!

Buffon also watched on video sites, various tricks used by excellent penalty takers.

This kind of dedicated research is to completely shut down Tang Long’s penalty shots!

So, the thoroughly prepared Buffon stood confidently on the goal line.

This time Buffon decided to take the initiative!

He deliberately stood on the left side of the goal and pointed to the right side.

"Hey, I know you’ll definitely go right, because the space on the right is larger, right?"

Tang Long smiled at him, made a diving motion with his hand.

"I’m going to kick another Panenka, a Panenka hat trick, because you love Panenka, right?"

He didn’t expect Tang Long to reveal his plan before taking the penalty.

Buffon thought, if Tang Long really kicks a Panenka, should he move or not?

If it’s really a Panenka, I should just stand still.

But then he thought, no no no, don’t believe him, he’s trying to distract me, what am I thinking!

Buffon jumped on the goal line, waving his hands, his height over 1.9 meters allowed him to touch the crossbar with one hand.

He used his body language to distract Tang Long’s view. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ Novᴇl_Fire(.)net

"Come on, kid, stop dawdling!"

As the main referee blew the whistle, Tang Long slowly ran up towards the ball!

During the run-up, Tang Long started with four short quick steps;

Then suddenly increased his speed, at the moment of contacting the ball, added a small jump~

Buffon was delighted~

This trick was long in my preparation notes.

According to Buffon’s judgment, Tang Long’s little jump is to make you move first, to save first;

The best way is to stand still and make a judgment after he kicks the ball.

Buffon knew that players using a small jump to strike the ball wouldn’t have much power in the final step, as they lost the inertia of the run-up;

As long as he can get down quickly, he can definitely save their ball, and at this time, it’s very likely to be a ground ball!

Sure enough, with the last step of the small jump run-up, Tang Long’s foot was very slow, and the ball he kicked, its rolling speed was also slow.

"Haha, I’ve seen through you, kid!"

Buffon’s eyes were like an eagle’s, closely watching the direction of the rolling ball.

The next scene shocked Buffon greatly—

Sure, the ball was slow, but it was too slow!

Tang Long’s touch was soft and lacked power, he almost just brushed the ball.

The ball wobbled and rolled to the left.

At this kicking power, forget about saving, even if he stands still, the ball would likely stop before reaching the goal due to the friction of the grass!

The Juventus defenders outside the penalty area were also stunned.

What kind of kick was this?

Quickly, someone reacted—

Haha, Tang must have made a mistake, intended to use the small jump to fool Buffon, but didn’t control the final step’s rhythm properly, so the ball was soft and weak.

This time you are finally embarrassed.

In an instant, a loud shout startled everyone’s hearts!

Only to see Cote d’Ivoire forward Bony, like an African cheetah suddenly leap into the penalty area.

Almost at the moment Tang Long touched the ball, Bony started moving!

Facing the ball slowly rolling to his left, Bony, with no one around him, controlled the ball, even had the chance to lead it forward a step, then steadily rolled it into the corner of the goal.

Only at this moment did Buffon on the goal line suddenly realize!

Tang Long did it on purpose, this seemingly weak shot wasn’t a shot but an assist for Bony!

Buffon’s mind suddenly thundered.

I never thought Tang would do this!

Such a complex design, clearly prepared in advance, purposely to toy with me.

Why did Tang trick me again, why does he keep targeting me!

An unprecedented sense of shame surged over Buffon’s heart like a tide.

He was completely broken...