Chapter 495: Chapter 495

Many Juventus players were seeing such a bizarre penalty kick for the first time in their career.

They rushed to the referee, saying that Tang Long’s penalty was a foul, it couldn’t be passed—

A penalty kick, that must be a shot!

But the professionally trained referee, obviously with a much richer reserve of football knowledge than these Juventus players, signaled the goal was valid.

This was a collaboration Tang Long had planned with Bony before the match.

Once they had such an opportunity, the two decided to execute this unconventional penalty kick and thoroughly fool Buffon.

When Tang Long first mentioned this idea, Bony was quite apprehensive, saying what if the ball didn’t go in?

After all, it’s Buffon we’re facing here, won’t we be laughed at by the media?

But Tang Long said it didn’t matter, we just want to play a good trick on Buffon and completely dispel this Italian’s arrogance.

Sure enough, once the ball went in, Buffon was utterly dejected~

Like a flower that had been sun-baked all afternoon, he slowly lowered his head, looking completely hopeless.

From the stands behind the goal, the taunts of the Manchester City fans hit this Italian goalkeeping legend’s face like whips again and again.

"Hahaha, Buffon! Tang tricked you again!"

"How many times has this happened now? Should I count them for you?"

"With goalkeeping like that, don’t tarnish the word ’legend,’ alright?"

"This penalty kick wouldn’t have been different with or without you; even my grandmother sitting in a wheelchair would have been the same!"

In the 87th minute, Nasri finally took to the field!

Pellegrini kept his promise, leaving the last substitution slot for this Frenchman.

At this moment, Juventus, trailing 0-3, had lost the will to fight. Nasri took the field full of anticipation, knowing the opponents were down to 9 men, as long as Tang Long gave him the opportunity, he was sure he could score a goal!

Sure enough, leading by three goals, Tang Long did not let up on his domination over Juventus.

Having left Serie A to come to Manchester City, encountering Juventus wasn’t easy; they could only meet on the Champions League stage.

Miss this chance, and there’s no shop again, now that he caught them, wouldn’t he pound them to pieces for satisfaction?

In the 2nd minute of stoppage time, after attracting three Juventus defenders in front of the penalty area consecutively, Tang Long back-heeled the ball, Nasri understood the cue, dashed into the penalty area, and shot low, breaking through Buffon’s defenses once more.

Nasri, having finally scored his season opener, was beyond excited.

He immediately took off his jersey, not caring about getting a yellow card, and waved it as he ran to the edge of the stands.

"I scored! I, Nasri, finally scored hahaha!"

Seeing Nasri’s uninhibited joy, Tang Long also sighed inwardly.

Enjoy your last cheers from the fans at Itihad.

After celebrating, Nasri turned around and saw Toure right by his side.

"Brother Toure, I scored, I finally scored!" Nasri opened his arms to Toure.

He originally wanted to share his joy with the leader of the French Language Gang, Toure;

But to his surprise, Toure did not return his embrace, didn’t even smile at him, just gave him a cold glance and turned away.

Nasri’s hands hung awkwardly in mid-air, looking confused, and seeing Sterling returning, he rushed over and grabbed Sterling’s shoulder.

"Kiddo, Tang gave me an assist, next time it’ll be your turn to assist me."

Sterling glared at him disdainfully, shrugged off Nasri’s hand, and walked away.

Being met with cold attitudes twice in a row by teammates left Nasri feeling bewildered.

Guys, I scored a goal, why don’t you come congratulate me?

However, he thought of something and soon felt relieved.

"Huh, you’re just jealous, when I first came to Manchester City, many were jealous too; although I’m no longer young, the title of the top of France’s four young talents wasn’t self-proclaimed, that’s what the media says, you’re just jealous my form is returning, worried I’m going to take your spots, huh?"

At this moment, Tang Long actively ran over.

He high-fived and congratulated Nasri.

Seeing Tang Long’s generous demeanor, Nasri was deeply touched.

Still in the dark, Nasri didn’t know that Tang Long had already obtained solid evidence of his snitching, and had held a team meeting to criticize Nasri, effectively sealing his fate.

He thought Tang Long was sincerely congratulating him, while Nasri was filled with remorse, alas, how I treated Tang, but how did Tang treat me?

If there were an afterlife, I really want to be a good person!

"Nasri, how was my assist? How about you polish my shoes!"

Faced with Tang Long’s request, Nasri didn’t hesitate to squat down, gently lifted Tang Long’s right foot onto his knee, and mimed the action of polishing his shoes.

He kept looking up, flashing fawning smiles at Tang Long~

Watching Nasri with eyes full of admiration, attentively polishing his shoes.

Tang Long immediately burst into laughter.

Before, you hated me for taking your spot, were jealous that I could play starting without extra practice, and hated me to the bone. You even went so far as to act as an insider to provide The Sun with leads, just to ruin my reputation and promote yourself;

Yet now, with a casual assist, I helped you break your goal drought, and you kneel down obediently to shine my shoes.

Some people’s faces, I swear, are just like their backsides~

The referee blew the whistle signaling the end of the match.

In this fifth round of the Champions League Group B match, Juventus came to Itihad with high ambitions, hoping to stage a beautiful comeback, but instead, Manchester City slapped them backhanded with four loud blows, sending them flying heavily onto the ground!

Italian goalkeeping god Buffon looked soulless, like a walking corpse, his face ashen.

He stumbled along, muttering neurotically under his breath:

"This isn’t real, this isn’t real..."

Losing the game isn’t scary.

Buffon has experienced countless losses more painful than this in his career.

But to be utterly shattered like today by Manchester City—or to be precise, by Tang Long—destroying his confidence, breaking his mentality; this was Buffon’s first time at 37 years old!

Tang Long walked over to Buffon with a smile, wanting to say a few comforting words.

Upon seeing Tang Long approach, Buffon, still moving like a zombie, shuddered, shrunk back reflexively even before a hand could touch his shoulder, and bolted away, trembling all over.

He ran so fast that a glove dropped onto the ground~

This miserable sight made Kompany behind him burst into laughter.

"Buffon! I look forward to seeing you again during the knockout rounds!"

The course of this match made Kompany cheer inwardly.

He was extremely pleased with himself for supporting Tang Long at home a few days ago.

Kompany, as the team’s captain, had long since realized.

Although Kolarov was the nominal leader of the Italian Language Gang, the true soul of the Italian Language Gang had to be Tang Long!

A young and talented player should have a high status at Manchester City; it is Tang Long’s strength that gives him this advantage.

In addition to supporting Tang Long for his extraordinary skills, Kompany had another reason, which was to knock the French Language Gang, led by Toure, down a peg!

Due to historical reasons, outside of France, many African blacks also speak French, which allowed the French Language Gang to entrench themselves deeply in Manchester City, occupying many starting positions for years.

They often had open and covert battles with the team’s Spanish Language Gang, leading to undercurrents of tension flowing throughout the locker room.

Using Nasri as a breakthrough point to strike hard at the French Language Gang is considered by Kompany to be his responsibility as captain.

Only by maintaining a balance between the rises and falls of the various factions in the locker room, could Kompany’s position as captain be secure and admired by all.

At this moment, Nasri was bouncing past Kompany, heading towards the cute female fans clapping for him, blowing them French-style romantic kisses.

The French superstar was oblivious that his career at Manchester City had already been sentenced to death.

After the Champions League match against Juventus ended, the Damocles sword hanging over his head would fall mercilessly, piercing through his skull!

"Enjoy the cheers of the Itihad fans for you one last time, poor kid."

Kompany looked at Nasri’s retreating back with pity for a long while, memories of their times on and off the field over the past five years floating in his eyes.

All of this would soon dissipate like clouds.

Pellegrini spontaneously decided to have Nasri, who had just scored his first goal of the season, attend the post-match press conference with him.

The intention was to encourage the player a bit. Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on NoveI★Fire.net

This was Nasri’s first press conference attendance of the season, and such treatment to him was tantamount to being named a starter in a match again, making him elated!

In response to reporters’ questions, Nasri spoke eloquently, his face glowing, looking much like he did when he first joined Manchester City.

When asked about the key to Manchester City’s victory in this match, Nasri was also very enthusiastic.

"The secret to victory is unity!"

"As you can see, Manchester City is a united team, and we love each other like brothers, without reservation."

"Whether it’s the players on the field or the teammates on the bench, everyone is of one mind!"

"In our locker room, everyone is very straightforward, and our sole goal is to win a game, without any of those messy things in other teams."

Someone then mentioned Tang Long, who assisted Nasri in scoring his first goal of the season.

Nasri cleared his throat heavily and solemnly answered the reporter’s question:

"Tang is definitely the most hardworking, most active, and most diligent player on the field."

"I have a very good relationship with Tang; we’re like brothers both on and off the field, and we have endless things to talk about!"

"Tang was featured twice in The Sun? Please, such a fly-like disgrace of a media outlet only wants to ride waves and gain clicks. Such a disgusting media should’ve gone bankrupt long ago. I, Nasri, am irreconcilable with The Sun!"

"Expectations for the future?"

"Haha, I promise you here, my first goal of the season is just the start of my resurgence, and I am extremely confident about my future at Manchester City!"

"As long as I work hard, I absolutely believe I will become an indispensable member of this champion squad of Manchester City!"