Chapter 519: Chapter 519

In the 18th round of the Premier League, Manchester City played against Bournemouth at home, the match being held as per schedule at 3 p.m. during the Christmas holiday.

With it being Christmas, many fans came to watch the game;

For this match, Manchester City achieved a new high in attendance, the stadium was packed!

Dilata arrived at Manchester Airport that morning and asked Tang Long for a ticket, when in fact, the tickets were already sold out. Otherwise, she wouldn’t, being always independent, ask Tang Long for a ticket.

But this little thing was no problem at all for Tang Long.

He casually made a phone call to the team’s foreign affairs department and got a ticket.

Dilata specifically asked Tang Long to choose a remote corner, which he did to fulfill her request.

At that moment, Dilata was wearing a thick down jacket, curling up in the corner of the stand at the northeast corner of the stadium in the near-zero weather, watching the surrounding fans, each with steam coming off their foreheads, occasionally jumping up to cheer for the team.

But Dilata wrapped herself up tightly and pulled the hood of her down jacket down low.

The reason for doing this was to avoid being caught by the cameras on site!

The Navas-associated "The Sun" candid photography scandal involved two women, Gracie and Dilata.

Gracie was very angry, but the matter quickly passed from her mind.

Whereas Dilata felt quite depressed, becoming more cautious than before.

She was afraid that those ubiquitous paparazzi would again capture something, then weave stories from shadows, causing Tang Long further trouble.

Being within the media circle and a senior journalist, no one was more aware than her that for young players like Tang, less than 20 years old, too much off-field gossip could greatly affect their focus.

"Good ball, good ball, position it from the back, pass!"

"Where’s the responder, give Tang a response!"

"Delph! Run! Don’t stand there like a statue!"

"Good ball, good ball, returning the ball to Tang is right!"

Agüero shouted the loudest from the sidelines.

Manchester City’s coach Pellegrini occasionally frowned, glancing sideways at Agüero.

Thanks to Gracie’s introduction of the world’s most advanced cryotherapy treatment mode in Manchester City’s physiotherapy room;

Striker Agüero’s injury recovered at an incredible speed, even surprising himself!

Originally, Agüero needed three months of injury leave, but in just over a month, he’s reached the standard for return.

However, Pellegrini, out of caution, still put him on the bench for observation.

But Agüero couldn’t sit still!

Having not played for over a month, let alone touched the ball, just coming to the scene and hearing the cheers of the Manchester City fans made Agüero eager to leap off the bench and sprint several hundred meters on the field to satisfy his craving!

Repeatedly jumping up, he rushed to the sidelines passionately directing the match.

Numerous photographers were drawn to him as they came to capture his moments.

The big screen on site repeatedly showed Agüero’s excited jumping and gesturing, prompting laughter and applause from the fans!

Assistant coach Rein had to repeatedly persuade him to bring him back to the bench kindly.

"Don’t jump around, Sergio! Be careful not to twist your ankle!"

Finally, Rein had no choice but to let Agüero, seemingly with ADHD, go near the corner flag on the pitch, continually performing high-knee lifts and slow jogging warm-up exercises to release his physical energy, thus sending him away.

Dilata’s gaze from the far side of the stands stayed fixed on Tang Long.

Even though she was far from the field, thanks to the God’s-eye view advantage, Dilata noticed that today’s Tang Long seemed subtly different from the Tang Long she knew before.

Though she couldn’t quite pinpoint the difference, Dilata felt that Tang Long became more agile than before.

"Ah, how did he get past with this move?" Follow current novᴇls on novel⦿fire.net

minutes into the first half, Tang Long’s performance sparked Dilata to shout!

Post-recovery, the more exceptional ball-playing center-back Ranocchia aimed for a line at the top of the penalty area arc.

Foot straightened, body sideways, leg swung, striking the middle of the ball!

With the body pressing downwards, the soccer ball rolled swiftly and level towards Tang Long in the attacking midfield position!

This was a risky move!

A ball-playing center-back in midfield, making a direct line connection with the attacking midfielder, opting for a flat draw with the foot instead of the instep — this requires a high level of foot control, even slight deviation would be quickly intercepted by Bournemouth’s players in midfield, thus counter-attacking right there.

Ranocchia held great confidence in his foot technique.

However, seeing the soccer sliding quickly across the slightly ice-covered and slippery grass, Ranocchia felt alarmed after a sudden increase in speed.

"Bad move, over-passed!"

Perhaps Ranocchia hadn’t considered the acceleration of the ball on the slippery ground, causing the pass to carry a bit too much weight.

The soccer ball slightly bounced an inch off the ground, and as it fell, it suddenly accelerated by 30% with a whoosh!

"He won’t catch it; it’s going to be intercepted!"

Seeing Tang Long preparing to receive the ball, Bournemouth’s two midfielders, O’Kane and Schulman, instantly closed in on him.

In normal circumstances, they wouldn’t dare approach Tang Long so quickly when he waits for the ball;

Because if they got too close, Tang Long could easily shake them off with a feint.

However, the ball’s speed was astonishingly fast this time, and they figured that although Tang Long could stop the ball, it wouldn’t be easy. If it bounced off poorly, they could intercept it successfully.

Yet, the reason Dilata exclaimed from the stands was that not only did Tang Long make contact with the ball, but he also performed a stunning dribble move upon receiving it!

Facing the ball that accelerated across the ground, Tang Long calmly flicked it forward with the outside of his foot just as it arrived, causing the ball to bounce up!

This was both a controlled first touch and a flick for a quick turn!

The scene froze at this classic moment—

Tang Long spun and slipped between the oncoming O’Kane and Schulman, just as the ball flew over their heads!

Sitting on the sidelines stretching his legs, Agüero watched in rapture.

His eyes were wide open as he focused intently on Tang Long’s moves.

Agüero secretly felt amazed:

"In regular play, Tang making a flick over an opponent isn’t unusual, but this time Ranocchia’s pass was very fast, and there was a sudden acceleration mid-way. How did he judge the ball speed so precisely in such a short time? It’s uncanny!"

But what people didn’t know was that it resulted from Tang Long’s continuous training with Coach Chiwo in the AI Cloud Training Ground, honing the skill of Fly Eye;

His ability to focus at varying distances had improved rapidly, enabling him to anticipate the ball’s trajectory accurately as its speed rapidly changed!

Just as the 60,000 fans at Etihad Stadium were rendered silent from being so engrossed, Tang Long’s next maneuver demonstrated his complete awareness of the game situation.

Navas, a Spanish winger on the right, was already making a fast forward run, and Tang Long gently pushed the ball into a deadly gap;

Navas received it and delivered a low cross-shot, with Bony happily accepting the gift!

Both Bony, who scored the goal, and Navas, who made the assist, yelled with excitement as they ran toward Tang Long.

They knew that 90% of the credit for this goal belonged to Tang Long!

Until this moment, the waves of cheers only then surged into the Etihad Stadium!

Bony and Navas understood the game, and so did these die-hard Manchester City fans who came to the stadium during the Christmas holiday?

They didn’t shout the name of Bony, nor Navas; all 60,000 were chanting Tang Long’s surname!

Tang Long spread his arms and smiled at the stands.

Suddenly, a jolt ran through his mind, and his thoughts drifted.

A strange scene appeared before him!

In the section of Manchester City supporters he faced, there were tens of thousands of fans.

Since it’s the dead of winter, many wore thick down jackets to keep warm, rather than the usual uniform Manchester City jerseys.

The massive stand was a mosaic of colorful clothes, all mixed together, appearing chaotic.

But Tang Long was shocked to find that through his retina, he could clearly perceive the color of each piece of clothing on every seat among thousands~

It was an incredibly strange feeling, indescribable, unlike anything Tang Long had ever experienced before.

However, this brief insight into the colors disappeared within seconds.

His view returned to the noisy, chaotic scene of cheering fans.

"Tang Long just executed a Bergkamp-style flick over and past two players in midfield!"

"Whereas Bergkamp only beat one defender, Tang Long passed two!"

"It might offend some old fans, but I have to say, Tang Long’s dribbling maneuver was far more challenging than Bergkamp’s back then!"

"And as for the penultimate pass leading to Navas’ assist for Bony’s goal, it was all seamless!"

"During this Christmas break, we once again witnessed the performance of a Premier League midfield maestro!"

"Listen to the cheers on-site, Manchester City’s fans are going crazy!"

"This ticket, costing tens of British Pounds, was worth every penny just to see Tang Long’s brilliant play!"