Is Inter Milan's South American Faction Against Me? Third-String Goalkeeper Berni Offers Some Guidance!

And just like that, Tang Long joined Inter Milan's first team.

He found that his teammates had mixed reactions to his arrival.

Bonazzoli was the most welcoming.

Although Tang Long had turned down his invitation to sneak over a wall and go to a nightclub that day.

But Bonazzoli was a young player around his age, after all, and the two had plenty in common.

The Italian youth national team's rising star up front was bored out of his mind in the team's dormitory.

On nights when he didn't go clubbing—after all, his youth team contract paid him a flat €50,000 a year after taxes, which wasn't enough to support a nightly party lifestyle—Bonazzoli would head to Tang Long's room to chat.

"Tang, you're so weird! Why are you sitting there like a piece of wood? Uh, Tang, can you hear me?"

"Tang, are match recordings really that interesting? I'm not like you. Apart from training and matches, I don't want to think about football for even a minute!"

"Tang, can you tell me why Mancini took a liking to you? A contract worth €400,000 a year—good grief! If I made €400,000, I'd rent a place in Milan and move out. I'd hook up with ten girls in one night!"

Apart from the carefree Bonazzoli.

Inter's third-string goalkeeper, Berni, was also very enthusiastic toward Tang Long!

This was the man who had sat next to Tang Long on the team bus. He had spent his entire career in Italy's lower divisions.

Fortunately, he had come through Inter's youth academy. The club had only brought him back to fill a youth-trained player slot for their European competition registration.

His specialty was waving towels, making him a dazzling sight on the substitutes' bench!

He waved them hard and fast, whooshing them through the air so fiercely that everyone around him leaned away, afraid of getting smacked in the face!

Plenty of Inter fans envied his job.

Who wouldn't want to earn €500,000 a year and watch matches for free from the substitutes' bench every week?

It was the stuff of dreams!

Uncle Bei had another important duty: overseeing the music in the locker room.

He was a rock man, bald with a thick beard, and often played deafening American rock music: boom-chika-boom, boom-chika-boom!

The music shook dust down from the locker room ceiling.

As he put it, the point was to get his teammates fired up and excited before a match!

"Haha, Tang! You've made it to the first team so quickly. I think I underestimated you. You're definitely going to be a star someday!"

"If you want to stay behind and practice shooting after training, I'm a goalkeeper. Just call me and I'll join you!"

Apart from Bonazzoli and Berni.

The Japanese player Nagatomo Yuto also welcomed Tang Long with open arms!

He had started out on his high school team back home, then moved to the J.League. After playing for less than half a year at Cesena, a struggling Serie A team, Inter took notice of him. He transferred over in January 2011 for €4.5 million.

During his three years at Inter, Nagatomo Yuto worked hard and remained humble and eager to learn. He made up for his lack of size with incredible stamina, gradually becoming a first-choice wingback on Inter's right flank.

On Tang Long's first day with the first team, Nagatomo Yuto even bowed deeply to him!

"Tang, thank you for that brilliant pass in the match against Genoa. Everyone says you were lucky and your shot just turned into a pass, but I know that without your contribution, I couldn't have set up Icardi for the winning goal!"

Nagatomo Yuto had put it very tactfully.

But his bow was a full ninety degrees, his body nearly parallel to the ground.

At first, Tang Long was a little shocked. This Japanese guy is way too enthusiastic with me!

But he quickly realized that Nagatomo Yuto bowed at every opportunity, all day long...

Even when he scored a simple goal in training, he bowed deeply to the player who had assisted him.

He also bowed to the groundskeeper, the guy who mowed the grass, and the gatekeeper.

He even nodded and bowed slightly while talking on the phone.

"Arigato, arigato!"

Apart from those three.

Inter captain Ranocchia was also doing his job, often asking Tang Long if he needed any help.

Most of the others were neither warm nor cold toward him, keeping things strictly professional.

Aside from communicating during training, they hardly spoke to him at all.

That was nothing unusual. After all, in Europe, where football was highly commercialized, it was just a job to many players.

It was work, after all. Relationships between coworkers tended to be lukewarm, which was understandable.

But Tang Long noticed that a few people in Inter's locker room seemed hostile toward him!

They never spoke to him.

When they passed him, they deliberately avoided his gaze.

Guarin, the Colombian in particular, even went out of his way to make rough tackles on him during training, drawing disapproving looks from the other Inter players.

"Guarin tackled you in training? That guy's a hothead. He was always clashing with the previous coach, Mazzarri. Now that Mancini's here, he'll probably have to straighten him out."

Outside a sidewalk café in Milan, the bright sunlight reflected off the coffee in their cups, shimmering strangely across its surface.

Tang Long and Berni leaned back in their chairs, chatting at ease.

A white pigeon fluttered down onto their table, its tiny, round, green-bean-sized eyes fixed on the crumbs on their plate.

Berni waved his hand and shooed it away. "Guarin's like that pigeon. He's got his eye on you because you took something from him."

"I can understand that. Getting substituted out of the midfield last match must've felt like an insult," Tang Long said. "But aside from Guarin, Medel, Juan Jesus, and Jonathan don't seem to like me either."

Berni smiled knowingly and took a sip of coffee.

He pointed to the coffee and said to Tang Long:

"This coffee is delicious. I love it, but coffee tastes different depending on where it comes from."

Berni glanced around to make sure no one was paying attention to them, then leaned toward Tang Long and held up four fingers.

"You're new here, so you don't know how things work in the locker room yet. Let me tell you."

Berni began to explain.

There were four major factions at Inter.

The biggest was the Argentina Faction.

Ever since the Moratti era, Inter had had a tradition of collecting Argentine players.

This season, the team had five Argentinians: Icardi, Palacio, Osvaldo, Campagnaro, and Carrizo.

Next came the Italian Local Faction.

Its three members were captain Ranocchia, D'Ambrosio, and Andreolli.

Inter's former Yugoslav players stuck together too, forming the Ex-Yugoslavia Faction.

Its members were Handanovic, Kovacic, Kuzmanovic, and Krhin.

Last came the South American Faction, led by Guarin.

"Listen, Tang. Argentina's in South America, sure, but that group operates on its own. They don't fully mix with the South American Faction.

"Inter's South American Faction is made up mainly of four players: Guarin from Colombia, Medel from Chile, the Brazilian defender Juan Jesus, and the Brazilian wingback Jonathan.

"Guarin may be reckless, but he's been playing football for years. He's no fool.

"He knows Mancini brought you in to mess with him, so Guarin will lead his South American Faction in turning against you!"