Tang Long had just returned to the bench and taken his seat when Berni came over.
The third-choice goalkeeper was an old hand. Nothing escaped his notice, not even what happened in the players' tunnel.
"What were you talking to Mancini about just now?"
"I asked him for some playing time."
"Did he give it to you?"
"He did. He said he'd put me on if we got to 3–0."
Berni let out a string of delighted exclamations, his eyes full of admiration.
He gave Tang Long a thumbs-up, then handed him a towel.
"Then let's wave our towels together and make some noise. Maybe we can will a goal into the net right after the second half starts!"
And so, when the second half began, the Inter Milan bench was anything but quiet.
Every time Inter Milan attacked, a whooshing sound came from the bench.
That was Berni waving his towel alongside Tang Long.
Berni had the towel-waving down to an art. He did it with gusto, sometimes adding a few fancy flourishes, twirling it this way and that until Tang Long was reminded of a dragon dance.
Tang Long, on the other hand, was rather clumsy with his towel. He even failed to dodge several times and got smacked on the head by Berni's towel.
To his surprise, Berni was already soaked from head to toe on the bench.
Sweat poured from his head like a shower, flying through the air along with his towel.
He seemed even more exhausted than the players on the pitch!
But the action on the field wasn't nearly as intense as Berni's towel-waving.
Roma were trailing 2–0, and their second-half spirit had all but collapsed!
Though their 38-year-old captain, Totti, kept urging his teammates to pick themselves up,
he also led by example again and again, making vicious sliding tackles to show how badly he wanted to turn the game around and win.
But Inter Milan were content to sit back, giving their opponents no chances at all.
"Twenty minutes into the second half, Roma have had almost all the possession, but they've managed only two shots!"
"Inter Milan have had chances to counterattack, too, but they've played it safe every time. They're in no rush to send the ball into the box. Palacio has even been dropping back frequently to form a double attacking midfield with Hernanes."
"Besides Totti, do the other players—even on Roma—seem perfectly happy with the 2–0 scoreline?"
"If so, this match is going to be a bit of a snoozefest..."
Before long, the match reached the 80th minute.
Inter Milan still hadn't managed to score a third goal.
Berni was starting to get anxious on the sidelines.
He was eagerly waiting for his young buddy Tang Long to get on the pitch.
"Take him on! Take him on, Nagatomo Yuto!"
"Icardi's in space! Pass it to him and he'll score!"
"Switch it to the wing, there's an opening!"
Berni was still waving his towel, so involved that he seemed to think he was the coach.
Tang Long, meanwhile, leaned back in his seat, disappointed, and draped his towel over his shoulder.
He looked up at the clock at the Olympic Stadium.
Eighty-one minutes.
Mancini had already made two substitutions, with one left.
Normally, given Mancini's cautious nature, he was very careful with his final substitution. He wanted to avoid a player getting injured in the closing minutes and leaving his team at a disadvantage, down to ten men against eleven.
Inter Milan still hadn't scored a third goal.
Both sides seemed to have run out of ambition, content to finish the match with this score.
Tang Long had done two regular warm-up sessions, but he was no longer expecting to get on the pitch.
Roma supporters in the Olympic Stadium were also gradually leaving.
The match seemed destined to drift into garbage time.
But just then, the situation on the pitch suddenly changed!
Roma captain Totti didn't seem willing to let the match simply wind down.
As they fought for the ball, Totti, who had tracked back aggressively, launched himself into a brutal sliding tackle from behind against Icardi, who was dribbling forward!
Icardi had his back to him and wasn't prepared for it at all.
It was as if someone had kicked him from behind. He pitched forward and crashed to the ground, sprawling face-first!
"Ow!" he cried out in alarm, clutching his ankle, his face twisted in pain.
The referee had barely blown his whistle when Inter Milan captain Ranocchia and a pack of teammates rushed over to protest.
Perhaps out of respect for Totti's standing in Italian football, none of Inter Milan's players went over to confront him.
Totti simply stood there, calm and composed, already prepared to receive a red card.
On the sideline, Mancini narrowed his eyes as he looked at Icardi lying on the ground, his heart sinking.
That kid could score. Please don't let him be hurt. If he was injured, what about the matches ahead...?
A furious roar from the bench cut off his thoughts.
"Totti! You son of a f***ing b****!"
It was Berni!
He leapt up from the bench with a towel in his hand, stomped along the touchline, and hurled an Italian curse at Totti.
Totti glanced at the red card the referee had shown him, then strode toward Berni on the sideline.
"Who do you think you are in Italy, talking to me like that?"
Just as the two looked ready to come to blows, Mancini quickly separated them and ordered Totti off the pitch in a tone that left no room for argument.
Berni was an insignificant figure in Italian football. Totti could sneer at him all he wanted, but Mancini couldn't be ignored.
After the confrontation was over, the referee made sure to show Berni a red card as well~
Mancini held up two fingers at Berni in exasperation.
"That's the second time! Only the second time! Watch yourself!"
It turned out to be Berni's second red card of the season.
Both had come while he was on the bench!
He led the team in red cards.
Berni didn't care, though. He kept shouting abuse at Totti's retreating figure as he disappeared into the players' tunnel:
"Try playing like that at the Meazza! I swear I'll get physical and beat your f***ing a**! I'm not afraid of you!"
Tang Long stared at Berni in astonishment.
It was the first time he'd seen Berni blow up like that, completely shattering his image of Uncle Bei as a laid-back, harmless old guy just going through the motions.
After the two-red-card uproar, Inter Milan had eleven men against ten.
Even cautious Mancini judged that Roma had lost all ability to resist.
He called Tang Long over.
"Tang, even though it's still 2–0, Roma are a man down. I've decided to keep my promise to you."
"Thanks, boss!"
"When you go on, play in Palacio's position. Watch for gaps and play around Icardi. That's all."
In the 84th minute, Tang Long came on as a substitute!
At that moment, the Migu Video livestream room in China, thousands of miles away, erupted. The viewer count shot up!
-[Damn, we've waited more than 80 minutes. He's finally going on!]
-[If he didn't get on soon, I couldn't have held out much longer. These ungodly early-morning Serie A matches are torture!]
-[Looks like Mancini really is cautious. Tang Long only gets on when they're leading 2–0 and have an extra man.]
-[That's a good thing! Tang Long won't have to feel the pressure. Maybe Mancini is protecting him.]
-[All right, brothers, Tang Long's on. The intro's over; the main event starts now.]
-[Can you believe it? I'm a Juventus fan, but I stayed up all night to watch Inter Milan play Roma, just for Tang Long.]
Totti's reckless red-card foul had fired up the Inter Milan players.
As soon as Tang Long stepped onto the pitch, Inter Milan used their numerical advantage to launch an attack.
The ball was passed around several times, then rolled into the right side of the penalty area, into the channel where Tang Long was positioned.
Tang Long's very first touch after coming on stunned everyone!
Before you continue