In the dying moments, Tang Long followed the system's prompt and spread his legs. The ball zipped through them.
The ball Hernanes had sent him wasn't slow. It skimmed the ground, curving slightly as it came in.
Maybe Hernanes wanted to show off his technique to Tang Long.
That was why the ball rolling through Tang Long's legs had caught everyone so completely by surprise!
The two Roma players who had stepped up to mark Tang Long had expected to stop him from turning and facing the goal.
They hadn't imagined for a second that Tang Long would let the ball run through!
Like grains of sand slipping away, the ball rolled past the two Roma players' feet and into the penalty area.
"Huh? Where's the ball?"
The two defenders froze.
They whipped around, and their hearts sank!
On the ball's path into the penalty area, a black-and-blue shirt was charging in from the side—
It was Icardi!
Tang Long's dummy had made everyone pause at the same time.
But Icardi had set off in a flash. He slipped around Astori, who had been marking him tightly, and raced toward the ball!
Tang Long's audacious dummy had dismantled the opposing defense in an instant!
"He let it run!"
"Someone's through!"
"Watch Icardi!"
Roma defender Manolas snapped out of his daze and hurriedly shouted for his teammates to track Icardi.
By the time everyone started moving again, Icardi had already reached the ball.
With barely any room to swing his leg, he pivoted ninety degrees like the arm of a compass, turned side-on, and smashed the ball with the instep of his foot!
A thunderous instep strike!
Bam!!!
It was straight, powerful, and utterly unexpected!
Like an artillery shell, the ball flew over Roma goalkeeper De Sanctis and into the net!
The veteran goalkeeper stood rooted to the spot like a wooden dummy.
Inside the penalty area, Roma and Inter Milan players were packed together, dozens of long legs swinging back and forth in front of him.
De Sanctis's view was blocked. He couldn't make out the ball's path at all.
But the sharp sound of the ball hitting the net behind him told him beyond a doubt: he'd conceded!
Inter Milan had breached his goal for the fourth time.
His eyes widened, and he stood there, stunned...
As the referee blew the final whistle, Icardi leapt high into the air and punched toward the bright moon overhead!
"Haha, a brace!"
On the sidelines, in the substitutes' area,
Mancini looked a little dazed!
At fifty, his eyesight wasn't what it used to be.
He was both nearsighted and farsighted.
How had the ball gotten through?
How had it suddenly ended up at Icardi's feet?
Roma's defense had been so tight, and Tang Long hadn't had a chance to turn.
"Herrera," Mancini said, quickly turning to his assistant. "How did the ball get through? Did you see it?"
"Boss, I didn't catch it either. Hernanes passed it to Tang Long, and Tang Long passed it to Icardi. Yeah, I think that's what happened."
"Did you see how Tang Long passed it?"
Herrera shook his head.
Inter Milan's substitutes were sitting sixty or seventy meters from Roma's penalty area. Herrera hadn't seen it clearly either.
It wasn't his fault. Tang Long had decided to let the ball run through at the very last moment.
The gap between his legs had been tiny, barely a foot wide—just enough for a ball to roll through.
It wasn't just the people on the sidelines who had missed it. Even the Roma players on the field, only five or six meters from Tang Long, hadn't reacted in time!
"Did any of you see it?"
Mancini asked the players on the bench again.
D'Ambrosio, Krhin, Mbaye, and the others all shook their heads in unison. They said nothing, their eyes full of confusion.
Only Bonazzoli, sitting at the end of the bench, spoke with complete confidence:
"Haha, I saw it. Tang Long gave the ball a little flick with his heel, redirecting all that force with the lightest touch. He cut right through Roma's defense in an instant. Haha, that was awesome!"
The match was over.
The players on the field were shaking hands, and the giant screen at the Olympic Stadium didn't show a replay.
Mancini wasn't sure whether to believe Bonazzoli.
Just then, the opposing manager, Rudi Garcia, came over to shake Mancini's hand.
"Come on, Mancini, you could've gone a little easier on me. Did you really have to score four against us at home?"
"Sorry, mate. Totti's got a short fuse. Playing with ten men against eleven—you need to keep a closer eye on him."
"Haha, when are you free to join me for a coffee? I'd love to pick your brain."
"You're too kind. I've only just returned to Serie A, and time flies. The league feels completely different from what it was six or seven years ago."
Mancini and Rudi Garcia chatted as they headed toward the players' tunnel...
Icardi had taken his shirt off and was applauding the Inter Milan supporters in the stands as he thanked them for their support.
Tang Long walked over and joined him, applauding the fans.
"How did you know to run into that spot? It was like you came out of nowhere," Tang Long said, amazed.
Icardi's movement had genuinely shocked him!
When the AI System in his mind had prompted him to let the ball run through, Tang Long had been facing away from Roma's goal.
Two Roma players were marking him tightly from behind.
He couldn't see any of his teammates moving inside the opposing penalty area.
And yet Icardi had gotten to the ball!
"That's a striker's instinct, Tang. When everyone else is standing still, I'm always able to set off first."
"You knew I'd let the ball through?"
"Let it through? You let that ball run through—you didn't touch it?"
Icardi was surprised.
In that split second, his view had been blocked too. He hadn't been able to see how Tang Long had gotten the ball through.
"Haha, I don't care how it got there." Icardi affectionately draped an arm around Tang Long's shoulders and kissed him on the forehead. "In that instant, I just had this powerful feeling that the ball would be drawn to my feet, and I'd score my second goal!"
Tang Long nodded.
"Exactly, Mauro. You're like a magnet—the ball gets pulled right to you."
After Inter Milan's players had finished applauding the fans,
Roma fullback Maicon walked over to Tang Long.
"Tang, would you exchange shirts with me?"
Tang Long promptly took off his number 99 shirt and exchanged it with Maicon.
"It's an honor to exchange shirts with an Inter Milan legend, Mr. Maicon!"
Maicon, the thirty-three-year-old fullback, had returned from Manchester City to Serie A the previous year, joining Roma.
From 2006 to 2012, the Brazilian fullback had spent six unforgettable years at Inter Milan.
As their first-choice right back, he had helped Inter Milan reach the pinnacle of European football in 2010, making them the only team in Serie A to win the treble.
He had also held down the undisputed starting right-back spot for Brazil, edging out Alves, Dream Team III's first-choice, in the national team.
He could carry the entire right flank by himself!
But it hadn't lasted!
In 2012, Inter Milan's finances had taken a sharp turn for the worse, and owner Moratti had long been struggling to keep the club afloat.
Like many of his teammates from Inter Milan's treble-winning side, Maicon had been sold.
After leaving Inter Milan, the once world's best right back had declined rapidly, and his peak years were behind him.
"Haha, that's all in the past. I'm happy at Roma now. My body couldn't handle the pace of the Premier League. Serie A is where I belong—it's my footballing home."
"Mr. Maicon, why did you want to exchange shirts with me? I mean, you're the first person who's asked to swap shirts with me."
Maicon smiled.
His smile had the infectious warmth unique to the people of Brazil.
He held up Tang Long's shirt toward one of the enormous floodlights at the Olympic Stadium. Looking at the number 99 on the back, he narrowed his eyes.
The floodlight shone through Tang Long's Inter Milan shirt, casting a faint blue glow across Maicon's dark face.
"Tang, your passes are full of surprise. They remind me of a former teammate of mine. He wore number ten, and his name was Sneijder."
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