We All Wore the Same Shin Guards-The Story Behind Them Was Moving!

The real grass at White Hart Lane was thick, and Guarin wore long HG metal cleats.

The tips of the cleats gleamed coldly, like a sharp, giant blade, as they chopped towards Tang Long's ankle from the side and rear.

His massive weight added tremendous inertia to the shovel strike!

If this shovel had injured Tang Long's ankle, the consequences would have been unimaginable—either permanent disability or serious injury.

"I'm going to chop you up!" Guarin was practically in a bloodthirsty rage.

However, just as his body was getting closer and closer to Tang Long, and his spikes were about to touch Tang Long's ankles...

Guarin was shocked to see the shin guards hidden beneath Tang Long's white soccer socks!

Beneath the thick professional football socks, the shin guards were still faintly visible—they were dark blue.

"Ah, that's..."

Guarin's mind went blank for a moment, and the surge of anger in his heart was instantly extinguished by a bucket of cold water.

He used all his strength to suddenly pull his foot back, twisted his body, and due to the force of inertia, he began to roll on the ground, like a car that had failed to drift.

As Tang Long advanced with the ball, he felt a murderous aura coming from behind him.

The hissing sound grew closer and closer to his back; Tang Long knew it was the sound of Guarin's shovel cleats tearing through the grass and soil!

Tang Long cursed inwardly that this guy was crazy, and quickly flicked the ball, trying to dodge it with a jump.

However, just as he was about to jump, he suddenly realized that the murderous aura behind him had stopped abruptly and disappeared.

Tang Long hesitated for 0.023 seconds, then accelerated by pushing off the ground and continued rushing forward.

This time, Sterling was quite astute.

His diagonal run just barely slipped past two Tottenham Hotspur center-backs.

Tang Long's pass arrived promptly, but Sterling's shot was as absurd as ever, lacking both angle and power.

Goalkeeper Lloris gently tipped the ball over the crossbar.

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry, I missed again!"

Sterling first clutched his head in frustration, then clasped his hands together and waved them repeatedly at Tang Long to express his apology.

Sterling, who had wasted Tang Long's brilliant passes three times in a row, felt extremely guilty.

Tang Long ignored Sterling, but immediately turned to look in the direction of Guarin behind him.

As Manchester City completed their final attack, the referee blew the final whistle.

In the first round of the 2015-2016 England Premier League season, Manchester City narrowly defeated Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 away from White Hart Lane, taking three league points with them!

Tang Long walked over to Guarin's side. Before he could speak, Guarin, who was still sitting on the ground, smiled and patted his shin guards. Then he pointed to Tang Long's shinbone.

"Haha! It's unbelievable! We're already playing in the Premier League, and we're still wearing Inter Milan shin guards!"

As he spoke, Guarin pulled up his two stockings and threw two shin guards on the ground.

This Inter Milan- themed blue and black shin guards feature a large Inter Milan logo on the front, and a small number 13 in the upper right corner, which is Guarin's number at Inter Milan.

Tang Long also took off his two long socks and took out two shin guards, which were the same Inter Milan blue and black color scheme as Guarin's, and were also printed with the huge Inter Milan logo.

In the upper right corner is his Inter Milan number 99.

"That's probably why you suddenly stopped halfway through your tackle, Guarin." Tang Long smiled, immediately understanding.

"That's right, even though we've both left Italy, we still deeply love Inter Milan. I'm sorry, I was reckless! You'll always be my good brother, come on, give me a hand!"

Tang Long helped Guarin up, and the two embraced.

Tang Long suggested exchanging jerseys.

It's quite meaningful to run into a former Serie A teammate in the first game of the new Premier League season and exchange jerseys.

However, Guarin waved his hand and declined with a smile.

"Tang, I don't want your jersey, let's exchange shin guards!"

"What, hasn't the famous Tottenham Hotspur given you shin guards yet? You insist on using mine."

"Hey, what about you? Didn't Manchester City give you shin guards? Why are you still using Inter Milan's?"

"I'm used to it, I don't want to change it!"

"I'm used to it, and I don't want to change it!"

They smiled at each other and embraced again.

After exchanging shin guards and exchanging a few more pleasantries, Guarin bid farewell to Tang Long and headed towards Ranocchia.

Tang Long watched Guarin run off excitedly towards Ranocchia, and couldn't help but feel a pang of emotion:

"Guarin is a loyal and affectionate person. Although he can be impulsive and lose his temper on the field at times, he is not a bad person at heart and is very sentimental. Otherwise, he wouldn't be like me, still wearing the shin guards he had at Inter Milan after coming to Tottenham Hotspur."

Guarin caught a glimpse of Tang Long's shin guard the instant he made the tackle, and then forcefully pulled his foot back.

At that moment, the brotherhood forged in the past made Guarin realize his mistake.

At that moment, calmness and reason finally triumphed over the demons within him!

I absolutely mustn't use that shovel!

Tang Long's performance not only shone throughout the match, but also earned him the respect of Tottenham Hotspur fans.

After the game, several players approached Tang Long, wanting to exchange jerseys with him.

However, when they saw Tang Long walk towards his former Inter Milan teammate Guarin, the other Tottenham Hotspur players were quite disappointed, thinking that their chances were over.

However, when they saw that the two had only exchanged shin guards, they were immediately delighted!

Kane, Alli, and even Eriksen, who had already been substituted, rushed over and asked Tang Long for his jersey.

"Weren't you substituted? What are you doing back on? Don't try to steal my jersey, Eriksen."

"I spoke to Tang before you did, Tang, don't give it to Kane, give me the jersey!"

The group even started arguing slightly around Tang Long.

Ranocchia and Guarin, standing at a distance, had already reconciled about the conflict during the match and were chatting and laughing.

Seeing Tang Long surrounded by several Tottenham Hotspur players asking for his jersey, Ranocchia put his arm around Guarin's shoulder and joked, "See? His jersey is in high demand. This kid got it again!"

Guarin then exchanged jerseys with Ranocchia, and said to him defiantly, "Captain, you guys got lucky this time! In the second half of the league season, at the Etihad, I won't let you off so easily! Remember, if I can score two goals against you today, I can score three in the next leg!"

Ranocchia, seeing Guarin's serious expression, knew he was being stubborn again. He chuckled and replied, "Let's talk about next year's problems next year," before quickly walking towards the players' tunnel.

Meanwhile, Tang Long exchanged jerseys with Eriksen and promised Kane and Alli that he would get them two more new jerseys when they returned to the locker room.

In their first match of the new season, Tottenham Hotspur lost at home to the formidable Manchester City.

However, a score of 2-3 isn't considered a loss, so the players weren't actually in a particularly bad mood.

Pochettino went into the locker room, said a few encouraging words to the team, and then left.

No sooner had he left than Mancini walked into Tottenham Hotspur's locker room.

Upon seeing the newly appointed England national team manager arrive, several England players in the Tottenham Hotspur dressing room immediately tensed up.

Especially the 22-year-old Kane, who did not perform well in this game, had few shooting opportunities and was completely contained by Ranocchia.

Seeing Mancini enter, he felt uncomfortable being shirtless and quickly put his jersey back on.

Mancini called Kane, Alli, Dier, Walker, Danny Rose, and Trippier over for a private talk.

It was called a pep talk, but it was really just a brief mention of their problems in the competition, followed by some encouragement.

"In September we have two UEFA European Championship qualifiers against San Marino and Switzerland, and the new national team squad will be announced this month. You are all very good lads, but the starting lineup for the national team consists of England's top players. Do your best, kids, I will continue to watch your performances!"

Guarin had just finished relieving himself in the locker room toilet and was swaggering out, feeling refreshed. When he saw Mancini at the door, he didn't think twice and happily ran over.

"Boss, you're here!"

Mancini was speaking to the England national team players when he was suddenly interrupted, and his expression turned slightly annoyed.

But when he saw it was Guarin, his anger vanished, replaced by a kind smile.

"You're pretty good, kid. You scored two amazing goals in your league debut. I didn't see you this good when I was coaching Inter Milan."

Guarin scratched his head sheepishly, feigning modesty as he said something about being lucky, then added, "Hey, did you see Tang Long's performance? His volley was amazing, it gave us the winning goal. Compared to Tang, my two incredible shots pale in comparison!"

"Heh, you still have the nerve to bring that up?" Mancini's face suddenly turned stern again. "The game was almost over, and that backstab of yours was aimed at injuring someone. Luckily, Don dodged it. If you had seriously injured him, the United Arab Emirates would probably drown you with a truckload of oil!"

Mancini was far away in the stands; how could he know what was going on?

Not knowing that Guarin had deliberately pulled his leg back, one would assume that Tang Long had dodged it with swift movement.

Guarin smiled slightly, deciding not to explain further, and instead asked about Chivu.

"Boss, why are you the only one here? Where's Mr. Chivu? Isn't he your assistant coach for the England national team? Why haven't I seen him today?"

"Oh, you mean Christian? He's scouting Manchester United's matches. We've all been very busy lately, splitting up into two groups, both busy scouting players."

"Oh dear, that's a real shame," Guarin with some disappointment. "I wonder when I'll see him again."

In fact, Guarin's relationship with Chivu when he played for Inter Milan was just average; they were merely ordinary colleagues, far less close than Tang Long and Chivu.

However, Guarin was grateful to Chivu!

Because this former head of the Inter Milan first team's video analysis team also gave Guarin a lot of extra help, calling him into the video analysis room to study his performance on the field second by second, pointing out his shortcomings and areas for improvement.

It was under Chivu's tutelage that Guarin, nearing 30, was able to make progress, especially in his improved positional awareness on the field, which led to his being favored by Tottenham Hotspur and receiving a higher salary.

"Don't worry, son," Mancini gave Guarin a final hug. "Christian and I will be frequently scouting at various home stadiums, and we'll have more opportunities to meet in the future. I wish you all the best for the future."

London.

Heathrow Airport.

Manchester City players are checking in.

They will fly directly from London to Manchester, and then begin a one-day Sunday holiday.

The Blue Moon players were in high spirits after winning the game at White Hart Lane and getting a day off tomorrow, chatting amongst themselves.

Except for one person, Milner, of course.

He sat alone in the waiting area, carrying his bag, looking dejected.

He's either engrossed in scrolling through his phone or drinking water, as if none of this concerns him.

He was watching something on his phone that was playing repeatedly: Tang Long's volley shot.

Milner has watched it at least 20 times!

But he kept watching it from the beginning, over and over again.

He was initially shocked by Tang Long's precise footwork, but as he watched, he suddenly discovered something extremely absurd!

While everyone was baffled by Sterling's absurd cross, Tang Long had already anticipated the landing point and rushed in that direction. In the end, it proved that his advance movement was correct, and the ball really did land where he was running.

"How did he do that? The ball barely touched Alli's toe before Don started moving, which is why he was able to reach the ball faster than Guarin. But how could he know that the ball would land exactly in that spot? That prediction is ridiculously strong..."

In fact, it wasn't just Milner who was paying attention to Tang Long's goal.

The other Manchester City players in the waiting area did the same.

Tang Long was looking down at Ronaldo, sending him a message to report on his feelings about his Premier League debut.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder. I looked up and saw it was Kolarov.

This 30-year-old Serbia left-back is 187cm tall and has a broad build.

Like Milner and others, Kolarov also transferred to Manchester City in the same batch in 2010.

Before coming to the Premier League, he played for Lazio, a traditional powerhouse in Serie A, making over 100 appearances.

Like Tang Long Ranocchia, he is one of only three players in the Manchester City squad with Serie A experience.

As early as last week, when Tang Long arrived at the Manchester City dressing room, Ranocchia, who arrived first, introduced Tang Long to his Manchester City teammates one by one.

When he talked about Kolarov, he also praised his long-range shots, saying that he was a famous powerful shot in football!

However, the Serbia full-back's expression was rather cold at the time. He merely nodded slightly and didn't say much to Tang Long, appearing aloof and unapproachable.

But at this moment, Kolarov's face showed a fawning smile, and his tone became unusually solicitous.

"Dear Tang, I'd like to take a minute of your time. Could you tell me what kind of footwork you used to execute that volley shot? I'd like to learn from you!"

(Brothers, I'm taking my wife and kids to my wife's parents' house early tomorrow morning, and we'll be on the highway, so I need to go to bed early tonight. With the family in tow, I can't afford any accidents, so I'll only be posting one chapter of 4000 words today. Tomorrow I'll update with 10,000 words, I mean it! I just checked, and I've been averaging 8,000 words a day for the past week, which is already my limit for a part-time writer like me, damn it...)