Icardi and De Bruyne Fall Out! Agüero Has Caught Up to My Goal Tally!
At Icardi's home in Manchester.
During the Manchester City vs. Sunderland match, Icardi watched the game on his own television with his good friend De Bruyne.
Manchester City's match this round is in the evening, while Manchester United's match was already completed in the morning.
Icardi scored twice at White Hart Lane in London, helping Manchester United to a clean 2-0 victory and take all three points.
The one who provided him with two assists was none other than Belgium De Bruyne, who was sitting next to him.
"Kevin, look at what Tang did. How did he pass the ball in the air with Agüero? There was a similar ball in the last game against Tottenham Hotspur. I headed it to you, and you tried to stop it with your foot, but then the defenders swarmed in, and the ball was gone!"
Icardi raised his hand high, then swiftly brought it down, slapping De Bruyne hard on the thigh, startling the latter so much that he jumped back on the sofa.
De Bruyne touched his thigh, which was red, swollen, and sore from being slapped, and looked at Icardi with an incredulous expression.
I was thinking to myself, "This is ridiculous! I've already given you two assists, and you're still criticizing me?"
"Don't make anything special with that play. Even if he had passed it back to Agüero, the goal still wouldn't have gone to Agüero, it would have been Navas on the wing."
De Bruyne began to analyze Manchester City's goal in detail for Icardi from the perspective of a midfield maestro.
He pointed out that Agüero demonstrated excellent mobility in this attack, pulling out of the penalty area and executing a one-two with Tang Long in the air;
What's most commendable is that, despite not having an ideal shooting opportunity, you didn't force a shot but instead passed the ball to Argentina on the wing. Silva then delivered a high cross, Silva Navas at the far post slotted it home.
The entire offensive strategy was very well-structured and layered!
So he turned around and said to Icardi:
"Take a good look at Agüero's playing style. He covers a lot of ground, both inside and outside the penalty area. You, on the other hand, are always crouched inside the penalty area. Although you are closer to the goal, you don't really contribute much to the team's overall attacking structure."
At that moment, Icardi's wife, Wanda, wearing a sexy lace nightgown, smiled and brought a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice from the kitchen to De Bruyne, giving him a flirty wink before going back to the bedroom to sleep.
De Bruyne took a sip of the chilled orange juice, feeling refreshed and invigorated.
After he finished explaining his analysis in one breath, he looked at Icardi with anticipation.
He thought that after his explanation, Icardi's understanding of the striker role would improve, but he was met with only disdain!
"Pull him out of the penalty area? My God, Kevin, I can't believe you said that to me!"
"I'm a striker, and a striker's job is to score goals. How can I score if I'm not closer to the goal if I'm not standing in the penalty area?"
"As for what you said about the passing and stretching outside the penalty area?"
"Please! This is what midfielders should be doing. I can't believe it! I meant well by reminding you to learn passing from Tang Long, but instead you've turned around and started lecturing me! This is outrageous!"
De Bruyne's eyes widened, his mouth opened and closed, and for a moment he didn't know what to say.
He simply couldn't believe that Icardi, a striker worth hundreds of millions of euros and a former Serie A Golden Boot winner, could have such a superficial understanding of football, like a child from a youth team.
"Mauro, is scoring goals really that important to you? To me, the team winning is what matters most..."
He was only halfway through his sentence when Icardi jumped up as if he'd been burned, gestured for him to stop from above, pulled out his phone, and eagerly started checking the real-time updates of the European Golden Shoe rankings.
"Have you forgotten the promise you made to me when you came to Manchester United, Kevin? Open your eyes and see clearly!"
"Suarez is in first place with 26 league goals, Cristiano Ronaldo is second with 25, and I'm only third with 21!"
De Bruyne glanced at it and said dismissively:
"Isn't third place enough? Agüero, Bony, Lewandowski are all behind you. Besides, as long as I keep feeding you goals, your Premier League Golden Boot this year is practically guaranteed. Aren't you satisfied?"
According to De Bruyne, for a young player like Icardi, winning the Premier League Golden Boot in his first season in the Premier League is something very few players in the entire Premier League can achieve.
Upon hearing De Bruyne's words, Icardi became agitated again, hopping around three times like a grasshopper, his slippers making a loud thud on the floor!
"Back when I was at Inter Milan, Tang Long said he could help me win the European Golden Shoe, but he didn't!"
"Now that I'm at Manchester United, you said you could help me win the European Golden Shoe, but you're saying the Premier League Golden Boot will do?"
"What use are you to Manchester United? You're not even as good as Tang Lei. At least when he was at Inter Milan, he would listen to my advice!"
De Bruyne's face flushed red. He was furious and, disregarding that he was in someone else's house, picked up the orange juice on the table and smashed it at Icardi's television!
The LCD TV flickered for a moment, and Tang Long's running figure was cut into several pieces.
Icardi was startled, wiped the orange juice off his face, and pointed at De Bruyne, yelling:
"This is my house! How dare you smash my TV? Pay up!"
De Bruyne muttered a curse and replied:
"Give back the 11 assists I gave you, and I'll pay you back for the TV!"
After saying that, he slammed the door and left, leaving a stunned Icardi standing there dumbfounded.
What use would Manchester United have for you?
On his way home, De Bruyne grew angrier and angrier, and the angrier he got, the more he thought about it!
Judging from Icardi's tone, it seems like Manchester United bought him solely to serve him and help him win the European Golden Shoe?
That's hilarious!
Do you see yourself as Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo?
Thinking back to my time on the field, I remember many times when I had a good chance to shoot from long range, I chose to pass the ball to Icardi.
Icardi also misses chances and squanders opportunities!
De Bruyne didn't criticize him; instead, he encouraged him. Reflecting on his own efforts on the field, he was met with Icardi's comment, "What use are you to Manchester United?"
The Belgium are somewhat out of their element; they feel that life is not worth living!
There were even some things he didn't say to Icardi in person.
"You keep saying Agüero and Tang Long's one-two in mid-air was beautiful, but do you have Agüero's teamwork awareness for that kind of play? Even if I wanted to play like you, I couldn't pull it off, bro!"
Ultimately, in the 25th round, Manchester City defeated Sunderland 2-0.
In the subsequent 26th round match against the Aston Villa, they defeated their opponent 3-1.
In this match, Agüero scored a hat-trick, with one assist from Silva, one from Tang Long, and a penalty he won himself!
After 26 minutes, Agüero has scored a total of 20 league goals in the Premier League top scorer list!
The media were incredulous; who could have imagined that Agüero, who had returned to the field more than a month after recovering from his injury, would have an even sharper sense of smell for goal than before he was injured?
Tang Long's contribution was undoubtedly indispensable in Agüero's continued scoring streak.
Of those 20 league goals, 13 were assisted by Tang Long.
The other seven goals also often came from Tang Long's second-to-last or third-to-last pass.
It's fair to say that without Tang Long, Agüero wouldn't have scored.
Meanwhile, in the two rounds where Agüero scored in a row, Icardi went silent!
Perhaps due to the unpleasant incident with De Bruyne at home last time, the Belgium midfielder intentionally or unintentionally reduced his connection with Icardi in subsequent matches.
Manchester United have scored six goals in their last two Premier League matches, with two coming from De Bruyne, two from Rooney, and the remaining two from headers by the center-backs.
For the first time since joining Manchester United, Icardi has failed to score in two consecutive matches!
Although Manchester City's lead over Manchester United in the league standings remains at four points, Icardi's lead in the Premier League top scorer rankings is being steadily eroded by Agüero behind him.
As of the end of the 26th round of the Premier League, Icardi had scored 21 league goals, with Agüero trailing by only one goal.
What frustrates Icardi even more is that not only is his Premier League Golden Boot nomination uncertain, but he is also falling behind his rivals for the European Golden Shoe, such as Suarez, Lewandowski, Lionel Messi, and Cristiano Ronaldo, among other goal-scoring machines.
This unfavorable situation caused Icardi great distress.
Can you stand watching your competitors' goal tally skyrocket while you remain stagnant?
His inability to score on the pitch indirectly affected Icardi's performance in his daily life.
Wanda was equally dissatisfied with Icardi!
Despite causing her husband dark circles under his eyes each time, Wanda's cursing grew louder with each passing day.
"Mauro, what's wrong with you lately? Not only are you not scoring on the field, but you're also getting weak-kneed when you're facing me. Come on, tell me honestly, have you been hanging out with those sluts who keep sending you updates on Instagram?!"
"Starting today, you must hand over all your salary cards!"
"I will send you 1,500 euros a month for living expenses."
"What? You say it's too little? Heh, a man can only make progress by maintaining a sense of hunger, Mauro. I'm doing this for your own good. I'm your agent, I'm saving money for you, you should thank me!"
In the subsequent FA Cup fifth round match, Manchester City, fielding a completely reserve team, faced Chelsea. Both sides played for 85 minutes without scoring.
Pellegrini initially didn't want Tang Long to play, intending for him to prepare for the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 match three days later. However, unwilling to give up, Agüero decided to take a gamble at the last minute, replacing Silva with Tang Long instead of Silva.
Unexpectedly, Tang Long's appearance had a miraculous effect!
His Pendulum Dribble is becoming increasingly skillful, showing more and more of the flair he displayed during Ronaldo's peak years.
Just two minutes after coming on, he dribbled past several opponents on the edge of the penalty area and surged into the box with unstoppable momentum!
Courtois was about to be beaten, and in desperation, he stretched out his leg and tripped Tang Long to the ground. Penalty!
With Agüero off the field, Tang Long will be the first penalty taker.
This time there was no Panenka penalty, no misleading glances, just a simple volley down the left flank. Even though Courtois guessed the right direction and his outstretched arm even grazed the ball with his fingertips, he still couldn't stop the ball from hitting the inside of the post and bouncing into the net.
Duang~
The angle was so tricky, even a god couldn't save it!
Courtois knelt on the ground, pounding his fist on the ground in frustration.
For any goalkeeper, the situation where they manage to get a hand to the ball but are unable to prevent it from going into the net is an incredibly frustrating moment.
The moment the final whistle blew, all the players rushed towards Tang Long to celebrate their advancement!
Witnessing their home team suffer a last-minute defeat, all the spectators at Stamford Bridge could do was unleash a barrage of boos at Tang Long!
But to Tang Long, the hissing sound was so faint, it was like urinating.
The 1,000 Manchester City Expeditionary Army who went to fight in London also resisted with rousing songs!
"Tang!"
"Tang!"
"Chinatang!"
Tang Long's familiar three shouts echoed across Stamford Bridge!
After booing Tang Long, the Blues fans turned their boos to Chelsea manager Mourinho!
With no hope in the league and the FA Cup gone, are you really expecting us to win an UEFA Champions League?
Mourinho put his index finger to his lips, signaling to the fans to shut up.
<Don't score a penalty to seal a victory for Chelsea and advance to the FA Cup sixth round!>
<His two-minute appearance on the pitch had a remarkable impact; are Inter Milan afraid of this version of Tang?>
No longer the only one! Mourinho suffers two defeats against Manchester City!
<Disagreements between the manager and players; Mourinho says he wants to find the mole at the press conference!>