A Sole-Pass Shocks the Entire Stadium! Nasser's Wishful Thinking Shattered to Pieces!
Manchester City's commercial director, Berrada, nervously dialed the number of Tang Long's agent, Ronaldo.
During the phone call, he informed Ronaldo that Paris Saint-Germain had officially offered 230 million euros for Tang Long.
On the other end of the phone, Ronaldo responded with a cheerful laugh from Berrada.
"Thank you very much, Mr. Berrada. You informed me of the offers from other clubs based on the terms of the contract between my client and the club. However, rest assured, there is absolutely no possibility of such a transfer being made. Tang has only been with the club for less than a year. Who could poach him?"
"We're all in this business, can't we see? Nasser is just trying to demoralize you."
"You're asking me about Tang's personal thoughts?"
"Just five minutes before your call, I received a call from Tang. He said he was laughing so hard he almost choked. Only a fool would leave a perfectly good club like Manchester City to play in Ligue 1."
Hearing Ronaldo say that, Berrada was much relieved, thankfully his casual remark hadn't caused a major disaster.
So, as their call was about to end, when Ronaldo subtly inquired about the possibility of a raise on top of his existing salary after the season ended, Berrada, despite not having absolute authority to grant such a request, readily agreed.
"Don't worry, as long as Tang stays in Manchester City, he will definitely be treated well, and of course, you will be treated well too."
In fact, Ronaldo wasn't exaggerating. When Tang Long heard that Paris Saint-Germain had offered him 230 million euros, he genuinely laughed himself silly.
Not to mention that Manchester City would definitely not let him go, as Ronaldo said, he had absolutely no reason to leave a perfectly good place at Manchester City and run off to play in Ligue 1.
Although Ligue 1 is one of the traditional top five Europe Top Five Leagues
However, its overall strength is far inferior to that of the other four major leagues.
In terms of team strength and club platform, in what way can Paris Saint-Germain currently compare to Manchester City?
In terms of Tang Long's career planning, jumping from Inter Milan in Serie A to Manchester City in the Premier League was a major leap in his career.
At less than 20 years old, he had already become one of the most dazzling rising stars in the football world.
Going to Ligue 1 at this point would be a huge setback for his career from any perspective!
I might retire there someday in the future—but that's at least a decade or more from now, definitely not now.
In reality, everyone knows what Nasser is thinking.
He made an offer of 230 million euros the day before the second leg of the UEFA Champions League – this certainly highlighted his pursuit of Tang Long, but his most direct intention was to disrupt Manchester City's morale, especially Tang Long himself.
But Nasser clearly miscalculated.
At Manchester City's pre-match press conference, a France journalist with ulterior motives deliberately asked Tang Long about this matter.
All the reporters in the world turned to look at him, eager to hear his reaction.
Tang Long immediately retorted with a single sentence, and even sent a message to Nasser from afar:
"Thank you for Mr. Nasser's appreciation. I promised him that I would play in Paris in fifteen years. As for now, all I can think about is how to beat them at home!"
The next day, at the Etihad Stadium.
Inside the players' tunnel, Sweden center forward Ibrahimovic stood with his hands on his hips, twisting his thick neck from side to side, looking ready to go all out.
Tang Long was having his final pre-match face-to-face conversation with Sterling, who was standing next to him.
The two mainly discussed the passing technique they had been practicing in training over the past few days.
That day, Tang Long practiced continuously for 5 hours in the AI Cloud Training Ground;
After they had mastered the skills, he began to teach Sterling how to practice on the training field the next day. After a few days, both of them had improved their skills.
Ibrahimovic swaggered over to Tang Long and whistled at him.
"Hey, Asia kid, even though you'd love to play for our team, let me tell you, I won't go easy on you in this match."
Tang Long laughed and said to him, "When I'm like you, not only slow and inefficient, but also capable of nothing but useless barking, I'll go play football in Paris."
Ibrahimovic was taken aback by Tang Long's immediate retort, and his face flushed red.
"What did you say! Bullshit! Who said I'm slow or have no speed? When I played for Juventus ten years ago, I was fast enough. You were still playing in the mud back then!"
"Young man, don't be so arrogant. If I remember correctly, you haven't won a league title yet, have you? Let me tell you, I win it every year. I've lost count of how many league titles I've won, at least a dozen, haha!"
Tang Long and Sterling exchanged a smile and said, "You've won the league title every year, more than a dozen times already, how come you haven't won a single UEFA Champions League?"
Ibrahimovic: "..."
The referee blew his whistle, and the match began!
Amid cheers from 60,000 Etihad fans, Manchester City launched a furious attack from the outset.
The goal is singular: to cripple Paris in the first half and end the game as quickly as possible.
This long marathon season is nearing its end, with less than 5 kilometers left in the final sprint.
With a two-goal advantage and playing at home, Manchester City could unleash their possession-based style of play and launch a fierce attack in the first half.
Paris Saint-Germain is fighting with their backs against the wall; they have no choice but to attack and engage in an attacking battle with Manchester City.
In an effort to create a miracle, Nasser raised the qualifying bonus to 20 million euros before the tournament!
He even withdrew all 20 million euros in cash and transported it directly to the away team's locker room at the stadium, where it was piled up into a huge hill.
"Take down the opponent, and all of this is yours!"
The opening was very fast-paced, like a clash of titans, with both sides engaging in close combat and neither giving an inch.
Cornered and desperate, Paris Saint-Germain launched an attack that was even more ferocious than that of Manchester City, who were playing at home, in the opening five minutes.
Take Ibrahimovic, for example, who was mocked by Tang Long before the match for not having won the UEFA Champions League in over a decade.
He received the ball with his back to goal in midfield, forcefully pushed aside Toure, who was about the same height as him, and then, with a half-turn, unleashed a powerful shot from 35 meters away from the goal!
Despite being only 1.83 meters tall, the diminutive goalkeeper Caballero leaps like a dragon emerging from the sea, soaring high and punching the ball away.
"Come on, you big, clumsy Nordic guy!"
After making a brilliant save, Caballero rolled to his feet and swung his fist at Ibrahimovic.
Ibrahimovic was completely enraged!
Thinking that I'm already 35 years old, if I don't win the UEFA Champions League again, I'm afraid I'll be laughed at for the rest of my life.
In a state of extreme excitement, he began an endless stream of ejaculation.
As long as the target enters within a range of more than 30 meters, he will fire immediately, even if there is no good opportunity.
This caused Paris Saint-Germain's pre-match tactics to completely spiral out of control.
Seizing the opportunity presented by Ibrahimovic's mental lapse, Manchester City withstood the opponent's initial onslaught in the first 10 minutes and immediately launched an effective attack.
Sterling!
It's the same plot, the same script: Sterling makes a high-speed run down the wing.
This time, the starting full-back Kimpembe marked him closely, doing his best to compress the space behind him, and not giving Tang Long any opportunity to play a through ball behind the defense.
Tang Long waved to Sterling immediately stopped abruptly and circled around to stand in front of Kimpembe.
Kimpembe felt a surge of anger. "You're doing this again!"
Having learned from past mistakes, Kimpembe was cautious, shifting his weight back, slowing his pace, and always keeping the movement of his dominant foot within a reasonable stride frequency range.
However, subsequent developments left Kimpembe with a setback!
He anticipated that Tang Long would hit the ball in front of his body, but he didn't expect the ball to be delivered to his weak foot!
With the ball seemingly evenly matched, Kimpembe couldn't resist blocking it with his left foot, but Sterling, like a dragonfly skimming the water, still managed to get there first, executing a non-stop La Croqueta that sliced past him with two quick slaps.
Seeing Sterling dribbling in from the wing, both center-backs, David Luiz and Thiago Silva, were on high alert!
"That piece of trash Kimpembe, how did Sterling get past him again?" Louis cursed.
This time, Luiz was positioned as the attacking center-back, with Silva dropping back. The two maintained a reasonable distance, and if one of them was beaten, the other would cover for him.
After Sterling's advance was slowed down by Luiz, he didn't force a breakthrough but instead flicked the ball towards the middle, where Tang Long took the opportunity to receive it.
Although defensive midfielder Rabiot firmly held his position at the edge of the penalty area, guarding against Tang Long's through balls and shots, he couldn't stop Tang Long from pulling the ball back and, with a wide field of vision, passing it to Navas, who was making a run down the right flank.
Navas's signature move is crossing from the wing!
After receiving the ball, he didn't use many feints, but instead passed it to the wing. Marquinhos followed up, and Navas lifted his leg back.
Marquinhos thought he was going to cross, so he stretched out his foot to block it, but Navas just feinted and continued to push the ball forward.
Marquinhos quickly followed, and Navas swayed again, causing Marquinhos to lift his leg once more.
Finally, Navas pushed the ball forward one more time.
These three consecutive feints annoyed Marquinhos— "Just pass it already!"
Whoosh--
Navas delivered the cross perfectly, and it was a truly exquisite cross.
Despite the limited space, the ball evaded Marquinhos's left foot interception and flew high towards the center of the penalty area.
Although the ball was slow, it was positioned at the penalty spot, so goalkeeper Trapp hesitated for a moment, unsure whether to come out or not.
Thiago Silva outjumps Agüero to clear the ball!
The ball flew quite far, and seeing that there was no one in the landing area, the Paris players relaxed their vigilance;
Unexpectedly, Tang Long watched the ball's trajectory, quickly retreated without turning around, and waited for the ball to fly behind his head before flicking it back into the air with the sole of his foot!
At that very moment, Paris Saint-Germain's defensive line was rapidly pushing forward;
Tang Long's rebound shot caught the opponent off guard. In a flash, Agüero, who was lurking on the offside line, rushed out like a sheepdog on the Pampas. He was the only one in the penalty area, and he met the ball with a volley from the instep!
Although his legs weren't long, with a powerful push of his toes, the ball traveled very fast!
Goal!
Manchester City took the lead within the first 15 minutes!