"Slowly, two years; quickly, one year. The world's number one will belong to him!"

Wow!

Everyone suddenly realized what was happening!

Although the players on the field could not discern with the naked eye how Tang Long had dribbled past three opponents;

But they could clearly see that Tang Long had dribbled the ball into the penalty area near the byline.

Agüero on the brakes and sped back!

Bonazzoli adjusted his center of gravity, raised his hand, and scurried back into the penalty area, trying his best to make Tang Long see him.

But in Tang Long's view, Ranocchia, who had already rushed to the far post of the six-yard box, was the best candidate to pass the ball to!

Bang! Bang!

With two quick and crisp sounds, Tang Long Longzheng volleyed the ball with the instep, passed it to Ranocchia, Ranocchia pushed it into the empty net with the back of his foot!

Tang Long used the instep of his foot to deliver the powerful pass because the goalkeeper had already covered the near post, and only by adding power could he pass the ball from under the goalkeeper's arm to the far post.

Although Ranocchia was tall, his forward runs were so sudden and unpredictable that no one noticed him. So when he reached the far post, he just touched the ball with the instep of his foot and completed a perfect shot!

"Haha, I knew it! I knew this would happen!"

Ranocchia was ecstatic after scoring the goal.

He has scored many headers, but this is the first time in the last three seasons that he has scored with his feet.

Ranocchia knew Tang Long's abilities well; Tang Long, having dribbled past three players, was fully capable of cutting inside and shooting from the byline of the penalty area. However, he passed the ball to Ranocchia instead, which was partly due to personal considerations.

As if a new world had opened up, the excited Ranocchia rushed towards Tang Long. When she was about two meters away from him, she leaped high into the air, spread her arms wide, and pounced on Tang Long like a flying giant bear.

Tang Long thought to himself, "If that 195cm big body comes down on me, I don't know how many physical therapy massages I'll need to get from Gracie to recover. I'd better dodge." He dodged away in a flash.

With a thud, Ranocchia fell to the ground, getting completely covered in dirt.

The scene was in complete chaos.

Whether they were opponents or teammates, everyone was chattering away.

No one knows how Tang Long managed to pull off that dribble.

Even the opposing Celtic players deliberately dragged their feet, slowing down the pace of the center circle kickoff, and despite the referee's repeated urging, they refused to take the shot.

And so, the classic scene of watching SportMediaset replays appeared again!

The massive screen at the Etihad Stadium began playing the replay, and all the players, along with the 60,000 fans in attendance, craned their necks to watch.

When everyone saw clearly how Tang Long used the impact of billiard balls to pass between the legs of three people in a narrow space, they were all deeply shocked!

Agüero shook his head and said, "What a genius! Was it intentional or accidental?"

Bonazzoli was completely dumbfounded and admired Tang Long immensely.

Guardiola then once again performed his classic hand-to-head gesture.

Whether as a player or a coach, he has worked with the best players on the planet.

But at this moment, standing on the Etihad Stadium and witnessing Tang Long's incredible dribbling skills, Guardiola was not surprised by Tang Long's dribbling technique, but rather greatly astonished by the football thinking that Tang Long displayed.

"He seems to be demonstrating a game-like mindset in football?"

Three minutes later, Tang Long was substituted.

The entire Etihad Stadium rose to their feet and cheered.

Even the 3,000 Celtic fans on the away team were applauding him!

Not every player has the right to be applauded by their opponents. It's a source of pride, a supreme honor, representing that you've not only won over your own team's fans but also earned the respect of the opposing team's fans!

Meanwhile, backstage at the CCTV -5 studio.

Director Li Kai and his staff tensed up when they saw Tang Long leave the stage.

At the start of the second half, Manchester City played at a leisurely pace, resulting in a lackluster performance.

Fans who stayed up late into the night, especially some older fans, couldn't stay awake any longer and turned off their TVs, causing the ratings to drop from over 6.0 to 4.8.

After Tang Long nutmegged three people in succession, providing a brilliant assist, the ratings not only returned to 6.0, but also soared to a new high of 6.38!

But Tang Long is leaving the show, won't the ratings drop again?

Just when everyone was extremely nervous, they saw that the ratings were still slowly increasing.

It even touched the edge of 6.5 at one point!

"It's really strange. Tang Long isn't even here anymore, and the match has already entered garbage time, so why are there more and more people watching?"

After reading the comments from the audience backstage, they suddenly realized what was going on.

The reason the audience lingered was because they were discussing Tang Long's incredible skills!

[Awesome! Kills three birds with one stone, incredibly efficient!]

-[This is a skewered gourd! Three candied hawthorns on one bamboo skewer, hilarious!]

-[Tang Long's luck is too good! The ball hit twice, but he still managed to get past Kolo Toure's legs in the end.]

- [Luck? What do you know? I watched the replay carefully, and I bet those two refractions were meticulously designed.]

-[That's right, Tang Long definitely didn't do it accidentally, he did it on purpose!]

-[This is amazing! It's the first time I've ever seen football played like this. I don't even know what to say.]

-[Playing soccer this weekend, I've decided to try out Tang Long's move. I don't need to get past three people, just getting past two people's legs would be awesome, haha!]

After the match, the staff of Channel 5 wanted to try the same trick again and have He Wei commentate on Tang Long's wonderful performance in the match. Maybe they could even push the ratings to 7, which is not a pipe dream!

However, Director Li Kai stopped this behavior.

The intern asked, puzzled, "Why not, sir? If the ratings hit 7, it would Pinzi with the women's volleyball final between China and Serbia at the Rio Olympics!"

Li Kai retorted, "You forgot? During halftime, I said the commercials that were cut were to be shown after the game. Hurry up, stop dawdling!"

He was referring to the decision to move the originally scheduled commercials to a post-match period in order to boost ratings.

The intern suddenly realized and said, "Oh! Okay!"

In reality, Li Kai had other plans in mind.

If the viewership ratings surpass those of the Rio Olympics women's volleyball final China and Serbia, that would be a good thing, and it would also be considered an achievement for the company.

But if the bar is set so high right after I arrive, how am I supposed to get things done?

If he can break 7 in this game, Director Wang Wen will make him break 8 in the next one!

Isn't this just making things difficult for yourself?

Tang Long's game alone broke viewership records for niche sports like Go, rock climbing, bowling, and curling.

There may be some opportunistic practices involved, but the actual performance is calculated based on one's own earnings.

That's already quite good! If we keep going like this, we'll only attract attention and resentment.

Good things come to those who wait; a slow and steady wins the race.

Eating a lot doesn't mean you win; eating for a long time does.

Li Kai came from a background in the station's logistics department, so no one understood this principle better than him.

The match ended with Manchester City defeating Celtic 3-0 at home.

Tang Long, who was on the bench, returned to the court and high-fived his teammates.

Several Celtic players gathered around, wanting to exchange jerseys with Tang Long.

Despite losing the game, Celtic players were not too downcast, as losing to Manchester City away from home was expected.

Moreover, many players felt that the loss was less due to Manchester City and more due to Tang Long alone, and no one could disagree with the result.

However, Tang Long politely declined some players' offers and exchanged jerseys with Kolo Toure privately.

After all, this player once played for Manchester City and was a Premier League star. Last season, he was Liverpool's opponent of Tang Long, and now they meet again in the UEFA Champions League, which can be considered a kind of fate.

How is your brother doing now?

When Tang Long asked about his younger brother Yaya Toure's recent situation, Kolo Toure grinned.

"He told me just a few days ago that he was having a great time in Greece, spending all his time sunbathing in the Aegean Sea, and that his skin had gotten really tanned."

Tang Long felt a chill run down his spine.

He simply couldn't imagine that Yaya Toure, who was already as dark as a lump of coal, could get even darker from the sun.

The two exchanged a few friendly words, then hugged goodbye.

Kolo Toure, shirtless and holding the Manchester City number 9 jersey, watched Tang Long's departing figure, his heart filled with emotion.

He was defeated by this young China man once again!

Around the same age as Tang Long, Kolo Toure also began his professional career in Top Five Leagues at Arsenal.

Time flies; it's been almost 15 years.

Kolo Toure thought with a hint of resentment, if it were him 15 years ago, in his early twenties, when he was nutmegged, he would have immediately realized and chased back, instead of standing there like an idiot, looking around to see where the ball had gone.

"Toure!"

"Toure!"

Kolo Toure's thoughts were interrupted by the shouts of Manchester City fans on one side of the stands.

Blue Moon home fans of Manchester City are applauding this former Manchester City player.

Returning to his old stomping grounds and receiving applause from his former club's fans, Kolo Toure put aside his past grievances, smiling and raising his hands above his head to applaud the fans.

That evening, the Celtic took the next available flight back to Scotland.

After the plane landed, Kolo Toure called his brother Yaya Toure.

The two brothers from Ivory Coast had a very close relationship since childhood; they practically grew up wearing the same pair of pants.

When they were young, their family was poor and their mother couldn't afford many new clothes. The Toure would wear the clothes first, and when they were too small, they would be passed on to the Toure brother. That's how the two brothers were raised.

Fortunately, the children lived up to expectations and both grew up to become top professional players.

After each match, they would call each other to exchange thoughts and identify areas for improvement.

This season, both the older and younger brothers left the Top Five Leagues and moved away from the world stage, and their communication about football gradually decreased.

So when Yaya Toure, who was far away in Greece, received a call from his brother, he was quite surprised.

"What's wrong, bro? Did you get groined? Are you upset?"

"Hey bro, did you watch my game?"

"Oh dear, I don't have time to watch your match, but I did watch the highlights. Tang's nutmeg was unstoppable. He has that skill, plus a little bit of luck. It's undefendable, no need to worry about it."

"... That's not what I meant."

"Let me tell you something from the bottom of my heart, brother. I never thought I was old before, but now, as Celtic player returning to the Etihad, I really feel old."

"How so?"

"Look, how many of Mancini's teammates who led us to our first Premier League title back when I was at Manchester City are still around? Probably only Agüero and Hart on the bench! They're all gone. We're all old guys now."

"Haha, that's all in the past, brother. You're getting old, and so am I. No one can stay 20 forever, but there's always someone who's 20, like Tang. In four or five years, when Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are both old, the future of football will belong to him."

Kolo Toure paused on the other end of the phone, remaining silent for a long time. Yaya Toure thought the call had ended, but then he heard his brother say:

"You're too conservative, bro. I've been playing football for over a decade, I've seen it all. We've even faced Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo when they were 20. I have a feeling that in two years at the latest, or as soon as a year, he'll be the best in the world."