Front, Side, Back - Three Consecutive Nutmegs! Tang Long Toyed With His Opponent to Score the Winning Goal!
Son Heung-min, who arrived at Tottenham Hotspur with the reputation of being the top scorer for Cousins this season, has extremely high aspirations.
He was still savoring the iconic celebration gesture he had just made to the camera, his mind filled with the thrilling scene of him outjumping England international center-back Stones to head the ball into the net.
But just five minutes later, Manchester City equalized the score thanks to Tang Long's one-on-one chance!
Anyone with eyes could see that this goal was entirely due to Lloris's hasty long kick under pressure from Tang Long, falling into Manchester City's high-pressing trap.
But how could Son Heung-min dare to criticize Tottenham Hotspur's captain, Lloris?
He bullied the weak and feared the strong, venting his anger on the team's new Nagatomo Yuto.
"Changyou, what's wrong with you? You can't even head that ball? Are you a piece of trash?!"
Nagatomo Yuto also completely bewildered.
I made a high-speed run to push the opponent's right-back Zabaleta out of position and create space for the players in the middle. I never expected Lloris' long pass to hit me right on the head.
The opponent's Zabaleta was not only 6 centimeters taller than me, but also much heavier;
Besides, Zabaleta was challenging for the ball head-on, while I was with my back to goal; how could I possibly beat him?
Nagatomo Yuto just bowing to Son Heung-min, thinking, "I just gave you an assist, and now you're calling me trash? Do you have any conscience?"
He muttered to Son Heung-min with dissatisfaction, "Zabaleta is taller than me, what can I do!"
Son Heung-min persisted, retorting, "Who told you to be so short? Can't you grow taller?!"
Nagatomo Yuto was dumbfounded again, looking at Son Heung-min as if he were an idiot.
Hey South Korea buddy, I'm 30 years old already. What, do you think I can still grow taller? Go to Turkey for leg lengthening surgery?
Although Nagatomo Yuto has an outgoing personality, he actively integrated into the Tottenham Hotspur team's locker room environment after joining the Tottenham Hotspur.
But he did come from the prestigious Inter Milan, and his fame in Europe is no less than Son Heung-min's, and may even be greater!
The two started arguing fiercely.
Seeing that a physical altercation was about to break out, Tang Long rushed over before he could even celebrate.
He pulled Nagatomo Yuto aside, glanced at Son Heung-min- min, and then whispered to Nagatomo Yuto:
"Why are you arguing with this Korean? You've won the UEFA Europa League and the Coppa Italia with Inter Milan, what titles has Son Heung-min won? You're a champion player, you're a bigger name than him, if he treats you like this, just don't pass him the ball."
Even though he was still angry, Nagatomo Yuto found that Tang Long's words made some sense.
Before coming to the Premier League, I played for Inter Milan, a century-old Europe powerhouse. How many Asia players have ever played for a top Europe club?
You're just from Bayer Leverkusen, why are you acting so high and mighty?
Nagatomo Yuto cursed under his breath, then turned and walked back, thinking, "If I, Nagatomo, were to give you another chance, I'd truly be a useless piece of trash!"
Seeing this, China fans in the live broadcast room burst into laughter.
[Hilarious! Japan and South Korea joined forces to resist China, but after less than half an hour, they started fighting amongst themselves!]
China proactively intervened to mediate the dispute!
-[I just clicked on a pirated link to a South Korea broadcast and watched it. When Son Heung-min scored, the commentator was excitedly shouting "Seokmita!" (a Korean expression of excitement). When Tang Long equalized five minutes later, he remained silent for a full minute!]
However, after a minute and a half of silence...
The South Korea commentator finally spoke up.
"Son Heung-min opened the scoring for Tottenham Hotspur, but Tang Long quickly equalized."
"The competition to determine who is Asia's number one king continues."
"However, judging solely by those two goals, Son Heung-min is clearly still the better scorer!"
"Son Heung-min outjumped Stones to score with a Stones."
"On the other hand, Tang Long's attack was just a one-on-one chance with no one watching him!"
"Give Son Heung-min a shot like that 100 times, and he'll score 101 times. There's nothing surprising about it."
Of course, given the South Korea commentator's intelligence, he naturally couldn't see why, when Sterling headed the ball on, only Tang Long accurately found the landing point, while the other Tottenham Hotspur players just stood there dumbfounded.
The instant Sterling's head touched the ball, Tang Long's brain had already mapped out the trajectory of the ball's landing point, thanks to the AI System's prediction.
In addition, his speed is already fast, so once he gets going, he has an absolute advantage in position, and then his bicycle kick through the goal will be a natural outcome.
The score remained 1-1 until halftime.
At the start of the second half, Tang Long began to ponder the three lobbed dribbling tests given to him by the AI System.
He noticed that at the start of the second half, due to the aggressive high pressing of his teammates, Tottenham Hotspur's defense began to drop back, and their midfield and forward lines didn't push too far forward. As a result, Manchester City's players often used passing, cutting, and movement to compress the opponent into the area in front of the penalty box.
Nagatomo Yuto frequently ran into Manchester City's half in the first half, obediently returned to his left-back position to focus on defense and stopped pushing forward to attack.
In a 50/50 ground ball match, Agüero, who is about the same height Nagatomo Yuto, used his muscular physique to deliver a perfectly legal collision, sending Nagatomo Yuto flying out of the sideline advertising boards.
However, the referee blew his whistle, indicating that Agüero committed a foul!
The Argentina looked surprised and kept complaining to the referee that it was a legitimate collision.
Nagatomo Yuto, on the other hand, ran away without a word, looking visibly shaken.
Looking at the sweat-drenched and disheveled Nagatomo Yuto, Tang Long thought to himself:
"A lobbed pass to get past him, maybe we can bully him a bit and make things difficult for him."
Tang Long plays as a left winger, opposite Tottenham Hotspur's right-back Walker.
Walker was superior to Nagatomo Yuto in both height and speed, so Tang Long decided to switch positions and swap with Sterling, with the left winger playing on the right wing.
Sterling was Tang Long's underling; he would do whatever Tang Long told him to do.
Tang Long didn't even need to say a word; he simply gestured for Sterling to switch places, and Sterling scurried off to Tang Long's spot.
Seeing Tang Long suddenly switch positions without any tactical deployment, Chivu was also puzzled. He stepped forward and was about to tell Tang Long not to run around, but Guardiola stepped forward and grabbed Chivu's arm.
"Pep, is this your tactical plan?" Chivu asked curiously.
"Don't rush," Guardiola pondered, "Let's see what Don thinks."
Guardiola gave a talented player like Tang Long the same level of freedom that Lionel Messi enjoyed at Barcelona.
Guardiola realized that for players like Tang Long and Lionel Messi, any tactical adjustments could become a constraint at times, allowing players to have flashes of brilliance and rely on their individual abilities to determine the course of the game, which is sometimes the true charm of football.
Nagatomo Yuto saw Tang Long suddenly run over to face him, his heart tightened.
"What are you doing? Don't come any closer! Go find Walker and play!"
Tang Long laughed and said, "I still prefer playing with you."
Due to Tang Long's sudden positional change and the realization that Nagatomo Yuto's one-on-one defensive ability was weak, Tottenham Hotspur also sent defensive midfielder Alli to come over and provide support multiple times. So when facing two people double-teaming him, Tang Long still adopted a pragmatic approach, not deliberately trying to dribble past them, but instead passing the ball down the wing to break through and constantly creating opportunities for his teammates.
However, both Agüero and Sterling missed Tang Long's passes multiple times, which was a pity.
In the 70th minute of the second half, the opportunity finally arrived!
Tottenham Hotspur got a chance to breathe in their own half, dribbling forward layer by layer, with Nagatomo Yuto also pressing forward.
Son Heung-min had already run into the penalty area and signaled to Nagatomo Yuto to pass the ball, but at this moment Nagatomo Yuto full of resentment towards Son Heung-min for calling him useless.
Seeing that he's the only one in the penalty area, why would he pass the ball? Even if he did, you wouldn't be able to reach it.
He decided to pass the ball back to Alli.
However, the pass was too soft, Ranocchia, who came to defend, stretched out his long leg and intercepted it.
Nagatomo Yuto exclaimed in surprise, "Oh no!" Not wanting the opponent to press Ranocchia, he made a quick sprint back to his left-back position.
Physical fitness has always been the greatest strength of Japan full-backs, especially their exceptional ability to run back and forth, which is the biggest reason why Tottenham Hotspur valued them.
So when Ranocchia turned and passed the ball to Tang Long on the right wing, Nagatomo Yuto had already sprinted back 40 meters and was less than three meters away from Tang Long!
This defensive effort drew loud applause and cheers from Tottenham Hotspur manager Pochettino on the sidelines, who then turned to his assistant coach and said:
"See? Back then, none of you had high hopes for this little Japan guy, but I liked him. What I valued most was his aggressive defensive running ability."
Tang Long's eyes sharpened instantly as he watched the ball rolling towards him and Nagatomo Yuto closing in at high speed—now was the time!
Without hesitation, he gently flicked the ball downwards with his toe. The football seemed to be imbued with a spirit, drawing a beautiful arc in the air and gracefully flying over Nagatomo Yuto's head.
I chipped the ball over him!
[First ball-flipping test completed, position: front]
The first row of the Premier League stadium is very close to the pitch, only about two or three meters away. Tottenham Hotspur fans in the first row could see it clearly, and Tang Long's brilliant lobbed shot drew gasps from them.
Despite his short stature, Nagatomo Yuto is extremely agile and quick-witted.
After being beaten, he immediately turned around and closed in on Tang Long again, trying to regain possession of the ball.
Tang Long's lips curled up slightly, a sly glint in his eyes.
The ball was still bouncing after landing. He watched the ball bounce back up, then gently flicked it with the outside of his foot, sidestepped the ball, and once again easily got past Nagatomo Yuto who was rushing from the side!
[Second ball-flipping test detected, location: side]
These two consecutive lobbed passes ignited the Manchester City fans in the away stadium, sending them into a frenzy of cheers!
Meanwhile, Tottenham Hotspur fans at home were stunned. They never imagined that Tang Long could so easily outmaneuver Nagatomo Yuto twice in such a confined space.
Back when Tang Long and Nagatomo Yuto having a one-on-one battle, Son Heung-min had already sprinted back from inside the penalty area.
Normally, he wouldn't bother helping Nagatomo Yuto defend, but at this moment, he knew very well that he absolutely could not let Tang Long score again, otherwise the situation of this game would be completely out of control.
Son Heung-min sprinted forward and saw Tang Long twice dribble past his Japan teammate. His face instantly turned ashen, and he shouted, "You still say you're not a piece of trash!"
Tang Long heard Son Heung-min's curses, his arm tangled with Nagatomo Yuto's, and he dribbled the ball toward the corner flag.
When Son Heung-min closed in, Nagatomo Yuto and the other player forced Tang Long into a narrow area in the corner area.
Tang Long was caught in the middle, seemingly trapped in a desperate situation.
However, he remained calm and gently kicked the ball towards the flagpole.
The resilient corner kick bent, causing the ball to bounce slightly.
Before Nagatomo Yuto and Son Heung-min could react, Tang Long flicked his foot backward, executing a beautiful side-step lob, and dribbled past both players, completing his third lob pass!
[Third ball-flipping test detected, position: back to the goal]
"Ah, this!!!"
This stroke of genius stunned the entire stadium, prompting both Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur fans to gasp in amazement!
After successfully dribbling past his opponent, Tang Long dashed into the penalty area like a black lightning bolt.
Seeing this, Alderweireld immediately stepped forward to block him.
Tang Long remained calm and composed, executing a bicycle cut inside with the grace of a crane, easily getting past the reckless Alderweireld.
With another swift sideways movement, he leaped into the air, dodging Vertonghen's sliding tackle.
Then, with a gentle flick of his left foot, the football, bathed in the London afternoon sun at 4:30, flew gracefully into the top left corner of the goal like a shimmering golden butterfly!