Serie A 9th? Fans' rotten eggs thrown at the team bus!

The squad list for Inter Milan's home match against Genoa in the 11th round of Serie A has been announced.

It is the same as usual.

In faraway China.

Some die-hard Inter Milan fans have also seen the list.

No one noticed that the name Tang Long appeared at the very end of this 21-man squad list.

Everyone's attention was focused on the names of key players like Guarin, Icardi, and Kovacic.

Fans who have watched football for a long time know.

You only need to pay attention to the first dozen or so players on the squad list.

The ones at the back are all substitutes, and many of them are just there to make up the numbers, with no chance of getting on the pitch at all.

However, a few people still noticed a strange name at the end of the list.

[Tunn]

"Who is this number 99, Tunn?"

In the Inter Milan circle on the famous domestic football app Dongqiudi.

Someone posted a curious thread about this surname.

"Ton? Tun? How do you even pronounce this..."

"No idea, probably from some youth academy tier, never heard of him."

"Just look at the number, he's clearly a youth player making up the numbers, don't know him!"

Inter Milan first-team office.

Head coach Mancini, with his greying temples, has a bit of a headache.

He is repeatedly watching the previous match on his computer—the 10th round of Serie A, where Inter Milan lost 0:3 away to Sampdoria!

Watching it has deepened the crow's feet at the corners of Mancini's eyes!

"My God, how could they play so poorly? Is this the level of players worthy of playing for Inter Milan?"

Mancini's exclamation revealed a hint of confusion.

He had been away from Inter Milan for too long.

The current Inter Milan is no longer the Inter Milan he was familiar with!

2004–2008.

Mancini coached Inter Milan for four full years and won three Serie A titles!

In the 2006–2007 season, he set a club record of 97 points in a single Serie A season, making him a legendary coach for Inter Milan.

However, due to dismal performances in the Champions League for many consecutive years.

In the summer of 2008, he was fired by Moratti.

Subsequently, the Italian manager headed north to the Premier League to join Manchester City!

Under his leadership, the Blue Moon performed the 93:20 miracle in 2012, scoring a last-second winner against Queens Park Rangers in the final round!

They edged out their cross-town rivals, the Red Devils Manchester United, to win the first Premier League title in the club's history.

And during those years.

Inter Milan first reached the pinnacle of their history with a treble under the coaching of Mourinho.

But afterwards, Benitez, Leonardo, Gasperini, Stramaccioni, Mazzarri...

These coaches were like a revolving door, leaving only faint traces on Inter Milan's coaching roster.

In short, the results were dismal!

In fact, since 2012.

Inter Milan has not once qualified for the Champions League.

Before Mancini took over.

Under Mazzarri's management, Inter Milan was ranked only 9th after the first 9 rounds of the 2014–15 season.

Never mind competing for the title—even securing a Champions League spot for the following season was in jeopardy!

Seeing the former Serie A hegemon gradually degenerate into a mid-table team.

Inter Milan owner Thohir decisively terminated Mazzarri's contract and chose to bring back his old servant, Mancini.

As the saying goes, a good horse does not turn back to graze on old grass.

But Mancini was also happy to accept this invitation for a second stint.

After all, his coaching experience at Galatasaray in the Turkish Super League the previous year had not gone smoothly, and his relationship with the club's management was quite tense.

At the prime age of 50, Mancini needed a significant coaching position to prove his value once again.

And so, after six years, he returned once again to the familiar Serie A.

Mancini was faced with the mess left behind by Mazzarri.

Taking over midway through the season, he was filled with ambition.

He wanted to lead Inter Milan back to the way they were six years ago, the invincible hegemon he had coached on the Serie A stage!

However, his very first match after accepting the appointment was a crushing blow!

Inter Milan suffered a 0:3 defeat away to Sampdoria.

The consequence was that he started smoking cigars again after having quit for two years.

Although puffing away on smoke couldn't alleviate the gloom in his heart, it was a way to distract and vent, and the swirling smoke in front of him perhaps served to hide his embarrassment.

In this match, the game was one-sided, with the Nerazzurri completely suppressed by the Sailors.

And that wasn't even the worst of it.

What was worse was that this match also cost Inter Milan two key players—starting strikers Osvaldo and Icardi were both injured.

Now, the team had only two other strikers left.

One was the 33-year-old Argentine veteran Palacio.

The other was the 17-year-old young forward Bonazzoli.

Looking at these two cards in his hand, one old and one young, Mancini felt a headache coming on!

With this lineup returning home, could they take three points from Genoa?

Forget three points, even one point seemed difficult...

At exactly 6:00 PM local time in Milan.

The Inter Milan team bus slowly drove toward the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza.

With one hour and 45 minutes left until kickoff, the players arrived at the stadium early to begin their warm-ups.

Sitting at the back of the bus, Tang Long looked excitedly out the window, where the streets on both sides were packed with Inter Milan fans wearing blue and black jerseys.

Just as Tang Long wanted to wave to the fans through the window, a rotten egg splattered against the glass with a thwack.

"Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!"

Several more eggs were thrown over.

"Do you have any conscience! Do you feel any shame toward us fans?"

"We're already ninth in Serie A; do we need to be relegated to nineteenth by the end of the season?"

"Have some self-respect! If you can't even beat Genoa today, the team might as well disband!"

"You can't score up front, and you keep conceding in the back. Are you even playing football? It's an eyesore, a waste of my ticket money!"

"Thohir, get out! Old Moratti, please come back and take charge of Inter!"

The fans' insults came crashing down like a tidal wave.

Sitting next to Tang Long, Inter Milan's third-choice goalkeeper Berni coughed awkwardly twice.

He leaned over Tang Long and reached out to pull the curtains shut.

"Kid, don't mind them. What the fans are saying has nothing to do with you; just watch the game from the bench.

Here, put on my headphones and listen to some new rock music from the States, heh heh..."

Uncle Berni was quite caring toward Tang Long, telling him a lot about the first team along the way.

After all, one was the team's third-choice goalkeeper who wouldn't get a single minute of playing time all season.

The other was just a kid from the youth team along for the ride, enjoying the perk of watching the game for free.

The two naturally gravitated toward each other.

"Uncle Berni, how do you think we'll play this match? It's our home game, we should be focusing on the attack, right?"

Tang Long asked Berni tentatively.

However, Uncle Berni gave him a negative look.

"Oh, attack? Attack my foot!"

Berni glanced at the back of head coach Mancini, who was sitting at the front of the bus, and then lowered his voice.

"I've been around, kid, let me tell you, what's giving Mancini a headache right now is the team's terrible defense.

It's like the team is cursed; injuries have been constant since the start of the season.

Guarin, Hernanes, M'Vila, and Juan have been in and out with injuries—it's truly infuriating!

After 10 rounds of the league, just 10 rounds, do you know how many goals we've conceded?"

Tang Long immediately replied:

"15, I checked the stats."

"Exactly, 15!" Berni slapped his thigh, his expression somewhat agitated.

"In Serie A, a league built on defense, if we continue to concede goals at this rate, the team will absolutely never achieve the goal set at the start of the season: qualifying for the Champions League.

You have to realize, because of our league's abysmal performance in European competitions in recent years, Serie A only has three Champions League spots this season, you know~"

Berni took the headphones off Tang Long's head and put them on his own, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Sigh, top three, the top three!

Juventus, AC Milan, Napoli, Atalanta, Lazio, Fiorentina—who can we actually beat?

I've played professional football for over a decade, and I've finally seen through it: in Serie A, if you want to win, you have to play it safe. If you can't hold on, you won't get any points."