Nie Weiping Backs Tang Long: "Soccer is More Interesting Than Go!" Agüero Gets His Wish!

Inside the Go academy named after himself, Go master Nie Weiping is playing Go.

Although he was playing chess, he was actually quite restless.

Because the TV at the dojo was showing the Manchester City vs. Chelsea match.

Old Master Nie's eyes kept drifting towards the television.

Nie Weiping once said that if he had to rank his personal hobbies, football would be first, bridge second, and Go would only be third.

Since Tang Long's meteoric rise in Europe football, Coach Nie has never missed a single one of Tang Long's matches.

I even get up in the early hours of the morning to watch the UEFA Champions League.

In his own words, "It's not easy for China to produce a great football star. Tang Long is a once-in-a-century talent. I'm getting old, so I'll enjoy watching football as long as I can. If any of you don't let me watch football or Tang Long, then don't bother asking me to play Go either!"

The commentator's voice was screaming on the television.

"Tang Long!"

"Tang Long has scored!"

"What an incredible world-class goal!"

"A lob shot directly from outside the penalty area—no, a lob shot directly from the sky outside the penalty area!"

Snap!

A black chess piece fell from Nie Weiping's hand onto the chessboard, smashing a white chess piece.

The opposing player was startled. "Teacher, what's wrong with you?!"

Nie Weiping's face turned bright red as he watched Tang Long leap into the air and unleash a powerful lob shot that found the back of the net!

"Hahaha! Just as I expected!"

With such a magnificent scene unfolding before him, how could Nie Weiping possibly care about playing chess with his students?

He stood up abruptly, and a series of loud claps echoed throughout the chess academy, leaving all the disciples looking on in astonishment.

They were used to it; whenever the Premier League was on, the teacher would turn on the TV in the dojo.

Playing Go requires a quiet environment, but the teacher told them that he deliberately turned on the sound to test whether they could maintain their composure amidst external distractions.

Of course, everyone just laughed it off, knowing that Mr. Nie was just making excuses for himself to watch the game.

There weren't many people at the Go academy in the evening, so no one had any objections.

However, they had never seen Nie Lao so excited while watching the game. He even knocked over the box containing the Go stones in front of him, scattering the stones all over the ground.

Everyone curiously gathered around, looking up at the television with Nie Weiping.

After witnessing Tang Long's whip kick in mid-air, these chess players, who usually only played chess quietly and rarely participated in strenuous sports, were all wide-eyed with astonishment at Tang Long's elegant physical movements.

"Footballs can be kicked in the air; I thought they were always played on the ground."

"Is this the Tang Long that Elder Nie often mentions?"

"What a strange pose, it feels a bit like Taekwondo?"

Nie Weiping was still clapping and laughing, extremely happy. The students had only ever seen this expression on his face in faded photos of him winning championships when he was young.

After laughing, Old Nie's face stiffened, his body suddenly trembled, and he collapsed due to dizziness!

The disciples quickly helped him onto the sofa and inserted the readily available oxygen machine into their teacher's nose.

After taking a few breaths of oxygen, Elder Nie gradually Su Xing, and all his disciples breathed a sigh of relief.

With a clatter, Nie Weiping flung open his folding fan, revealing it to everyone. His disciples all saw four large characters written on it:

[The Divine Kick]

After recognizing it as the teacher's own calligraphy, one of the students said, "Teacher, please take care of yourself. Football is just twenty people chasing a ball, don't get too excited..."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the disciple was struck heavily on the head by a fan, crying out "Ouch!" and clutching his head.

"You've probably gotten stupid from playing chess," Nie Weiping said disdainfully. "Football is much more interesting than Go! Thirty years ago, when I was playing bridge with Lao Deng, I said the same thing!"

"I meant, I was worried that you'd get too excited watching the game, which wouldn't be good for your health," the disciple said, sounding aggrieved.

Nie Weiping chuckled dryly, "Come on, when I'm coaching a chess novice like you, my emotions get more easily agitated. Look at the blunders you just made!"

Everyone followed their gaze to the chessboard, and indeed, there was a white piece placed in a very abrupt position, which was a terrible move.

"Watching Tang Long play Go will help you. He's made some Divine Kick. When will you be able to make a Divine Move?"

After much thought, Nie Weiping stood up and said to one of his disciples:

"We're going to France next month to exchange ideas with Europe chess players. Book me a flight to Manchester; I want to go to Manchester City's home stadium to watch a football match."

He walked straight to the study, spread out paper and inkstone, poured ink, and began to write furiously.

Back on the court.

A few minutes later, Manchester City won a corner kick. Ranocchia headed the ball over Cahill and scored!

This is Ranocchia's third direct goal from a corner kick this season, an astonishing efficiency, and his goal tally even surpasses that of many forwards.

Conte has been pushed to the brink, facing a desperate situation with no way out!

Lower back, upper forward!

Batshuayi replaced Alonso to strengthen the attack.

Chelsea have fielded a four-striker formation!

"Hazard, Costa, Pedro, and the newly substituted Batshuayi, the four forwards are besieging Manchester City!"

"Batshuayi shoots!"

"Bravo has made a diving save!"

"What a pity. If he had scored with his first touch, it would have been just like Tang Long's substitute appearance this season."

Chelsea have been awarded a corner kick.

Agüero in a bad mood.

He stared at the ticking clock at the Etihad Stadium, thinking, "Counting the time, there are less than ten minutes left. When will I get my second goal? Am I going to only score one goal again?"

In fact, Tang Long did not have Agüero.

Throughout the match, Agüero with at least three opportunities, but the Argentina only capitalized on one. Therefore, Agüero didn't blame Tang Long, but rather lamented his own poor shooting.

To motivate his teammates' attacking enthusiasm, Agüero frequently dropped back to receive the ball and signal the formation to push forward.

However, haste makes waste, and you can't eat hot tofu if you're impatient.

Often, strikers who are eager to score just can't seem to find the net; the more anxious they are, the less likely they are to succeed. On the contrary, things often turn out unexpectedly, which is both frustrating and amusing.

"Stay focused, don't let your guard down!" Captain Kompany shouted at his teammates to pay attention to their positions.

At this moment, Fabregas took the corner kick, and the ball flew high, arcing through the air.

Eager to launch a quick counter-attack, Agüero blindly dribbled forward, taking too long a step and letting the ball drift too far from his body, allowing the alert Kante to intercept it instantly.

After gaining possession, Chelsea immediately launched a second attack, with Kante quickly passing the ball to Hazard.

Agüero felt a surge of anger and thought to himself, "I lost the ball, I have to get it back!" He turned and ran back.

"Hazard, Hazard and Kolarov one-on-one."

I took quick, light steps past him!

"Hazard!"

"Bang on the door!!!"

The commentator practically screamed those two words.

The audience's hearts were in their throats, and all eyes were fixed on the football flying towards the goal.

"Oh dear, that ball was clearly kicked wide..." He had barely uttered that remark when...

"Huh?" A gasp of surprise erupted from the entire audience!

"They've made it in!?"

The commentator's voice was filled with disbelief.

"If I'm not mistaken, Hazard's shot hit Agüero's groin during his sliding tackle, then deflected and went into the net," the commentator quickly added.

"The distance was simply too close; the goalkeeper really couldn't react in time."

"But it was an own goal!"

Bravo stared at Agüero with a resentful look, Kompany and Stones were completely dumbfounded.

How did he, a striker, end up in this position?

If we hadn't blocked it, the ball would have gone straight out of bounds.

Agüero got up from the ground, covered his groin, and stood alone in the wind, bewildered.

Hazard chuckled as he retrieved the ball from the goal, deliberately running past Agüero and whispering to him, "Thanks, bro!"

When the words "[owngoal]" appeared on the Etihad screen.

Agüero's legs seemed nailed to the spot, his hands were buried in his deep hair, and his face was full of pain.

"Ah... why did this happen...?"