Mancini and Chivu Meet Again, Can the Former Benefactor Resolve Their Grudge?

[Oops! Agüero scored an own goal!]

He finally scored his second goal!

[Agüero's got some serious antics now? I don't remember him being like this!]

-[Not surprising, his fellow Argentina Icardi is quite the prankster, and he's also had his share of own goals, maybe he caught the crap, hahaha!]

The Manchester City players quickly offered Agüero a few words of comfort before returning to the intense match.

Guardiola remained calm.

No matter how much Conte shouted and jumped around, Guardiola only made one move – pressing his hands down, indicating that he wanted to control the ball.

Guardiola knew very well that the goal conceded was due to Agüero's reckless dribbling and subsequent loss of possession, which led to Hazard's shot.

Trying to force your way through with the ball at this point? Who do you think you are, Tang Long?

However, given that the own goal came from Agüero's valiant pursuit after losing possession, Guardiola wasn't too angry. Instead, he felt that Agüero had a strong sense of responsibility, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

You want to play defense? Fine, then I'll make you go back to playing defense!

Guardiola moved Agüero back to midfield to defend alongside Gündoğan, Ranocchia, and others, strengthening the central defense.

Chivu was constantly setting up the defensive line on the sidelines, reminding his players not to leave any gaps in their defense.

With the combined efforts of the head coach and assistant coaches, Manchester City withstood Chelsea's relentless attacks in the following minutes, and the Blues' four forwards failed to break through.

Manchester City ultimately secured a narrow 3-2 victory over Chelsea at home!

The moment the whistle blew, Guardiola finally raised his arms and shouted!

He was so happy that he almost forgot to shake hands with Conte.

Conte gave Guardiola a sinister glare, then stood there waiting for him. After Guardiola awkwardly extended his hands, Conte slapped his palms, forcefully shoving them away, and without a word, turned and left.

Chivu rebuked Conte and tried to argue with him, but Guardiola grabbed him.

"Never mind, Christian, let's go back."

Inside the changing room.

With one goal and one assist, Tang Long was selected as the best player of the match. However, there was only one protagonist: Agüero, who scored his first own goal in his professional career!

"Sergio, let me see! Did Hazard smash your little brother to pieces?"

Encouraged by his teammates, veteran Zabaleta stepped forward and tried to pull down Agüero's pants.

Within the entire Manchester City team, only he dared to Agüero.

Agüero blushed, clutching his pants and refusing to let go, shouting that he was fine. His impatient manner drew laughter from his teammates.

Tang Long laughed, "Agüero said he was going to score twice, and he really did it!"

"Christian!"

Chivu was walking in the players' tunnel when he heard someone call his name from behind.

The voice was so familiar that Chivu knew who it was even without turning his head.

He hesitated for a moment, then stopped.

Mancini was looking at him, his eyes full of kindness.

"Mr. Mancini, what brings you in?" Chivu said.

Mancini shrugged and smiled, saying, "This is Etihad. I've been here for three and a half years. I know all the staff here. I can go wherever I want; nobody will stop me."

The two found a corner on the steps, sat down, and started chatting.

"Are you adjusting well to your job here?" Mancini lit a cigarette.

Chivu joked, "What's there to adapt to or not? I'm an assistant coach anyway. I'm used to it at Inter Milan, the England national team, and now Manchester City. I just need to cooperate with the head coach to get the job done."

Mancini nodded, took a couple of puffs of his cigarette, crossed his legs on the step, and said:

"You're 36 years old this year, right? When I was your age, I was already the head coach of Fiorentina. But being a head coach isn't easy. You have to oversee the entire coaching staff, negotiate with the owner for money to buy players, and communicate with the team's star players. Ambitious coaches even want to control the entire locker room. Heh, it's not something just anyone can do."

Chivu thought Mancini was being sarcastic about his inability to be a head coach, so he frowned and remained silent for a long time.

At that moment, several staff members passed by and saw Mancini and Chivu sitting together, talking about something. They all cast curious glances at them.

Mancini greeted him warmly, "Give my regards to Guardiola!"

"Roberto, welcome back to the Etihad!" An elderly staff member seemed to know Mancini well.

Mancini tipped his hat to him in thanks and smiled happily.

"Don't do that. You smoke but won't even share a cigarette with me?" the staff member laughed.

"Here you go, Brooke," Mancini tossed him a pack of cigarettes. "When I left here, you said you were going to quit smoking. Looks like you failed."

At this moment, Chivu stood up and said goodbye to Mancini. Mancini pulled him back to sit down and chat for a while longer, so Chivu reluctantly sat down.

Mancini's humiliating remarks to Chivu in front of everyone in the meeting room deeply hurt Chivu, who then refused to be around him.

Mancini has highly valued Chivu since his time at Inter Milan.

Chivu initially served as an assistant coach for the youth team, but Mancini promoted him to the first team coaching staff as a technical analyst.

The Nani are hardworking and responsible, former football stars, and their professional skills are beyond question.

His film analysis was something Mancini had to watch at the first morning meeting after each match day.

In his later years at Inter Milan, Chivu became Mancini's de facto assistant coach.

Mancini even privately told his mentor, Eriksen, "Teacher, you know, I'm a striker by trade, so sometimes my thinking is too simplistic and crude, only thinking about scoring one more goal than the opponent. Chivu is a defender, and his perspective on the game is different from mine, so some of his views always inspire me. I'm very grateful to him!"

Mancini recalled that in the Harbor City at the time, the Sweden, who was then the port's manager, said this to him:

"Roberto, a forward coach needs a defense assistant coach to keep him in check from time to time, otherwise you'll become increasingly arrogant."

Mancini has definitely become arrogant!

After winning his first European title with Inter Milan, Mancini thought he knew exactly how to play cup competitions;

Unexpectedly, Mancini suffered a setback in the UEFA European Championship shortly after joining the England national team, losing to Iceland, Iceland with only 200,000 people. The English peninsula was in an uproar, and Mancini was subjected to a barrage of insults, with people calling him an old Italy liar and using the most offensive language imaginable.

"If we had listened to Chivu back then and given more playing time to Stones, would the outcome have been completely different?"

After driving Chivu away in a fit of anger, Mancini calmed down and regretted it.

The new assistant coach is a seasoned veteran of the England U19 coaching staff. His dedication to his work and his professional skills are worlds apart from Chivu's.

But what can be done about it?

Mancini couldn't bring Chivu back; he felt guilty towards the Romania, but out of pride, he didn't want to apologize to Chivu.

"Christian, I know you really want to be the head coach. Palermo's president, Zamparini, is a good friend of mine for many years. I've known him since I was fifteen. He was having coffee with me the other day and he was talking about changing coaches. Would you like to go? I can recommend you."