The Reds vs. The Blues! Milner: You think you deserve third for the Ballon d'Or?
In the 17th round of the Premier League, Manchester City will host Liverpool at home!
This is the last battle before Christmas.
This season's schedule is quite unusual. Manchester City faced a series of strong teams in the rounds before Christmas. They had just finished playing Manchester United and were about to face the Reds.
"Is this deliberately making it harder for us to win the Christmas title, you sons of bitches, the Football Association!"
The complaints Manchester City fans made before the season started now seem like nothing at all.
After the 16th round of the Premier League, Manchester City still leads second-placed Chelsea by 5 points.
Winning at home against Liverpool, taking a 5-point lead into Christmas, and then securing the mid-season championship – that's what Guardiola wants for his players.
Inside the locker room, everyone sat quietly, listening to Guardiola's pre-match instructions.
At this moment, they must remain absolutely silent. There is only one leader: Guardiola!
"Listen up, everyone. Klopp is a very tough guy. I knew he was tough when I was in the Bundesliga. Although Liverpool won't pose a threat to our Premier League title race this season, they'll definitely fight tooth and nail for an UEFA Champions League spot. In this match, everyone be on your toes and don't let this go."
Guardiola glared at Thiago. "Especially you, Thiago, you need to be more active in your running, or else, you know what will happen."
"And you, Stones," Guardiola clenched his fist and waved it in front of the local defender's nose, "Be tougher physically, be smarter with your tackles, remember what Coach Chivu told you in training, and do as he said!"
"Robertson, your timing for your runs is still problematic..."
"Gündoğan, you can push forward, but you absolutely cannot lose your position. You can't let Ranocchia face the opponent's counter-attacks alone..."
Inside the locker room at the Etihad stadium.
Guardiola spoke to almost every single one of the starting players.
Constantly point out their shortcomings, reminding them to take their opponents seriously and not to let their guard down.
The only thing he said to Tang Long was, "Tang, Liverpool's tackling is very fierce. You must be careful not to get injured. There is no winter break in the Premier League, and our matches are very packed."
Tang Long nodded. "Don't worry, Coach, I know how to deal with aggressive teams. I have experience."
"That's good, that's good," Guardiola smiled with satisfaction. "Back when I was at Barca, that's how the opponents treated Lionel Messi. Now in the Premier League, that's how they're treating you. Oh, I'm getting off-topic. Everyone, jump a few steps, jump up, and come on!"
Tang Long stood in the center circle, his foot on the ball, looking at the bustling Etihad Stadium.
Every time the game kicks off at home, a sense of pride wells up inside me!
Thanks to the team's excellent performance this season, every match at the Etihad Stadium has been sold out, with not a single empty seat.
Even tourists from other places come here specifically to see Tang Long, and scalpers are driving up ticket prices. A large portion of these tourists are here to see Tang Long.
CEO Berrada saw a business opportunity and began communicating with the Manchester City Hall about expanding the Etihad Stadium, increasing the seating capacity from 55,097 to 75,000, matching Old Trafford, thus generating more ticket revenue.
At this moment, the blue ocean surges and ripples, a wave of people created by Manchester City fans...
"Haha, Milner ran to the back, look!"
Following Agüero's hand, Tang Long turned his head and saw that Milner was not in the attacking midfield position, but had moved to the right back position.
How should we treat this former teammate well?
The referee blew his whistle, and Tang Long, without thinking, passed the ball to Agüero and ran towards the left winger position.
Bang!
Just one minute into the game, Tang Long fired a shot from the left flank!
The football hurtled toward the goal like a cannonball, but missed by a meter and flew toward the stands.
Tang Long's move was an experiment with the fusion skill he had just learned, namely [Tiger Spreads Wings], which combines [Tiger Shot] and [Spreads Tiger Spreads Its Wings Winged Shot].
Although the shot had the power of Tiger Shot, it was a straight line, lacking the elusive trajectory of Winged Shot. Goalkeeper Mignolet correctly predicted the route and made no attempt to save it.
Milner, who was marking Tang Long, yelled at him, "Is this the level of the third-best Ballon d'Or? What a terrible shot!"
Tang Long looked at Milner, and their eyes met, a crackling of firelight igniting in the air.
The two had already clashed last season.
Remember when Tang Long came to Manchester City? Under Pellegrini, he mainly played as an attacking midfielder, which squeezed out Milner's playing time as the starting attacking midfielder last season.
Milner is a tackling attacking midfielder; how can he compare to Tang Long, who possesses exquisite technique, outstanding tactical vision, and frequently makes brilliant anticipations?
He lost his starting position.
In order to qualify for the UEFA European Championship, Milner left Manchester City with a heavy heart and had to accept a pay cut to join Liverpool.
"Is your head alright?" Tang Long asked with a smile.
Milner tensed up, the pain of being knocked unconscious by Tang Long's shot surging back into his mind.
But the England just smiled coldly, "Don, do you know why I'm playing right-back? I specifically asked Klopp for that position. I'm here to stop you. I want to see what kind of player the third-place Ballon d'Or d'Or winner is."
Tang Long was surprised for a moment, then gave him a thumbs up, "Okay, then Merry Christmas in advance."
The game started with Manchester City playing their familiar rhythm: Liverpool focused on defense while Manchester City attacked.
In the 26th minute, Gündoğan, Thiago, Ranocchia passed the ball around, taking full advantage of the width created by the two full-backs, before passing it to Tang Long on the left wing.
Tang Long waited for a long time, and when the ball slowly rolled towards him, he did not take a step forward to receive it as usual, but instead glanced at Milner.
Milner, seeing that Tang Long didn't move, wisely refrained from lunging at him and instead positioned himself in advance, thinking:
"Trying to trick me into robbing you? Kid, you're seriously underestimating me!"
The 30-year-old Milner had plenty of Premier League experience. He knew that Tang Long's dribbling on the wing was characterized by extremely fast acceleration and a perfect combination of footwork and body feints. Once he lost his balance first, he would definitely be beaten. So he simply stayed put and observed what would happen next.
Upon seeing Tang Long receive the ball, the fans in the first and second rows of the stands behind him shouted:
"Pass him!"
"Tang, go past him and knock on the door!"
Tang Long dribbled the ball slowly towards Milner.
With a left step, his left foot circled the ball, executing a skillful Step Over, while his right foot flicked inward with the outside of his foot, shifting his body weight in the same way.
Step Over!
Milner was initially thrown off balance, but he didn't lose his center of gravity. He reacted immediately to the second attack and quickly closed in on Tang Long.
Their arms were entangled together.
"Get out of here!"
Milner wouldn't allow Tang Long to continue cutting inside, so he slammed his shoulder into Tang Long!
Tang Long could have dodged, but his opponent was coming at him so aggressively that he decided not to dodge and instead went head-to-head with him!
Bang!
The two were thrown back simultaneously.
Given Tang Long's current strength, he's on par with Milner. Plus, Milner is suspected of fouling by jumping up and ramming into Tang Long, and he actually managed to push Tang Long away a bit.
However, Tang Long's strength lies in his fast pace. He stumbled a step, but his center of gravity remained like that of a roly-poly toy, and he shot as soon as he lifted his foot!
Seeing Tang Long suddenly make a shooting motion, Milner had no time to react and was secretly shocked:
"He looks so much like Ronaldo! You just can't knock him down!"