Tang Long Sends Barca to Europa League with One Kick, Cristiano Ronaldo's Hat-Trick, Taunting Lionel Messi From Afar?

Manchester is always blue!

This is the slogan that Manchester City fans have proudly chanted in recent years.

Who could have imagined that the landscape of football would change so rapidly in recent years?

The entire Premier League has undergone tremendous changes, most notably the Manchester duo.

More than a decade ago, when China player Sun Jihai was still playing for Manchester City, the local media outlet, the Manchester Evening News, asked Sun Jihai this question:

"Sun, Manchester United fans always call your Manchester City fans 'noisy neighbors,' I'm sure you've heard that. What do you think of this view?"

Back then, Sun Jihai could only purse his lips and think, "How can I watch it? Do you want me to sit and watch it, or lie down and watch it?"

Sun Jihai could only offer a vague excuse.

The phrase "noisy neighbors" has been a painful memory for Manchester City fans for many years.

The verbal battles between fans, with their constant bickering, mockery, and ridicule, have never stopped.

For two teams from the same city, Inter Milan and AC Milan always engage in heated verbal battles that are evenly matched and fiercely contested.

This is certainly because both Milan teams have a rich history, are comparable in the number of championships and international prestige, and their fans sometimes argue.

But a decade or so ago, what was there to argue about between Manchester's two giants—or rather, just two teams— Manchester United and Manchester City?

One is Manchester United, the Red Devils who established their dominance in the Premier League during the Ferguson era, winning countless championships and honors in domestic and European competitions;

The other one has never won the Premier League title and has been struggling to avoid relegation for years.

Therefore, Manchester United's mockery of Manchester City was completely one-sided and a complete suppression!

Manchester City fans occasionally protested or talked back, but their voices were so weak that they were only given the derisive title of "noisy neighbors," leaving them utterly dejected.

After all, football is a competitive sport, and everything is about results; the number of championships counts!

But who could have imagined that in the past ten years or so, the world would have changed so dramatically?

The Premier League has undergone an unprecedented upheaval!

First, Chelsea rose to prominence under Abramovich's management. Mourinho led this team, which had long hovered around UEFA Champions League qualification, to defeat Arsenal and Manchester United and win the Premier League title, breaking the original Premier League ecosystem.

The subsequent takeover of Manchester City by the Abu Dhabi United Group turned the British Isles upside down.

Welcome to Manchester!

Back then, Manchester City had a unique idea: they erected a huge billboard at the highway entrance from Manchester International Airport to the city center, with a picture of Tevez, who had just transferred from Manchester City Manchester United, in the background.

But just a month ago, this billboard changed.

The message is still "Welcome to Manchester," but the profile picture has changed to Tang Long!

Since leading Manchester City to the Premier League title and defeating their arch-rivals Manchester United four times, this 20-year-old has become Manchester's number one football symbol.

Whether it's Rooney, Agüero, Ibrahimovic, De Bruyne, or Icardi, who has left Manchester United and is on loan to Inter Milan, in today's era where traffic is king, their appeal and influence among fans have all been surpassed by Tang Long.

"We are progressing in both the league and the UEFA Champions League, and remain unbeaten so far this season."

"And where is Manchester United now?"

"Oh, sorry, they're almost 20 points behind us in the league, and they haven't even made it out of the UEFA Champions League group stage yet. It's hilarious."

The eye-catching statement by the Germany football media outlet Bild, that "there are only three players in modern football: Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Tang Long, each with their own system," has sparked heated discussions throughout Europe football.

Perhaps spurred on, the day after the Manchester City match, Real Madrid Cristiano Ronaldo Napoli 3-1 in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League Real Madrid of 16 Napoli, also at home. Cristiano Ronaldo scored all three of the team's goals, completing a hat-trick!

"Siu!"

When Cristiano Ronaldo scored his third goal in the 85th minute, helping his team come back from three goals down to defeat Napoli, and made his signature celebration, the entire Santiago Bernabeu erupted in cheers.

The moment Cristiano Ronaldo leaped high into the air and landed with his arms outstretched, all the fans shouted "Siu!" along with Cristiano Ronaldo!

"King of the UEFA Champions League!"

"Cristiano!"

But Cristiano Ronaldo wasn't satisfied. After finishing his celebration, he immediately called to his teammates to bring the ball out and continue the kickoff.

In his eyes, not only does he want to help the team score as many goals as possible to win against Napoli at home and seize the initiative in the two-legged tie, but more importantly, with the 10 goals he scored in the group stage, Cristiano Ronaldo has already scored 13 goals in the UEFA Champions League, quickly catching up with Tang Long in the UEFA Champions League top scorer list, and now he wants to overtake Tang Long!

Tang Long equaled Cristiano Ronaldo's world record of 11 goals in 6 UEFA Champions League group stage matches, leaving the Portugal star both shocked and furious.

"My record, how could it be broken by a 20-year-old? Ridiculous!"

But that's just Cristiano Ronaldo's personality. His anger is never expressed through dejected shouting; instead, he transforms anger into strength and uses actions to prove that he is the world's number one.

So when he was interviewed after the match and the reporter congratulated him on his hat-trick, Cristiano Ronaldo, who did not score any further goals, still looked sullen.

"Cristiano, have you noticed the recent reports in Bild? What's your assessment of Dom? You both have hat-tricks and braces, and you've both scored 13 goals in 7 UEFA Champions League games."

The reporter threw out this sentence as their very first question.

Cristiano Ronaldo's answer was brief and forceful; he coldly stated:

"I don't know what 'system' means; I only know that the player who can win the final championship is the best in the world!"

The reporter deliberately provoked a conflict by bringing up the second sensitive topic.

This topic has been ongoing in the world of football for seven or eight years now.

Countless people have been arguing about this topic, and many fans have even fought each other, fighting until they are bloodied and battered, just to find out who is right.

"Okay, let's not talk about Tang, let's talk about you and Lionel Messi. What do you think are the differences between your own system and Lionel Messi's system?"

Although the reporter asked the question in a very veiled manner, Cristiano Ronaldo could tell from the man's cunning eyes that he had ill intentions.

Cristiano Ronaldo has seen many big games, and his answers are always crisp and decisive, without any hesitation, yet subtly sharp.

"Sorry, you've gone off on a tangent. We just finished UEFA Champions League match, so let's talk about the UEFA Champions League instead."

This single sentence has once again stirred up countless controversies for Cristiano Ronaldo.

Cristiano Ronaldo mocks Lionel Messi, saying he can only play in the UEFA Europa League!

<A man of few words and ruthless actions; I'm playing in the Champions League, what are you playing for?>

<The UEFA Champions League King's answer exudes dominance! Cristiano Ronaldo over Napoli declares war on Lionel Messi!>

Amidst numerous media reports that prioritize sensationalism and clickbait for traffic, the situation remains largely unchanged.

Even the usually calm and objective UK left-wing newspaper, the Guardian, joined in the fun, but with a unique perspective, offering a headline that was quite amusing.

Why did Cristiano Ronaldo taunt Lionel Messi in the UEFA Champions League? Because Don's kick sent Barca to the UEFA Europa League!

The high-level match against Bayern also greatly benefited Tang Long.

In the past, Manchester City had always been able to dominate in the Premier League, even against strong opponents like Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, sometimes achieving resounding victories of 7-1 or 8-1, leaving their opponents frustrated and humiliated.

However, it was against Bayern that Tang Long truly felt the power of a formidable opponent.

This can be seen from the 2-1 scoreline. Although Tang Long achieved a complete victory in his duel with Lewandowski, he only scored one more goal than his opponent in the first leg, and Bayern also scored a valuable away goal.

"China fans are right, Ronaldo's luck in the draw was even worse than Hong Kong's foot. But it's not necessarily a bad thing. We're facing a strong opponent early on. If we can get past Bayern quickly, the rest of the journey might be much smoother."

Tang Long devoted all his rest time outside of training to the AI Cloud Training Ground.

Guardiola did not field Tang Long in the midweek league match, rotating him to conserve his energy.

Tang Long, sitting on the bench, didn't care about the match proceedings at all. He simply closed his eyes to rest and went to the AI Cloud Training Ground to train.

Some curious media outlets captured a picture of Tang Long leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed for an extended period, jokingly commenting, "This match is so boring, he's about to fall asleep!"

However, after numerous battles with the Sun, Tang Long had developed a "I'm not going to bother with you" attitude towards these Britain media outlets. They could report whatever they wanted, it was none of his business.

As for Bild's claim that Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Tang Long are the only three players in the world with their own system, Tang Long simply laughed it off.

"This statement shows a complete lack of understanding of football and is just hype. Football is never a one-man game. No matter how well an attacking player plays, if his teammates in the defense are terrible, it's all for nothing."

Conserving energy and preparing for the second leg against Bayern is the best approach.

Two days later, the entire Manchester City team boarded a flight to Munich.

At the airport, more than 300 die-hard Manchester City fans came to see off their team's heroes before their departure.

An elderly woman with white hair presented Tang Long with a bouquet of flowers.

"Young men, help us crush those Germany and bring the UEFA Champions League trophy back to Manchester!"