novelraw Chapter 556 - 381: Icardi and De Bruyne Fell Out! Agüero’s Goal Count Has Caught Up With Me!
Chapter 556 - 381: Icardi and De Bruyne Fell Out! Agüero’s Goal Count Has Caught Up With Me!
Icardi’s home in Manchester.
For this Manchester City vs Sunderland match, Icardi pulled his good friend, De Bruyne, to watch at home on his TV.
Manchester City was playing the late game; Manchester United had already finished their early match.
Icardi scored twice at London’s White Hart Lane, helping Manchester United cleanly defeat their opponent 2-0 and secured three points.
The person who provided him with two assists was the Belgian seated next to him, De Bruyne.
"Kevin, take a look at Tang’s pass, how he and Agüero communicated with a two-up-one header in the air? In the last match against Tottenham, there was a similar play. I headed the ball to you, you tried to stop it with your foot, and the outcome was the defender surrounded us, and the ball was lost!"
Icardi’s hand shot up high and quickly came down, smacking heavily on De Bruyne’s thigh, startling him into springing up from the couch.
De Bruyne rubbed his reddened, throbbing thigh, looking at Icardi in disbelief.
Thinking to himself, it’s absurd, I’ve provided you with two assists, and you’re still criticizing me?
"This play by Tang wasn’t anything special. Even if he passed back to Agüero, the goal wasn’t scored by Agüero, but by Navas on the wing."
De Bruyne began a detailed analysis of Manchester City’s goal from the perspective of a midfielder orchestrator for Icardi.
He pointed out that Agüero demonstrated excellent mobility in this attack; after pulling away from the penalty area, he coordinated with Tang Long for a two-up-one in the air;
The most commendable part is your Argentine compatriot didn’t force a shot despite not having an ideal opportunity; instead, he passed to Silva on the wing, who then crossed high for Navas to finish with a push shot.
The entire attack was executed with a good sense of layering!
So, he countered Icardi by saying:
"Pay close attention to Agüero’s playing style. He has a wide range of activity, capable of playing both inside and outside the penalty area, while you always linger inside the penalty area. Though you’re closer to the goal, it doesn’t help much with the team’s overall offensive layering."
At this point, Icardi’s wife Wanda, dressed in a sexy lace nightgown, brought out a freshly squeezed orange juice from the kitchen with a smile, handed it to De Bruyne, winked at him, and then went back to the bedroom to sleep.
De Bruyne took a sip of the cool orange juice, feeling elated.
He finished his analysis in one go and then looked at Icardi expectantly.
He originally thought that after his explanation, Icardi’s understanding of the forward role would deepen, but to his surprise, he was met with disdain!
"Pull out of the penalty area? My goodness, Kevin, I can’t believe you’re saying this to me!"
"I’m a forward; the meaning of being a forward is scoring goals. If I don’t stand closer to the goal in the penalty area, how will I score?"
"As for what you said about ball distribution outside the penalty area?"
"Come on! This is something you midfielders should be doing. I can’t believe I was kindly reminding you to learn passing from Tang Long, and instead, you’re educating me, how outrageous!"
De Bruyne’s eyes widened, his mouth opened and closed; for a moment, he didn’t know what to say.
He genuinely couldn’t believe Icardi, who commands a price tag of over a hundred million euros and has won the Serie A Golden Boot, could have such a shallow understanding of football, akin to a youth team member.
"Mauro, is scoring really that important to you? In my view, the team’s victory is..."
Just halfway through, Icardi, as if sitting on hot coals, immediately jumped up and made a commanding pause gesture, then hurriedly pulled out his phone with an eager expression, opening the real-time updated European Golden Boot rankings.
"Have you forgotten the promise you made when you came to Manchester United, Kevin? Look closely with wide open eyes!"
"Suarez is ranked first; he has already scored 26 league goals, C Luo is second with 25 goals, and I’m only third with 21 goals!"
De Bruyne glanced and responded indifferently:
"Isn’t third enough? Agüero, Bony, Lewandowski are all behind you, plus, if I keep feeding you, your Premier League Golden Boot is practically guaranteed this year, and you’re still not satisfied?"
In De Bruyne’s view, for a young player like Icardi to get the Premier League Golden Boot in his first season in the league was an achievement few players have managed across the Premier League.
Hearing De Bruyne say this, Icardi got anxious again, hopping in place like a grasshopper, stomping the floor in his slippers loudly three times!
"Back then at Inter Milan, Tang Long said he could help me get the European Golden Boot, but it didn’t happen!"
"Now I’ve come to Manchester United, and you said you could help me get the European Golden Boot, but now you say the Premier League Golden Boot is enough?"
"Then what’s the point of Manchester United having you? You’re not even as good as Tang, at least at Inter, he could take my suggestions seriously!"
De Bruyne’s face turned red, flustered, he ignored the fact he was in someone else’s home, grabbed the orange juice on the table, and smashed it against Icardi’s TV!
The LCD screen flickered instantly, splitting Tang Long’s running figure into several segments.
Icardi was startled, wiped the orange juice off his face, pointed at De Bruyne, shouting:
"This is my house, how dare you smash my TV? Compensate for it!"
De Bruyne grumbled a reply:
"Give me back the 11 assists I provided, and I’ll pay for your TV!"
Having said that, he slammed the door and left, leaving a stunned Icardi standing there in disbelief.
"What’s the point of Manchester United buying you?"
On his way home, De Bruyne grew increasingly agitated, the more he thought, the angrier he got!
Listening to Icardi’s tone, it felt like Manchester United brought him in solely to serve one person, helping him get the European Golden Boot? Such a joke!
Do you think you’re Messi or C Luo?
Remembering on the field, facing many excellent long-shot opportunities, he would always choose to pass to Icardi.
Icardi also had his share of missed chances, even some glaring misses!
De Bruyne never criticized him, instead consistently encouraged him. Reflecting on the efforts made on the pitch, only to receive the remark "What’s the point of Manchester United having you" from Icardi.
The Belgian’s mindset became a bit unbalanced, feeling life was not worth it!
Some words weren’t even said to Icardi face-to-face.
"You keep praising Agüero and Tang Long’s two-up-one in the air, but do you possess the sense of teamwork Agüero has? I want to play with you, but it’s impossible to execute, brother!"
...
In the end, in the 25th round, Manchester City defeated their opponent Sunderland 2-0.
And in the following 26th round against Aston Villa, they won 3-1.
In this match, Agüero scored a hat-trick, with one assist from Silva, one from Tang Long, and another was a penalty he created himself!
After 26 rounds, Agüero had scored 20 league goals in the Premier League top scorers list!
The media was amazed; who could have thought that after a month-long injury recovery, Agüero’s goal-scoring instincts were even sharper than before his injury.
During Agüero’s consistent goal-scoring run, Tang Long’s contributions were also undeniable.
Out of these 20 league goals, 13 were from Tang Long’s assists.
The other 7 goals often came from Tang Long’s penultimate or antepenultimate pass.
It could be said that without Tang Long’s presence, Agüero’s goals would not have been possible.
Meanwhile, during the rounds when Agüero continuously scored, Icardi went silent!
Perhaps as a result of an unpleasant incident with De Bruyne at home last time, the Belgian midfielder, in subsequent matches, intentionally or unintentionally reduced his connections with Icardi.
Manchester United, although scoring 6 goals in the last two rounds of the Premier League, had two goals from De Bruyne, two from Rooney, and the remaining two from headers by the central defenders.
It was the first time since joining Manchester United that Icardi failed to score in two consecutive matches!
Although Manchester City’s lead over Manchester United in the standings remained at 4 points, in the Premier League top scorers’ list, Icardi’s lead was continuously being eroded by Agüero from behind.
By the end of the 26th round of the Premier League, Icardi had scored 21 league goals, with Agüero just one goal behind.
Icardi was even more displeased because the Premier League Golden Boot was unstable, let alone in the competition for the European Golden Boot, where he was falling behind rivals like Suarez, Lewandowski, Messi, and C. Luo.
This unfavorable situation left Icardi in great distress.
Watching his rivals’ goal tallies rapidly increase while he remained stagnant, could you take it?
Failing to score on the field indirectly affected Icardi’s daily life performance.
Wanda was also very unhappy with Icardi!
Despite giving her husband countless black eyes, Wanda’s angry scolding became louder each day.
"Mauro, what’s wrong with you lately? It’s bad enough that you can’t score on the field, but even with me, your legs are weak. Honestly, have you been messing around with those bitches who message you on Instagram, have you?"
"From today on, all your pay cards must be submitted!"
"I’ll give you a 1500-Euro monthly allowance."
"What, you say it’s too little? Ha-ha, a man only progresses if he stays hungry, Mauro, I’m doing this for your own good. I’m your agent; I’m saving money for you, and you should be thankful!"
...
In the subsequent FA Cup fifth-round match, a fully reserved Manchester City faced Chelsea. Both teams were goalless by the 85th minute.
There was no intention to let Tang Long play, as they wanted him to prepare for the Champions League Round of 16 three days later, but an unsatisfied Pellegrini decided to take a gamble at the last moment. Instead of subbing in Agüero, he subbed in Tang Long, taking off Silva.
Unexpectedly, Tang Long had an immediate impact!
His pendulum dribbling became more adept, increasingly reminiscent of Ronaldo’s peak years.
Just two minutes after coming on, he dribbled past several opponents from the edge of the penalty area, charging fiercely and unstoppably into the box!
Courtois, seeing he was about to be dribbled past, stretched a leg in desperation and tripped Tang Long, resulting in a penalty!
With Agüero not on the field, Tang Long was the primary penalty taker.
This time there were no Panenka penalties, no eye deceits, just a simple strike to the left. Even though Courtois judged the direction correctly, extending his arm and even grazing the ball with his fingertips, he still couldn’t stop the ball from bouncing into the net off the inside of the post.
Duang~
The angle was too tricky, no deity could save it!
Courtois knelt on the ground, punching it in frustration.
For every goalkeeper, it’s a terribly sour moment to get a hand to the ball but still fail to stop it entering the net.
When the whistle blew, all the players rushed to Tang Long to celebrate their advancement!
Witnessing their team being eliminated, the spectators at Stanford Bridge could only direct a wave of furious boos at Tang Long!
But to Tang Long, these boos were as weak as a soft tinkle~
The 1000 Manchester City supporters who traveled to London fought back with boisterous singing!
"Tang!"
"Tang!"
"Chinatang!"
The familiar cheers for Tang Long resounded throughout Stanford Bridge!
After booing Tang Long, the Blue Army fans then directed their booing at Chelsea’s coach Mourinho!
With no hope in the league, and the FA Cup lost, do we still count on you to bring us a Champions League title?
Mourinho put his finger to his lips, signaling for the fans to quiet down.
"Tang’s Penalty Eliminates Chelsea, Advances to the Sixth Round of the FA Cup!"
"Two Minute Impact, Is Inter Milan Afraid of Such a Tang?"
"No Longer the Special One! Mourinho Gets Double-Crossed by Manchester City!"
"Discord Between Coach and Management, Mourinho Claims to Hunt for a Mole at Press Conference!"