Tang Long jogged leisurely behind Bonazzoli.
He had enough confidence in Bonazzoli, believing he could score this single-handed goal.
It was only after seeing Bonazzoli pass the goalkeeper and score into the empty net that Tang Long spread his arms wide to welcome him with open arms.
"Well done! Bonazzoli."
Watching Bonazzoli once again embrace Tang Long passionately.
Icardi was on edge in front of the television, filled with jealousy!
He paced back and forth anxiously in his large living room, like an ant on a hot pan.
"Two goals already, one more and that guy gets a hat-trick!"
"Damn it, if I could score three goals, I’d have 25 goals, and the gap with Messi and C Luo would be very small, very small. What a pity, my disappointing rotten foot!"
Icardi stomped his foot on the floor defiantly again.
After 0:3, the spirit of Turin’s players was completely crushed.
The brilliance of the last goal lay in Tang Long’s pass!
Actually, the scorpion tail flick was not even a real opportunity.
The ball was high and floating, with a defensive midfielder pressing behind him.
For average players, even stopping the ball would be very difficult.
They might just barely touch it with their head.
But Tang Long, incredibly, without seeing behind him, made a clever scorpion tail flick, delivering a 30-meter long pass with a curve over the center-back’s head, giving Bonazzoli a wide open path for a solo rush!
"How can anyone play against this?"
The players felt like zombies, just wanting to quickly run down the garbage time on the field.
It wasn’t that they hadn’t tried hard, nor that they hadn’t fought and struggled.
At one point, in the first 15 minutes, they even saw the hope of scoring first.
If they could just score, they were confident they could secure three points with a 10-0-0 formation at home.
After all, they had done this once before against Inter Milan away, and succeeded.
But the Inter Milan they were facing now was not the same team from the start of the season!
Coach Ventola grabbed his assistant coach by the shirt collar, shaking his head back and forth.
He kept mumbling endlessly, complaining like a chant:
"Why? Why did Tang suddenly appear midway for Inter? We are so unlucky!"
"Why didn’t he go to other teams instead of Inter?"
"Why on such an important anniversary, does the team have to suffer this heavy defeat? Will the boss fire me? Why does everyone seem to be against me?"
The match was still ongoing.
For the players of Turin, the remaining 20 minutes turned into garbage time.
But for Tang Long and Bonazzoli, who both got promoted from Inter Milan’s youth team, for this pair of roommates, the joint action continued.
In the 81st minute of the match, just as Mancini was making personnel adjustments to substitute Tang Long off for a rest.
Another unexpected goal came.
This time the goal resulted from the tacit cooperation between the two.
Tang Long and Bonazzoli performed a one-two pass.
Just as the opponent’s center-back was about to press forward, another back-heel touch passed the ball to the incoming Bonazzoli.
Bonazzoli followed the direction of the ball’s path, making a back-heel touch without stopping the ball!
The continuous back-heel touches left Turin’s center-back spinning in a daze.
The speed of their head movements evidently didn’t match the heel-touch frequency of Bonazzoli and Tang Long.
Tang Long got the ball again, now in the middle of the penalty area.
Turin’s defenders ran around like headless chickens, sometimes this way, sometimes that, unable to touch the ball.
Tang Long originally wanted to shoot, but seeing three players slide tackle towards him, he thought the shot might ricochet off the opponent, so he deftly heel-flicked and chipped the ball again to Bonazzoli~
This time Bonazzoli was already near the small penalty box!
And he wasn’t offside.
As the ball approached, Bonazzoli leapt high, contracted his abs, and straightened his shoulders, performing a powerful lion’s header towards the goal.
He slammed a bouncing ball!
"Tang Long with a chipped pass, Bonazzoli heads it into the net!"
"Hat-trick, Bonazzoli actually got a hat-trick!"
"Two of these goals came from Tang Long’s brilliant assists!"
"Tang Long also scored a goal, with an assist from Bonazzoli as well!"
"It seems that in Icardi’s absence, this young Italy U-21 National Team player has accomplished his task well."
"Can it be said that he even played better than Icardi?"
Seeing Bonazzoli score the hat-trick, Mancini and assistant coach Herrera on the sidelines were left dumbfounded!
They knew Bonazzoli had the potential, but never expected that after replacing Icardi as the starting forward, the abilities of this young player would be unleashed immediately.
"This guy seems even stronger than I imagined," Mancini told Herrera.
"Exactly, boss. His physique, speed, and strength have always been top-notch; his weakness was in his positioning awareness. But judging from this match, his positioning is very strong, at least in this game there was no discernible gap compared to Icardi."
"Good news, this is great news," Mancini nodded thoughtfully, "Now we’re advancing on multiple fronts, and the activation of these fringe players’ abilities benefits the rotation of the formation and the overall improvement of strength, excellent!"
In the 82nd minute, Tang Long was substituted off.
The entire Turin Olympic Stadium fell into a dead silence, as quiet as a library.
The only sound breaking this silence came from the 2,000 Inter Milan fans who journeyed all the way for the away game, their shouts came like tides.
The cheers from the away fans echoed throughout the venue, all for Tang Long.
Tang Long raised his hands above his head, applauding and expressing deep gratitude to the fans.
No matter the time or place, fans are always the most steadfast 12th man of the team.
Their support is like a beacon lighting the players’ way forward!
However, the next moment left everyone astonished!
The over 20,000 home fans of Turin suddenly stood up.
Like being drawn by an invisible force, they all stood together.
The applause, like a storm, rippled through the Olympic Stadium, reverberating to the skies!
Tang Long was taken aback, then looked up.
He felt as though all the over 20,000 pairs of eyes were focused on him, and at that moment, he seemed to be the spotlight of the entire Turin stadium.
Tang Long instantly understood—this was the home fans of Turin applauding his performance.
This applause made Tang Long feel unprecedented glory and respect!
If the camera focused closer, one could see the complex expressions on the faces of each Turin fan.
They were heartbroken over their team losing a grim 0:4 at home on such an important anniversary;
Yet, they felt fortunate and pleased to witness, live, Tang Long’s artist-like performance.
Their faces interwove sorrow and joy, two starkly different emotions fused wonderfully in that moment.
Sometimes, the sentiment of fans is quite simple; their passion for football is pure.
Even though Tang Long was a player for the opposing team, even though his team won 4:0 against the home team;
The awe football brings transcended standpoints and boundaries!
In that moment, all lines were broken.
Only love for football and admiration for a spectacular performance remained.
This is the charm football brings to the world!
It can make people instantly forget all troubles and woes, leaving only the praise for art.
In the applause of over 20,000 Turin fans present, Tang Long slowly walked off the field.
He embraced Mancini tightly.
"Tang, remember this day! Rival fans cheering for you is the highest honor a professional player can receive!"