On the stands of Etihad Stadium, sat England’s head coach Mancini.
When he saw Gualin being nudged by Tang Long, hobbling off the field clutching his back for treatment, Mancini scratched his half-gray hair and couldn’t help but laugh!
As a former Inter Milan coach, he knew these two too well.
They were simply love-hate rivals!
For this match, Mancini specially came to examine England players, planning for the European Cup this summer, mainly observing Tottenham’s Kane, Ali, Walker, Dale, and others.
But the recent scene pulled Mancini’s thoughts back to exactly one year ago.
He recalled the past conflict between Gualin and Tang Long during his tenure at Inter Milan.
He remembered the 11th round of Serie A when the team played against the weak Genoa at home, hoping to make a beautiful comeback after a 0:3 loss to Samp, but ended up trailing 0:1 in the first half.
Mancini, at that time, was very dissatisfied with Gualin’s random shooting and careless ball handling at midfield, criticized him by name;
Gualin retaliated by bringing up the tactical arrangements from his previous coach, Mazzari.
This completely angered Mancini!
Tang Long, sitting in the locker room, was originally a fill-up reported by Chiwo to make up the number, but Mancini substituted Gualin with this youth team player with no Serie A experience at half-time.
From then on, the two of them became rivals.
Unexpectedly, during the subsequent time, Tang Long, with excellent performance, grew stronger in the team, his playing time increased constantly, and he secured a starting position. With Tang Long’s continuous progress, his relationship with Gualin also underwent a subtle change.
Although Gualin often felt resentful because his main attacking midfield position was taken;
but every time he saw Tang Long’s god-like assists, he frequently applauded his superb skills.
The relationship was all about love and rivalry.
Yet time changes all, after winning the UEFA Europa League and Coppa Italia double crown representing Inter Milan.
Tang Long left, Gualin also left, the two parted ways, both went to the Premier League, but one was at Manchester City and the other at Tottenham, today they met in yet another deadly struggle.
Even Mancini himself left for England, becoming the national team’s head coach for the first time in his life.
However, the long-awaited Italy national team didn’t want him, but it was the England national team that extended the olive branch, truly the whims of fate!
Now, the three gather in one stadium, in the same match, the people are still the same, but their roles have changed.
Tang Long and Gualin have turned from teammates to rivals;
Mancini also stepped back, becoming a neutral spectator.
This constant switching of roles made Mancini feel sentimental, Europe’s football circle is just so small, in the end it’s still some familiar faces playing.
"Haha, well done Tang, take down Gualin the bully!"
Nasri, on the Tottenham bench also witnessing the scene, secretly cheered in his heart.
Having played at Manchester City, he utterly hated Tang Long, despised him arriving at Manchester City and then the leader of France’s four swans, himself, lost his stable starting position in City’s frontline;
He also envied Tang Long enormously, couldn’t figure out why, everyone struggled hard with extra training for a starting spot, yet he, never trained extra, somehow always secured a starting position in Pellegrini’s tactics!
But ever since being released by Manchester City, and transferred to Tottenham in the winter, thinking he escaped misery, Nasri didn’t expect to fall into Gualin’s grasp. Orıginal content can be found at N0velFire.ɴet
This Colombian seemed to deliberately oppose him, on the first day of the new joiner meeting, he stared dead at me, often vented in training, and tackled ferociously.
So watching Gualin being sorted out by Tang Long, Nasri felt immensely satisfied, as if it was not Tang Long, but himself, who knocked Gualin flying away!
However, Nasri didn’t quite figure one thing out.
Initially, he thought Gualin targeted him because Gualin was Tang Long’s friend, believing it was specially instructed by Tang Long, and cursed him for hauntingly not disappearing;
But in this match, Nasri found that their relationship wasn’t as great, both contested equally without yielding!
The broadcast camera focused on a corner of the stands showing a person with a baseball cap and Xiongnu appearance.
Commentator Zhan Jun, sharp-eyed, immediately recognized it was Dortmund’s player Gundogan.
"Gundogan appeared on the stands of Etihad Stadium!"
"Unless unexpected, this is the last time he’s called Dortmund player."
"There’s news that after this match, he’ll head to Manchester City’s medical room for a check-up, barring accidents, he’ll be a City player tomorrow."
"Seems like Gundogan eagerly wants to join Blue Moon, coming to the stadium to watch the Premier League, hope he can quickly integrate into the team."
From the broadcast camera, Gundogan could be seen frequently frowning, occasionally shaking his head.
As a German, Gundogan mostly understood Bundesliga.
Besides Bundesliga matches, Gundogan seldom watched football, let alone foreign games.
This was even Gundogan’s first time watching a Premier League match on-site.
Not watching foreign leagues, his perception of the Premier League remained stuck in long-ball play, physical clash old English football.
So when he learnt he was sold to Manchester City by Dortmund, initially he was somewhat worried!