CHAPTER 159: CHAPTER 135: DI MARCO IS HERE! FORMING A THREE-PERSON TEAM, TANG LONG BECOMES THE LEADER!

"Milan Sports Newspaper": Satan descends on the Turin Olympic Stadium! Tang personally ruins Turin’s important anniversary!

"Rome Sports Newspaper": Turin fans stand up to cheer for Tang! He conquered the opponent!

"24 Hours News": Progress like a rocket, where is Tang’s limit?

"Sky Sports": He comes from Inter’s youth academy, but far more impressive than Balotelli in his day!

"Turin Sports Newspaper": Despite a painful defeat, Turin fans generously applause for Tang, this is the charm of football!

After the match, major sports media in Italy unanimously used heavy ink to describe Tang Long’s outstanding performance in the game.

Especially home fans applauding for the opponent — an opponent who personally ruined their important anniversary — such a thing hasn’t happened in Serie A for many years!

Last time, it was back in the distant 2001!

At 3 PM, December 9, 2001, seven matches of the 14th round of Serie A kicked off simultaneously.

The most watched was Inter’s away game against Brescia, Ronaldo and Vieri started together.

After recovering from a severe injury, fans all over the world were waiting for Ronaldo to score.

In the 19th minute, Ronaldo scored!

After receiving a teammate’s pass, Ronaldo lightly handed the ball to Vieri in front.

In the encirclement of three defenders, Vieri completed a high-difficulty "180-degree waist twist" left-foot lob pass, Ronaldo sped up to create a one-on-one, precisely shot with his right foot, and broke the goal.

This was Ronaldo’s first official match goal in two years!

Back then, thirty thousand Brescia fans also stood up to cheer and applaud the return of the alien!

How sensational was Ronaldo’s goal at the time?

All seven concurrent Serie A matches played the replay of Ronaldo’s goal on the big screens.

Whether it’s Lazio, AC Milan, or fans from Parma and Perugia, they spontaneously cheered for Ronaldo for one minute.

Although Tang Long’s influence is far less compared to Ronaldo, the applause he received only came from Turin’s fans.

However, Inter Milan hasn’t seen a youth talent like Tang Long for a long time!

Speaking of which, the last to perform so spectacularly was the 17-year-old Balotelli.

In 2007, as soon as Mancini started coaching Inter Milan, he promoted the youth team’s Balotelli to the first team.

In his first Coppa Italia match, Balotelli scored twice, stunning everyone, and announced his arrival to the world.

However, Balotelli’s development was far below people’s expectations.

He even earned a reputation among Chinese fans as "world-class below the neck, neighborhood-level above the neck."

"Sky Sports" featured on its front page a detailed ten-thousand-word article comparing Balotelli of the past with Tang Long today.

"Both players were absolute geniuses upon debut, drawing countless eyes."

"However, compared to Balotelli, Tang Long’s growth is clearly within a controllable and expected range."

"He is more hardworking, more serious, his mind functions more normally, and he rarely engages in odd incidents like Balotelli’s fireworks at home or driving into women."

"For these very young players born after 1995, playing football diligently, training diligently, and actively accepting coach guidance are things quite ordinary among players from the ’70s and ’80s generations but are so rare among the post-’95 generation!"

"Compared to those young rebellious players, Tang Long is more classical — a word that precisely describes his condition."

"In Tang Long, we see the attitude and performance a professional young player should have."

"During the sprint stage of the league, it’s believed Mancini will have higher demands and standards for Tang Long."

"The test for Tang Long has arrived: can he lead Inter Milan to win at least one championship by season’s end? Let’s wait and see!"

With Tang Long consistently delivering wonderful assists in Serie A, many Chinese fans who have been following Tang Long’s growth are no longer satisfied with seeing him only in the top goals segment of "World Football" each week.

They hope to see Tang Long’s presence in the weekly rankings highlight every week!

After all, although Tang Long scored several exquisite goals this season, exciting many.

But Tang Long is ultimately a midfield player, his goal count cannot compare with forwards.

There are goals, but not every goal can replicate miracles like scoring from the halfway line or sneaky free kicks to be selected in the weekly top goals.

A huge number of fans flooded the "World Football" Weibo, petitioning for the program to add a "Weekly Top Assists" segment!

This comment, once posted, was immediately liked by countless people, ultimately reaching 1.02 million likes, setting the highest likes record for a single comment since "World Football" was established!

-[Support adding a top assists segment! Goals alone are too monotonous.]

-[Haha, don’t pretend you don’t know, you just want to see Tang Long every week in "World Football," right?]

-[While goals make us excited, thrilled, often the wonderful assists behind those goals are the most critical moments.]

-[Right, we cannot ignore the unsung heroes behind goals, they are great contributors too.]

-[As for Tang Long’s assists for Inter Milan, he’s definitely not an unsung hero. Anyone who understands football can see that without Tang Long’s assists it’s impossible to have goals, I’ve watched every single match of Inter this season, a lot of attacks are like this!]