NOVEL NEXT Chapter 300 Hart's Nightmare Night: Toyed by Opponent with Three Goals, Is the Substitute Goalkeeper Sneering?
The Juventus Stadium is packed with 41,507 people today!
Every corner of the stadium, from top to bottom, inside and out, is filled to the brim.
2,000 Blue Moon fans who flew in from Manchester are shivering in a small corner of the northeast stand~
Though they wave their flags, their shouts are quickly drowned out by the incessant, roaring cheers of the Juventus fans.
Sky Sports' exclusive commentary booth.
Commentator guest, Juventus legend Trezeguet, glanced at the scene on the field through the wide glass window and couldn't help but smile smugly.
He turned his head and said to Inter legend Materazzi, who was also a guest commentator:
"Our momentum is strong today. If I'm not mistaken, this is the only sold-out game so far this season!"
Materazzi sneered, "Maybe it's because Tang is playing for Manchester City. Juventus suffered a setback from him last season, so they're surely looking to turn the tables in this match!"
As a broadcast media, Sky Sports knows how to create program effects!
They deliberately brought in Materazzi and Trezeguet, these two Inter and Juventus legends, to commentate the match.
One was a defender, the other a forward; in their prime leagues, they often faced off directly;
One in the Italy national team, the other in the France national team, they had direct confrontations on the international stage too!
Especially the exciting duel in the 2006 World Cup final!
Plus, both are natural sharp-tongued personalities. Putting them together, isn't that a full-on program effect?
But that's not enough!
To further increase the program effect, Sky Sports also assigned Dilata to fly from London to Turin to commentate and host this match.
Dilata was a thousand times unwilling!
Because of The Sun's scandal, she and Tang Long were caught in the center of public opinion.
Tang Long was even removed from the starting lineup and sat waiting on the bench.
Dilata didn't mind; she's a media person, and she understands how tough it is for her peers to make a living.
But she felt very guilty towards Tang Long, feeling deeply sorry for affecting his career.
So how could she have the face to fly specially to Turin to cover this Manchester City and Juventus game!
However, as a worker, she had no choice, being pressured by the station to come.
Trezeguet and Materazzi sat on either side of Dilata.
From a distance, their eyes met like two laser beams locked in a standoff, with the air crackling with tension.
"But where is Tang now? Why couldn't Inter keep such a good player and let him go to Manchester City? It's such a pity, and he's sitting on the bench in this match, it's really strange!"
"A player brought in for the highest transfer fee in club history, for such a pivotal Champions League match against Juventus, and he's not starting. Strange, strange, really strange!"
Trezeguet exclaimed 'strange' three times, deliberately glancing at Dilata.
Dilata blushed immediately, lowering her head, missing her usual confidence and composure as the number one presenter at Sky Sports.
But she quickly adjusted, shifting the topic to introducing the starting lineup of both teams, and dived into work.
...
Manchester City's head coach Pellegrini stood by the sidelines, listening to the passionate Champions League anthem with a relatively calm mindset.
Removing Tang Long from the starting lineup was a helpless move under player pressure;
However, Pellegrini was still quite confident in this match against Juventus!
Otherwise, forget about Toure and Silva, even if everyone came to pressure him, he couldn't have benched Tang Long.
The Chilean old coach's confidence stemmed from the team's recent excellent performance.
Since suffering the first defeat of the season, 0-1 away to Southampton in the 5th round of the Premier League;
The whole Manchester City team learned from their shame and fought back!
Not only did they come from behind to beat Liverpool in the 6th round, but also clinched two consecutive 3-0 victories against Sunderland and Monchengladbach in the following matches!
The team's morale is high, and they are in peak form!
What satisfied Pellegrini even more was, besides the team's three consecutive wins, the excellent performance in defense.
During these three consecutive victories, they conceded only one goal in total!
While in the previous 5 matches, Manchester City conceded a total of 5 goals, averaging a goal per game.
The improvement in defense made Pellegrini quite optimistic about Manchester City's prospects in the Champions League.
He even discussed with assistant coach Rein before the match about planning to keep a clean sheet against Juventus away.
"Juventus's front line has seen major changes this season, with Tevez and Llorente leaving, and the newly introduced Dybala and Mandzukic are still getting used to each other, more importantly, Pirlo is not around! That allows me to feel more at ease!"
However, Pellegrini's plan clearly fell through.
What he didn't expect was that Juventus started with a bang!
The focal point was precisely the Croatian center forward Mandzukic, whom Juventus had just brought in from Atletico Madrid this summer for a 'bargain price' of 19 million euros.
Atletico Madrid players are renowned for their fighting spirit.
As a warrior steeped in this fighting spirit, Mandzukic flawlessly brought his brawling and battling spirit from La Liga to Juventus!
Just 30 seconds into the game, Bonucci, facing the pressing opponent, feigned a return pass;
In the final step, with a drag underfoot, he smoothly dodged the incoming attacking midfielder Silva!