Football: My AI System Provides Max-Level Predictions
Chapter 172 - 144: Tang Long Slaps Icardi: Wake Up, This is the National Derby!

Chapter 172: Chapter 144: Tang Long Slaps Icardi: Wake Up, This is the National Derby!

As the absolute master of Serie A, Juventus was playing in an organized manner at home.

The organizer in the backfield, defensive midfielder Pirlo, smoothly connected the line between the center-backs and the midfield.

Don’t be fooled by 37-year-old Pirlo’s scruffy beard and his sleepy look.

He’s actually quite clear-headed!

In this match, Inter surely aims to earn points from us.

For them, these last ten rounds are extremely important.

Often the difference from one match would widen their gap with Napoli.

In fact, Napoli is also playing a match at the same time.

They are hosting the underdog Palermo, and within 3 minutes, their main striker Higuain scored the first goal for the team.

With this trend, Napoli winning the match is not a problem at all.

If Inter cannot beat Juventus here and instead lose three points, their gap with Napoli will stretch back to 6 points!

Sleepy Pirlo understands that the Inter players are anxious.

As soon as he got the ball, before he could turn around, he heard the sound of rushing wind behind him.

Although he didn’t see anyone, thanks to his exceptional positional sense and sharp hearing, Pirlo’s intuition told him that the Inter striker Icardi was coming to press him.

"I heard he has a toe injury, might as well give this kid a run."

Pirlo performed a feint move.

He pretended to pass the ball to his B-to-B mid Pogba, who came to protect him.

The motion was slow, first he looked up towards Pogba, nodded at him, and then lazily lifted his calf.

Icardi’s calf muscles tensed as he accelerated instantly towards him!

"Here’s the chance!"

In Icardi’s judgment, Pirlo was playing the ball casually.

Not to mention the exaggerated slowness of his movements, even the power of his kick seemed weak enough to be intercepted halfway!

Icardi considers himself the Juventus slayer, he scored only 9 goals last season, three of which were against Juventus.

After the last match against Empoli, Icardi felt increasingly in form.

Playing against Juventus, he hoped to score a hat trick to show them who is the strongest striker in Serie A!

He charged at Pirlo like a leopard, preparing to execute a stunning intercept.

In that moment, he felt as if he’d already seen his foot reaching out to hook that coveted football, knocking Pirlo aside to take the ball, success seemed within reach.

Yet, at that moment, the football seemed magically drawn away, vanishing from his sight in a flash.

Pirlo, the magician on the field, with an exceptionally skillful drag-ball maneuver, pulled the ball away from under Icardi’s nose at the last moment, clean and effortlessly.

Icardi’s response was a tad slow, his body’s center of gravity had already launched forward like an arrow from a bow.

This strike was like a hammer slamming into air, a complete miss!

He immediately lost balance, awkwardly sprawling on the grass in a manner more dramatic than a dance move.

"Damn, it hurts!" Icardi lamented to himself.

"Haha, this fool."

French midfielder Pogba burst into laughter.

He had long anticipated that Pirlo’s sluggish movements were part of a plan.

When Pirlo won the 2006 World Cup, Icardi was just a 13-year-old kid. To think he could easily take the ball from Pirlo? Dream on!

Tang Long saw Icardi getting toyed with and quickly shouted to him, "Mauro, don’t rush, get back to your position, don’t run wild, conserve your energy!"

Icardi’s position was center forward, but technically, it was forward Tang Long’s job to mark Pirlo.

Tang Long knew Pirlo’s playing style; after all, he had imitated him before. Just yesterday at the AI Cloud Training Ground, Tang Long had been practicing drag-and-turn maneuvers with Pirlo.

Therefore, he wasn’t hasty to press Pirlo, but stood his ground, blocking the passing lanes.

Yet Icardi was restless!

This kid was skilled but often too eager.

No goals made him anxious, not enough goals made him anxious, and being effortlessly outplayed by a man 15 years his senior made him even more anxious!

He ignored Tang Long’s advice, scrambled up from the ground, and charged at Pirlo again.

Pirlo had been carrying the ball forward, hearing another burst of rushing wind behind him.

No need to guess, it was Icardi again.

He spun in place, did a 360-degree ball maneuver, circled behind Icardi, and abruptly disappeared from Icardi’s front.

Icardi lunged at empty space once more!

Before the match, to speed up the ball movement and make the game more thrilling,

many stadiums would sprinkle water on the grass.

The Juventus Stadium is the most modern stadium in all of Italy, and its sprinkler system is also very advanced.

Water droplets soaked the grass roots.

Icardi was momentarily careless, missing completely and losing footing, and with a crack sound, he unexpectedly did a split again!

This time the split was even more intense, he clearly felt a severe tearing sensation from the muscles in his thigh, like thousands of needles piercing simultaneously.

"Damn, are you messing with me on purpose!"

The Argentine forward was consumed with rage, and before he could steady himself, he staggered and charged at Pirlo again, like an enraged beast.

"Hey, what’s the point?"

Pogba didn’t even bother to protect Pirlo, instead just stood there with his hands on his hips, watching with interest as these two engaged in their on-field battle of wits and courage.

Pirlo is not afraid of a two or three-man press; as for one man, apart from fouling, there’s no way to take the ball from him.

Just as Pogba expected.

Pirlo, like a dancer with long sleeves, used the cleat on his shoe to lightly brush the ball—

The football slowly and precisely nutmegged Icardi.

This scene left all the Inter players on the field dumbfounded.

"Hahahahahahaha!!!!!!"

As Icardi, like a clown deceived by fate, stumbled three times under Pirlo’s feet, the Juventus Stadium instantly turned into a boiling cauldron of joy!

The laughter of 40,000 home fans erupted like a volcanic explosion, almost lifting the stadium’s roof!

The camera cut to Juventus fans, several were seen in their seats, clutching their stomachs, bent over with laughter.

Are you sure this wasn’t a pre-arranged performance?

What’s to snatch, snatch in vain!

LeSports live broadcast room.

-[Can’t hold it in, really can’t hold it in!]

-[Is this a college student against an elementary student, it’s a complete technical crush!]

-[Icardi has gone crazy, what’s he running around for, he should keep his distance from Tang Long and block Pirlo with positioning, not reckless tackles!]

-[Wasting energy, clueless!]

-[This guy is pretty good at scoring, it’s just sometimes he’s in such a hurry he can’t think straight!]

-[It’s still a mindset problem, too anxious, it’s just started, what’s the rush.]

-[Tang Long needs to shout, control his teammates’ emotions.]

-[Tang Long should have shouted, didn’t you see him extending his hand, telling Icardi to come back, but he’s not listening!]

-[He’s pissed, tried to take the ball thrice and couldn’t touch it, I’d be mad too!]

After the nutmeg, Pirlo even felt a bit sorry for the 22-year-old young player, not wanting to humiliate him further, so he directly passed the ball to Pogba.

Pogba made a long pass, precisely finding Tevez on the wing, Tevez crossed, and amidst Ranocchia’s interference, the tall Morata headed the ball wide over the goal.

Icardi, face flushed, hands resting on his knees, gasped for breath.

Beads of sweat, like beans, fell to the ground with a plop.

Too exhausted!

The previous three encounters with Pirlo.

Each rush, Icardi used 120% of his effort!

Indeed, it drained his stamina significantly, immensely tiring, needed a few good minutes to recover.

Wasting energy was still secondary.

The key was that not only did he not touch the ball, but he didn’t even make contact with Pirlo’s body.

And finally, he was humiliatingly nutmegged!

In Inter’s training, wary of Icardi’s status as the team’s main striker and top scorer.

No one dared to try nutmegging Icardi, instead, they would nutmeg Bonazzoli and Di Marco for fun.

But this was a Serie A official match against Juventus!

Expecting an archrival to save you face? Dream on!

Humiliated this way in front of 40,000 fans, Icardi’s face blushed from ear to ear.

He looked up, hadn’t even taken a step yet.

And saw Tang Long coming over.

Smack!

Tang Long slapped Icardi hard on the neck!

"Is it fun? I told you not to tackle, to maintain your position, are you deaf or just too stupid to understand! Wake up, this is a national derby!"