Football: My AI System Provides Max-Level Predictions-Chapter 695 - 487: The Strongest Ball Sense Contest? Tang Long breaks perception with a roll of paper, Messi is @!
The next morning, sunlight poured over Manchester City's training ground, and the players began their daily training.
After Tang Long improved his ball sense, he navigated through the training seamlessly, showcasing skills far superior to before.
First was the regular dribbling drill. Tang Long controlled the ball effortlessly, a sort of invisible harmony seemed to exist between the ball and his feet.
His direction changes and accelerations were incredibly smooth, the ball followed his rhythm as if enchanted.
His teammates, training alongside, were often drawn to Tang Long's performance, casting surprised glances his way!
"His ball sense seems stronger than before?" Gundogan whispered to Bonazzoli.
"Tang's ball sense has always been strong!" The big brother excels, and little brother Bonazzoli revels in the glory.
Ranocchia chuckled to Gundogan, "Let's partner up in the scrimmage later and try to give him a tough time."
Gundogan laughed, "Call Diego over too. He's from Barça, he knows how to deal with someone with such good ball sense."
In the ensuing scrimmage, Gundogan, Diego, and Ranocchia decided to team up and test Tang Long's skills.
They surrounded Tang Long, attempting to coordinate their efforts to snatch the ball from his feet.
However, to their surprise, the ball seemed glued to Tang Long's feet.
Tang Long first performed a feint, tricking Ranocchia into shifting his balance, and then deftly spun with the ball, slipping through the gap between Diego and Gundogan, the ball rolling right through Gundogan's legs!
The trio hurriedly turned to pursue him again, but Tang Long remained calm, flicking the ball gently with the inside of his foot, sending the ball through Gundogan's legs once more, outsmarting the German.
After an intense contest, the three were breathless, yet they couldn't wrest the ball away from Tang Long.
Ranocchia rested his hands on his hips, smiling helplessly, "This guy, his improved ball sense makes him seem like a different person. Trying to get the ball from him makes me doubt life."
Diego nodded in agreement, "Yeah, his control over the ball is terrifying now; it feels like the three of us can't match him."
Having been tricked twice, Gundogan was not pleased, pursed his lips but stayed silent.
Nearby, Guardiola watched and nodded approvingly, constantly chatting softly with assistant Chiwo.
After training, the players gradually headed into the locker room.
But when everyone finished showering, they were met with a surprising sight: Tang Long was standing by the locker room table, juggling a fruit barefoot!
However, he wasn't juggling a soccer ball, but an orange.
The orange bounced rhythmically on his foot, one bounce after the other, and everyone watched in awe.
At around fifty juggles, the orange finally succumbed and burst apart.
Seeing this, Tang Long put down the orange and said to Gundogan who was staring, "Want to eat the orange?"
Gundogan dismissed him, "Your feet stink, I'm not eating that!"
He protested, "An orange is nothing, I can do it too."
On the locker room table was a tray of fruits left by the locker room manager for the players to replenish energy after training.
Gundogan picked up a new orange and confidently began juggling.
But juggling an orange felt completely different from juggling a soccer ball.
A soccer ball is much larger, allowing for more margin of error while juggling.
An orange is small, a little off on the touch and it rolls away, especially since Gundogan had just showered and was wearing slippers, not sneakers.
After barely reaching ten juggles, the orange flew out of control!
Gundogan desperately tried to save it with a leg sweep, but misjudged the force and smashed the orange, which splattered onto Ranocchia's head as he stepped out wrapped in a towel.
Ranocchia, bewildered by the sudden attack, instinctively tasted the orange slice hanging on his face.
The room erupted in laughter!
Gundogan blushed, determined to redeem himself.
Looking around, he spotted a roll of toilet paper on the table, his mind sparked, and he pointed at the roll, saying:
"Alright, Tang, I've never juggled an orange before, can't beat you on that, but if you can juggle this roll of paper for over 30 times, no, 50 times, then I will truly concede."
Everyone knew that a roll of paper, with its corners and edges, was much harder to juggle than an orange; they didn't think Tang Long could do it.
"That's nonsense," Agüero said, "An orange is round, paper is a cylinder, how could he..."
Before Tang Long could react, Gundogan quickly grabbed the roll and tossed it towards Tang Long!
Tang Long calmly trapped the roll with his chest, and after gauging it with his thigh a few times, deemed it doable and started juggling the paper roll with his foot.
At first, the roll stayed obediently, bouncing on his foot.
The crowd counted and clapped along.
After about 40 juggles, the sealing tape started unraveling, and the paper began to scatter.
Yet Tang Long remained undeterred, steadily juggling on.
As the numbers rose, everyone's jaws dropped further, their eyes filled with astonishment.
He kept juggling to over 100, the roll of paper had turned into a small cylinder, and the floor was covered with long strips of tissue, yet Tang Long continued.
Everyone was fully focused, counting out loud: "198, 199, 200!"
Tang Long actually juggled 200 times in a row!
Then Tang Long pivoted midair and kicked the cylinder towards the opposite side of the locker room, into Gundogan's open cabinet. With a "whoosh," it hit the target, knocking out a pair of shin guards from inside, which fell to the ground.
The whole locker room instantly erupted, and teammates gathered around to give Tang Long thumbs up.
Agüero exclaimed, "Tang, are you even human? You can make even a roll of paper this entertaining!"
Kompany chuckled and said, "Seems like we need to re-evaluate you in the future, your ball control is simply unbeatable."
Although Gundogan had lost completely, he was convinced and content: "Tang, I'm genuinely impressed, your ball touch is truly sensational, I reckon even Messi would concede to you."
...
Bonazzoli recorded the entire session on his phone, and posted the video of Tang Long juggling the roll of paper on his social media.
It caused quite a stir online!
Many fans found Tang Long's exceptional ball control unimaginable; juggling an orange might be understandable since it's round;
but being able to juggle a roll of paper with edges and corners, and do it so many times?
Some even said that if Tang Long hadn't decided to stop and kicked the remaining cylinder into Gundogan's locker with that last shot, he could've juggled thousands more if he wanted.
A lot of football-loving netizens started mimicking Tang Long's paper roll juggling video on social media.
Most attempts ended with the roll hitting the ground after a few attempts, with the highest reaching only seven or eight juggles.
Eventually, everyone left comments on Messi's social media, @Messi.
Because in everyone's eyes, Messi is the player with the best ball control in the world, having juggled tennis balls, oranges, and water bottles in some ad shoots, but never a roll of paper.
Netizens were curious to see if the Argentine football king could outdo Tang Long if he juggled a paper roll like him.
But apparently, Messi's personal social account is not managed by him, so he couldn't see those comments.
After a day of training in Barcelona, a mischievous journalist intercepted Messi's car at the training ground gate.
Messi thought he was asked for an autograph and was about to reach out for a jersey, only to be met by a microphone.
"Leo, can you juggle a toilet roll?"
Messi was taken aback, his expression instantly becoming innocently bewildered.
"What, a roll of paper, why would I juggle a roll of paper?"
The journalist showed Messi the video of Tang Long juggling the paper roll posted by Bonazzoli.
With one hand on the steering wheel, Messi watched the whole video with great interest, then honestly said:
"I've juggled oranges and tennis balls, I can juggle dozens of oranges, and over a hundred tennis balls, but I've never juggled a roll of paper, so I can't answer you. But from the video, Manchester City's Tang has an excellent ball touch, he's a very good player, and he's all over the TV every day now."
Messi paused, then shifted the topic.
"However, compared to juggling a roll of paper, I'm more concerned about the Champions League group match against Manchester City on October 19th, that's what I need to focus on."
...
Premier League Round Eight.
Manchester City drew 1-1 at home with Everton, ending their seven-match Premier League winning streak!
This was partly due to former Inter goalkeeper, Slovenian keeper Handanovic's brilliant performance, skillfully stopping several of Manchester City's almost certain goals;
And partly because of Guardiola's intentional rotations.
Because in three days, they had the Champions League group match against Barça.
Facing his former team away, Guardiola knew this match would be very tough, possibly even determining if Manchester City could advance as group leaders.
Ranocchia and Tang Long, who both started seven consecutive games, were substituted early in the second half to focus on the Champions League.
Meanwhile, both Chelsea and Manchester United secured victories!
Latest league standings:
1. Manchester City 22 points
2. Chelsea 22 points
3. Manchester United 19 points
Manchester City only leads by goal difference, holding first place.
Conte sees a glimmer of hope!
Pellegrini is equally full of anticipation!
Chasing ahead, blocking behind.
On October 19th, Manchester City traveled to Spain to face their toughest opponent so far this season, Barça!
