Evening.
Ling arrived at Pep Guardiola's house, bringing two bottles of Rioja white wine, having heard that Pep's wife, Cristina, had a taste for it.
"Just a moment, dinner will be ready soon!" Maria called out from the kitchen.
"No rush," Ling waved his hand and sat down in the living room beside Guardiola.
The TV was playing the recording of last night's Man City vs. Man United match.
Ling didn't feel it was his place to comment, so the living room fell into an awkward silence as the two Manchester rivals watched the replay together.
Marius quietly nudged Ling and whispered, "How did it feel to score a brace against my dad's team?"
"Not bad," Ling replied with a smirk.
"By the way, one more thing—is the Man United youth academy still recruiting?" Marius glanced nervously at Guardiola before whispering again.
"Can you get me in?"
Ling didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
This kid, with his dad being the Man City head coach, actually wanted to join the Man United youth academy!
It was beyond words.
Ling had no objections to this, in fact, he fully supported it.
Any discontent from the other Man United players would just have to be kept to themselves.
"I suggest you focus on your studies instead; the path of professional football isn't as easy as you might think," Ling said, patting Marius on the head. "Besides, you're already over 300 degrees nearsighted—have you ever seen a player wearing glasses on the field?"
Marius sighed dejectedly. "What a pity. The football world is about to lose another genius."
Honestly, Marius's football talent wasn't particularly high anyway.
"Let's go to Saint-Tropez for our next vacation! I heard you can see dolphins and whales there," Valentina chimed in, her face full of anticipation.
Ling pulled out his phone and searched. "Looks like we'll have to wait until next July. It's hard to find time during the season to travel that far."
The two youngsters didn't pay it much mind, happily imagining their future vacation time.
Half an hour later, the lavish dinner officially began.
Cristina had prepared many Catalan dishes—tomato bread, squid ink rice balls, Catalan chicken stew, and caramel egg meringue.
Worrying that Ling might not be accustomed to the food, she had even ordered several Chinese dishes from Celestial Abode in advance.
Ling still stopped eating once he was 70% full, and Cristina didn't urge him to eat more, knowing that elite athletes need to maintain a strict, reasonable energy intake.
After the meal, Ling and Maria went out for a walk in the cool evening air, chatting about things at her school.
Ling thought to himself that since there were no matches for the next ten days or so due to the international break, he could make some appearances at his own university classes.
Otherwise, by the time finals rolled around, his professors might not even recognize him.
Moreover, he had long been famous at the University of Manchester, out of Manchester's 510,000 residents, at least 90% would recognize him on the streets.
...
Time flew by.
It was already November 20th, with just four days left until Man United's next Premier League match.
After the afternoon training session at Carrington, Ling called out to Harry Maguire and Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
"Come on, let's practice some coordinated defending."
Now that Ling had switched his extra training focus to dribbling, he needed top-tier defenders to practice against.
Maguire's face immediately scrunched up.
It wasn't that Maguire didn't want to do extra training, but being constantly dribbled past by Ling was too damaging to his confidence.
Previously, when Ling practiced long-range shots, he would always keep David De Gea behind for extra practice, but after De Gea learned to leave early, Sergio Romero became the victim.
Now, it was the defenders' turn.
Wan-Bissaka also wore a bitter expression.
Ling brought the two to the training pitch and pointed at the football at his feet. "When facing a fast striker like me, it's best not to opt for front-running defense. Once your speed and reactions aren't fast enough, the opponent can simply turn and dribble past you."
"Let's get started right away," Ling said.
Ling dribbled the ball to create distance and charged toward the two of them.
Continuous strides, combined with shifting his center of gravity, and then swiftly pushing the ball to the right as Maguire stretched his leg.
"When facing a faster player head-on, adjust your steps to slow them down, then force a mistake once your teammates provide support," Ling instructed as he blew past Maguire. "It's best to use your hands and shoulders to press the opponent, making it hard for the attacker to turn easily."
Wan-Bissaka closed in quickly, just managing to poke the ball away with his toe.
Ling's mood remained unperturbed; even the world's best striker couldn't guarantee a 100% dribbling success rate.
In fact, most of his dribbles relied on instant anticipation and reaction, rarely using fixed moves to get past opponents.
Simply put, it's about being faster than others—seizing the exact moment the defender loses balance to flick the ball into a controllable position.
"Of course, everything I've said is based on my experience as a forward," Ling added. "Ultimately, how you apply it is up to you, since you're the professional defenders."
Training time always flies by. It wasn't until Maguire was leaning on his knees, gasping for breath, that he finally surrendered.
"I really can't go on anymore. Let's call it a day."
Wan-Bissaka wasn't faring much better either.
Ling patted both of them on the shoulder, threw his training jersey over his shoulder, and headed toward the locker room.
His shadow grew longer under the setting sun, giving off an inexplicable sense of loneliness, as if telling a new story.
Since the break, Mourinho had called the players back to training early to prevent them from getting too carried away outside, and the training intensity kept increasing.
Still, most players maintained a positive attitude, as everyone was living with hopeful prospects of winning the title.
Who wouldn't want to win more championships? It represents not only honor but also loads of cash—there's some truth to the saying "money makes the world go round."
...
November 24th.
The temperature in Manchester had dropped to 5°C, but the chilly wind couldn't dampen the fiery atmosphere at Old Trafford.
The 13th round of the Premier League was about to kick off.
Their opponents were Crystal Palace. During the summer transfer window, Crystal Palace had sold Wan-Bissaka to Man United for 45 million euros, using the funds to bring in more players.
It's safe to say Crystal Palace's squad was more balanced this season compared to the last. Since Roy Hodgson became Crystal Palace's head coach last season, he had pulled off miracles.
Although they had set a Premier League losing streak record by starting last season with 7 consecutive losses without scoring a single goal, Hodgson not only led the team away from relegation danger but successfully lifted their ranking to 11th place.
(It's worth noting that no Premier League team had ever managed to avoid relegation after starting the season with seven consecutive losses before him).
If Man United didn't adjust their mindset today, it wasn't impossible for them to suffer an unexpected defeat.
After a 12-day break, the Man United players had returned to peak condition and Mourinho fielded a full-strength lineup.
However, the formation was different from before.
He opted for a 4-4-2, with Ling and Romelu Lukaku partnering as the two strikers.
Marcus Rashford, Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matić, and Riyad Mahrez held the midfield, while Ashley Young, Phil Jones, Eric Bailly, and Antonio Valencia lined up in defense.
Recently, due to the excellent performances of Wan-Bissaka and Luke Shaw, Ashley Young and Valencia often found themselves on the bench.
Fortunately, the two veterans complied with Mourinho's arrangements without causing a scene in the locker room.
In fact, Man United's management even hinted that if the veterans could find good opportunities elsewhere—such as in the U.S., China, or the Middle East—the club would be willing to release them early.
Although Man United's management often makes questionable decisions, they've been quite fair to their loyal veterans.
After the match began, Man United launched a fierce attack.
But Crystal Palace put up a stubborn defense, with their entire formation retreating to the edge of the penalty area, clearly intending to park the bus away from home.