Football: My AI System Provides Max-Level Predictions-Chapter 57: May you travel half a lifetime and return still as a youth!

Chapter 57: Chapter 57: May you travel half a lifetime and return still as a youth!

Santon, born in 1991, came from Inter Milan’s youth training.

As a teenager, Santon burst onto the scene in 2008.

In the position of left-back, he was steady in defense and skilled in passing, once marking Manchester United’s C Luo in a Champions League match, drawing widespread attention!

During Mourinho’s time coaching Inter, he once evaluated Santon like this:

"In 15 years, when Santon has experienced around 500 high-level professional matches, he will grow to be a world-class defender as great as Maldini, there’s no doubt about it."

That year, Santon and Balotelli were close friends.

One was a defender and the other a forward, both dubbed as Inter’s Twin Stars by Italian football.

The more composed and upright Santon was also more beloved by Inter’s fans, being called the "Crown Prince" of Meazza!

Unfortunately, before the Crown Prince could ascend, he faced the greatest hurdle for a professional player—injuries.

His knee was repeatedly injured, and ultimately, he had the meniscus removed.

The meniscus is a tissue within the knee, primarily used to reduce friction between the knee and leg bones during leg movement, acting as a lubricant.

Once the meniscus is removed, even normal people feel pain when running, let alone professional players in high-intensity matches.

At one point, he was abandoned by Inter back then.

But Santon did not give up his career, even after leaving Inter, he continued to play in the Premier League with Newcastle.

Probably because of his relentless spirit and sense of belonging from youth training, Inter decided to welcome home the former Crown Prince during this transfer window!

Like Mancini, Santon, returning to Serie A, urgently needed to prove himself—I am only 24, I can still return to my peak in Italy!

This ball, facing the pressing of Higuain and Callejon, the experienced Santon cleared the ball.

If it were a normal full-back, they might have just stood still.

But Santon recalled something Tang Long said to him in the player tunnel:

"If you want to attack, boldly advance along the wing, I’ll get you the ball!"

So Santon made the forward surge!

His advance, silent!

No one could have imagined that Santon could sprint forward from the full-back position, even keenly detecting the gap in the central attacking midfielder position, appearing where Tang Long should have been.

The trust in Tang Long allowed Santon to seize the chance to receive the ball at the top of the penalty arc!

When he used a dribble to suddenly cut past Gargano horizontally.

The left knee lacking a meniscus sent a faint pang of pain...

Standing at the top of the penalty arc, from his perspective, he could directly see Napoli’s goalkeeper, Andujar.

No defending players blocking, behind Andujar was just the net of Napoli’s goal!

Santon gritted his teeth, quickly adjusted his strides, swung his left leg back sharply, and struck the center of the ball firmly with the inside of his foot!

Boom!

He is a right-footer, having played in the left-back position for many years, he knows well how to use his weaker foot, whether for passing or shooting.

The ball, with a strong curve, rushed into the net!

The crisp and enchanting sound resembled a dream, surreal.

Santon stood in place, stunned.

When he saw almost all of Inter’s players rushing towards him, Santon’s gaze suddenly seemed unfocused.

Back, everything was back!

Rushing towards him were not Tang Long, nor Ranocchia, nor Podolski, nor Mavic.

The 24-year-old Santon looked around, eyes full of his 17 or 18-year-old self.

Those faces were Sneijder, Sane蒂, Eto’o, and his best friend Balotelli, laughing heartily, displaying a big-tooth-gap grin, arms wide open and rushing towards him...

"Gooooooooooooooal!"

"World-class strike!!!"

"Santon hit a world-class long-range shot from outside the box!"

"Gargano was faked out, and Koulibaly, Albiol, Hamsik were left stunned!"

"This ball surprised me too; viewers, according to my data, during Santon’s initial period at Inter, from 2008 to 2011, he played for two and a half years, appearing 53 times without a single goal!"

"Today, he scored his first goal of his Inter career!"

"This is his first appearance since returning to Inter!"

"Tang Long’s assistance was splendid, and Santon’s shot was exceptional!"

"Welcome back the wayfarer; let’s remember this name, he is Davide Santon!"

On the bench, all the players stood up, watching Santon, clapping for him.

The former teammate, now Inter First Team coach Chiwo, even had tears in his eyes.

When he first arrived at Inter, Santon was still a 17-year-old boy.

In a blink of an eye, he had retired.

Santon, also bearing the torment of knee injuries, still playing professionally with a crippled body missing the meniscus in both legs, wearing the blue and black jersey!

May you leave for half a lifetime and return as a youth!

"Well done, kid, I am proud of you!" Chiwo clenched his fists.

...

"Coach, let me play, Santon scored, I really don’t want to sit on the bench, I can’t take it!"

After finishing a set of regular warm-ups, Icardi candidly expressed his desire to play to Herrera.

Herrera hesitated for two seconds, then refused.

Even though he really liked this star player, the head coach’s tactical arrangements couldn’t be altered.

"No! Mr. Mancini instructed me, you can only have 10 minutes of substitute time at most, get some warm-up for the next league match, you can’t go on now!"

"But didn’t you see? Tang’s state exploded in the second half, everything he did worked, he single-handedly revitalized the midfield, I want to score, coach, let me play!"

Faced with Icardi’s relentless pleading, Herrera sighed.

"Mauro! This is just a Coppa Italia match, why take the risk of injury just to play early? Conserve your energy for the league and score then, wouldn’t that be better?"

Icardi spoke with an almost pleading tone:

"I played so frustrated in the match against Juventus, didn’t score, didn’t play the complete game, you have no idea, these days I’ve been going crazy, I can’t put it off until the weekend’s league game to score! I want to score now, Mr. Herrera, please, let me play!"

Icardi was indeed urgent!

In the last national derby against Juventus, Icardi was replaced by Podolski in the 68th minute.

It’s one thing to be substituted early in such a major event like a national derby.

The key point was that Podolski, who replaced him, scored in the 75th minute!

Icardi hadn’t done it in 68 minutes, but the German did it in 7!

At 21, Icardi was young and energetic, how could he swallow this indignity?

I am Inter’s top scorer, first in the Serie A scorer list, and I am aiming for the European Golden Boot!

How am I inferior to this German!?

Seeing Icardi, with his flaring nostrils, ready to jump off a building in frustration.

Herrera glanced at his watch, then said reluctantly:

"Alright Mauro, it’s the 59th minute of the second half now, Mancini gave you 10 minutes, I’ll make an exception and extend it to 15 minutes for you; by the 75th minute, you can play, is that okay?"