The people of Cardiff City, of course, wanted to defend their home turf.
But facing Liverpool's high press, they also had no good solutions.
Niasse, after receiving a pass from a teammate, pulled to the wing, but was immediately met with a small-scale press from the Liverpool players.
Before he could make his next move, Henderson slid in and tackled the ball out of bounds.
Cardiff City's attack was instantly brought to a halt.
The curses from the home fans grew louder.
Niasse and the other Cardiff City players were getting frustrated.
As the saying goes, who the hell wants to be bald if they have hair?
Did they think they wanted to be mired in the relegation zone?
It was just that their strength didn't allow for anything else.
If they had the ability, why would they be playing for Cardiff City?
Besides, if he could lead Cardiff City to a title, he would have already been bought by giants like Liverpool and Chelsea.
Frustrated, the Cardiff City players took a throw-in to Niasse.
Carelessly, just as Niasse controlled the ball and before he could turn, he was brought down to the turf by a flying tackle from Tendou, who had been targeting him all along.
The referee did not blow the whistle.
It was a good tackle, the kind that, from any replay angle, could be confirmed as a clean tackle.
He had already made Liverpool suffer for the first half. If he showed bias again, his reputation would be irredeemable.
After a moment's hesitation, he decisively extended both hands, signaling for the match to continue.
"Beautiful!"
"A textbook tackle!"
"TJ!"
"He gets up quickly!"
"Liverpool's counter-attack has started again!"
As Tendou got up, the several thousand Liverpool fans who had traveled with the team immediately jumped to their feet in excitement.
They were all waiting for Liverpool to blow Cardiff City away with their top-tier counter-attack.
On the field, Mané and Salah, one on the left and one on the right, charged towards the Cardiff City backfield.
Tendou strode through the center.
Although the Cardiff City players had started to push their formation forward, their defense against him had never slackened.
A two-man coordinated pincer.
Tendou brutally burst through the middle of the two of them with a long touch.
Camarasa quickly reached out to pull him, but only heard a rip.
Looking down, he saw a piece of a Liverpool jersey in his hand.
Beside him, Ralls's eyes widened.
But he reacted quickly, determined that even if he got a red card, he could not let this monster continue to advance.
Without hesitation, he went for a slide tackle from behind, aiming fiercely at Tendou.
But then, it was as if Tendou had eyes in the back of his head.
In the God's-eye view of the audience, he suddenly flicked the ball and changed direction, dodging this extremely dangerous slide tackle like an elf.
With a swish, Ralls slid past Tendou.
When the replay was shown later, the fans could see the horror on his face.
"A solo burst through the center!"
"A two-man pincer!"
"TJ!"
"Oh my God! He's a beast! Camarasa can't even hold him back by pulling!"
"But, a tackle from behind! Danger!"
"A sudden drag-back and change of direction..."
"My God!"
The official Liverpool commentator decisively kicked his foot, sending the table he had just set up flying again.
The staff next to him did not complain. Their eyes were also focused on Liverpool's number 44.
He had gotten past the two-man pincer.
In front of Tendou was now an open field.
Firmino made a crisscrossing run with him, pulling away the Cardiff City defenders.
But they saw Tendou make a horizontal pass, giving the ball to Firmino.
The Cardiff City defenders had to shift their center of gravity.
However, Firmino at this time also passed the ball back to Tendou.
An impeccable one-two, and the Cardiff City penalty area was right in front of Tendou.
The remaining Cardiff City defenders looked left and right, then charged towards Tendou.
Thwack!
The moment they moved, Tendou quickly sent a through pass into the Cardiff City penalty area.
And then, Mané shot out from the crowd, and like a cheetah, he caught up to the ball and took a shot.
"GOAL!"
The ball flew past Etheridge's grasp and into the bottom right corner of the net.
TWEEET!!!
The referee did not hesitate this time, pointing both hands directly to the center circle.
"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!"
"It's in!"
"The second one!"
"A through pass from TJ after a series of dribbles finds Mané!"
"A scalpel-like pass!"
"He has completely dissected the Cardiff City defense!"
"2:0!"
...
The Cardiff City Stadium fell silent, with only the several thousand Liverpool fans celebrating wildly.
1 goal and 1 assist!
This was Tendou's stats for the match so far.
This Asian prodigy, who had been insulted by the Cardiff City fans for the entire half, had used his actions to turn this stadium into a library.
Mané was still celebrating the goal with his teammates over there, but the camera was focused on Tendou.
The Liverpool superstar had gotten a book from the assistant coach and was calmly reading it in front of the Cardiff City fans.
"TJ is reading a book?"
"What is this..."
"HOLY SHIT! He's mocking Cardiff for turning into a library!"
"I fucking love him!"
"His celebrations are always as full of creativity as his football!"
...
"The Cardiff City fans can't take this provocation!"
Just as the commentator had said, the home fans, who now understood Tendou's meaning, furiously threw trash onto the field.
The riot police had to use their shields to protect his head.
In an instant, trash was flying everywhere. If you didn't know better, you would think it was a garbage dump.
The fourth official informed the head referee of the situation.
Without a second word, the head referee ran over and showed a red card to Tendou's face.
Tendou couldn't even be bothered to protest. He casually threw away the adult magazine that Krawietz had given him and turned to walk back onto the field.
But he hadn't taken a few steps before Klopp called out to him.
"Come back, TJ! It's enough!"
Klopp did not dare to let his darling continue to play now.
With him provoking the home fans like this, the Cardiff City players would definitely not let him off the hook.
Tendou could only shrug his shoulders and walk off the field.
In a certain domestic broadcast room, the bullet comments scrolled rapidly.
Some were sending off this "People's King of Football."
Others were shouting, "Dad! Don't go! Just one more goal!"
None of this had anything to do with Tendou.
After leaving the field, he was escorted directly back to the away team's locker room by security.
In the subsequent match, Liverpool did not dare to provoke the people of Cardiff City anymore.
Their genius's celebration was simply too showy. To actually read a book at someone else's home ground, it was a wonder he had thought of it.
Salah and the others, looking at the opponents' eyes now, could almost see fire shooting out of them.
They decisively and obediently passed the ball around in their own half.
...
Get 20+ chapters ahead on - P.a.t.r.e.o.n "RoseWhisky"