249 Angel of the North Part 2 (1/2)

Chapter 249: Angel of the North Part 2

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

This was the 2004-2005 season that Tang En was familiar with. But now, because of his and Nottingham Forest's participation, the future would change; and whether the changes would be major or minor would depend on the extent of his and the Forest team's involvement.

Tang En certainly did not want to end up empty-handed this season. He was not enlightened enough to sacrifice himself to protect the consistency of history.

On November 4, Nottingham Forest was playing against their second opponent in the group stage of the UEFA Europa League: the Serie A team, Lazio, in the City Ground stadium. The City Ground stadium was ushering in the UEFA Europa League tournament once again after eight years. On the day of the match, not only was the stadium full, but even most pubs and bars in the city were crowded with people.

The fans of Nottingham Forest let the Italians, who had traveled from afar, witness their fervor. From the beginning of the game to the end, the Forest fans' singing and shouting did not cease once. The City Ground stadium was a standard football field with no track separation between the field and the stands. Such a small stadium obviously could not be compared to the opponent's Stadio Olimpico in Rome. However, it had one advantage: it allowed the visiting team to feel the force of the home fans and caused them to feel an enormous sense of oppression.

Coupled with the rather unique style of the English fans, playing in an away game here could almost give a person a heart attack.

Since this was his home ground, the tactics that Tang En used here were not conservative at all. The intense style of offensive playing in the entire field made Lazio feel suffocated. The Italians had not expected a newly promoted English team to be strong enough to leave them unable to retaliate; they were beaten.

When the game finally ended, the score was set at 2:0. Nottingham Forest had defeated the Italian Lazio team with its home advantage.

As the visiting team was leaving City Ground, the Forest fans were still gathered in the square outside the stadium, brandishing their fists at the visitors' bus and singing ”We've Got the Whole World in Our Hands.” The song had originally accompanied Clough's Forest team across Europe, and now it was back!

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Now that they had defeated Lazio in the UEFA Europa League home game, Nottingham Forest had won two consecutive victories in the group stage. There were two games left: an away game against Villarreal CF, and a home game against Partizan Belgrade. As long as they did not commit any major mistakes, their situation for qualifying in the group stage was excellent.

After their victory in this game, the Forest team seemed to lose their momentum all of a sudden, as if they lost their spirit due to their fear of peaking, despite having more than half of their long journey to go.

Three days later, in an away match on November 7, Nottingham Forest faced Liverpool, which was not in good condition. It was a good opportunity to gain points in an away game. However, the Forest team performed poorly, which was incomprehensible to everyone.