259 In Trouble Part 2 (1/2)

Hearing Tang En's last statement, the Fourth Official walked over. Tang En glanced at him and turned to return to the manager's seat. As he watched Tang En walk back, the Fourth Official also turned to return to his place. He had no intention of pursuing the matter. He knew how Tony Twain was as a manager; it was something that had already spread among the referee circle. Sometimes, it was better to have less fuss.

The referee's whistle to stop the match was clearly due to Roy Keane's foul against Wood earlier. His leg had been raised too high. He could have kicked Wood's jaw if he had gone even a little higher…

But Nottingham Forest's members were more displeased than the offending party. The Manchester United's players had taken the opportunity to run back for defense. Forest's captain, Demetrio Albertini, stood before the referee and questioned his call for the foul.

”Sir, we were on the attack. According to the Advantage rule, you can't…”

The referee shook his head. ”I know the rules. Manchester United's captain needed to be punished for his foul.” As he said this, he waved Roy Keane over and raised a yellow card at him.

Keane did not try to defend himself and turned to run back. His previous kick was done on purpose. Before the kick, he had noticed the situation around him. With Gary Neville a little too far away and Ronaldo still near the end line, their opponents would certainly go on the counterattack if he did not manage to receive the ball. He might as well commit a foul on purpose and buy some time for his teammates to return for the defense.

A yellow card in exchange for stemming the flow of the opponent's fast break. It was more than worth it.

Wood did not understand the ruling. A call for a foul by the referee was supposed to protect their interests. So why was it the opponent's interests that got protected in the end? He pointed at his arm and told Albertini, ”I'm fine. Why did the referee whistle for us to stop?”

Albertini gave Wood a wry smile. ”Because we are the away team. You did well, George.”

※※※

The television screen replayed the scene of the foul. Wood was facing Keane when he jumped so he could not have missed seeing Keane's leg coming up. But he made no attempt to dodge and stretched his head out to head the ball away. Similarly, Keane did not try to pull back his leg but waited with his right foot in the air to collide with Wood.

”Keane raised his leg up too high! He did not have any intention to pull back his leg…” the commentator said, shaking his head. That was Roy Keane's style.

After the match restarted, Forest's offense from the backfield was of no threat to Manchester at all because their players had already returned for the defense. When it came to such positional play, Forest had fewer options. They lacked a pure holding midfielder. Albertini was, after all, a defensive midfielder. At times, even he had no way of effectively standing in for an attacking midfielder.

Forest's attack died down eventually.

20 minutes earlier, Forest team could still contend with Manchester United on even grounds. However, after Keane's goal, the match initiative was now in the hands of Manchester. Their tidal wave of attacks completely suppressed Forest's offense. For a period, Nottingham Forest could only stay on the defense. Their few attempted sneak attacks were of little threat to the defensive line led by Rio Ferdinand.

Ribéry, who had been performing outstandingly for the past two months, was almost invisible in Forest's attacks during the match. That was because he was trying to compete with Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Portuguese man felt particularly good about himself today. The opponent he faced was not much and he could break through at will.

This time was no exception.

Ribéry did not excel at defending; he was only battling Ronaldo because of a drive that stemmed from an unwillingness to lose. But defense was not something that could be carried out by a mere drive.

He had learned his lesson. He was in no hurry to make his move when Ronaldo was doing his fakes. Instead, he followed the steps of the opponent and retreated accordingly. He was so focused on Ronaldo that he forgot that he was already on the penalty line.

The dribbling Ronaldo realized that Ribéry was completely focused on the ball beneath his foot and grinned. He raised his foot and made a false swipe over the ball, looking as if he wanted to bring it towards the end line. Instead, he took it outside in a bid to forcefully break through or pass to the center.