362 The War Between Two Men 3 Part 1 (2/2)

Chelsea had Makelele and Nottingham Forest had George Wood. Makelele's body was not very strong. His defense relied heavily on experience, whereas George Wood's defense was based on his supernatural strength. Wood's importance to the Forest team needed no elaboration. With him around, the entire Forest team, regardless of whether they were the front field players or backfield players, would feel assured.

Chelsea's three midfielders might appear to be less than the Forest team's four midfielders. In fact, it could be seen that two out of Chelsea's three midfielders were the defending midfielders and Lampard was an attacking midfielder. Robben and Duff could be seen as the two wingers. In this way, Chelsea had five midfielders.

However, the number of players did not represent strength.

So far, the game had been going on for twenty minutes, and the Forest team and Chelsea were on par, which was clear from the midfield. At the moment, the game situation was in a delicate balance. Both parties' attacks were very fierce, and their transition between offense and defense was rapid. It looked like there were plenty of opportunities, but neither could grasp them.

The score was still 0:0.

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”The display on the big screen shows that the game has been going on for twenty minutes…. The twenty minutes went by before you knew it! Time really flies. The fierce competition between both sides made us forget the passage of time. Other than the score, this is a perfect game!”

”But it's just a matter of time before someone scores a goal in a game like this. It will be an irony if this game ends with a score of 0:0. Let's see who will break the deadlock first, and whose favor the balance will tip in...”

Just as Gary Lineker ended his speech, Chelsea launched an attack. It was a surprise attack, a direct long pass from the back straight to Robben on the flank. Robben's first stop was perfect. the ball halted just in front of him not far ahead. He immediately accelerated and dashed past without any hindrance from Chimbonda, who had rushed up to defend against him!

The Forest team's defense was breached, and Edwin van der Sar's save was critical!

Robben glanced up at the direction of the goal and then turned to speed up. In the middle, Drogba raised his hand as he followed up. Piqué and Pepe did not dare to slack and closely marked in the front and back. George Wood quickly chased from outside the penalty area. His target was Robben.

Since the angle was very tight, everybody thought that Robben would pass the ball. After all, even if Drogba was closely marked, there was still Lampard outside the penalty area. George Wood chose to return to chase after Robben, which meant that Lampard would be unmarked for a while.

As long as Robben was selfless enough, he could create a chance for the unmarked Lampard to take a big shot. But would Robben pass the ball?

It was a bit difficult for Robben to pass the ball to someone else after he had dribbled to break through to the penalty area when he was unmarked.

Robben looked up again. He was not looking for someone but confirming the goalkeeper's position and the angle of the shot. He slowed down his pace and adjusted the football at his feet.

George Wood was already close at hand. He already did not care if this was the penalty area. He threw himself forward and slid sideways to tackle the ball!

At the same time, Robben's calf quickly shot out and fired!

The football tore past Wood's toes, and drilled past the unprepared van der Sar into the goal!

When the ball went out, Robben jumped and dodged Wood's lethal tackle.

”What a gooooal! What a gooooal!! Chelsea is the one to break the deadlock! The first team to score is the visiting Chelsea, who now leads against Nottingham Forest by 1:0!”

”The balance is now tilted toward Chelsea!”

”This is an unexpected blow. The Forest team's two side midfielders are still standing near the center line, and Robben is already celebrating his goal!”

After he saw Robben's goal, Mourinho ran wildly with his arms wide open along the sidelines for about ten meters. He was so excited that it was as if he was going to hug Robben, the hero who scored the goal. In fact, all the Chelsea players were celebrating on the field. He did this for Twain. He almost rushed across the center line and ran to the front of Nottingham Forest's technical area.

Twain twisted his head to look at the electronic scoreboard and turned a blind eye to Mourinho.

He knew what Mourinho had mind. He refused to yield.