512 Youre All Wrong (1/2)
”Franck Ribéry — he seized the chance to shoot from the crowd! Nottingham Forest leads Barcelona for the second time! The game is still has... seventeen minutes. This situation is really bad news for Rijkaard's team. If they want to win, they have — including injury stoppage time — just a little more than twenty minutes to score two consecutive goals and make sure their defensive line does not continue to concede any goals. This will be difficult... The Nottingham Forest fans are cheering. This is a really delightful score for them!”
Fat John and Bill hugged each other in the stands. This score not only made them happy, it was also thrilling for them. The hardcore fans were obviously well aware what the win at Camp Nou meant for them. Throughout the ages, there were only a handful of teams that could take this stadium.
”Guys, let's sing!” John turned towards the back and hollered at the thousands of Forest fans in the stands.
”We've got the whole world in our hands! We overcome every attack, we're invincible! Because we're the strongest team! Oh, oh, oh—”
After a few seconds of silence, the Barcelona fans booed loudly again to drown out the singing voices of the Forest fans.
The Forest fans saw this situation and raised their volume. They only had seven thousand people, but they did not want to lose to the seventy-thousand Barcelona fans.
At the end, the Barcelona fans struggled with their booing, and the Forest fans tried harder to raise the volume. They were no longer singing but yelling out the song. They yelled at the top of their lungs until their throats were hoarse.
As the Forest fans in the stands frantically battled the Barcelona fans, the Forest players on the field frantically celebrated their goal. They celebrated heedlessly in front of the Barcelona players.
Ribéry led his group of teammates and ran across the vast tract of the field. They rushed toward the stands where the Forest fans were. A group of them waved their arms and conducted the fans' singing to make them sing louder.
It was really an opportune moment to incite the mood.
Even Tony Twain's celebration was a bit more excessive than normal. He had no intention of giving his opponent a shred of respect at the stadium. He celebrated as if he were on his home ground. He hugged all the coaches and substitutes, and turned around and brandished his fists at the Barcelona fans in the stands behind him as a show of force.
The move certainly invited more violent abuse at him. If he could have understood Catalan, the words of abuse were vicious enough to bring the dead back to life. It was a pity he could not understand. He just smiled and looked at the angry Barcelona fans. He bowed slightly, and turned around and let them see his back.
”Before the game, we thought that when Tony Twain vowed that the game was within his control, he was either just lying and it was a psychological warfare, or he really had something up his sleeves to deal with Barcelona. Now it looks like it's the latter. His team does have a way of dealing with Barcelona. The Nottingham Forest players clearly remember last season's defeat. Now they have finally found the best way to avenge that and vent their feelings. For Twain's team, Barcelona is really the best opponent for the Round of 16, the best of the best opponents.”
”... An English team is different from the other national league teams. The manager is the soul of a team. A manager's character often determines the character of the team. By studying Tony Twain, we clearly know what kind of person he is. To put it in not-so-nice words, he is narrow-minded, vindictive and a sore loser. And his team is likely to be the same. Barcelona beat them in last season's final which made them unhappy. They are more motivated to play this game than any other game. It's no surprise that they were able to lead Barcelona twice...”
”Tony Twain, even though you're not my favorite manager in England, you represent England in the Champions League arena, so I'm going to say-well done Forest!”
”Barcelona dominated but ended up being led by the Forest team twice. Nottingham Forest was almost always in a disadvantageous position, and yet they led Barcelona twice. Football is such a marvelous game!”
”The game is not over yet. Barcelona still has a chance! Nottingham Forest has not won the game even though they scored two away goals. I'm sure Barcelona won't let them leave Camp Nou with three points. The people here will not agree to that!”
The various countries' commentators expressed their views in response to the situation. There were some who evaluated from an objective and neutral standpoint, there were some who professed their admiration for Tony Twain, and there were also some who encouraged Barcelona not to give up.
Compared to Twain's flamboyant display, Rijkaard looked pained as he stood in the empty space in front of the coaches' seats.
The Forest team was obviously good at playing defensive counterattack. After they had lured Barcelona out, they had launched a sudden counterattack. They were very familiar with this set piece.
But now it was not the time to think about why Nottingham Forest was ahead, but to seriously consider how to equalize the score and overtake them to achieve a big reversal in the last twenty-something minutes.
Rijkaard did not want to admit it, but it did present some challenges.
A big push meant that there would be a lot of gaps behind. The gaps behind them meant that there would be more opportunities for Nottingham Forest to carry out the defensive counterattacks they were best at.
Should they go all out to attack and overcome their loss with more goals or should they prudently watch their front and back as they waited for the final whistle to be blown?
Was this still a choice to be made?
Rijkaard walked back to the substitutes' bench and summoned the French winger, Giuly.
As Rijkaard brought on Giuly, Twain also made a substitution.
He brought off Mikel Arteta and put Petrov on the field. In this way, Ribéry was completely fixed in the middle of the midfield, in a similar capacity as an attacking midfielder. Petrov would assault on the left flank.
”Both sides have made adjustments. What excites us is that the leading Nottingham Forest has not brought on a defensive player but continues to make adjustments on their offense. Tony Twain has replaced Mikel Arteta in the middle with the swift left winger, Petrov, whose speed will be an important weapon for the Forest team's defensive counterattack. It seems that Manager Tony Twain is here to thoroughly carry out his defensive counterattack.”
The commentator said it well. Twain knew that under such circumstances, Rijkaard would have no other choice. He would never accept conceding here, and that he would definitely deploy his offensive players to stake it all to fight Nottingham Forest.
As for Twain, he would take the opportunity and continue to step up the pace of their counterattack. On one hand, their defensive lineup remained unchanged, which stabilized their defense. On the other hand, they would continue to accelerate the speed of their counterattack and increase their capability for individual combat. He knew that as the game moved to the end, it was no longer realistic to ask the team to send more people during an offensive. They could only count on the players' individual abilities to fight back. Petrov was fast and his dribbling was excellent. He was good at passing and shooting. He was the best candidate to play the counterattack.
Rijkaard also knew Twain's intention in doing so. He was not a fool; he could see it. Twain followed closely every time he made a substitution. Why? Because he wanted to make adjustments according to his last change. This cunning and vile fox!
Now the Dutch manager could only curse his opponent in his head. Other than that, he had no other way... he had no choice. Even if he knew that Twain was going to do that, he could only let his team continue to step up the offensive and threaten the Forest team's goal, hoping to crack open van der Sar's fingers soon. Barcelona only had one way to go now, which was to use offense instead of defense.
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As the game went on, it entered a state whereby Barcelona frenziedly counterattacked and Nottingham Forest was battered and exhausted but defended tenaciously.
Rijkaard's thinking was sound. Barcelona's reckless drive and offense pushed the Forest team, which still wanted to play defensive counterattack, back to the other half of the field. Petrov, who was brought on, could only run back to participate in the defense, and simply had no time to strike back.
Going into the 80th minute, Twain made a substitution before Rijkaard. This was also his last replacement for the game. He replaced Gareth Bale with Leighton Baines to step up the defense in the left flank. When Baines came on, he passed on a message to Wood:
Twain wanted him to drop the offense and devote himself to the defense. He must closely mark Ronaldinho and also assist in defending Messi if possible.
Wood was entirely in his element with this task. He kept close to Ronaldinho and followed him wherever he went. He did not give him any space. He did not simply follow him. He also constantly pressed against Ronaldinho with his superior physique and persistently disrupted Ronaldinho's control of the ball so that he could not easily execute his moves. He made him so annoyed that he could only pass the ball.
Twain saw this scene on the field and snickered. Turning his head to his two assistant managers, he said, ”now Ronaldinho must regret George Wood not playing in the last final. He missed the first-hand and most detailed information. Before this game, I bet his knowledge of Wood was limited to a written profile and game videos. Ah, with this sort of matter, he still has to experience firsthand to know. Haha! An actual physical experience is still more trustworthy than words and video material.”
This was not the first time Ronaldinho had felt agitated. He had experienced it in the away game against Chelsea during the Champions League group stage and the first leg of the El Clásico this season. In both games, he felt this kind of relentless defense shadowing him. He was very skilled, but he needed time and space to operate his techniques. He could not just exhibit his magical skills in any situation. Wood's defense did not allow him that time and space. He kept feeling the collisions from his opponent. He had to put more energy to keep his body in balance and not to lose the ball.