629 Real Madrid’s Core (1/2)

During halftime, the situation that Guti had to face in the second half was still in his imagination. He might be able to reference previous games to get a sense in advance, but none of those teams were Nottingham Forest, and the managers of those teams were not Tony Twain.

After the second half began, he quickly understood the situation. George Wood was still there to keep an eye on him, but the players who disrupted him were replaced by other people, such as van der Vaart.

Guti had decided that he would not be angry no matter how much Wood provoked him. On the contrary, he wanted to find ways to send Wood off the field. However, the situation was completely different from what he had envisioned. The Forest team instructed them to take turns to provoke him, foul, make rough moves that fell between a foul and not, and pull little stunts the referees could not see to.

He could hardly stand it several times. He wanted to hit back hard and then turn to leave abruptly, but he knew his retaliation would result in a red card, so after he thought about it, he did not put it into practice.

He had made a lot of progress in controlling his temper.

※※※

The game continued with Real Madrid's offense still largely organized by Guti. When Guti was assailed by the Nottingham Forest players, the rest of the Real Madrid players took over Guti's job. Diarra participated in the offense. While his offensive level was the weakest out of Real Madrid's four midfielders, he was the most active one because he was the defensive midfielder and had more chances to get the ball.

It was kind of amazing. Diarra should have been defense-oriented, but he rushed to the front of the Forest team's penalty area and did not go back. Sometimes he could also be seen on the right flank. Everything he did had to do with the offense, and when the Forest team counterattacked, Diarra still slowly ran back from the front field. His speed could not be considered fast, and coupled with his running posture, he looked like he was unable to run fast, which made people anxious.

Sneijder was a very comprehensive midfielder, but it was not feasible to get him to take on the responsibility of organizing the offense in Twain's view.

Not knowing why, Twain always worried about Sneijder when he watched him play football. He was concerned about his uncalled-for mistakes. He always seemed to have no way of firmly controlling the football. His actions were big and looked brash. His main task as the midfielder on Real Madrid's left flank was to assist in the offense and provide support for the defense. He was there to assist. He was slightly browbeaten when Nottingham Forest had a free hand to press in closely.

On the other side, Robinho's position was more flexible. He could suddenly go left or right, which made him a headache for Twain, because his personal skills were outstanding. He could become an important factor to break the balance in a deadlock.

Overall, Real Madrid had the upper hand in the game, and Nottingham Forest was still dominated by defense.

※※※

Twain observed Guti and found that he was indeed very angry, but he would not explode, which frustrated him. If Guti could really keep his temper under control, then he would be the unlucky one in the end.

Because the number of fouls increased, the odds of getting a card became higher. It was not good for them to get more cards.

However, Twain could not change his decision yet because even though he said to provoke Guti more, Nottingham Forest also had to be on guard against Guti in terms of formal tactics. They could not give him too much space to move, or his straight passes could rip apart the Forest team's defenses.

Twelve minutes after the second half, van der Vaart finally got a yellow card. He was given yellow card by the referee because he had pushed Guti down from behind. There was a flurry of disgruntled boos in the Bernabéu stands. The fans thought the referee was too late in issuing the yellow card. According to their standards, George Wood should have been sent off in the first half and ten minutes into the second half, and the Forest team should have only been left with one goalkeeper, Edwin van der Sar.

Guti still did not explode and even had a smile on his face. He was either mocking van der Vaart or ridiculing Tony Twain, who came up with the idea.

Twain sat in the technical area, frowning.

The location of van der Vaart's foul was not ideal: twenty-five meters from the goal and to the left side of the front of the penalty area.

After having been closely marked by the Nottingham Forest players for close to sixty minutes, Sneijder, who had been constantly making mistakes, stood in front of the football. He wore the number 23 jersey. The original owner of the jersey number stood among the human wall in front of him, with his hands across his chest, nervously gazing at the new Real Madrid number 23 in front of him.

Ever since Beckham and Roberto Carlos left, Real Madrid's first pick for free kicks had become the Dutch kid.

For Sneijder, the first period of the season was perfect. With the frenzy of goals, victories, long shots, and free kicks that he accomplished for Real Madrid, especially after he cracked open Villarreal's goal with a free kick, he was hailed as ”the New Beckham.”

Sneijder did not like the label because it sounded as if he was just a replacement for Beckham. He was Sneijder, and not anyone's number two.

Sneijder stood in front of the ball, staring intently in front of him. Guti stood next to him, and everyone knew he was covering for Sneijder.

The human wall was built under the command of Edwin van der Sar to block the nearest corner. Then Edwin van der Sar moved back to the furthest corner.

”Sneijder is ready for the shot...” Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please clickfor visiting.

The referee's whistle rang, and before the commentator was done, he saw Guti run to the football. The Forest team's human wall remained unmoved because they knew it was a feint, and the Dutchman behind was the real McCoy.

Guti did not run straight through the football. He paused in front of the ball and then swung his left leg...

Twain jerked up from his seat, and shouted, ”F**k...”

Sneijder stood behind Guti and did not move an inch. He watched Guti kick the football to send it flying over the stupefied human wall and fall into the nearest corner of the goal!

Edwin van der Sar did not expect to Guti to be the one to shoot the free kick, so he did not respond. He just turned his head to watch the football fly into the goal.

When he turned to see the football enter the goal, Guti clenched his fist and cheered. Sneijder wanted to come up and hug him in celebration, but almost got elbowed instead. The resentment from being continuously harassed that had been bottled up was finally given the opportunity to vent. He was like the center of a volcanic eruption; it was dangerous to get close to him.

Raúl was the first to rush up and embrace him, containing the hot magma that spewed out of Guti.

This goal was too important for Real Madrid.

”Guti! Guti! Guti!” Thunderous cheers erupted in the Bernabéu stands. They shouted the name of their vice-captain and jumped out of their seats.

Like them, Schuster and the others rushed out of Real Madrid's technical area with their arms raised high. With the score equalized, a huge weight was finally lifted off him.

The goal was eventually conceded, but Twain was not furious. He just stood on the sidelines and shook his head.