654 A Dramatic Scene (1/2)
The stitched area at the corner of his eye was affixed with a piece of tape. It stood out under illumination from the night lights and the scouring of the rain. This made George Wood easily distinguishable on the field.
Even though Wood was injured, it did not affect his play on the field. Instead, it made him fiercer, like the lion king, guarding his pride of lions and turf, which only became more brutal after being hurt and not run away with its tail in between its legs.
He clearly saw the circumstances in which his team was being crushed by Chelsea on the field when he came off for his treatment. Without his tireless running in the midfield and his fierce and precise defense, Nottingham Forest was suppressed by Chelsea's ferocious offensive.
Now he needed to reverse this incorrect situation.
Consequently, he strove harder than he did before he got hurt.
When he came on, the situation changed immediately. Chelsea could not pass through the midfield without any qualms. Their offense was met by the tenacious obstruction by George Wood and the others which made it difficult to advance even by a fraction.
With George Wood's participation, Nottingham Forest slowly took back the initiative in the game.
Makelele still looked like he had not recovered. More often than not, he stayed behind and did auxiliary work, during which the defense in the midfield was shared by several other people.
See the contrast of this scene, some people could not help but exclaimed at George Wood's otherworldly physical quality.
”He is a treasure that any manager has always dreamed of. An outstanding body, strict adherence to the tactical discipline, good psychological quality, stable state, utter loyalty... and he does not get hurt! The mover whom that Tony Twain picked up from the streets made all managers in the world green with envy. With him around, Nottingham Forest's good results are not surprising at all!”
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Nottingham Forest, which recaptured the initiative in the game, began to spur on more threatening attacks. The game had been played for twenty-five minutes now and there were few threatening attacks from both sides. The number of threatening shots were even fewer. Chelsea took advantage of when George Wood was treated off the field and launched an attack. While Nottingham Forest did not even have one yet---if Bale's pass which went crooked was not counted that one time. Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please clickfor visiting.
Both sides vied with each other in the midfield most of the time.
In one go, Chelsea's lineup deployed four players who could be the defensive midfielder---Lampard, Ballack, Makelele and Essien. Although Essien was the guest right back, sometimes he could rush to the midfield to defend. Makelele's ability was never in doubt and Ballack and Lampard were tough midfielders. They could seriously execute the tactics when they were needed to defend.
And on this side of Nottingham Forest, George Wood alone covered almost the latter half of the midfield, with the addition of the actively running players like Ribéry and Lennon. Both sides were equally matched in the midfield and inextricably locked in battle.
In the twenty-seventh minute, Lennon forcibly broke through Ashley Cole in the wing but the football under his feet was shoveled out of the sidelines by Cole. Nottingham Forest was awarded an out-of-bounds ball.
As an out-of-bounds ball could not be offside, Lennon almost moved to the end line to catch the ball, while Ashley Cole also had to follow him to move near the end line to prevent the Forest team from hitting directly behind him again. Joe Cole blocked in front of Rafinha, who was in charge of throwing the ball, to interfere with him and not allow him to easily throw the football to his target.
Rafinha was not stupid enough to throw the football at whomever Chelsea kept an eye on. He threw the football directly into van der Vaart in the middle.
After van der Vaart stopped the ball with his chest, Makelele leaned forward. The effects from the collision had gradually dissipated, and his ferocity did not diminish at all.
Van der Vaart, who tried his best to protect the football, gave up his intention to pass a threatening shot after he quickly observed the situation on the field. He passed the football to George Wood, who plugged in from the back. The boss had said that the offense in the game was organized by the captain, so he would hand it over for him to organize.
Wood did not stop the ball but brushed the ball to pass it on. The football drew an arc in the air and turned to the left side of the field.
Gareth Bale had already appeared in that position. As a full back, his assists were frequent and firm.
Once he beautifully took down Wood's pass, Bale started to pass the ball. Van Nistelrooy attracted the attention of both Terry and Carvalho in the front, but the unguarded Eastwood quickly rushed up and did a powerful diving header!
Fortunately, Čech reacted quickly. Coupled with his well-position stance, he struck out the football the moment he fell to the ground.
The football bounced up and out. It flew toward the right side of the goalmouth, which happened to be where van Nistelrooy was with Terry and Carvalho.
The three men huddled together and wanted to head the football. In the end, no one headed the ball.
The football bounced high on the ground as if to laugh at these three entangled fools.
At this time Ribéry appeared out of nowhere like a phantom.
He took down the football and quickly flashed past Terry to immediately start shooting!
The football came out of the cracks between the people, and suddenly appeared in front of Čech, who could not do anything even if he was a god---he was too close, almost within easy reach.
Čech did not even have time to wave before the football swooped down to bypass his side and flew into the goal behind him!
”The ball went in---”
A sound of ”bang” was heard and the red squares in the stands of Luzhniki Stadium erupted with huge cheers.
”This is Nottingham Forest's second shot in this game, and it pierced through the gate guarded by Čech!”
It must be said that Čech here was not the Čech with the tank helmet in Twain's impression. Today's Čech had not suffered that serious injury, and his state was not badly affected. He remained as one of the top three goalkeepers in the world.
”The defending champion leads with one goal in the Champions League final!”
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The Nottingham Forest players wildly embraced together and celebrated the goal on the field.
Off the field, Tony Twain brandished his fists hard and gnashed his teeth as he celebrated the goal.
Not far next to him, Grant slammed hard at the top of awning in the technical area behind him. The problem still laid with the wings.
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”This is Franck Ribéry's sixth goal in the Champions League, only one goal away from Cristiano Ronaldo's seven goals! Last year's European Footballer of the Year had maintained a very high level of competitive state this year. If he could help the team win the UEFA Champions League again, then this year's FIFA World Player of the Year may not be in any dispute!”
Ribéry finally broke free from his teammates' hugs. He waved his fists hard and faced the Forest fans in the stands. Like a band conductor, every time he waved, the fans in the stands followed suit and turned up the volume to loudly call out his name.
”Ribéry! Ribéry! Ribé--ry!!”
After rousing the fans' passions, Ribéry turned and ran back. When he passed by George Wood, he reached out to wood, and the two men high-fived each other again.
Twain, who celebrated the goal off the field, stood on the sidelines, cupped his hands up around his mouth and shouted toward the field, ”Keep up the pressure, don't relax! Continue to press and attack!”
Using offense to suppress the opponent, Nottingham Forest did not plan to be too conservative in this final.
Nottingham Forest's style of playing football was previously criticized as conservative and passive during last year's Champions League final. Even when they took the title, they were thought to have won by depending on defensive counterattack. This year, Twain wanted to take a title that would leave all the critics dumbfounded---to be the first defending champion since the restructuring of the Champions League, and that no one could find fault with the way they picked up the trophy!
Chelsea looked frustrated by this goal concede because the opponent breached the goal guarded by Čech's with only two shots. Any goal concede in a game like the Champions League final could cause upheavals in the players' mind.
Grant stood in silence on the sidelines like a statue. Who knew what was going on in his mind?
At this time, it was his assistant manager, Clarke, who walked up to the sidelines and loudly reminded the players on the field to focus and not let the Forest team take advantage to attack again.
A minute later, Drogba did a return pass after he caught the ball in the box. Ballack followed up with an angry shot, showing Chelsea's determination not to accept this result. Unfortunately, the corner shot flew straight toward the grandstand.
Grant finally came back from his contemplation. He whistled and gestured, demanding that the team stepped up the offense and temporarily pressed back on the opponent's offense, while they dialed up the scramble in the midfield and not let George Wood easily pass the ball out when their defense turned into offense.
After thirty minutes, various wonderful scenes emerged in succession.
Lampard sent a long pass to Drogba. Drogba ferried to the back, while Piqué almost did an own goal under Ballack's tight interference. The football hit the goalpost and fell outside of the end line which startled all the Nottingham Forest people who broke out in a cold sweat.
Chelsea seized this corner shot and tried to break Nottingham Forest's goal. Terry and Carvalho rushed to the front of the Forest team's goal.
But after the corner kick was sent out, Eastwood, who had to return to defend, was cut off. While Chelsea's defenders were not back yet, he dribbled the ball to the midfield and sent a long pass across. He passed the football to Ribéry, who followed closely on the wing.