789 Before A Big Game (1/2)
Eastwood's shot became a topic of great relish among the Forest fans after the game. It was even featured on the opening reel of ESPN's highlights and was broadcast repeatedly. It was a really terrific goal, almost like a work of art. The commentators joked that it was not humiliating for Mourinho to be wiped out by such a goal.
While Nottingham Forest eliminated Inter Milan with a score of 3:2, Barcelona also easily defeated Eindhoven 2:0 and advanced to the final eight. The two high-profile teams would finally meet.
Although it would be almost a month before the two teams actually encountered each other, the media and fans were already eagerly counting down.
So far this season, Nottingham Forest had been hovering between third and fifth place in the Premier League table. It would take a lot of effort on their part to win the league title, and they would also need to pray that the top teams in the table would make consecutive mistakes. It was too low a probability. So, those people familiar with Tony Twain thought Twain would focus the strength on the Champions League while aiming to retain a top-four spot in the league.
Barcelona's situation was slightly better than that of Nottingham Forest. They currently occupied the top spot in the league, with the second-placed Real Madrid four points away from them. At the same time, they had also reached the final in the Copa del Rey. It looked like it was going to be another successful season: they were likely to achieve the great accomplishment of the treble, even though Real Madrid was eyeing the league tournament covetously. The Copa del Rey final was against Sevilla, a team which was recovering and who wanted to use the Copa del Rey as a chance to re-emerge, and in their Champions League, Barcelona was to encounter the toughest opponent.
It was right to say that they had a bright future, and it was also reasonable to say that their future was uncertain.
With half a month to go before the game, Guardiola was asked about the match against Nottingham Forest. He did not want to answer the question, so he said, ”I'm only thinking about the next league game and derby against RCD Espanyol now. The Champions League is still half a month away.”
Unlike him, Twain spoke to the media early on about the game. ”Who will be the eventual winner? Do you still need to ask the question? It's obviously us! Barcelona are unlucky. Their competition schedule is not good for them during this period. This is our chance. Do you want me to comment on the Derbi Barceloní the night after tomorrow? I hear it's a bigger game than El Clásico! I hope a few players in their team will be injured in that game...”
The remark caused a stir in the Catalan media. Mundo Deportivo angrily denounced Twain as a ”stadium fascist” because he had actually said the despicable words of wanting his opponent to have their players injured in the game.
Sport derided Twain's remarks as a ”declaration of a coward.” Why? Because ”he can only pray that we have injured players in Barcelona so that his team can win. How sad and pathetic it is!”
A number of other tabloids published their own comments about Twain in their articles. In their published caricatures, Twain became a monster with a human face and a bull's body. He had long horns on his head and a tail behind his buttocks. A strip of a mustache above his lips made him look like Hitler.
But Twain did not talk nonsense. For Guardiola, the worry was real. What if his players were really injured in the Derbi Barceloní against RCD Espanyol? What was he going to do? Messi was currently in great form and playing very well. He had scored consecutive goals and assists. He had long been a player who attracted the special attention of his opponents. Since it was the Derbi Barceloní, it was almost inconceivable that RCD Espanyol would not send anyone to mark Messi. The use of lethal tactics against Messi in the games now seemed to have become an ”unwritten rule” in La Liga. When any team played Barcelona, Messi would always be the player with the most violations against him after the game.
Cruyff had on more than one occasion called on the Royal Spanish Football Federation to introduce a rule to protect the players with artistic talent and punish the lethal tactics that targeted a particular player. Although he did not mention Messi by name, anyone with a normal IQ knew he was speaking for Messi.
The Royal Spanish Football Federation could not change the rules for one player, and FIFA had long created a regulation to crack down on the ”tackle from behind.” So, nothing could be changed.
Messi had already suffered an injury in the first half of the season and took a month and a half off to rest before returning. In fact, he had been injured in almost every season over the years. As one of the best offensive star players on the planet, he was naturally contradictory to the defenders. No defenders would feel ”tender, protective feelings” when they faced Messi. They would shovel him to the ground, again and again, forcing him to lose the ball and thus bringing Barcelona's offense to a standstill.
Twain was definitely not cursing the Barcelona players. He was just telling the truth about the current situation. One could say that the players who were technically good suffered from others' jealousy, or that the defensive players were killing the beauty of football. It was an indisputable fact that they were more likely to be injured.
Therefore, Twain's words caused Guardiola a certain amount of worry. There was no doubt that the match against RCD Espanyol would be intense. Messi would certainly be the core of his team and be heavily marked by their opponents, who would even use lethal tactics. If Messi were to be injured in the game and missed the next few games, would the loss not be even greater?
He mulled it over, and in the Derbi Barceloní a day later, Messi's name was not on the starting list. Some media exclaimed that Twain's mouth was really powerful and could actually make the Barcelona manager change his mind.
It was not as simple as not having Messi. The entire Barcelona team also practiced a little restraint when they played in that game against RCD Espanyol. As they played in the away game, they were clearly not as proactive as the home team, RCD Espanyol. The commentator said that Guardiola had instilled in them the idea of not getting hurt in the game when he touched on this point.
Regardless of how careful Guardiola was, Twain was right that Barcelona's competition schedule during this period was against them.
After Derbi Barceloní played RCD Espanyol, the next round of the league tournament was against fourth-placed Valencia, followed by the internationally highly anticipated ”war of the century”, the ”El Clásico”– Barcelona's away game against Real Madrid. After they finished playing that match, it would be time to play the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals. They would wait at home for Nottingham Forest to come to challenge them. Then, after playing this game, it was the league home game against Sevilla, followed by the away leg against Nottingham Forest.
It looked like Twain really had a deep understanding of his opponent and even completely knew the other side's schedule. In the face of such a difficult run of fixtures, Barcelona still wanted to advance in all the tournaments. It was indeed difficult. The league tournament was played till mid-April, and everyone would be exhausted and lacking in strength by then. But this was the final sprint. A single slip might cause long-lasting trouble.
Barcelona would not be willing to lose the Champions League title, nor would they want to give up the league tournament. The four-point gap was not enough for them to keep out Real Madrid, not to mention that they still had to play against Real Madrid.
On the other hand, Nottingham Forest's competition agenda was much easier. They only had one strong opponent before the game against Barcelona, and that was Chelsea.
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The result of the Derbi Barceloní was a 2:2 draw between the two sides. In this game, the referee showed nine yellow cards and one red card. RCD Espanyol's center back, Sergio Sánchez was sent off for knocking over Iniesta. The latter lasted for fifteen minutes before Guardiola replaced him with Yaya Touré.
Twain's jinx became true. After Iniesta was replaced, the center back, Gabriel Milito was forced off the field with a twisted ankle from a scuffle.