791 An Army Burning with Righteous Indignation (1/2)

The area which Guardiola was most careful about these days was not the training ground, but the team doctors. Iniesta and Milito had been injured in the game against RCD Espanyol. The team doctor had said at the time that Iniesta, who was only slightly injured, was likely to play against Nottingham Forest. So after playing in the ”war of the century” with Real Madrid, he began to care about this issue, for fear of a relapse.

Iniesta was now the team's midfield core. He and Xavi managed things well in the midfield for Barcelona's offense. Barcelona was considered to be the team that played most beautifully on the planet at the moment, and it was to the credit of both of them.

Guardiola did not want to lose Iniesta when it came time to deal with the aggressive Nottingham Forest.

Aside from Gabriel Milito's slightly more serious injury, he wanted to come up with the strongest lineup to deal with a tiger like Tony Twain.

Two days before the game, the good news finally came. After a detailed physical examination of Iniesta by the team doctors, they confirmed that he had recovered well and was in good form. He could play in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals.

Guardiola could finally heave a sigh of relief.

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Despite the life-and-death battle between the two teams, there was already tension between the two managers. But the relationship between the players was not as bad as outsiders thought it was. As a Barcelona player who had played for Nottingham Forest for many years, Piqué still had a good relationship with a few people, even though many of his former teammates had left Nottingham Forest, such as Bale and Lennon, as well as his former center back partner, Pepe.

Fortunately, Twain had gotten used to it a few months early. Otherwise he really couldn't have known how he would feel when he saw Real Madrid's future main center back and Barcelona's future main center back joking together and acting like brothers...

Of course, there were also some media that used this relationship to speculate. When the Nottingham Forest team arrived in Barcelona, Pepe was asked about it in the interview. Pepe did not mince words, saying that he and Piqué were good friends. ”We had a good understanding on the pitch, and I enjoyed that time. Of course, I currently work well with Kompany, Woodgate and other teammates...But I thought it was normal that he left. After all, he came out of La Masia...You ask what will happen when it comes to the game? I certainly will not hold back. Friendship is friendship, and the game is the game ...”

Piqué also responded to Pepe's words. ”Yes, I still remember my time at Nottingham Forest. But I'm clear-headed, and I know what the game is. You don't have to doubt my loyalty to Barcelona. Otherwise I wouldn't have chosen to leave Nottingham Forest then. Maybe I'll treat them out to a meal after the game, but until then I just want to beat them.”

He was also asked by the reporters how it felt to work with Twain. Piqué was slightly upset by the Catalan media's recent aggressive comments about Twain, which were already sufficient to constitute personal attacks and slanders—leaving aside his loyalty to the team and the manager, Guardiola did not hold the same place as Tony Twain in Piqué's mind.

So he decided to put aside his previous ”no comment” attitude and say something nice about Twain. ”Tony Twain is a charismatic manager. He seems to have a magical aura that captivates you. There is a lot of criticism of his style in England, but his players always stand with him.”

The Catalan media were not happy with the answer. They wanted to hear the voices of the Barcelona players joined in opposition to the same adversary, rather than such an ”anomaly.” Then someone asked, ”But every player who left Nottingham Forest did not seem to have anything good to say about him...”

Piqué laughed. ”Am I not one of them?”

”What about Guardiola?”

It was a trap, and Piqué carefully went around it. ”They are both very good managers. I have had the privilege of playing for them, and winning the Champions League titles.” Piqué had won two Champions League titles under Tony Twain, and under Guardiola, he had lifted the championship cup for the third time last season. Therefore, when it came to the experience of getting the Champions League title, he might have more than many of his current teammates.

Piqué was probably the only player on the Barcelona team who had goodwill toward Nottingham Forest and Tony Twain. The other players did not speak as nicely during the interview.

”There is no doubt that we will win.”

”I want a victory.”

”We're the defending champions!”

And so on. Declarations like this made people think that Barcelona was full of confidence.

What did Tony Twain, the master of psychological warfare, think of this?

”The louder the clamor is at this time, and the more nonsense being said, the more they prove that they lack confidence, and must use this false bravado to boost some confidence in themselves. As for me? I never talk nonsense before a game.” He casually dismissed Barcelona's angry attacks, even though a number of members of the Catalan media derided him as giving himself a slap in the face. ”If he 'never talks nonsense before a game,' then maybe it's the end of the world.” Some Barcelona fans in China even lashed out at Twain, saying that his ”thick skin is as thick as the Great Wall.” On the internet, they even traded insults with those they labeled as ”country bumpkin upstarts.” Following the rise of the Forest team, a rising number of Nottingham Forest fans also emerged to trade insults.

That was what Twain said, and that was what he did. Since the team's arrival in Barcelona, he had refused to accept interviews of unidentified origin. If outsiders wanted to know what the manager was doing, they could only find out through Pierce Brosnan's Nottingham Evening Post. Still, he gave pitifully little information to the ”royal correspondent.”

He was focused on preparing for the game, and he intended to wage a big war at Camp Nou.

The media complained that Tony Twain's ”secretive time” had returned, and they didn't know why he liked closed door training so much. But what made the media even more miserable was that even though Tony Twain drove them away like they were flies, they really scrambled madly for him like flies to a cake. To put it bluntly—they were really lowly.

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On April 16th, after a month of repeated hype, both sides engaged in numerous wars of words. Mixed in with Derbi barceloní, El Clásico, Nottingham Forest's heavyweight games against Chelsea and other teams, the high-profile clash that would leave both sides shattered was finally about to start.