792 The Taller Trees in The Woods Are Liable to Get Their Tops Blown Off (1/2)
It was Twain's third time at Camp Nou, and it felt more intense than the previous two times because the nearly eighty thousand home fans were booing the Forest team with imposing momentum. The last time he was here, he did not receive such a warm welcome. What happened today was all to the Catalan media's credit.
As the Barcelona players walked into the stadium, the fans were still chanting Barcelona's team song, singing at a crescendo. Every one of the eighty thousand people chanted ”Barça! Barça! Bar-ça!” Then when they saw the Nottingham Forest players ran onto the pitch, these people uniformly burst into shrill boos like they were one person.
”What a welcoming host.” Twain laughed.
While eighty thousand people hissing at the same time was a magnificent sight, it did not affect the Nottingham Forest players. As the annoying Tony Twain's men, they were long used to being booed when they played in away games. The difference was whether it was a lot of or fewer people. The stadium was smaller if there were fewer people, and the noises would reverberate. The more people the bigger the stadium and the sounds were spread out, so the side with more people would not have any advantage to their number.
The Nottingham Forest players might be weaker than Barcelona in other respects, but in terms of their mental strength, they considered themselves second to none in the world. So, they were calm in the face of the thunderous boos.
George Wood shook hands with Puyol and exchanged the team flags. Then they did the coin toss. He won Puyol and got to pick the side. In fact, Twain had always felt that picking the side was not as important as the kickoff. Therefore, he hoped Wood would lose in the coin toss every time.
After the game started, Barcelona used the kickoff to launch an attack and Nottingham Forest retreated to defend.
”The game has just started, and Nottingham Forest are on the defensive. The pre-match spat was so intense that I thought Tony Twain would pounce to attack at the start of the game.” The television commentator was slightly critical of Twain's retreating defense.
The commenter next to him laughed, ”Barcelona has the ball. If Nottingham Forest wants to attack, how can they attack without the ball under their feet? Nottingham Forest will stick to the defensive counterattack in the game if there are no surprises. Tony Twain is a smart man who knows what the result is to go directly against Barcelona at Camp Nou.”
”But can they really hold on if they cling fast to defense at Camp Nou? I think it will be a matter of time before a goal is scored if they are besieged by Barcelona.” The commentator also had his own opinion on this.
”You're right. If any team just wants to attack when it is up against Barcelona, then it's normal for them to concede goals. On the other hand, if they just want to defend, they will also concede their goal sooner or later. So, Tony Twain did not go to the extremes here, and defensive counterattack is his special measure. I think if Barcelona can't score after a while, the game will be on track for Nottingham Forest.”
Guardiola was aware of this point too. He knew that Tony Twain would play defensive counterattack in the away game, so the key was whether he could keep him from defending successfully. As long as the Forest team lost the possession of the ball first, Tony Twain's defensive counterattack would collapse.
The crux of the game was not how strong the defense was, but whether the offense was sharp.
One of the best attacking lines in Europe today was facing the best defensive line, and the clash between the spear and the shield was not as exciting as one might think.
Barcelona's offensive met with a tenacious obstruction from Nottingham Forest outside the thirty meters zone. George Wood's and Tiago's defense was solid, especially Wood's. His tireless running ensured that he would appear where he was most needed. Both Xavi and Iniesta met with a lot of trouble.
Iniesta took the ball and stopped outside to observe and found that there was no suitable chance to pass the ball inside. Just as Messi found the same problem and pulled out to receive in the midfield, Iniesta simply handed the ball to him.
While Iniesta and Xavi were the brains of the team, Messi's popularity was much higher than theirs. As soon as the small statured Argentine received the ball, a huge cheer went up in the stands. Everyone was waiting for his magical performance.
Barcelona's No. 10, known as the king of the new generation of footballers, was last year's European Footballer of the Year, FIFA World Player of the Year, champion of the Champions League and World Cup. When he stood in front of you, it was as if his entire body radiated with light. Even if he did not do anything, he would still be the most eye-catching target on the field. Then he easily bypassed Baines.
The combination of speed and technique was perfect. It was a simple feint and another kick to the ball tricked Baines into stumbling. Such a gap in level was really frustrating---no, that would be the general idea. But for the Nottingham Forest players, they might smugly underestimated the opponents if they were too weak. However, when the opponent was too strong ... they were more excited instead!
Baines was knocked to the ground. Fernández was already blocking in front of Messi as he prepared to cut inside. The quick-to-react and nimble Messi rushed to kick the football to the outside line and flashed past Fernández. When he evaded Fernández's amateur defensive action with his excellent response, he was tangled by Pepe, while Baines had rushed back to defend him from behind at the same time.
The embattled Messi also tried to protect the football, but he fell to ground when he was kicked by Baines who rushed from behind!
Baines kicked the back of Messi's right ankle, and Messi screamed as he fell to the ground. He held his ankle as if he was in agony.
The stands burst into earthshattering hisses. The impetus was enough to scare a man with a weak heart to death.
The Barcelona fans hated all fouls against Messi because it would simply be killing the art of football and destroying their beliefs in football.
The referee's whistle was almost drowned out by the boos. Baines reacted quickly and immediately leaned over to comfort Messi to show goodwill to the referee. But the commentator did not let him go easily, ”The game has just begun, and Messi has been attacked by the Nottingham Forest player. This scene is simply too familiar. Recently we often see such a scene. As Barcelona's most famous and powerful player, Messi has reaped numerous honors while he has also been given the attention of the defenders. Baines' foul is enough for him to get a yellow card!”
The referee did not give Baines a card. Perhaps given that the game had just begun, he did not want to affect the intensity of the game that followed. It seemed that the Italian referee was not an ”iron-faced judge.” Otherwise, he would not be able to evade a yellow card.
The Barcelona fans close to the sidelines were swearing at Baines in Catalan and English, ”You bastard! Only a coward kicks another person's ankle!!”
”You English savages! Football hooligans!!”
Baines turned a deaf ear. When he saw that the referee did not issue a card, but only a verbal warning, he turned and ran off after listening.
Messi looked miserable, much to the delight of Twain off the field. He thought Baines had caused Messi to leave the pitch with his kick. But soon he was disappointed---Messi groaned for a while and stood up...