839 One More Match Remaining (1/2)

”Fernando Gago! Fernando Gago!” the commentator roared. ”A goal in the dying minutes of the match! Nottingham Forest has miraculously gone into the lead! They have made a comeback against Arsenal! My God! Look at them… They have all gone crazy!”

The Nottingham Forest players had truly gone crazy on the pitch.

Even Twain had lost himself in his ecstasy. He began acting rather inappropriately as a manager by the side of the pitch, and his behavior caused numerous cameras in the stadium to swing toward him.

He was not acting inappropriately in an attempt to anger the Arsenal fans. He was truly fired up by the goal. He had told his players during half-time that they needed to win this match if they wanted to continue their fight to become champions, and they had done just that.

How could he not be worked up?

When his excitement and euphoria died down, Twain noticed that Eastwood was sitting off to the side, murmuring to himself. His eyes were red, as if he had just been crying.

Twain walked over and patted him on the shoulder. ”Why were you crying?”

”I didn't cry… Boss.” Eastwood stopped murmuring once he noticed that Twain was standing next to him.

”What are you mumbling about?”

The Romani's face turned red, but he said nothing.

His reaction piqued Twain's curiosity. He shook Eastwood's shoulder and asked, ”Go on, tell me. What are you so embarrassed about?”

Eastwood hesitated for a while before he went on to say, ”I, uh, I'm trying to memorize the words that you said at half-time, boss…”

Twain was taken aback. A short moment later, he burst out laughing. ”What is there to memorize? It won't do you any good…”

Eastwood chuckled. His cheeks were still faintly red. ”Your words are just like the Bible, boss. I feel full of energy every time I recite them.”

It was Twain's turn to be embarrassed. He scratched his messy head of hair, not knowing what he should say.

”…How can there be anything else in this world that is worth fighting for if we don't even want to fight for a chance like this?” Eastwood grinned at Twain after reciting the words one more time. ”It was well said, boss. We fought hard and we have attained victory. Do we have what it takes to become champions now?”

Twain looked at the smiling Eastwood. The latter's eyes were still red.

He was definitely crying.

It suddenly dawned on Twain that if Freddy hadn't retired, then he could have become a player who achieved the treble in his career.

Those achievements mean nothing to him now…

Twain did not answer Eastwood's question. Instead, he said, ”Didn't I say this before? I equate Nottingham Forest with the champions. Looks like you didn't memorize properly.”

There were three minutes left in the match. The Arsenal players could only pick themselves up and continue playing.

Twain had put aside his happiness from earlier and was shouting at the top of his voice by the side of the pitch. He wanted his players to stay focused and not give Arsenal the chance to level the score in the final few minutes of the match.

After all, if Nottingham Forest was capable of scoring a goal in the dying minutes of the game, then who was to say that Arsenal couldn't do the same?

”Stay calm! You all have to stay calm!” Twain shouted again and again. He was worried that his players would get too excited and that their emotions would end up affecting their performance.

Twain was right to be worried, as the players' emotions did nearly get in the way. Luckily for them, however, they had a captain who was capable of staying composed in all circumstances.

George Wood kept reminding his teammates verbally and through his actions on how they should be acting in the final few minutes of the match.

The Emirates Stadium was filled with deafening cheers. The home team fans were all cheering their team on.

Wenger might have thought that it was all right to lose the match since they still led Forest by three points, but there was not a single fan who would want to see the team that they supported lose a match.

Wenger directed his Arsenal team to go all out on offense. It did not matter if they lost by another goal, since it would still be a loss. But, if they were lucky, they could score a goal against Forest and level the score.

Arsenal earned a corner after shooting at Forest's goalpost repeatedly. It was Arsenal's last chance to score in the match. Even their goalkeeper Almunia had run up to Forest's penalty box.

The ball was sent into the penalty box from the corner.

Almunia actually managed to head the ball!

Unfortunately for him, his shot went wide. It flew right out of bounds.

There was no one guarding Arsenal's goalpost. Akinfeev was not going to let this opportunity to carry out a counterattack slip. He ran over to the ball boy positioned behind the goalpost and asked for the ball. He planned on scoring a goal and making the score 3:1 by kicking the ball towards the empty goalpost before Almunia made his way back.

He did not get his wish, however. He heard three blows to the referee's whistle right at the moment he received the ball from the ball boy.

”The match is over!”

The Forest fans at the stands all stood up with both hands raised to the skies, and they began cheering at the top of voices.

Their team had achieved victory in a challenging game. This win was worth six points in their hearts!

”Nottingham Forest has defeated Arsenal in an away game, and they have obtained three valuable points. The gap between them and Arsenal is only three points now, and they have also risen to second place. In the match that kicked off before this, Liverpool drew with Manchester United and has dropped to third place. Tony Twain has taken another step towards a future where Carl Spicer has to eat a table.”

”It was a match that would get any football fan fired up. Gago scored a brace, and his second goal was crucial in rescuing Tony Twain's heart. He is Forest's biggest hero today. If Nottingham Forest were to end up becoming the champions of the Premier League, then Gago deserves a lot of credit for their success. His goal was extremely significant!”

When the whistle signaling the end of the match sounded, Twain stood and walked over to Wenger with his hand outstretched.

”I'm in the mood for a drink now.”

Wenger forced a smile as he stretched out a hand.

”Sadly, I'm not in the mood for that, Tony.”

Twain gave Wenger a comforting pat on the shoulder.

”There's still one more match left to play between us. If you win, I'll wish wholeheartedly that you can become the champions of the Champions League,” Twain said, sounding sincere. It was hard to discern even a twinge of sarcasm in them, and it was also hard to imagine that these words would come from a man whose goal was for his team to become champions of the Champions League.

”Thank you.”

Wenger had become the most influential manager in the Premier League after Ferguson retired. He had received many accolades during his managerial career, but the only thing that eluded him was the Champions League trophy.

”I too, would wish that you become the champions should you win the next match between us.”