839 One More Match Remaining (2/2)
The two bade each other farewell. Wenger turned and walked down the tunnel, whereas Twain turned and walked towards the pitch. He hugged each and every Forest player and thanked them for putting on a good performance.
When he reached Gago, he gave the man a tight hug with all his strength. The reporters surrounding them started snapping pictures as they hugged, but neither Gago nor Twain cared about the attention that was on them.
”Well done, Fernando!” Twain patted Gago on the back forcefully.
Five minutes might have passed since he scored the match-winning goal, but Gago was still feeling pumped up. His lips continued to tremble, and he returned Twain's hug with a lot of strength as well.
He was the star of the stadium today. He was Nottingham Forest's hero for the match, and he could very well end up being Nottingham Forest's hero for the season as well.
He definitely hadn't expected things to turn out this way when he transferred to Nottingham Forest from Real Madrid.
He now saw himself as a member of Nottingham Forest completely. He did not have any lingering thoughts about his time in Real Madrid. It was all in the past now.
”The treble, boss! That's what you said! We all tried our best…” Gago, who rarely got worked up, had trouble forming his words.
”That's right. Like I've said, we will definitely achieve the treble.” Twain spoke softly by Gago's ear.
Gago suddenly calmed down and stopped trembling after hearing Twain's words.
Twain ruffled Gago's hair affectionately before releasing him from his embrace.
”Enjoy this special night, Fernando.” He winked at him.
Gago was surrounded by countless reporters the moment Twain left.
”Can you talk about that very last goal of yours, Gago?”
”How do you feel to have scored two goals in the match, and one of them being the goal to clinch the victory for your team?”
”Can you tell us what you were talking about with Manager Twain earlier?”
”Let's talk about the possibility of Forest becoming champions of the Premier League. You have reduced the gap to just three points…”
”Hey, Gago…”
Twain, who had been making his way over to the tunnel, suddenly stopped in his tracks by the side of the pitch. He then lifted his head to look at the row of VIP rooms situated at the top of the Emirates Stadium.
He knew that Shania was in one of the rooms, though he did not know exactly which room she occupied. He had gotten really worked up earlier, and he was certain that Shania must be worried sick.
Watching football matches was a great enjoyment to most of the fans who turned up at the stadium every week. It was a way for them to vent their pent-up emotions and experience the highs and lows that watching football brings.
However, Shania was an exception. Watching football matches was a form of torture to her. She did not care about the exciting performances that the players put on, nor did she care about how the two managers were battling with each other through their use of tactics. She certainly did not care about whether a particular player was handsome or not either.
All she cared about was Tony's performance in the match. She did not want him to overexert himself or get too overly excited, because she was afraid doing so could affect his heart.
She did not care about how appealing football was as a sport, or how it was reckoned as the number one sport in the world. Some people even called it the ”war of a peaceful era,” or the ”game between men,” but none of those things mattered to her.
She just wanted her husband and lover to be healthy at the end of each and every match.
Twain didn't know which room Shania was in, but he waved his hands at the rooms before pressing a hand on his heart.
He was sure that Shania would see, and that she would also know what it meant.
Shania did indeed see. She smiled and waved back at her husband from the VIP room as a response.
As for whether Twain saw her gestures…
There is no need to ask, is there?
Twain did not just commend Gago's performance during the post-match conference. He commended the team's performance collectively.
The players shared the same opinion. During their interviews, all of them spoke about how the victory was only possible because the team had worked together as one. They also brought up how the words that Tony Twain said to them at half-time became their source of strength to pull off the feat.
Their comments piqued the reporters' curiosity. However, neither Twain nor the players were willing to divulge what was said in the locker room. Therefore, ”what Tony Twain said at half-time during the Arsenal game” would most likely become yet another secret that no one knew the answer to for a long time...
Twain and the Nottingham Forest players were in a good mood during the press conference. Wenger was also composed and did not throw a fit either.
In contrast, the Arsenal players did not appear to have been able to accept the outcome of the match.
Fàbregas kept shaking his head during his interview. He was clearly dissatisfied with the result.
”A loss is a loss. There's nothing else that I can say about it… We'll focus on the Champions League next. We still have a chance. The initiative is still on our hands. We still lead them by three points…” His voice grew softer as he spoke, until he eventually turned and left. It was as though he did not believe what he had just said.
Wilshere did not approach Wood to request for an exchange of jerseys at the end of the match. He was not in the mood to do it. He finally understood what Wood must have felt when he refused to exchange jerseys when his team lost.
If another player were to go up to him and ask to exchange jerseys right now, he might not refuse, but he would definitely not feel good during the exchange.
Fortunately for him, the Nottingham Forest players were too busy celebrating their victory, so no one went up to him to ask for his jersey. He left the pitch briskly, but was still stopped at the mixed zone. The reporters wanted him to say a few words about the match since he looked crestfallen.
”I don't know if we'll still able to become champions of the Premier League. They're right on our trail…” He realized that it was not appropriate to say such words after losing the match, so he quickly added, ”However, we don't know what will happen in a match until the very last moment. Thus, it's not the end of the world just because we lost a match…”
He left quickly.
The way in which Wilshere and Fàbregas left after providing an interview to the reporters was subsequently adopted by all the Arsenal players.
None of the Arsenal players were in the mood to talk about the match after losing on their home turf. All they wanted to do was to get away from the stadium, take a nap, forget all about the match, and start preparing for the second leg of their Champions League semi-finals match.
The Arsenal players were well aware that the best way to forget the pain of losing a match is not with the passage of time, but with a victory instead.
Their manager was of the same opinion as well.
At the end of the press conference, Wenger said, ”To me, today's match is already a thing of the past. I'm not going to be thinking about it anymore. What's really important is the Champions League match three days from now. We'd be playing at the same stadium then, and we won't lose to Nottingham Forest again.”
His expression was solemn. It was a stark contrast to Twain's smiling face.
The next day, the various media outlets all reported about how there was immense pressure riding on Wenger's back, whereas things were easy for Twain going into their Champions League match.
Sadly, they were all wrong…