The 05-06 UEFA Champions League group draw ceremony ended, and Nottingham Forest was placed in Group D. In the same group were La Liga powerhouse Real Madrid, last season's Primeira Liga champion Benfica, and last season's French Ligue 1 champion Lille.
To the Forest team, the strength of this group was not weak, and any team would bring them a lot of trouble.
Perhaps only Lille was an opponent that they could look forward to.
Real Madrid was almost guaranteed to advance from the group. No one doubted this, and no one believed that Real Madrid could not even advance from the group stage. Then, the remaining qualifying spot would be decided between Benfica, Lille, and Nottingham Forest.
When Tang En brought Shania to Spain to play in the summer of 2003, he had told her outside the Bernabéu Stadium that there were only two possibilities for him to walk into the stadium: one, he would become the manager of Real Madrid and step into the temple as the owner of the Bernabéu; two, he would lead the team to the Bernabéu and become Real Madrid's enemy.
He did not expect the second possibility to become a reality so quickly.
Group D was not the group of death that everyone knew. The European media analyzed that Nottingham Forest and Lille were teams that had no hope of advancing, and that they would be used by Real Madrid and Benfica to gain points and goal difference to fight for the first place in the group.
This view had already been brought up when Tang En was interviewed by the media after the drawing of lots had ended.
"I don't mind being the meat waiting to be slaughtered, but I hope that the people who are going to cut us sharpen the knives in their hands first, so that they won't break their own knives." Tang En did not show the slightest fear or worry. On the contrary, in the eyes of the media, Tony Twain was full of confidence.
But on the plane from Zurich back to London, Tang En's tightly knitted brows did not relax.
He was thinking about how to advance from this group into the top 16.
Lille, who was about the same level as the Forest team, was an opponent that Tang En had to take down. They had to win both matches to qualify for the group stage. It was like avoiding relegation in the league. If you could not get enough points from a weak team, then you could not expect to be an upset against a strong team.
The group stage was a home and away game. Tang En did not want to bet on the two matches against Real Madrid. The key was to win both matches against Lille.
Time was tight. He had to start the Champions League strategy when he returned.
According to the schedule, Nottingham Forest would welcome the La Liga giant, Real Madrid, at their home ground in the first game of the group stage.
For Evan, this was good news because the home ticket revenue and television broadcast dividends would go to the home team, Nottingham Forest. Real Madrid's arrival was bound to make the already popular football market even more popular. That way, a lot of money would roll into the Forest team's account.
But for Tang En … his frown deepened. George Wood's suspension still had two games left, and it would officially start from the group stage. Without Wood, Tang En did not have the confidence to block out Real Madrid's terrifying attack group. Although there was constant internal strife in Real Madrid at this time, any one of those star players had the ability to solve the problem on their own. Zidane, Ronaldo, Raúl, Roberto Carlos, Beckham … these names were really dazzling and gave people a headache.
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On the first day of training back in Nottingham, Tang En said to his team, "Guys, I believe you already know who you will be facing in the group stage of the Champions League. In ten days, we will welcome Real Madrid to the City Ground Stadium. How is it? Does hearing such a name make your legs go weak? Does it make your heart beat faster? "
Ribéry raised his hand. "Boss, my heart is beating faster. But it's not because I'm nervous, because my legs are not weak. I'm excited. I'm looking forward to this match! "
"That's right, Boss. We're all looking forward to it!"
"It's only interesting to play against a strong team!"
Seeing these players rubbing their palms together, Tang En recalled that when he went to the bar to chat with Burns the day before, he had met John and the others. They had talked about the night of the draw, and the hardcore fans had watched it at the Forest Bar. Contrary to what Tang En had expected, when they saw that Nottingham Forest and Real Madrid were in the same group, the bar erupted with cheers.
John said to Tang En, "Tony, to be honest, now we're not interested in watching you play against a weak team. We just want to watch Forest play against a strong team. The stronger the opponent, the more excited we are."
"You can't wait for Forest to lose?" Tang En rolled his eyes.
"No, who says we'll lose? We think that the stronger the opponent, the greater our chances of winning. "John said with a smile." Tony, this is all because of the confidence you've given us. "
"Real Madrid is not a strong team in the traditional sense."
"Of course we know that. That's why we're looking forward to it." John raised his glass and stood up at the same time, opening his arms and shouting, "Let's toast to Forest's wonderful grouping! Let's toast to Forest! To victory! "
"To victory! To Forest! Oh! Oh! Oh! "The people in the bar howled loudly. Tang En held his glass and shook his head lightly.
He could not let these people down. This gave him even more pressure than winning the championship.
Tang En, who had come back to his senses, was still on the training ground. He waved his hand, indicating for the players to quiet down.
"Very good. No matter what kind of opponent we encounter, we can't lose our fighting spirit and confidence. Now, let's go back to training! "
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In fact, to Tang En, facing Real Madrid did not mean that surrendering was the only outcome. In fact, Tang En would not surrender to any of the powerhouses in the European continent, let alone Real Madrid.
In recent years, Real Madrid had been in constant internal strife. All kinds of negative news about the changing room were endless. The team's fighting strength was declining year by year. These were all things that Tang En could make use of when the time came.
He still remembered that this season was the season when the "Galácticos" fell apart, officially disintegrated, and left the stage of history. Zidane would announce his official retirement at the end of the season after participating in the World Cup. And before Zidane, in the summer at the beginning of this season, Figo's free transfer to Inter Milan had already happened. This was exactly the same as the history in Tang En's memory. Tang En could confirm that Real Madrid's era of "Galácticos and superstars competing for glory" was about to come to an end in his world.
Perhaps it would still be difficult to take down Real Madrid on their home ground, but Tang En intended to give it a try. His original plan was to hold on to one point and rely on the tactics of pressing and pestering throughout the entire game, at the cost of sacrificing offense and stamina, to firmly hold back Real Madrid.
Now, he suddenly wanted to try and see if he could win.
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After the fourth round of the League, there were no more matches between the end of August and the middle of September. Nottingham Forest could put all their energy into preparing for the Champions League group stage.
Tang En intended to go all out against Real Madrid on their home ground, so their tactics had to be adjusted. It was almost certain that defense would not work in this match. Because George Wood was absent, Nottingham Forest's defensive system was severely damaged. Tang En thought that rather than that, he might as well go all out. In any case, if they only focused on defense, the chances of losing were very high. If they went on offense, they might even win if they were lucky.
It was just that Tang En had a headache when it came to arranging the starting lineup. George Wood was not the only defensive midfielder on Nottingham Forest, but in Tang En's eyes, he was the only one. Tang En did not trust Gunnarsson's ability. In such a match, he would certainly not place the heavy responsibility of defense on him.
When Sun Jihai was bought, he was positioned as a utility player. But against a team of Real Madrid's level, Tang En did not dare to let Sun Jihai start. Moreover, he knew that Sun Jihai was not outstanding in defense, but in his ability to assist. Currently, Nottingham Forest did not lack manpower in offense. Instead, it was the central defense in the midfield that was the most prominent problem.
Piqué or Pepe could guest as the defensive midfielder, but they were Nottingham Forest's unshakeable center back combination this season. If one of them were to be the defensive midfielder, who would be the other center back? Matthew Upson? Wes Morgan? None of them could make Tang En feel at ease.
He had a headache. Why did they have to face an opponent like Real Madrid in their first group stage match? Wood's suspension affected the entire team's situation. Unfortunately, it was not easy to find a substitute for Wood. You had to find a player with similar ability who was willing to sit on the bench for more than 30 games in a season. A player with such ability would probably have been snatched up by other clubs. Why would he come to Nottingham Forest as a substitute?
In the end, Tang En still let Pepe play as the defensive midfielder in the midfield. He had been a defensive midfielder for a while when he was with FC Porto, so he was no stranger to this position. Tang En let Piqué and Wes Morgan form a young defensive line as the center back partner.
To be honest, Tang En had no idea whether this combination could defend against Ronaldo and Raúl.
(To be continued, if you want to know what happens next, please log on to www. CMFU. com. There are more chapters. Support the author, support the original reading!)
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