"Flick! Beautiful — the ball's in! " Accompanied by the excited voice of the commentator on the television, Kenny Burns' Forest bar rang with even louder cheers.
"Beautifully done, Romani Rooney!"
"Let's show them what we're made of!"
"Woo —"
"Cheers to this beautiful goal!"
The fans were in a mess, and the golden liquid of the wine was thrown to the ceiling. Kenny Burns smiled as he watched the excited actions of the group of fans.
He took a few glances before turning his gaze back to the television. Through the television screen, he arrived at Camp Nou.
The Forest players were using a human pyramid method to celebrate — it was their favorite way of celebrating. Of course, Tang En had already strictly forbidden them from pressing the manager under their bodies to celebrate after scoring a goal.
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At Camp Nou, after a brief silence, the home team's fans let out loud boos in unison. The boos suppressed the cheers that the Forest fans had just shouted.
However, the Forest players were not affected by the boos from the home team's fans. They were fearless, celebrating on the opponent's home ground as if there was no one else around.
Ten minutes into the game, they were leading Barcelona by a goal despite not being favored. It felt great!
After his team scored, Tang En stood up and waved his fists continuously, demonstrating to the Barcelona fans.
Aren't you called the "Dream Team Two"? Today, let me tell you why you can only be the "Dream Team Two" and not the "Dream Team"!
The referee intervened and finally put an end to the Forest players' extremely excited celebration. The Barcelona people had already placed the football in the middle of the field and were a little impatient from waiting.
The television broadcast focused on Eastwood, who had scored the goal. The commentator introduced the player with a special experience to the audience. "… Eastwood once had his leg broken by Nottingham Forest's current captain, George Wood, and was reduced to the point where he could only play in the amateur league. In the end, Tony Twain found him and gave him a chance to play in the professional league again … Although he has been injured repeatedly in the past few years, we can see that as long as he is on the field, he can consistently score goals. In Nottingham, he is known as the 'Romani Rooney.' Unfortunately, he does not represent England, he represents Wales … "
Just now, when the players rushed up to celebrate Eastwood's goal, only the goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar and George Wood stayed in their original positions and did not move. The former was too far away, while the latter was because of … well, some well-known reasons.
When the celebrating crowd dispersed, George Wood was already standing in his position in the back half of the field, waiting for the opponent to kick off. Eastwood was also running backwards, but he did not stand on the center circle like Bendtner. Instead, he ran straight towards George Wood, who was standing at the back, and held out his hand.
Without saying anything, they high-fived each other, and Eastwood ran off again. Eastwood's attitude towards George Wood was much better than before, but the most intimate action between the two was limited to that. They still didn't chat or joke with each other, and they didn't greet each other when they met. Once they left the court, they might not even be able to high-five each other anymore.
Seeing this scene from below, Tang En only smiled. It was better to be willing to high-five than to always frown.
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The game resumed, and Barcelona kicked off. Conceding the goal so quickly was somewhat beyond Rijkaard's expectations. Nottingham Forest was more tenacious than he thought.
This team was clearly different from last year's Nottingham Forest team, not only in terms of spirit and appearance, but also in terms of true strength. He had to admit that the Nottingham Forest team in front of him was stronger.
Moreover, George Wood's activity was something no one could have imagined. All the intelligence before the game said that this man was a "defensive genius and an offensive idiot." But looking at the goal just now, could the "offensive idiot" accurately find such a passing route while running at high speed and pass the ball to where he wanted it to go?
Rijkaard had also been a defensive midfielder during his playing days, and he was the kind of defensive midfielder who was good at both offense and defense. He saw some of his own reflection in the goal just now.
Didn't Barcelona always lack a defensive midfielder who excelled in defense? Why not consider buying the number 13 in front of him? If he carefully nurtured him, he might be able to become the second Rijkaard …
The Dutch manager made up his mind that when the game was over, no matter the outcome, he would submit an application to the club, hoping that the top brass would buy George Wood at all costs. With him, it would not be a problem for Barcelona to truly dominate.
Looking at the current Nottingham Forest team, with George Wood on the field, Ribéry, Ashley Young, Bendtner, Eastwood and the others could rest assured and boldly attack. What if there was no Wood? Everyone had to bear the dual task of offense and defense.
If his team had such a player, Ronaldinho, Xavi, Iniesta, Eto 'o, Messi and the others could put all their energy into the offense. Barcelona's offense was already strong. If they went all out, he believed there would be no team in the world that could withstand it.
The above could only be said to be a "beautiful wish." He still had to pull his mind back and put his mind into the game.
If George Wood's organization of the attack was not luck but his real strength? How would Barcelona deal with it? Send someone to mark him? Don't be ridiculous. Barcelona only had three players in the midfield. Even if the two wingers were withdrawn and there were five players, how many of them would play defense?
Barcelona's midfield configuration for the game was Iniesta and Deco, as well as Xavi. The three strikers were Eto 'o, Messi and Ronaldinho.
None of the six players specialized in defense.
Rijkaard had intended to crush Nottingham Forest with offense at home, but he did not expect the Forest team's toughness to be far beyond his expectations. Not only were they not crushed, but they bounced up and gave him a blow.
Now that the team was one goal behind, Rijkaard had to make a choice as the manager. Should he strengthen the defense or continue to attack?
The multiple-choice question only stayed in the Dutchman's mind for a few seconds before the answer came out without any suspense. How could the Dutchman, who advocated offense and Barcelona, the representative of artistic football, be forced to defend at home because of one player?
That's not the style of me and my team.
Rijkaard got up from his seat and walked to the sidelines to whistle to attract the attention of all the players. Then he gestured to the Barcelona players on the field to not take the goal concede to heart and continue to attack!
This was also an instruction in line with the thoughts of the Barcelona players on the field. They did not know how to defend even if they were asked to defend. How could they defend with six offensive players and only four defenders and a goalkeeper?
The best defense was offense. Only by using a stronger offense could one recover from a disadvantageous situation.
Barcelona launched wave after wave of swift and violent attacks on Nottingham Forest again. After gaining the lead, Nottingham Forest also chose to retreat for the time being. They decided to defend for a period of time and wait for Barcelona's momentum to weaken before counterattacking.
There was a saying in the ancient Chinese book, "Zuo Zhuan, Ten Years of Duke Zhuang": Courage is the key to a man's battle. The first spurt of energy, the second decline, and the third exhaustion.
Tang En was well aware that this principle could also be used on the football field. When the other party was in the limelight, they should not face it head-on. Instead, they should take the initiative to avoid it and wait for the other party's momentum to weaken before launching a sudden attack. It was bound to be effective.
Not only for this game, but also for other times, even during training and when they watched the game video after the game, Tang En would give his players this warning. Why did they sometimes find that they had just scored a goal, and then the other party caught back a goal? It was because the other party was anxious to equalize the score after conceding the goal, so their morale did not immediately drop. Instead, there was a temporary trend of growth. If we can't calm down and deal with it calmly at this time, thinking that the other party's morale must be low and taking the opportunity to score another goal, then we'll be in danger.
When will the other party's morale drop? When the other party found that their counterattack did not achieve any results and that the other party's defense was impregnable and tenacious enough to make them despair, their morale would drop.
It was precisely because Tang En had instilled this idea into his players more than once that Forest's thinking was very unified after they took the lead against Barcelona. They immediately retreated to defend. George Wood, who had just shone brilliantly in the offense, became the most eye-catching person in the defense.
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Ronaldinho faced George Wood and chose to pass the ball. But after he passed the ball out, he realized that this idea of his was somewhat useless now. Nottingham Forest, who had just been on the offense against Barcelona, suddenly chose to defend to the death after taking the lead. That's right, defend to the death. Completely defend to the death. The area in front of Forest's goal seemed to be encircled by an iron ring. People were squeezing and piling on top of each other. As far as the eye could see, there were only people and legs. It was very difficult for him to accurately send the ball to the feet of his own teammates.
As expected, the ball that was sent out was kicked out by Piqué.
Barcelona had to reorganize their offense.
Ronaldinho was surprised at how a team could make such a huge tactical change in such a short period of time. At the same time, he was also surprised at how the team could resolutely give up the offense after taking the lead and switch to a full defense.
He could not understand this tactical change. Could it be that the Nottingham Forest manager was really as the outside world said, a complete conservative? Did he think that one goal could make them laugh until the end and become the winner?
Ronaldinho clenched his fists.
The football was once again passed to the feet of the Brazilian. Because of the previous two experiences, George Wood thought that Ronaldinho would pass the ball at the first instance, so he did not rush over immediately.
But this time, he was wrong.
Ronaldinho knew that there were people in front of him. It was useless to rely on a pass alone. To break a tight defense, long shots were generally used because this method was the easiest. In fact, there was another way, and that was an individual breakthrough. Although there were many people, as long as one was skilled and daring, he could dribble the ball and cut a bloody path through the crowd.
Ronaldinho was fully confident in his skills. He seized the moment of George Wood's negligence to suddenly accelerate and change direction, rushing past George Wood's side!
George Wood hurriedly went forward to defend, but Ronaldinho used a very covert spike to swing past him. After he passed Wood, the Brazilian football wizard was not afraid no matter how many people there were in front of him.
His upper body swayed and made Arteta, who had rushed over, lose his correct judgment and his center of gravity shifted. Ronaldinho immediately pulled the football past Arteta's side and then faced the aggressive Piqué. He suddenly passed the ball in a very narrow space!
Piqué did not think that Ronaldinho dared to pass the ball in the penalty area where there were people all around and it was impossible to accelerate and sprint. He was stunned in place from the swaying and watched Ronaldinho go around from his other side.
"Beautiful! Beautiful … He's in the goal area. Edwin van der Sar strikes! Shoot — "
Ronaldinho wanted to make a lob shot, but Edwin van der Sar was prepared. Although his body fell to the ground, his right hand was raised high. The football that Ronaldinho shot just hit his hand, and he took advantage of the situation to slap it out of the end line!
"… What a pity! He didn't score. Edwin van der Sar struck in time to resolve the Forest team's dangerous situation in front of the goal! Although he didn't score, Ronaldinho gave us a wonderful show of individual breakthrough! Faced with Nottingham Forest's tight defense, what other way is there to crack it other than a long shot? That's the Brazilian! "
The live television broadcast showed Ronaldinho's back. He had just climbed up from the ground and looked at the football that had fallen outside the end line.
"He broke down almost the entire Forest team's defense by himself. He dared to pass the ball in such a narrow space in the penalty area! If it wasn't for him, I'm afraid it would be difficult for anyone else to do it! It's just a pity … Edwin van der Sar's attack and save were equally wonderful. Beautiful offense, beautiful defense! From the looks of it, it's just as Tony Twain said before the game. It's a wonderful game! "
After Edwin van der Sar got up from the ground, he clapped his big hands and shouted, "Focus! Don't let him break in so easily! George! "He was shouting Wood's name.
Wood turned back to look at him.
Edwin van der Sar crossed his hands and said, "Lock him out!"
Wood nodded. He had nothing to say about it. It was his carelessness that had caused it.
Outside the field, Albertini and Twain exchanged a look before leaving their seats and walking to the sidelines. His hands curled into the shape of a trumpet and he shouted inside, "George! Don't go a meter away from him! Stick close to him! "He even made a pulling motion.
Ronaldinho's sudden display of power made everyone in the Forest team a little nervous. It was only then that they came to their senses. Standing in front of them was the previous Champions League champion, the FIFA World Player of the Year, and currently the world's number one midfielder. He had the ability to change a game by himself. He was not an ordinary football star. He was a true superstar.
Arteta saw that everyone seemed to be reminding Wood to pay attention to his defense and was a little harsh. He ran up to comfort his midfield partner, "Don't take it to heart, George. That man is not an ordinary person. He's very strong. It's okay to be bypassed by him once, as long as you don't lose the ball … "
He realized that Wood did not seem to be listening to him. His eyes were fixed on Ronaldinho, who ran to the corner flag area to prepare for the corner kick.
Just when he thought he had wasted his saliva, Wood suddenly turned his head and asked, "Is he very strong?"
Arteta almost did not react. He really wanted to roll his eyes at Wood. "Are you really a professional footballer? You don't even know if Ronaldinho is strong or not? He's the best player in the world right now … Although I'm a little jealous, I have to say this — he's very strong. Very strong. "
When Wood heard Arteta say so, he nodded.
"Then I'm relieved."
"Huh?"
"If he's not strong enough, there's no point in winning." After saying that, Wood ran into the penalty area to prepare to defend against the corner kick.
Arteta, on the other hand, stayed where he was like a fool, looking at Wood's back. That was until Edwin van der Sar shouted his name in front of the door, "Are you stupid, Mikel? Come back and defend! What are you doing standing outside? "
Arteta, who ran back, kept his eyes fixed on Wood. He was not in the mood to pay attention to the situation around him. What Wood had said to him just now had really scared him. Wishing for the opponent to be as strong as possible, but not worrying about whether he could defeat such a strong opponent … Was he still human?
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