The situation of the game was very simple, whether it was for Rijkaard or Tony Twain.
Without too many calculations and complex and ever-changing tactics, the situation was very clear. Barcelona needed to attack, needed to score an away goal, and they had to win the game. Only then could they qualify for the next round.
Logically speaking, Nottingham Forest's 0: 1 loss to Barcelona would also guarantee them a place in the top eight, but this was clearly not in line with Twain's character. Teams that held such a mentality were bound to die miserably in the end. He used to be a Chinese fan, and such things had happened to the Chinese team too many times. It had become a cliché that could not be any more cliché. So, Nottingham Forest's mission was also very simple. They had to win the game at all costs and advance to the top eight.
This was Barcelona's away game, but Rijkaard did not have the power to choose defensive counterattack. He knew that Twain would be conservative on his home ground and use his best defensive counterattack to deal with him. He would lure Barcelona to press out to attack and then wait for an opportunity to launch a sneak attack. The Dutch coach knew it very well, but what could he do? The choice was not in his hands. The home defeat in the first leg had forced him to a desperate situation. Attacking might lead to death, but not attacking would certainly lead to death.
Amid the incessant boos and abuse in the City Ground stadium, Barcelona tragically launched a frenzied attack on the Forest team's goal.
The initiative was in Nottingham Forest's hands. Twain got the team to unhurriedly stabilize their defense and then wait for an opportunity to counterattack. For the past few years, no matter what, he had never given up on establishing the requirement of "defense first" in the team. At many critical moments, this requirement had saved his team and saved him.
Of course, he liked to watch offensive football, watch attacks, and watch matches where Mars collided with Earth. But that was because he was a fan. Now that he was the manager, he needed to be responsible for his team and the fans who supported him. He did not have Professor Wenger's talent in getting the players to play beautifully and still win. So, he chose the most utilitarian way to win. He did not care what kind of infamy he had to bear. He had never been a person who cared what others said.
Defense was the foundation of offense, just like laying a foundation to build a house. How could one talk about offense without defense? Such a principle was actually very simple. But why did so many people in the world not understand it? It was fine if the fans did not understand, but surely the manager could not, right?
Rijkaard seemed to have forgotten about defense after Barcelona's resurgence in recent years by relying on offense. Most of the time, we see that Barcelona's midfield does not have a single defensive player. Their tactics in the game always rely on their own powerful offense to score a few goals first to quickly make the opponent lose their fighting spirit. Then, the game will fall into their orbit.
Their powerful offense and gorgeous lineup of star players could make most teams lose their fighting spirit and surrender when they faced them. But as more and more opponents became familiar with and thoroughly studied Rijkaard's tactics, he found it more and more difficult to play as the season went on. Why? That was because his strategy lacked variation. Once his opponent figured it out, he would be in grave danger. Everyone realized that Barcelona was not the embodiment of the invincible and all-conquering God of War. Although they had many star players, they could not guarantee that they would always win. They also had weaknesses and things that they could not do. What was more fatal was that their defense was not much better than Real Madrid's. As long as their tactics were right, they could beat Barcelona.
As La Liga entered the second half of the season, Barcelona encountered more and more resistance. Their tried-and-true offensive tactics were becoming less and less effective against their old opponents. Rijkaard did not realize that a crisis was slowly approaching him and his team. He still thought that Barcelona was currently moving forward at high speed on the right track. It was not just him. Barcelona's players, fans, and the high and mighty directors all thought so.
They lived in hardship and perished in ease. These words were very suitable for the future Barcelona. No, it should be said that these words were applicable to all successful teams in the world.
Tang En did not need to worry about these words because the current environment of the Forest team was not considered "peaceful."
As mentioned earlier, Barcelona's biggest weakness was defense. Tang En wanted to make full use of this point in this game.
Compared to offense, Nottingham Forest's strongest point was defense. This kind of defense did not rely on one person or the rear defensive line composed of four defenders to work. The Forest team's defense was a holistic defense. On the contrary, Barcelona's defense was only the job of four defenders and a goalkeeper. The others were not responsible for defensive tasks.
Now that they were on their home ground, Tang En had the team shrink their defense and lure Barcelona's offensive players out. Then, they would wait for an opportunity to counterattack. This strategy was aimed at Barcelona's weakness in defense. Thuram was already old. Although Zambrotta was an all-rounder, he had yet to adapt to Barcelona and Spanish football since he came to Barcelona. Valdés's performance fluctuated greatly. Sometimes, some inexplicable low-level mistakes could easily ruin the team's 90 minutes of hard work. The only one who could do well in the rear defensive line was Puyol. Unfortunately, he could not do anything alone.
Tang En targeted this point. He unexpectedly sent out Nicolas Anelka, the speedy counterattacking forward, to partner with van Nistelrooy. He hoped to use his speed and individual ability to deal a fatal blow to Barcelona in the counterattack.
For this game, van der Vaart replaced Arteta as the starter. Tang En also needed his long shots and organizational ability in the offense. Franck Ribéry was still on the left, while Aaron Lennon replaced Ashley Young on the right.
In terms of defense, the left back, Gareth Bale, was replaced by Leighton Baines, who was better at defense. The players in the other positions remained the same.
Time and time again, Barcelona launched fierce attacks on the Forest Team's hinterland. Nottingham Forest held firm with the support of their overall defensive tactics.
Most of the time, Barcelona had the upper hand, but it was all bark and no bite. The number of threatening shots they had were few and far between. On the other hand, the Forest Team was at a disadvantage in all technical statistics, except for fouls. The few counterattacks they had were quite threatening. Every time, the Barcelona players broke out in a cold sweat.
Of course, Rijkaard knew it was dangerous to hit his own goal like this, but what could he do? Learn from the Forest Team's solid defense and wait for an opportunity to attack? That way, Tony Tang En would be very happy, because he could play passively without worry and run out the time. A draw would be a failure for Barcelona.
The initiative was not in Rijkaard's hands. Now, he had no other choice but to attack desperately in hopes of scoring early and breaking the deadlock. Bad defense? All right, we'll concede a few goals. We'll score one more than this number in front!
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Before coming to Nottingham, Rijkaard and the entire Barcelona team did a careful study on how to deal with George Wood's defense. They came up with several plans to deal with what they should do in case someone was completely frozen by George Wood.
But this time, Tang En did not ask George Wood to specifically mark someone. His task was to move around freely.
He would go wherever he was needed and go to support wherever the situation was dangerous.
In any case, Wood was physically strong and ran fast. He would just run back and forth in the backfield. There was no need to worry that he would run out of stamina and fall to the ground with cramps.
Rijkaard originally wanted to get the trident in the front field to shake off George Wood by frequently switching positions. He did not expect Twain to let Wood be the defensive free man in the backfield, rendering Rijkaard's strategy completely ineffective.
Barcelona faced a monolithic defense that would not make any difference because of their frequent switching of positions. The defensive strength they faced on the flanks and in the middle was the same, which was really depressing.
To put it bluntly, offense was to use their own positioning to find the flaws in the opponent's defense and then use these flaws to create killing opportunities. The current situation was that no matter how Barcelona passed, cut, and moved, the Forest team's defense stood there like a mountain, unmoved.
The first half came to an end under such circumstances. The 0: 0 score would not satisfy the neutral fans, but it would make the Forest fans happy.
During the halftime interval, Tang En highly praised the team's defense, but he also asked the team to put more effort into their offense. They must not let go of another opportunity to counterattack. Just one chance would be enough to kill Barcelona!
On Barcelona's side, Rijkaard was not very satisfied with the team's offense. They had so many opportunities for no goals in 45 minutes. It was too unworthy of the name Barcelona. They had to step up their offense in the second half. They absolutely could not slack off in their offense. The reason why the Forest team had not scored at the moment was that Barcelona's offense had put a lot of pressure on them, leaving them with no time to think about their offense. Once Barcelona could not sustain this kind of pressure in their offense, it would give the Forest team an opportunity to take advantage of.
In any case, it was hard for Barcelona to back down now.
After the start of the second half, the Forest team still put on a persevering stance to welcome Barcelona. Barcelona did not have the slightest intention of changing and continued to attack.
As time went on, Rijkaard got up from his seat again and walked to the sidelines. In the noisy stadium, the players could hardly hear what he shouted. He had tried to remind the players to continue pressing forward. As a result, he was immediately drowned out by the onslaught of boos. He could not even hear what he said when he opened his mouth, let alone the players.
Now he could only take advantage of the dead ball to pull the players near the technical area over to instruct them face-to-face.
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If we considered the situation of Barcelona's indiscriminate bombardment and the Forest team's persevering as a balance. Then in the 68th minute of the game, this balance was finally broken.
Barcelona organized a high-quality attack. Through a series of passes, they finally tore open the Forest team's impregnable defensive line, revealing a large gap.
Ronaldinho once again pulled out his "diversion tactic." He pretended to break through, but he unexpectedly sent the football out of that crack. Eto 'o moved quickly. He received the ball behind the Forest team's defensive line. The Forest players thought that Eto' o was offside, but the assistant referee had no intention of raising the flag.
"It's not offside, bastard!" Tang En jumped up anxiously.
George Wood desperately chased back, trying to stop this goal.
In the end, he was still a step too slow. Eto 'o swung his leg to shoot before he could intercept the ball.
At that moment, Tang En's heart almost stopped beating. It was not just him. At that moment, the boos in the City Ground stadium seemed to have stopped. Everyone held their breath, their eyes glued to the football flying in the air.
Even the Barcelona fans, whether they were at the stadium or in Barcelona, dared not take their eyes off the football at that moment.
The football flew from Eto 'o's feet, over George Wood's shoveling foot and over Edwin van der Sar's palm. It flew straight toward the goal behind him.
Was it going to score?
With a clang, the football hit the bottom of the crossbar and smashed into the ground before bouncing up and flying back. Edwin van der Sar's second reaction was very fast. He jumped up and plucked the football out of the air with both hands!
Did the ball go in or not?
The Barcelona players were the first to jump up with their arms raised, celebrating the goal. Even Eto 'o ran toward the corner flag with his arms wide open. Behind him were Ronaldinho, Messi, and the others.
The Catalan commentator couldn't wait to shout, "GOOOOOAL —!"
The television broadcast showed Barcelona 1: 0 Nottingham Forest. It looked like the ball had indeed gone in.
But … But!
The ecstatic expression on Eto 'o's face suddenly froze in the television camera. He pushed Ronaldinho away and looked at the assistant referee standing beside them with a puzzled expression.
After a goal, the assistant referee was supposed to run toward the center line. At the same time, the referee would whistle and point his finger toward the center circle to show that the goal was valid.
This time, the assistant referee did not run. Then what about the referee? The Barcelona people turned to look at the referee, but they saw a scene that made their hearts stop beating.
The Nottingham Forest players had brought the football to the center circle and were clearly playing on their tradition of quick counterattacks.
The referee did not stop the action but ran along with them. What did that mean? It meant that the Forest team did not foul, and Barcelona's ball did not go in!
Puyol had wanted to run up to celebrate, but halfway through, he suddenly saw Edwin van der Sar throw the football in his hands forward. Van der Vaart immediately launched a quick counterattack after he received the ball.
The Barcelona captain ran halfway and hurriedly retreated, while shouting for his teammates to return to defend. Unfortunately, the stadium was too noisy at the time. His teammates at the corner flag in the front field could not hear him at all.
The Barcelona players, who reacted faster, began to abandon the bewildered Eto 'o and turn to defend.
Van der Vaart certainly knew that his dribbling speed was slow, which was very disadvantageous at this time. So, he did not dribble much but immediately passed the football to Anelka, who ran faster.
"Ah … This is really an unexpected situation. Eto 'o's shot did not result in a goal. Instead, it gave Nottingham Forest a chance to fight back! Because the football did not go out of bounds, it's not a dead ball. Barcelona is in big trouble! "
The commentator was right. Now Barcelona was in big trouble.
Most of the Barcelona players were not in their respective positions because they were busy celebrating the goal. The Forest team's counterattack was very swift and did not give the Barcelona players a chance to reorganize the attack. After two or three passes, the ball reached Anelka's feet. After the French striker got the ball, he revved up and sprinted toward Barcelona's goal.
After forcibly breaking through Puyol with his speed, Anelka was already in the penalty area. Valdés could only abandon the goal and attack. The rest was easy.
Anelka pretended to pass the ball to trick Valdés away. After he swung away from the angle, he did not hesitate to shoot. The football flew into the net without any suspense.
The City Ground stadium finally stopped booing and turned into cheers.
This time, the referee's whistle to confirm that the goal was valid finally sounded.
From the moment the Barcelona players thought they had scored to when Nottingham Forest had really scored, all of this happened in just thirty-two seconds. Everything happened too quickly and too suddenly. Many people had yet to fully react.
Rijkaard had originally jumped out with his arms wide open to celebrate the goal. Now, he held his head in his hands and watched everything that had happened in the stadium in disbelief.
Tang En had originally looked vexed, but now he was jumping high and cheering non-stop.
The changes in the two managers clearly illustrated the situation of the two teams.
"This … is really too dramatic. Who would have thought that the Barcelona players would be so happy about that goal that no one even went to confirm if it was really a goal. Nottingham Forest is indeed cunning. They did not give Barcelona any chance at all. This quick counterattack was played cleanly and efficiently. It left people speechless. "
The Barcelona players came back to their senses and surrounded the referee, protesting to him. They were certain that Eto 'o's shot must have been a goal.
Then, did it really go in? Thanks to advanced technology, we can see a little more clearly.
The television screen began to play the slow-motion video of Eto 'o's kick repeatedly. The football hit the crossbar and bounced to the ground. This was the most crucial moment. Was the football within the goal line when it landed?
The slow-motion video was played repeatedly from different angles so that everyone could see it more clearly. This was not an unsolved case like the 1966 World Cup final. The slow-motion video was very clear. The football landed outside the goal line. It was indeed not a goal.
No matter how unwilling the Barcelona team was, they could only accept this result. They had been deceived by their own thoughts and suffered a huge loss.
"Barcelona only took thirty-two seconds to go from heaven to hell. This huge gap is really unacceptable. Look at their confused eyes."
The blow this goal dealt to the Barcelona players was not as simple as falling behind by one goal. They had originally thought that they were in the lead. They did not think that they would become the enemy in an instant. They could have originally equalized the overall score. Now, they were two goals behind. If they wanted to turn the tables in the away game, they would have to score two goals against Forest in the following game at the very least to equalize the overall score. Both teams would have the same number of away goals, and then go into overtime.
But with the current mental state of the Barcelona players … could they really do it?
On Nottingham Forest's side, the Forest team could be considered to have picked up the advantage. Tony Twain naturally accepted it without hesitation. After taking the lead, the Forest team's tactics did not change. They still persisted in defensive counterattack. The trailing Barcelona would naturally attack even more crazily. The Forest team's defensive counterattack could be used more skillfully and easily.
※ ※ ※
The following game was indeed like that. Barcelona's offense, which was anxious to equalize the score, had no method to speak of. The star players all intended to rely on their individual abilities to salvage the defeat. The result? They did not gain anything other than a waste of time.
On the other hand, the Forest team's sharp counterattack kept Valdés busy.
In the 85th minute, the Forest team once again used a quick counterattack through van Nistelrooy to score a goal against Barcelona, completely announcing the end of the game.
"… The game is over! After two games and a hundred and eighty minutes of intense battle, the previous Champions League champion, Barcelona, has been pulled down by the previous runner-up, Nottingham Forest. To be honest, after watching the first game, this result is not surprising. It's just that the first goal of this game came very dramatically. "
"Tony Twain has completed his revenge. Not only did Nottingham Forest eliminate Barcelona, but they also won both home and away games!"
On the television camera, Twain was standing on the sidelines. He raised his arms and waved to the Forest fans in the stands, thanking them for their support. A bright smile bloomed on his face like a flower. This time, he did not rush up to shake hands with Rijkaard. Compared to showing respect to his opponent, Twain felt that it was more important to thank his own supporters.
George Wood walked over and saw Twain thanking the fans. He had intended to walk over and return to the locker room, but Twain stopped him. "George, how does the final feel?"
"It's a pity there's no trophy even if we win," Wood said.
Twain chuckled. "Soon." He held out his palm. "Two matches for the quarterfinals, two matches for the quarterfinals, and one match for the finals. There are five more games, and you can pick up that trophy with your own hands. "
Wood looked at Twain's outstretched five fingers and did not say anything. He turned and walked toward the tunnel. Twain continued to raise his hands to thank the fans in the stands who were chanting Nottingham Forest's name.
He clenched his fists and waved them forcefully in front of the fans.
The fans who were still unwilling to leave followed Twain's hand gestures and shouted.
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