May 24th was the final day of the UEFA Champions League. Before that, there was still one last round of the Premier League. Tang En no longer thought about the boring "Double" of the league title and the Champions League title. Manchester United was three points ahead of him, and the possibility of losing the league title at the last minute was only 0.1%.
The final round of the league tournament was held on May 13th, which was 11 days before the Champions League final. This was good news for Tang En. It meant that he did not have to consider any rotation system to make way for the Champions League final. He could use the strongest lineup to fight Liverpool in the final round.
Although losing to Liverpool would not affect the Forest team's Champions League qualification next season, Tang En wanted to continue suppressing Chelsea at the last minute. He did not want Chelsea to snatch back the second place in the league tournament.
Of course, this was not only dependent on the Forest team's results. Now that Chelsea had played one less game than the Forest team, to continue suppressing Chelsea, it also depended on the make-up game — Chelsea's home game against Manchester United.
This game would be played on May 10th.
This make-up game was also the moment to unveil the suspense of the league title.
Finally, on that day at Stamford Bridge, tens of thousands of Chelsea fans saw the scene they most did not want to see. They served as a foil to their opponent's celebration party in their own stadium.
In this game, Manchester United forced a 0: 0 draw with Chelsea's points becoming 82, the same as the Forest team and temporarily in second place, but four points away from the league's first place, Manchester United. In the final round of the league tournament, Chelsea could not overtake Manchester United to reverse the title.
This game result announced that Manchester United had won the 06-07 English Premier League title one round ahead of schedule.
In this way, the Red Devils, Manchester United, ushered in their ninth English Premier League title amidst the boos at Stamford Bridge. This was also their 16th English top league title in the club's history.
Ferguson was beaming when he shook hands with Mourinho. He and Mourinho had fought for a whole season and finally had the last laugh.
In the following days, the English media was full of news reports about Manchester United's ninth league title. Ferguson became the headline figure and was in the limelight for a while.
As for Mourinho and Chelsea's failure, most of the media held a "gloating" attitude. Although it had been four years since Abramovich took over Chelsea, there were still many people who looked down on the "nouveau riche" who made their fortune on rubles.
Although this phenomenon was very normal, after all, everyone more or less had the mentality of hating the rich, this mentality was not necessarily correct.
Back then, Chelsea was already in debt and could declare bankruptcy at any time. Bates was unable to pay off his high debts. Abramovich's arrival not only rescued him, but also the Chelsea Football Club and indirectly rescued the fans who loved the Chelsea Football Club. But the fans did not appreciate it. At that time, London's "Evening Standard" half jokingly and half sarcastically said:
In addition to spending money to buy players, Abramovich was also preparing to acquire fashion master Armani to design jerseys for Chelsea, acquire media magnate Murdoch to publish Chelsea's "Guide to the Game", acquire Prime Minister Blair's think tank Campbell to be Chelsea's public relations consultant, and acquire F1 ace driver Schumacher to be the driver of Chelsea's team bus …
At that time, the media even said that if all of Abramovich's assets were to be converted into cash and spread under the mattress, Abramovich would not be able to survive. So when he accidentally fell off the bed while sleeping, he must not have fallen to his death, but starved to death.
Chelsea had achieved great success in the past two years with the money of Russian tycoons, but they were never able to convince the public. The entire English football world refused to recognize Chelsea's achievements, especially when Chelsea and Arsenal were compared together. That might be one of the reasons Mourinho hated Wenger so much — no one liked to be the negative example of others.
Abramovich knew that the best way to shut those people up was to win a title of sufficient weight. The league title was not enough, but the Champions League title.
To this end, he invited the championship-level manager, Mourinho, who could win the Champions League title at a team like Porto. He did not expect fate to make a fool out of him. After Mourinho arrived, they could not even get into the Champions League final for three years in a row, let alone the Champions League title.
This season, Chelsea even lost the league title.
After a simple handshake with Ferguson, Mourinho left the field with a sullen face and also left the people's line of sight. For the next few days, the media wanted to interview him, but they could not find him.
Suddenly, there were rumors in the streets that Chelsea planned to change managers next season. Abramovich could not stand the embarrassment of investing hundreds of millions of pounds for three consecutive seasons but not being able to win the Champions League title. There was also a saying that Abramovich had an irreconcilable conflict with Mourinho over the use of Shevchenko. Abramovich insisted that the team put Shevchenko in the starting position, even if he could not score goals, while Mourinho believed that players who did not perform well and were not in good form should be on the bench, leaving opportunities to others.
Tang En did not know if Mourinho left Chelsea in the end. At least, such a thing did not happen before he transmigrated. When he was a fan, he felt that Chelsea and Mourinho were inseparable. When Chelsea was mentioned, he would think of Mourinho, and when Mourinho was mentioned, it would also make people think of Chelsea.
He could not imagine what Chelsea would be like without Mourinho. Although the two of them were usually bitter rivals, he still did not want Mourinho to leave Chelsea. Because then he would have a lot less fun …
He liked being a manager. In addition to the opportunity to win various championship trophies and train those world-class star players, another important reason was that he could compete with the famous managers he could only see on TV and in the newspapers before. Professional football was not a game played by one person. Without a good opponent, the fun of the sport was halved.
The rumors spread more and more widely and became more and more outrageous. Soon, Abramovich and Mourinho appeared in the media to refute the rumors. Abramovich said he admired Mourinho's work in Chelsea for the past three seasons and promised Mourinho a bright future in the team. Mourinho said he liked his work at Chelsea and had no intention of going to other teams to seek development.
Neither of them mentioned that they had lost two titles in a row this season, which made many people still doubt the possibility of Mourinho leaving Chelsea next season. There were even experts who analyzed that he came out to refute the rumors at this time because he did not want to affect the team's morale and let them play the last league game of the season. When the season was over, it would be the time to settle accounts.
※ ※ ※
In the last round of the league tournament, all the games started at the same time.
Some people said that they came out to refute the rumors before the last round of the league tournament to not affect the morale and fighting spirit of the entire Chelsea team and not affect their last league game. But the matter of "mending the pen after the sheep is lost" was, after all, remedied after the sheep was dead. No matter how it was remedied, the dead sheep was the prerequisite.
Chelsea's morale and fighting spirit had been affected. In the last round of the league tournament, Mitchell was forced to a 1: 1 draw at home by Moyes' Everton.
Manchester United, who had won the league title, lost absent-mindedly to West Ham United at home, helping the team successfully come ashore from the relegation zone with a score of 0: 1.
The game between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool went through twists and turns. Liverpool took the lead at the start.
Because in the crucial 37th round of the league tournament, Liverpool lost to Fulham in an away game, while Arsenal shook hands with Chelsea at home. The two teams, which were one point apart, now had the same points. Both Liverpool and Arsenal wanted to get the last ticket to the Champions League. Although Liverpool also broke into the UEFA Europa League final this season against Sevilla, they still wanted to play in the Champions League game.
Therefore, at the start, Liverpool launched a siege on the Forest team's goal. In the away game, they turned the tables.
The game was also broadcast nationally by BBC5.
Liverpool became more energetic after the goal and continued to besiege Nottingham Forest. Benítez went all out for the sake of qualifying for the Champions League. But he had forgotten what kind of team Nottingham Forest was and what they were best at.
On the scene, the Forest team, playing at home, was in a sorry state. The stormy goal could be pierced again at any time, but the Forest fans did not frown. Everyone was in a panic. The scene was too familiar to them …
In the 27th minute, thirteen minutes after Liverpool scored, the Forest team equalized the score. It was precisely taking advantage of the gap behind Liverpool's massive pressure to play a quick counterattack and knock open the goal guarded by the Spanish national goalkeeper, Reina.
Another ten minutes later, news came from Portsmouth that Arsenal, playing in the away game, had scored.
It was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue for the Liverpool people. If the current score of the two games remained until the end, then Liverpool would lose the qualification to advance to the Champions League for the second year in a row.
They stepped up their offense and wanted to knock open Nottingham Forest's goal again. But the score did not change until the end of the first half.
In the second half, Nottingham Forest and Liverpool were still in a stalemate, but news came from another stadium that was favorable to Liverpool.
Just five minutes into the second half, Portsmouth scored and the score became 1: 1.
The half-hearted Liverpool fans, watching the live game at the City Ground stadium while listening to the radio to pay attention to their opponents, almost made others think that their team had scored.
The news greatly stimulated the fighting spirit of the Liverpool players. They launched a frenzy of bombardment against the Forest team's goal to further put pressure on. In the 19th minute of the second half, the Forest team's goal was lost again.
Gerrard's long shot went straight through Edwin van der Sar's fingers. The Forest team was not angry about the goal concede because it was so beautiful, just like Wood's long shot into the Chelsea goal. What else could you say after being scored by a shot like that?
The Liverpool fans began to sing loudly in the stands of the City Ground stadium to celebrate the lead. They angered the Forest fans, and the Liverpool fans' singing was quickly overwhelmed by the Forest fans' singing.
At the same time, Liverpool's lead again infuriated Tang En and his team.
Albertini replaced Wood in the starting lineup for this game, which was his last warm-up game before the Champions League final. After Liverpool took the lead, the commentator kept complaining about Tang En's decision to rotate. In his view, the aging Albertini was no longer suitable to be in the starting lineup in such a fierce game. His running ability was greatly reduced, and he could not pose any threat to Gerrard on defense. As for offense … the Forest team was pressed into a sorry state in their half of the field. What offense could they speak of?
In short, the commentator raised doubts about Albertini's ability in many ways. He thought that Tang En's rotation was unreasonable. George Wood was not injured or sick. He was in a stable state and full of stamina. It was foolish to not use Albertini instead of him.
Just as the commentator continued to argue that Albertini had been eliminated by the times, Albertini scored a goal.
A typical "Albertini-style" ball was beyond Reina's reach. He could only watch the football bypass his hand and fall into the net.
Nottingham Forest equalized the score to 2: 2.
This time, the Liverpool fans were not too upset, because there was no news of another goal from Portsmouth. Even if both games were tied, Liverpool would still be ranked fourth with a goal difference advantage, suppressing Arsenal.
This result was good news for Liverpool, but Tang En did not accept a draw. A draw was dangerous when they did not know the result of the Chelsea game.
The game continued until injury stoppage time, and neither side scored again. It was the same over at Portsmouth. Arsenal did not score, and Portsmouth did not score.
It looked like Liverpool was going to qualify for next season's Champions League as they wished, and Arsenal could only participate in the UEFA Europa League.
The Liverpool fans had already begun to celebrate in advance. Some Liverpool fans even gave the Forest fans a thumbs up, expressing their gratitude. In the eyes of the Liverpool fans, this result was a happy one.
The Forest people did not see it that way.
The first three minutes of injury stoppage time were calm. Liverpool did not intend to score again, and the Forest team did not seem to be in the mood to continue the game. But in the last minute, there was a sudden change on the field!
Nottingham Forest organized a very effective attack by Albertini. Four Nottingham Forest players participated in the attack. After three passes, the football flew to Liverpool's goal. Bendtner leaped high and headed the ball. The football flew into Liverpool's goal at a very close distance!
This time, the Liverpool fans in the City Ground stadium were silent. At this moment, only the cheers of the Nottingham Forest fans could be heard. Clearly, they did not appreciate the friendliness shown by the Liverpool fans before. They, like the team they supported, were eager to win and did not accept any results other than victory.
When the game was over, the results from another stadium were also reported. Arsenal and Portsmouth shook hands and made a draw, beating Liverpool by one point and ascending to fourth place in the Premier League, thus earning a ticket to next season's Champions League qualifying round …
All the Liverpool fans had tears in their eyes, while the Liverpool fans stood on the field dejectedly, staring blankly at the Nottingham Forest players celebrating the victory. They thought that for the Forest team, the victory of this game was insignificant. They would not lose the Champions League qualification because of this game. They did not understand why the Forest players still wanted to score and win until the last minute.
Benítez shook hands with Twain with a gloomy face. He had nothing to say about losing the game at the last minute — his team was lax and did not mark Bendtner properly.
Twain did not comfort Benítez. He did not know how to comfort him. He could not say, "It's nothing. At least you can still play in the UEFA Europa League." This was not comfort, but rubbing salt on the other side's wounds. He and Benítez had no personal grudges, so it was not worth it.
After shaking hands with Benítez, Twain turned his head and saw the heartbroken Liverpool fans in the stands. He knew he had another enemy in the league. For a long time, the Liverpool fans would not forget today's game and who squeezed them out of the Champions League.
During Brian Clough's era, the ambitious Liverpool was defeated by Nottingham Forest and lost the league title and the Champions League title. At that time, the Liverpool fans did not have a good impression of Nottingham Forest. Later, with the decline of Nottingham Forest, this hatred quickly dissipated in the river of time.
Now, Twain was like a demon, making them relive the nightmare from 28 years ago. It was deeply affecting.
"Wenger must thank Tang En. If Forest Team had not fought so hard in the last, inconsequential match, how could Arsenal have qualified to participate in the Champions League's qualifying rounds? I'm afraid only Tony Twain could do such a thing to kill Liverpool at the last minute. He did not care about feelings at all … "the commentator muttered.
How could he know that Twain was not trying to help Wenger, nor was he being heartless? He just did not want Chelsea to be on top of him.
"Tony!" Kerslake's excited voice came from behind.
Twain looked back at his assistant manager. Kerslake held his headphones in his hand and was all smiles.
"Good news, Chelsea and Everton are tied!"
Twain clenched his fist and pounded it.
"We're second in the league!" Kerslake shouted. Everyone heard him.
Being second in the league for two years in a row was a remarkable achievement. Everyone cheered.
Twain watched their celebration with a smile on his face. At this time, Dunn stood beside him.
"You don't look very excited?" Twain looked back at him. Dunn's face was calm.
"The season is not over yet," Dunn answered simply.
This reminded Twain that there was still one final game. Now was not the time to celebrate.
"Ah, thank you, Dunn." Twain clapped his hands and walked toward the celebrating coaches.
"Don't be happy too early, guys. We still have one last game. "
"Athens!" was answered by a chorus of voices.
"Very good, looks like you haven't forgotten."
The league had come to an end. Twain did not have to worry about how to rotate the players. He could keep the players' stamina and avoid injuries without letting them lose the feeling of playing. Today was May 13th. There were still 11 days until the final day, May 24th.
Within these 11 days, he still had time to solve some problems and then lead the team to Athens without any worries.
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