"Perhaps … you won't travel alone forever, but remember … eagles will always fly alone … What kind of nonsense is this?" Twain, who followed the team out of the tunnel, caught a glimpse of a banner hanging in the stands next to him. It was black with white words, very conspicuous. "Are we Liverpool?" He turned to ask Dunn next to him.
Dunn explained. "We and Liverpool both wear red jerseys. Liverpool's nickname is' Reds, 'and we're' Red. ' Beşiktaş 'nickname is' Black Eagles, 'which is why we have such a slogan. Perhaps in the eyes of these Turks, all English teams use' You'll Never Walk Alone 'as a slogan. "
"Hopeless." Twain shook his head and sighed as he walked to the technical area.
At the tactical meeting a day ago, the Forest team had established that they would still use their best "defensive counterattack" tactics in this game. The Turkish team would certainly take advantage of the home advantage to launch a fierce attack on the Forest team's goal. The Forest team's defense had to be good for about ten minutes at the start of the game. Otherwise, it would be very dangerous.
For this game, Twain did not deploy his most commonly used 4-4-2 formation. Instead, he changed the formation. 4-4-141 was the Forest team's new formation for this game. George Wood played as the defensive midfielder alone. The rear defensive line, from left to right, was Leighton Baines, Kompany, Ayala, and Rafinha. The midfield line, from left to right, was Gareth Bale, Martin Petrov, Rafael van der Vaart, and Aaron Lennon. The lone striker was van Nistelrooy.
Because Beckham had a minor injury, Twain did not put him on the starting list for this game, even though he was very experienced. Similarly, Eastwood was absent due to injury.
The local media in Turkey reported one-sidedly on the predicament that the Forest team had faced recently: the frequent injuries and the absence of the main players; the players fought during training and there was internal disunity and noise; the hotel was located in the downtown area and it was not good to rest at night; the team had not won a game in the group stage in a row and morale was low and so on.
These reports indirectly proved that their team would win tonight.
Twain could not read Turkish, but he still knew what the media said. He had a habit of understanding what the local media said when he played away games to find out what he needed. Wouldn't it be easy to find an interpreter?
After reading these reports in Turkey, instead of being angry, he was very happy. Because he saw his chances of winning the away game. Now, everyone in Beşiktaş must be optimistic about the outcome of the match, which would be the best. Optimism could lead to underestimation of the enemy, which would lead to a change in the final outcome.
After he sat down in the technical area, he also caught a glimpse of the huge banner on the opposite grandstand.
Welcome to hell.
Heh, who knows whose hell it is!
In the final preparation before the match, Tang En did not stir up any emotions. There was no need for him to instigate this kind of game. If they really wanted to win, they would have to have a good mentality. Seeing such an away atmosphere, they would definitely be very motivated. Defeating the home team on someone else's home ground was exactly what the opponent liked to see. This was not just Tony Twain's bad taste. It was the entire Nottingham Forest team's bad taste.
He just told the players that if they still could not win this game, they would have to play in the UEFA Europa League. He, Tony Twain, could not do such a shameful thing. Whoever wanted to play in the UEFA Europa League could go, but he certainly would not go.
"Either the top two teams in the group advance, or the last place gets the hell out. Which result do you accept? "He asked the team in the locker room.
Did it need to be said?
Nottingham Forest never accepted failure!
※ ※ ※
The competition kicked off with deafening cheers. As Tang En expected, Beşiktaş took advantage of the situation to launch a fierce attack on the Forest team's goal after the kickoff, hoping to score as soon as possible and establish a lead. Then the rest of the game would be much easier to play. With the crazy support of 20,000 home fans and the intimidating atmosphere of a home ground in hell, were they afraid of not winning the home game?
Tang En sat in the technical area for a while before he got up and stood on the sidelines. The Turkish attack was crazy. They did not care about the pressure of the defense. But they did have a reason to do so. Such a fierce offensive completely beat back the Forest team's idea of a counterattack. It had been five minutes and they could only retreat to defend in the three defensive zones. They did not even have a chance to attack the opponent's thirty-meter zone.
Seeing that the defending champions could only parry in front of their own team and had no power to fight back, the Turkish fans in İNönü Stadium got excited and their roars became louder.
Beşiktaş was a strong team in Turkey and was mainly made up of young Turkish players. Of course, that was in the past. Now, since Sağlam took over the team, the Turkish manager had a strange preference for foreign players. Since he took over, Beşiktaş had changed its previous tradition and spent money to buy a lot of foreign players. But these foreign players could not compare to Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray in terms of fame or strength.
The Guinea international footballer, Diatta, who had just joined the team this season, was still a substitute and had problems cooperating with the team. He was only on the substitute list for this game.
The Brazilian striker, Bobo, had been selected for the Brazil under-21 national team, but there were too many players of his level in Brazil, so his results were just that. He appeared on the starting list for this game and was the lone arrow in the Beşiktaş team.
Argentina's attacking midfielder, Delgado. In Argentina, there were many people called "Delgado". There were also a few famous players, but this had nothing to do with the football stars. He had never been selected for any of the Argentina national teams. Matías Delgado had the delicate footwork and dribbling ability commonly possessed by South American players. He was Beşiktaş 'main attacking midfielder.
Rodrigo Tello, the Chile international footballer, was a left midfielder. His skills were excellent and he was one of the key players that the Forest team needed to pay attention to. He also appeared in the starting lineup. A lot of Beşiktaş 'attacks in the past five minutes were assisted by him on the left flank. His passes and long shots were quite threatening.
Beşiktaş's defensive midfielder, Cisse, had nothing to do with the French striker, Cisse, even though they were both French. His full name was Edouard Cisse, and he was probably the player Twain was most familiar with among Beşiktaş 'foreign players. Twain's first game in charge of Nottingham Forest was the English FA Cup, where Nottingham Forest hosted the Premier League team, West Ham United. At that time, West Ham United's starting defensive midfielder was the French man. After West Ham United was relegated, he returned to France and did not expect to be transferred to the Turkish League to play. Twain had a feeling that "it's a small world." This man was Beşiktaş 'main defensive midfielder and the backbone of the defensive line. He made thirty-four appearances in the French Ligue 1 last season, scoring two goals and assisting one goal. He made seven appearances in the Champions League, scoring one goal and assisting one goal. The statistics were not bad for a defensive midfielder.
In addition, due to his arrival, Beşiktaş 'original main defensive midfielder, Braque, had to switch to playing as a substitute striker.
In addition to Diatta, those were the foreign players in the starting lineup for the game. Coupled with the Turkish team, this lineup was overshadowed by Nottingham Forest. However, they had the home advantage, so the gap in strength was made up.
Beşiktaş's captain was Ibrahim Uzulmez, a thirty-two-time member of the national team and a thirty-three-year-old veteran. He was a full back who only knew how to assist and did not know how to defend. In these five minutes of the game, his performance was as good as Tyro's. The two of them took turns plugging in, making Beşiktaş 'left flank the most threatening side corridor and putting Rafinha and Lennon under tremendous pressure.
Since Chimbonda was still reflecting on his actions in the reserves and did not come to Istanbul with the team, the Forest team's right flank could be said to be "stronger in offense than defense" in this game. Rafinha and Lennon were both wingers who were good at offense. Rafinha was a Brazilian full back, and the Brazilian tradition was to attack more than defense. Presumably, Beşiktaş's young manager, Sağlam, also saw this point and let the team focus on attacking the Forest team's right flank.
Twain turned his head to look next door. Sağlam was standing on the sidelines directing the game.
This manager was about the same age as him. He originally thought managers who were less than forty years old were rare. He did not expect there to be so many under forty in Europe. But he, Tony Twain, was the only successful one, so he could still be proud of it.
The youngest manager in the history of the UEFA Champions League to lead a team to victory!
How dazzling the name was …
※ ※ ※
Beşiktaş currently had three points and was temporarily ranked second in the group because of its win over Porto in the last game. Marseille, who had consecutively defeated Beşiktaş and Nottingham Forest, was ranked first in the group with six points. On this night, Marseille would play at home against Porto, who was at the bottom of the table, while Beşiktaş would welcome Nottingham Forest at home. The leading team wanted to expand its lead, while the trailing team wanted to turn over and become the host to pull down their competitors. Group A's night would be shrouded in thick smoke.
Sağlam's directing style was a bit "rock and roll." His body language was quite rich, and the range of his movements was large and exaggerated. He could not stop for a moment on the sidelines. With an electric guitar in his hand, he did not even need to put on makeup. He was a rock star.
Compared to the rock star, Twain was simply a country folk singer. He sat in the technical area with his legs crossed and did not move. But every time he got up, something must have happened. His players only needed to see their manager get up to know there was going to be a change.
Now Twain sat in the technical area with his legs crossed. He had no intention of getting up. Beşiktaş 'fierce attack was within his expectations. He had also set up the corresponding tactics to deal with it, so there was nothing to worry about.
The Forest team had seen an offensive fiercer than Beşiktaş 'many times. The only thing that faintly worried Twain was the frenzied home atmosphere. Over the past few seasons, Nottingham Forest's home ground had also become famous in the Premier League as a "devil's home ground." Any team that came to play here would be mercilessly booed and abused by the Nottingham Forest fans. The noise would ring from the beginning of the game to the end without any pause in between. Playing a game for minutes in such an environment was simply torture for many players with poor psychological quality.
Therefore, Twain was well aware of how terrifying a good home ground was for the visiting team. Could his players withstand the two huge pressures of Beşiktaş 'fierce attack and the Beşiktaş fans' sonic attack?
He did not want others to see his inner worry through some subtle movements, so he still sat in the technical area with his legs crossed and swaying, looking confident.
※ ※ ※
Ten minutes passed. Although Beşiktaş 'offensive was fierce, the Forest team's goal still stood firm. The score was still 0: 0.
Generally speaking, the home fans waited until the opposing players got the ball, but as soon as the Beşiktaş fans saw signs of the Forest players making contact with the ball, the boos immediately rang out in the stands. If the Beşiktaş players intercepted the ball midway, the boos instantly turned into cheers. It really made people wonder if it was a human shout or a recording that was precisely controlled by a computer program.
Ten minutes was the time that Twain said he needed to pay attention to. Seeing that it was still 0: 0, he was a little relieved and turned his head to chat with Dunn to exchange some of the things that had been exposed in the ten minutes of the game.
Just as he turned his head, George Wood used a shovel that was suspected of a foul to poke the football out from under Bobo's feet. The person who received the ball was no longer a Beşiktaş player, but a Nottingham Forest player!
The Nottingham Forest fans, who numbered only two hundred, finally broke out in cheers for the first time in the game, although they were quickly suppressed by the opponent.
Dunn nudged Twain, who was about to speak to him, and motioned for him to look at the field.
Twain turned back just in time to see the Forest team take the ball to organize an attack.
The player who received the ball from Wood's shovel was one of the two center midfielders, Martin Petrov. If Ribéry had not been injured, this position would have been his. Unfortunately, he was injured, so he had to grab Petrov to replace him when he came. It could be seen that he was still not very used to playing in the middle. He was always used to running to the side. As a result, this compressed Bale's space. It was also one of the reasons why the Forest team's offense could not go up.
Fortunately, this time Petrov did not go to the side to fight for territory with Bale. He did not rush forward after he took the ball in the middle. Although he had been pressed by the opponent for ten minutes, he did not lose his cool. He made a pretended to break through, which led the Beşiktaş defensive midfielder, Cisse, to run two steps back to block, but he pulled the football back. He did not break through, nor did he pass the ball. Instead, he looked up and observed, waiting for his teammates to plug in. Otherwise, there would be no place to receive the pass.
Van der Vaart ran up from one side, and Lennon and Gareth Bale also went up very quickly. It could be seen that the Forest team had been pressed to play for ten minutes and could not wait to attack.
Petrov passed the ball to van der Vaart, and then he waved to George Wood, who was at the back, and motioned for him to come up.
Wood shook his head and rejected the proposal. Although the Forest team appeared to have five midfielders in the game, George Wood was the only one responsible for defense when the team attacked. In the game, he was a defensive midfielder through and through. He could not press forward at any time. It was also Tang En's request of him to ensure the stability of the rear defensive line so that the Forest team's counterattack could be a threat.
Petrov shrugged and turned to run up to participate in the attack.
Van der Vaart passed the football to Lennon on the side and then ran forward to receive.
Lennon did not intend to pass the ball. He held the ball and looked at the opposing captain, Uzulmez. He had been tired from defending for the past ten minutes, all thanks to this man. This time, he finally had a chance to attack, so he had to get it back.
Lennon could not see his teammates around him raising their hands to ask. His mind was full of the idea of "one-on-one" with the opponent.
Uzulmez was good at assists, but his defense was not very good. Moreover, at thirty-three years old, he was slow. Lennon decided to take advantage of this and rely on his speed to forcibly break through the opponent. He did not even bother to use feints to swing here and there.
Lennon, who was very confident in his speed, lowered his waist and suddenly made a change in speed while dribbling the ball at a slow speed. He dribbled the ball toward the sideline and accelerated at the same time.
Uzulmez was indeed good at assists and not good at defense. His increased age made his speed unable to keep up. But Lennon missed a point. He did not take into account that the opponent was much more experienced than him.
Seeing Lennon's pace, Uzulmez knew what the kid wanted to do. The intelligence before the game told him that Aaron Lennon was very fast and was a winger who was good at using speed and feints to break through.
So, the moment Lennon knocked the ball out, the experienced Uzulmez suddenly turned in front of him and chased after the football one step ahead without waiting for the two men to collide. Lennon reacted quickly. When he saw Uzulmez cut across to block the position, he planned to take advantage of the situation and crash into the opponent to cause a blocking foul. However, he did not expect the experienced Uzulmez to also anticipate it and not give him a chance to pounce on him for physical contact. At that moment, the veteran's body erupted with terrifying energy as he suddenly shook off Lennon and caught up with the football.
Lennon, who wanted to cause the opponent to foul, slowed down at that moment, only to find that the opponent was not fooled. It was too late for him to speed up and start. He could only watch as the football was taken by Uzulmez. He staggered and almost fell.
The Forest team's first offensive ended, and Beşiktaş 'attack followed closely, not giving the Forest team a chance to breathe.
Uzulmez passed the football to Taylor, who came back to assist in the defense. The Chilean side back did not hesitate after he received the ball and turned to break through. Lennon wanted to chase back, but he could only watch his opponent go far away.
The Forest team, who had been holding back their energy, was ready to launch a large-scale attack. They did not expect the football to be intercepted as soon as it was passed. Moreover, the opponent's counterattack was equally sharp and resolute. The Forest team did not react for a while, allowing Taylor to break directly within the thirty-meter zone.
When Taylor saw both Rafinha and Ayala come up to snatch the ball, he did not hesitate and flicked his foot to send the football out horizontally.
George Wood followed closely behind the attacking midfielder Delgado as he ran toward the football. If the opponent stopped the ball, he would stick close to him and force him away from the goal. If the opponent intended to shoot directly, he would shovel.
Delgado could clearly feel the pressure from the person beside him. It was like a hungry beast chasing after his butt, letting out heavy panting sounds. You could even feel the hot breath from his mouth, wet and sticky on you. Was this the captain of the UEFA Champions League team? Although he had just debuted, he had long been a well-known defensive midfielder in Europe. Countless strong players had fallen at his feet. Could he do it?
The hesitation in his heart made Delgado lose the best time to handle the ball. By the time he noticed the football, the ball was already very, very close to him. It was so close that he could not stop the ball even if he wanted to, and he did not have the time and space to swing his legs to shoot. George Wood followed closely. If he forced the ball to stop, the result was likely to be intercepted.
In a moment of desperation, Delgado chose to leak the ball! He pretended to shoot with his legs to trick Wood into falling to the ground to block, but he cleverly leaked the ball …
The football rolled between his legs and did not touch anyone!
Cedar Ozcan, who followed up in the middle, met the ball and shot directly!
Kompany flew to block, but the football deflected off his toes. Although it was in the same direction as Edwin van der Sar's pounce, it was more tricky. The football drew an arc, bypassed Edwin van der Sar's fingertips, brushed against the goalpost, and flew into the net!
The ball went in?
The ball went in!
Huge cheers erupted at İNönü Stadium. It was as if the Turkic cavalry army that had swept the ancient Roman Empire had crossed the gate of time and space and returned to this world. Wave after wave, they got closer and louder, shaking the eardrums of everyone present. In the end, it was so deafening that they could only open their mouths and not hear anything.
It was unbelievable. Was this a stadium that could only accommodate 20,000 people?
The Nottingham Forest players stood on the field and in front of the substitutes' bench, looking up at the surrounding stands blankly.
Tang En sat in the technical area and did not even move his buttocks. He just stared at the banner in the stands, the bloody words reminding them that this was hell.
WELCOME_TO_HELL。
WELCOME TO HELL!
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