In the past few days, what concerned Guardiola the most was not the training ground, but the team doctor. Iniesta and Milito were injured in the game against RCD Espanyol. Iniesta's injury was slightly less serious. At that time, the team doctor said that he was likely to make it to the game against Nottingham Forest. So, after the game against Real Madrid, he began to care about this issue, for fear that there would be any recurrence.
Iniesta was now the team's midfield playmaker. He and Xavi sorted out Barcelona's offense in the midfield. Barcelona was considered to be the team that played the most beautiful football on the planet, and it was to the credit of the two of them.
Guardiola did not want to lose anyone when dealing with an aggressive Nottingham Forest team.
Other than Gabriel Milito's more serious injury, he did want to bring out the strongest lineup to deal with the tiger, Tony Twain.
Two days before the game, the good news finally came. After a detailed physical examination of Iniesta, the team doctor confirmed that he was recovering well and could play in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals.
Guardiola breathed a sigh of relief.
※ ※ ※
Although the two teams were facing a life-and-death battle, there was already a smell of gunpowder between the two managers. But the relationship between the players was not as bad as outsiders thought. Piqué was a Barcelona player who had played for Nottingham Forest for many years. Although many of his former teammates in Nottingham Forest had left, there were still a few people who had a good relationship with him, such as Bale and Lennon, and his former center back partner at Nottingham Forest, Pepe.
Fortunately, Twain had worn it a few months earlier. Otherwise, he would have seen the future main center back of Real Madrid and the future main center back of Barcelona talking and laughing together. He really did not know what kind of wonderful feeling he would have.
Of course, there were also the media who used this relationship to hype it up. When the Nottingham Forest team arrived in Barcelona, Pepe asked such a question in an interview. Pepe bluntly said that he and Piqué were good friends. "We had a good understanding on the field, and I enjoyed that time. Of course, I cooperate very well with the current Kompany, Woodgate and the others. But I also think it's normal for him to leave. After all, he came from La Masia. You asked what would happen during the game? Of course, I won't hold back. Friendship is friendship, competition is competition … "
Piqué also responded to Pepe's words, "… Yes, I still remember the time when I played for Nottingham Forest. But I was clear-headed enough to know what the game was. You don't have to doubt my loyalty to Barcelona. Otherwise, I would not have chosen to leave Nottingham Forest in the first place. Maybe I'll treat them to a meal after the match, but until then, I just want to beat them. "
He was also asked by the reporters about how it felt to work with Tony Twain. Due to the Catalan media's recent bad mouthing of Tony Twain, some of the comments were enough to constitute personal attacks and slander. This made Piqué a little indignant. Putting aside loyalty to the team, in terms of loyalty to the manager, Guardiola could not catch up to Tony Twain's position in Piqué's heart.
As a result, he decided to put aside his previous "no comment" attitude and put in some good words for Tony Twain. "Tony Twain is a very charismatic manager. He seems to have a magical aura around him that can make you be attracted to him. In fact, there are many people in England who criticize his style, but his players always stand with him. "
The Catalan media was not very satisfied with such an answer. They wanted to hear the Barcelona players' voices of a common enemy, and not such an "anomaly." As a result, someone asked, "But every player who left Nottingham Forest did not seem to have anything good to say about him …"
Piqué laughed, "Am I not one of them?"
"Then what about compared to Guardiola?"
This was a trap, and Piqué carefully went around it. "Both of them are very good managers. I was lucky to play under them, and they both won the UEFA Champions League." Piqué won two UEFA Champions League titles under Tony Twain, and under Guardiola's leadership, he picked up the Champions League title for the third time last season. Therefore, when it came to the experience of winning the Champions League title, he might have more experience than many of his current teammates.
Piqué might be the only player in the Barcelona team who had goodwill towards Nottingham Forest and Tony Twain. When the other players were interviewed, their tone was not good.
"There is no doubt that we will win."
"I hope to get a victory."
"We are the defending champions!"
…
Such declarations made people feel that Barcelona was simply bursting with confidence.
What did Tony Twain, the master of psychological warfare, think about this?
"At this time, the louder the clamor, the more nonsense they talk, it proves that they have a guilty conscience. They have to use this kind of bravado to find some confidence for themselves. And me? I never talk nonsense before a game. " He so easily resolved Barcelona's angry attack, even though many Catalan media ridiculed him as slapping himself in the face. "If he 'never talks nonsense before a game,' then perhaps the end of the world should have arrived." In China, there were also Barcelona fans who lambasted Twain for being "thick-skinned enough to be the Great Wall." On the Internet, they argued with those Nottingham Forest fans whom they called "country bumpkin nouveau riche" who appeared in large numbers with the rise of the Forest team.
That was what Twain said, and that was what he did. From the start of the team's arrival in Barcelona, he refused to accept interviews of unknown origins. If outsiders wanted to understand what the manager was doing, they could only go through Pierce Brosnan's Nottingham Evening Post. Even so, the information he revealed to this "royal reporter" was pitifully little.
He focused on preparing for the game, intending to have a big battle at Camp Nou.
The media complained that "Tony Twain's little secret time" had come again. They really did not know why he liked closed-door training so much. But the fact that made the media sadder was that even though Tony Twain chased them away like flies, they were indeed like flies that saw a cake and flocked to him like a flock of flies. To put it more bluntly, they were really cheap.
※ ※ ※
On April 16th, after a month of repeated hype and countless war of words between the two sides, mixed with the Derbi de Barcelona, El Clásico, Nottingham Forest and Chelsea, and several other heavyweight matches, this highly anticipated battle of Mars colliding with Earth was finally on the verge of breaking out.
At this time, all the noise seemed to disappear at once. Whether it was on the Forest team's side or on Barcelona's side, no one jumped out to spit at each other. At this time, if they were still obsessed with winning or losing with words, they would not be considered qualified professional players.
On the day of the game, only the 90-minute game result could determine who could finally be arrogant and who could only hang their heads between their legs. If they did not want to be trampled in the mud and humiliated after the game, then they had to put all their minds on the game.
※ ※ ※
Tony Twain was in the luxurious visitors' locker room at the Camp Nou stadium, giving his players one last reminder and special instructions.
"Iniesta and he and Xavi are their playmakers in this game. You have to pay more attention. Don't give them too much space and time to take the ball in front of the penalty area. Our flanks have to pay attention to the opposition's full-backs' assists, especially their right flank. Our left flank has a heavy defensive task today. Alves and Messi are concentrated on this side. But I don't ask you to blindly defend, because that won't work. Fight back at the right time and tell Barcelona that if they dare to press up, we dare to fight back! "
Twain's expression was serious, and so were his players. No one would underestimate such an opponent, not to mention at the opponent's home ground.
It was probably not enough to describe Barcelona's current lineup as "luxurious." It had to be described as "terrifying."
On the tactical board, Twain drew out the opponent's starting list he had just obtained:
The goalkeeper was Valdés, the center backs were Piqué and Puyol, the right back was Alves, and the left back was Lahm, who had joined from Bayern Munich this summer. There were three players in the midfield, with Yaya Touré at the back and Iniesta and Xavi at the front to organize the attack. In the middle of the three strikers was Bojan, on the left was Silva, who Twain had taken a fancy to, and on the right was Messi.
The 34-year-old Henry had left the team, and Eto 'o, who had been rumored to be sold off every season, eventually remained in the team, but his main position had been replaced by Bojan. The speed weapon he was proud of had gradually rusted with age. Except for that mouth, it was no longer as valiant as it was in the past.
This time, Twain did not intend to hand Messi over to Wood to manage, because there were two players in the middle, Xavi and Iniesta. It was impossible to give the middle to them. So Wood and Tiago's main responsibility would be in the middle, defending against the two playmakers in the midfield. Messi was handed over to Baines, Matías Fernández, and the others to take care of.
At the same time, the pressure on the right side of the defense was not small. Silva was not to be trifled with, and Lahm was also a full back who was good at assists.
Coupled with the flexible Bojan, it was a real headache. Faced with such an offensive lineup, what should the defensive side do to cover all aspects and not reveal any flaws?
If they really went head-to-head with Barcelona, there were probably not many teams in the world that could retreat unscathed. Twain cleverly chose to defend and counterattack. He laid out a heavy force in the middle and back field, defending to the death, and the whole team cooperated.
"You guys must maintain your formation. Don't let their transmissions disrupt it. The full backs don't have to withdraw too much. This will give them a chance to play on the flanks. Messi and Silva are all kinds of masters. We have George and Tiago in the flanks. The range of activity should be appropriately increased, but don't lose your position. "
"Guys, this game is very demanding on the defense. But that doesn't mean we don't value offense. The goal of an away game is not to not lose, but to score goals and score more goals. When you're defending, you have to think about offense at all times. But under the premise of defense, we can't give too much support to the offense. This requires you offensive players to find a way. But no matter what, you must be resolute. If there's a chance, plug forward and pass forward! Don't think about the boring question of whether the offense can be played this time. You just have to get the football closer to the opponent's goal, and that's success! As long as we can create enough trouble, Barcelona's offensive momentum will naturally weaken. There is no pure offense or pure defense in this world. We must be more patient than our opponents! "
After saying what needed to be paid attention to in the technical and tactical aspects, Twain threw away the marker pen in his hand. "All right, guys. Let's talk about something less boring. If I say I'm not sure we can win the championship in the end this season, will you be surprised? "
It could be seen that most of the players were not surprised. Obviously, they also had a certain level of understanding of their own strength.
"I always have the impression that I'm an arrogant person, but I'm never blindly arrogant. When did I say we would win the championship and we didn't? No, not once. "He said, shaking his head. "But this time, I can't ask more of you. Today's Barcelona is really strong. I think it's even stronger than last season when they won the Champions League. "Twain's face was solemn when he said this.
But someone objected. Eastwood smiled and said, "Hey, Chief. You're kidding us, right? I've been with you for so many years, but I've never seen you so afraid of a team … "
Twain glared at him and said, "This is not fear. I've never been afraid of my opponents, but I hope you don't have blind confidence. That will only push us into the dark abyss. To be honest, I didn't want to play in any finals this season, so I'm happy to be able to meet Inter Milan and Barcelona in two consecutive rounds — I don't have to wait until the finals to have a chance to meet one of them. This is great! I ask you to play every game now as if it's the final. Regardless of how far we can go in the end, it's meaningless! Meaningless! "
The players could not understand the Chief's unusual behavior today. Instead of boosting everyone's morale before the start of the game, he said some words that belittled themselves and overestimated their opponents. But when they saw the serious expression on the Chief's face, it was definitely not an act. They wiped away the smiles on their faces, leaving only furrowed brows and sharp gazes. They always believed in the Chief. Since the Chief said so, they would do as he said.
"Play Barcelona as your opponent in the finals, and any opponent after that as your opponent in the finals! That's all I'm asking of you. "
The players eventually walked onto the field with such emotions, while Dunn and Twain were left at the back.
"What's this?" Dunn asked.
"Barcelona is really strong, so I have to play a little trick. Soldiers with indignation are bound to win. "Twain smiled slyly. "Tell them not to think about what they're going to do in the future. Play it all as if it's the finals, and use all their strength in every game. Then when they suddenly want to stop and take a breather, look up — wow, it's already the finals!"
"Then do you want to be the champion or not?"
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