"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 10-11 UEFA Champions League quarterfinals. We're now broadcasting this highly anticipated game live at the City Ground stadium, Nottingham Forest's home game against Barcelona! "
"Well, it's said to be at the City Ground stadium, but I believe many people will think we're lying." The guest commentator next to him interjected.
The commentator laughed. "I couldn't believe it at first — Nottingham Forest's stadium turf is so bad … Half a week ago, the Nottingham Forest Club said they were replacing the turf for maintenance work. Who would have thought that a few days later, they would replace it with such a piece of turf? Are we watching a training match between Nottingham Forest and an amateur team? "
The guest coughed. "Be careful of Barcelona's protests when you say that. You actually compared them to 'an amateur team.' "
"Ha!" The commentator laughed dryly and quickly changed the subject. "There's still some time before the start of the game, and we've already got the starting list for both sides. Barcelona's list is not surprising, continuing the lineup from the last round. In that case, Tony Twain was really wronged by the Catalan media — he did not use any killing tactics against Messi and the others. Messi, Bojan … even Iniesta, who had just recovered from his injury, continued to be in the starting lineup. George Wood did not mark Messi in the last game, and his performance was not eye-catching. "
"Well, let's take a look at Nottingham Forest … Pay attention! Compared with Barcelona's stability, Nottingham Forest's side has changed a lot! "The commentator raised his voice, with a sense of mystery.
"First of all, there's a big adjustment in the rear defensive line. Leighton Baines was automatically suspended for one game because of the accumulation of yellow cards, and his replacement is Joe Mattock. This is England's rising star from the rear. Although young, he has a record of being selected for the England senior team twice. After Gareth Bale's injury, he was entrusted with an important task by Twain and has been in the starting lineup many times in the league tournament. At present, he and Baines rotate as left back. Now that Baines is suspended, he is naturally the only one to replace. This is not his first time playing in a Champions League game. But I believe the young him will still be a key breakthrough target for Barcelona because they have Messi and Alves here. We can take a good look at the young Joe Mattock's performance in this game. I hope he won't let Twain down … "
"As for the center back, Pepe has been suspended for a red card. The person who replaces him is Woodgate. His partner is Kompany. The right back has also been changed. Rafinha is said to have suffered some injuries in training. Nkoulou has appeared in this position. At 1.88 meters tall, he can actually play as a center back. He has played in both positions in the league. "
"In the midfield, Fernández and Baines are suspended for accumulating yellow cards. Twain arranged Nong to play on the left flank and gave the right to Bentley. Cohen was not in the starting lineup, which was not surprising. The middle lane was still the unshakable George Wood and Tiago. Ever since Tang En started using two defensive midfielders, Tiago could be considered to have found his second spring. Şahin was not in the starting lineup for this match because Tony Twain did not use the 4-5-1 that he was very fond of recently. Instead, he returned to the 4-4-2 path. Well, ladies and gentlemen, here comes the highlight! "
"Let's see who the two strikers are in the starting lineup for this game!"
"Agbonlahor!"
The guest commentator next to him cooperated with his comments. "There's no problem with that. Agbonlahor is very fast. If Tony Twain wants to counterattack, he's a very useful player. Eastwood was also injured in training and can't participate in this game. There are only a few strikers to choose from … "
"That's right, but they still have Ibišević. The super Ibi who scored two goals in a row at Camp Nou. If the referee had not blown the last goal, he might have helped the Forest team win the game! But he's not in the starting lineup! Yes, you heard me right. He's not in the starting lineup. And he's not injured. He's as strong as a bull and in good form, he can take down Camp Nou. But he's not in the starting lineup. We don't know why he's not in the starting lineup. Maybe Tony Twain, who's watching the game in the stands, will know. I believe that if Nottingham Forest loses the game and is eliminated after this game, he'll definitely be bombarded by the media with this question. With all this nonsense, who's replacing Ibišević? "
Aaron Mitchell's face and name appeared on the screen.
"That's right, this kid. Aaron Mitchell. This young striker, who was born on 5 May 1990 and was about to turn 21, was only transferred from the reserve team to the First Team by Tony Twain in January this season. He made five substitute appearances in the league tournament and one in the starting lineup. He played a total of 117 minutes. He did not appear in the Champions League and made one start in the FA Cup. He did not score a goal. His record was as clean as a piece of white paper. For a striker, this was not a good thing. More importantly, before becoming a striker, Aaron Mitchell had played as a center back in the youth team for seven years and as a goalkeeper for one year. It was not until he was 18 years old that he started playing as a striker under Tony Twain's suggestion. After that, he was unknown. We don't have any information on him between then and then, and maybe Tony Twain won't have it either. He's neither the player with the highest number of goals in the youth team, nor is he an efficient killer who scores every goal in the reserve team league. We don't know anything except that he's very, very tall. Why would Tony Twain let such a person start in such an important game? "
※ ※ ※
The commentator's doubts were also the doubts of all the media reporters. According to Tony Twain's practice of not releasing the starting lineup list until the last minute, they had just received the Forest team's lineup list. Everyone was "shocked" by the name on the starting striker.
The English reporters were a little better. They at least knew who this person was written as "Aaron Mitchell" because he had just started in the last round of the English Premier League, although he did not contribute. The Catalan media in Spain were confused. They even asked, "Is there such a person in the Nottingham Forest First Team?"
Don't think that the English media would nod and say, "Oh, okay" after knowing who Aaron Mitchell was.
In fact, their reaction was —
"Is Tony Twain crazy?! What's he doing? Ibišević is not injured and his form is fine. Why does he have to use this kid? "
"God knows. He's been a little out of sorts since his sudden outburst at Camp Nou …"
"No, I think it's because he's become more unpredictable after his heart attack. He used to be like a hot-blooded youth. Now he's a sinister and cunning middle-aged man. "
"Is it menopause?"
"I think he's laying the groundwork for the defeat of this game. Once he loses, he can blame it on this kid — — 'I had high hopes for him, but his performance … Everyone saw it!' "
"You all seem to know Tony Twain very well." Pierce Brosnan, who had been quiet all this time, finally could not hold back and retorted.
"Yo, look who's here. The great reporter Pierce Brosnan who knows Tony Twain the best. So you know some inside information? "
Brosnan shook his head a little awkwardly. "I don't know either …"
There was a burst of laughter in the crowd. "You don't know either? There's been a lot of surprises today. I thought Mr. Tony Twain would give you some exclusive information! "
"In any case, Tony Twain is not the kind of manager who will blame the players after a defeat in a game." Brosnan did not know much about tactical matters, but he still thought he knew Tony Twain's character better than these people. "He only knows how to put the blame on himself. I haven't seen many managers like him."
When the reporters saw Brosnan being so serious, they suddenly felt bored. Everyone was joking. It would be boring if you discussed it seriously. If you were serious, you would lose!
The group of people dispersed with the question of why Tony Twain would use Aaron Mitchell instead of Ibišević, ready to pay attention to the game that would start in a while.
※ ※ ※
The outside media would definitely look at Aaron Mitchell's performance in the game with colored glasses and deliberately pick bones out of an egg. But in the home team's locker room, Mitchell did not feel any strange atmosphere.
This was a Champions League quarterfinal, and he was a member of the team. That was all.
Dunn was explaining the tactics in the game and what everyone needed to pay attention to for the last time.
After Dunn finished, he suddenly turned on the television and DVD player and said that he wanted to show the players the video.
This surprised many people. They had watched the video of Barcelona's game countless times and already knew this opponent well. There was no need to watch any video when there were still ten minutes to go.
"This is not a video to analyze the opponent." Dunn explained and then pressed the play button.
Suddenly, there was a burst of noise that could only be heard in a stadium. It did not seem to come from the small screen on the television stand.
"… Offside? Is this ball offside? … Barcelona scored! A beautiful counterattack! The Nottingham Forest players could not believe their eyes. The referee first blew one of their goals and then ruled that Barcelona's goal was valid. The situation had been reversed in an instant! Tony Twain and the fourth official had a fierce conflict on the sidelines. He looked furious. It would be great if he followed the example of the NBA and gave every coach a microphone at this time. … Red card! Tony Twain was sent to the stands by the referee! The game suddenly reached a climax at the end! The Nottingham Forest players surrounded the referee, but they could not make him change his mind. After Pepe was sent off with a red card, their manager, Tony Twain, was expelled from the stadium! "
The screen was naturally the chaotic scene in the final stages of the game.
After the video finished playing, Dunn said, "Tony asked me to show you this video. He hopes that you will not forget how the opponent treated us in the last game and how we were treated. In terms of strength, we are slightly inferior in this game, but he hopes that you will put aside the gap in strength and teach your opponent a good lesson. Let those who want us to lose … see! "
Although Dunn tried his best to make himself sound impassioned, he was not Twain, after all. The effect of what he said was discounted. Fortunately, the players were angered by the video just now. Because it reminded them of the scene in the last moments of the first round between the two sides. No one would feel comfortable after such a sullen defeat.
In fact, there was a ball of fire in each of them. A week of closed-door training did not gradually extinguish this fire. Instead, it burned fiercely. Because Tony Twain would always bring up this matter this week, telling them that they had been humiliated in the away game, so they must take revenge when they returned to the home ground.
Now was the time to let this ball of anger explode!
And the man sitting in the stands had been planning for a week for revenge today. Until now, he was not in the locker room, but his influence was still there.
From the modification of the training ground, to issuing a notice to change the turf in the City Ground stadium. To the constant war of words with Barcelona, repeatedly pushing them to the bed of UEFA, reminding the public that UEFA and Barcelona had a close relationship. Then to the change of the formation and the change of the striker, using a young player who was completely unfamiliar to Barcelona, and using the video in the locker room to complete the last catalysis. He had calculated everything. Now everything was ready, and only the east wind was missing.
If some people thought that Nottingham Forest was finished because Tony Twain was banned, they would become a pile of loose sand. If that was the case, they would be gravely mistaken!
In this game, he was no longer as simple as the king of Nottingham Forest. He was the emperor of Nottingham Forest …
Even if he was not in the position of the manager, he could still control every detail of this team.
When the entire Barcelona team filed out of the tunnel, in Tony Twain's eyes, they had already set foot on the road to hell.
Hey, Mr. Guardiola, do you see the red in front of your eyes? That is not our Nottingham Forest fans. That is the red lava spewing from the 18th level of hell! It is erupting and jumping in front of your eyes. Do you feel the heat coming from it?
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