Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Manchester United established their two-goal lead within five minutes in the first half, while Nottingham Forest smashed Manchester United’s advantage with two goals in ten minutes in the second half. Now the two sides were tied.
The result of the draw was also good for Manchester United, because even if they both tied, each team would still take one point and Manchester United would still win by one-point difference. But a football game was not a simple mathematics problem. To have an equalizer during this time, any fool would know that Nottingham Forest’s morale was running high and could score again if they were not careful.
Ferguson had to make some adjustments.
To attack? Of course not, he was going to defend. He had to play it safe at the last minute.
He replaced Rooney with Park Ji-sung who was more physically energetic and balanced between offense and defense to strengthen the midfield defense.
After Park Ji-sung came on, he relied on his abundant physical strength and the style of relentless running to launch a fierce interception against Beckham. Having run out of energy, Beckham was battered in the face of this defense. When the football was on his side, he basically could not organize any offense.
Twain also decided to change players. He replaced Beckham with Lennon.
When Beckham left the field, most of the people in the stands got up from their seats and stood up as they applauded the hero they once had. Beckham waved to the stands, not only to greet the Forest fans, but also to thank the Manchester United fans.
“David Beckham is replaced by Lennon. He received cheers from most of the fans in the stadium. No matter which team he had played for before, he deserves this reception now.” The commentator spoke affectionately, “This was the first time he has returned to Old Trafford as an opponent. No matter what the outcome of the game, his goal and assist will make people remember him forever …”
After he high-fived Lennon as he came off, Beckham stood on the sidelines and continued to wave to the fans before he turned around to walk toward the Forest team’s substitutes’ bench.
Standing on the sidelines, Twain reached out to him and said, “I can only describe your performance as perfection, David.”
Beckham smiled, but did not speak. After he shook hands with Twain, he went around to the substitutes’ bench and sat down.
Twain understood that he was here in a complicated mood because he scored a goal and helped with an assist against his former club. He did not take it to heart that he did not know what to say. So, he turned around and continued to watch the game.
This was the league tournament, not the Champions League. If the game was tied, then it would be a draw. There would be no overtime or penalty shootout to determine a winner and loser. Once this game was tied, the Forest team would still lose the league title. This was not what Tony Twain wanted to see in the end. He carefully prepared for so long and spared no efforts to inspire their fighting spirit. For the team to equalize the score at the most difficult time, it was not to get a draw.
He turned his head to look at the big screen with the game time on it at the Old Trafford stadium. It was less than ten minutes away from the ninety minutes.
How could they get another goal when Manchester United were carrying out measures?
To lure a snake out of its hole was certainly not going to work. Ferguson’s team was not stupid enough to be so gullible. It was better to show clearly that they were clinging onto defense. If they were to attack strongly… Manchester United’s rear defensive line had stepped up its defense against van Nistelrooy and the other attacking players. As the center forward of the Forest team, van Nistelrooy currently struggled to even turn around, not to mention making a shot. Arshavin was forced to the side which squeezed Ribéry’s position to the middle and the two players imperceptibly changed positions.
In that case… could they strengthen their long shots?
This was a method, but its effect was unknown. Moreover, to place their hope of a goal on this when every attack ended up abruptly, it would inevitably affect the morale of the team.
With one hand pinching his chin and frowning, Twain stood on the sidelines as he pondered.
On the field, the Nottingham Forest team was carrying out indiscriminate bombardment around Manchester United’s half of the field: A cross pass from the flank, a grab in the middle, a sudden long shot for the goal, a personal breakthrough, a straight pass the middle to attack … any methods were used.
For a moment, the situation on the field reversed. That scene from the first half reappeared on Manchester United at the last minute.
But for the sake of the championship title, Manchester United also accepted this bit of humiliation. Ferguson stood on the sidelines, looking grim as he worried that his team would not be able to withstand Nottingham Forest’s fierce offensive on and a loophole would emerge.
O’Shea had already returned to the rear defensive line and became a third center back. As the midfield line was so close to the rear defensive line, there was no need to set up a separate defensive midfielder.
But Ferguson was still a little uneasy. By all accounts, the Manchester United players on the field currently had strong abilities whether individually or cooperatively,. He did not know what he was worried about …
Perhaps part of Nottingham Forest’s reputation interfered with his mood?
Tony Twain’s team was one that did not concede even in the face of death. As an opponent, he did not dare to let his guard down even for a second, especially when they started to go crazy.
※※※
Time passed and the score was still 2:2. Manchester United was less than five minutes away from their tenth Premier League title trophy.
Even an attacking player like Cristiano Ronaldo had withdrew to the backfield to participate in the defense. Manchester United were almost completely without a counterattack. On the other hand, Nottingham Forest fully pressed on and turned out in full force. It could be said that except for Edwin van der Sar, almost everyone had pushed past the midfield and these players were well aware of what the draw would mean for them.
As Manchester United kept it tight defensively, Nottingham Forest’s offense was somewhat “all bark and no bite.” Although the scene looked menacing, nothing had been achieved.
Until later, George Wood could not stand it any longer and did a long shot from outside which missed straight away.
“It looks like Nottingham Forest is getting anxious. Such a hasty offensive blunder is unnecessary. It will only give Manchester United more confidence in holding the draw and agitate the rest of the Forest team more. George Wood is the captain and he shouldn’t show any agitation.” The commentator criticized George Wood harshly.
Off the field, Twain had the opposite view from the commentator. He rushed to the sidelines and shouted loudly, “Try to shoot more!”
Maybe a shot would be a waste of opportunity, but they would not have a chance if they did not shoot. Now that Manchester United was fully on the defensive, there was no way to threaten Nottingham Forest’s back. Their ball could even get past the midfield under the Forest team’s high press.
In that case, they just needed to shoot more and have a chance to break the goal as long as they hit within the goalpost range. As to whether they could score a goal or not, it was up to fate …
After Wood missed his shot, van der Vaart also tried to kick. His shot was within the goalpost range, but it was too straight on and Ben Foster easily confiscated it. The Forest team then stepped up the long shots, which looked a little like a desperate deathbed struggle.
The fourth official reappeared on the sidelines. He held up the electronic signboard in his hands. This time it was one of the teams that was going to change a player, but a reminder of the injury stoppage time which was four minutes!
“The time left for Nottingham Forest is only four minutes, and Manchester United is only four minutes away from their tenth Premier League title. Now every attack by Nottingham Forest will put the Manchester United fans on edge and hopefully Ferguson’s heart will still be able to withstand …”
Twain decided to change a player. He replaced the center back, Piqué with Bendtner. This substitution was a gamble with fate. He had to succeed or die trying. Bendtner could increase the strength of the Forest team in the box and cause some trouble for Manchester United’s rear defensive line. At the same time, his power and physical strength might also decide where the scales would tip in favor of the team to win or lose at the most critical juncture.
Bendtner ran onto the field, at which point the game had just entered the injury stoppage time, with four minutes to go.
※※※
Cristiano Ronaldo suddenly had an idea in his mind when he saw the Forest team replaced the center back. He pulled Scholes aside and said, “Paul, I think we can try to fight back.”
Scholes glanced at the Forest players and then nodded, “They’re almost undefended now …”
“Give me the ball.” Ronaldo felt like he’s in the right shape today. If the entire Manchester United team could not press out, then let him take the ball alone to charge ahead. “One more goal and this game is over. Even if there’s no goal, we can warn the Forest team to prevent them from attacking too hard.”
Scholes agreed with his idea. After the Forest team had finished another attack, Scholes asked Foster not to kicking a long ball, but to pass it to him. He got the football and passed it on to Ronaldo.
Following which, it was up Ronaldo’s individual performance.
Ronaldo caught the ball and used outstanding footwork skills to bypass Bale who rushed up. Then he suddenly sped up and started to dribble the ball to charge to the Forest team’s backfield.
At this moment, the Forest team’s latter half only strictly had Pepe and Edwin van der Sar. With large swathes of emptiness, the Portuguese could fully play to his fast speed, characteristics of his excellent skills and dribbled the football to stride toward the goal of the Forest team!
Seeing him like this, the Forest team rushed back to defend. Bale, Rafinha, Lennon and the others rushed back to catch up with Ronaldo. But the man who took the lead was George Wood. He began to pull back and prepare for defense after Ronaldo got the football. After he saw Ronaldo shook off Bale, he slashed across from the central area and plugged toward Ronaldo’s dribbling route.
Pepe also rushed over at the same time. At the final juncture, everyone was driven by a bloodlust. Who would take care to slowly retreat and procrastinate at this time? Pepe just wanted to intercept the ball from his Portugal national teammate and then took the opportunity to fight back. As a result,…..
“Ah! Ronaldo easily bypassed Pepe. He’s really fast!”
After he skirted around Pepe, only van der Sar was left in front of Ronaldo. He had a lot of options, but whichever he chose, he would be very, very close to the goal.
The fans in the Old Trafford stands began to cheer loudly as if they could see the glittering golden trophy in front of their eyes. Everyone stretched out their hands as if they were stroking the cool trophy …
Ronaldo looked up at Edwin van der Sar, and the other man seemed hesitant to strike. He smiled. Whether he struck or not, the result was the same, and that was …
“Pop!”
He suddenly lost his balance. Ronaldo saw the turf rushing toward his eyes. When he landed on the ground, he felt a sharp pain in his knee, and then a violent shock, which caused him to tumble continuously on the ground and almost rolled out of bounds before he stopped.
He could not even take a look at who the culprit was, for he was rolling back and forth on the ground, holding his knee in pain. The stands which were filled out cheers just now were replaced with deafening boos at this moment. The clamor was so loud that it could suffocate people!
George Wood sat on the ground, and not far ahead of him was Ronaldo in pain. Amid the sprawling hissing, he heard a piercing whistle.
Indeed, he did not hesitate to come up with a shovel behind Ronaldo who was about to cut inside. He did not think too much before he shoveled first and brought him down. He just wanted to shovel the player along with the ball. He was already aware of the consequences. He did not have to wait for the referee to come up and drive him away. He rose from the ground and walked slowly out of the field amid the boos,. The referee ran over and presented a red card behind him!
“This was an appalling foul and it was not too much to show the red card directly! Nottingham Forest had finally paid the price for their reckless offensive!”
Seeing that his treasured player was shoveled and made to fall, Ferguson was furious off the field, urging the team doctor to quickly get on the field to check the injury.
Twain looked at George Wood expressionlessly as he walked toward him.
The score was a draw with one-point difference. There were only a few minutes from the end of the game. And now George Wood was sent off with a red card. Was this the end of it?
Wood came off and said in a low voice as he passed Twain’s side, “I’m sorry.”
Twain gazed fixedly at the pitch but said to him, “Don’t go yet. Just stand at the mouth of the tunnel to wait for the game to end.”
Wood obeyed and moved back to stand at the mouth of the tunnel. He leaned against the wall, looking up at the game inside the pitch.
※※※
Ronaldo was carried down on a stretcher, and it looked as if he was badly hurt. Fortunately, Ferguson still had a replacement spot. He called Tevez from the substitutes’ bench behind him, intending to use this switch of player to waste the game time again.
The rest of Manchester United players prepared to execute this free kick in the front field. Thirty-four meters away from the goal toward the right, it would equally pose a big threat to the Forest team’s goal if handled well.
Vidic stayed in the backfield and Ferdinand ran up. As long as this attack succeeded, the game would be over. Nottingham Forest was absolutely incapable of consecutively scoring two goals in the last one and a half minute.
Edwin van der Sar nervously directed his teammates to defend against their opponents in the box. The human wall only had Bale alone.
“Don’t give them any chance!!” He cried aloud, “Push them out, push them out!”
Ferguson stood on the sidelines. Next to him was Tevez. Instead of changing a player now, he decided to wait for this free kick to start. It was certainly a good thing if they scored. If there was no goal but the ball went out of bounds, then he would decisively change the player and make use of this replacement to consume a little more time.
The free kick was carried out by Hargreaves. None of the Manchester United players grabbed it. Instead, Pepe snatched first and headed the ball.
The football did not go out of bounds. It landed at the foot of van der Vaart, who directly passed the football to Lennon on the side
Seeing Lennon take the ball, O’Shea wanted to come up and tackle it, but Lennon who was faster with his feet, stabbed the football between O’Shea his legs to bypass him and speed up to give chase to the ball. He got the football back just when it was about to go out of bounds!
“Fight back, fight back!” Twain waved his arms and chanted off the field.
This was the only chance …
Thanks to George Wood’s foul, Nottingham Forest had this last chance to fight back quickly!
Lennon dribbled the ball at high speed in the wing. He saw that Evra wanted to rush close and did not give him the chance. He suddenly kicked the football out ten meters away, and then sped up to chase the ball again. He easily got rid of Evra in this way!
His breakthrough was not hurried, and he mobilized his whole body. Manchester United’s entire line of defense followed suit to move to this side, so as to prevent him from cutting inside. Vidic cut across in front of him, Brown pounced to the middle, Ferdinand and O’Shea desperately gave chase.
“This is Nottingham Forest’s chance, but if they can’t grasp it, this game is over!”
Lennon glanced at the situation in front and he found that it was more difficult if he wanted to break through on his own. So, … he took a look at the front. Van Nistelrooy was preparing to run across in the front…
An opportunity!
Lennon pushed the football straight out from his feet and behind Vidic who rolled on the ground, van Nistelrooy had just diagonally plugged in and received the ball!
Vidic raised his hands to signal that van Nistelrooy was offside. But the assistant referee ignored it and ran forward along with van Nistelrooy.
“A beautiful set piece and it was not offside!”
After van Nistelrooy received the ball and cut into the box, Wes Brown rushed over to stop him from shooting.
“Don’t wait, just shoot!!” Twain anxiously roared off the field and wished he could go up himself to shoot for the goal.
Van Nistelrooy felt the threat from the oblique rear. Ben Foster blocked in front of him, trying to seal off the angle of his shot. At this moment, there was only van Nistelrooy alone in Manchester United’s box. He could not fool the opposing defensive players by passing the ball. The acumen of a natural striker played an important role here.
After van Nistelrooy saw Ben Foster’s position, he firmly lifted his leg to shoot the football out and gave a decisive kick before Brown could shovel and intercept the ball!
The football jumped on the ground and went past Ben Foster’s hands to then fly straight toward the back corner of the goal.
At the moment, whether the Nottingham Forest fans, Manchester United fans, the people at the Old Trafford stadium or watching the game live in front of the televisions, all held their breath with their hearts leapt to their throats.
The next second determined all their fate.
As soon as the football was kicked, Brown’s leg arrived. Van Nistelrooy also did not bother to maintain balance and fell to the ground. But his eyes stared at the football he shot out.
The heart of the “King of the Six-Yard Box” beat wildly in an irrepressible frenzy at this moment. If it passed over the goal, then the team’s hard work for a season would be in vain.
He did not close his eyes like some people who did not dare to look. He kept his eyes on the football.
He saw the football hit the inside of the goalpost and then bounced through the goal line to fall into the net.
“Ah ah ah ah—this is just incredible! The ball’s in! The ball really went in! Van Nistelrooy’s absolutely killed it in the last minute! His shot kicked his former club to hell! Nottingham Forest reversed the score at the last minute and this one counterattack determined the owner of the title!” The commentator was almost deranged, but he was not really a Nottingham Forest fan …
Tony Twain did not rise up in one bound after he saw the football enter the goal. Instead, he went soft in his knees and knelt on the ground. It was too exciting. He almost thought it was over. It was not just the team would lose the title. He would also lose face big time in front of the entire English media. For someone like him who valued face, it was no different from killing him.
Thank God… for van Nistelrooy …
Kerslake suddenly embraced Twain who was kneeling on the ground and looking up at the sky from behind, and roared in his ear, “Tony! Tony! We’re the f**king champions, aren’t we? Manchester United doesn’t have a hope, right?!”
Twain let him hug himself. He had no strength at all. He could not stand up if he wanted to.
George Wood watched the game at the mouth of the tunnel and was the first to see the commotion coming from the Forest team’s substitutes’ bench. His teammates held their arms up in celebration at this moment and he knew that van Nistelrooy’s shot went in.
He leaned against the door with a sigh of relief in his heart. If the ball did not go in, he would have been a sinner who lost the title for the team …
※※※
After van Nistelrooy saw the ball enter, he staggered up from the ground and ran toward the technical area with his arms held high in celebration. He had just run to the sidelines when he was crushed to the ground by a group of players clad in Nottingham Forest jerseys.
The jubilant players on the bench also ran up to join in the fun. A group of people celebrated wildly on the sidelines.
Rio Ferdinand who ran back to give chase, saw the ball enter the goal and immediately knelt on the ground. He held his head in his hands as he laid on the ground.
Ferguson looked up at the sky. He could not even utter a curse word.
This ending was really something… They could even reverse a two-goal lead. What else could they not do in the world? How on earth could they completely crush this team to death?
He could only seek the answers the next season.
※※※
“The referee blew the whistle for the end of the entire game! The Nottingham Forest players are still celebrating. There’s no need for the game to continue … Congratulations to Nottingham Forest! They have won the title for the 07-08 season English Premier League! This is the second top-flight trophy in their club’s history! Thirty years ago, Brian Clough and his men picked up the first top-flight trophy in the club’s history! Exactly thirty years later, Tony Twain has once again created history for the club!”
Twain finally had the strength to break free from Kerslake’s embrace. Instead of running onto the field to celebrate with the rest of the players, he went to the tunnel and pulled George Wood out to ask him to go up and enjoy this championship moment with his other teammates.
Then he reached his hand out as he walked toward Ferguson.
Despite losing the title, Ferguson still showed plenty of grace in front of his opponent. He took Twain’s hand and said, “Congratulations, you guys are … the champion.”
Twain smiled politely, “Thank you.”
Without any more words, Ferguson turned and headed for the tunnel. The dejected members of the Manchester United coaching unit followed behind him.
After he watched Ferguson leave, Twain had just turned his head around when he saw a large group of players running towards him. He thought that the players were going to have fun with the “horrible game” of human pyramid. He planned to run away but was blocked by a group of reporters.
“Mr. Tony Twain, let’s talk about some of your thoughts with regards to the victory!”
“This was a really thrilling game. Were you confident that your team would win at the last minute?”
“Manager Twain, you won the Champions League title last season and won the league title this season. Nottingham Forest has risen so quickly. Do you have any secrets you can share with us?”
Before Twain could answer these people’s questions, he was lifted up and thrown into the air by a group of excited players.
“Oh, oh, oh! We’re the champions!”
The reporters followed the players’ movements and pointed both the cameras and the microphones in the air.
“Manager Twain, how do you feel at this moment? Let our readers and audience share your joy!” The reporters cried aloud below.
“How do I feel?” Twain turned his head and said as he was going up and down, “Right now I’m … right now… I feel, I feel like I’m … flying! In the clouds! In the clouds! Ah hahaha—we’re the champions!” He raised his arms and shouted.
