Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Problems would naturally arise in Nottingham Forest’s defense as their players receive more and more yellow cards for their fouls on Messi and the other players. Tony Twain will pay the price for his actions…”
The guest commentator had only just finished his words when there was a sudden change to the situation on the pitch.
During one of Barcelona’s attacks, Xavi and Iniesta performed a feint in the midfield that fooled people into thinking that they were going to try and attack down the middle of the pitch. The next moment, they suddenly passed the ball over to Messi who was positioned at the flank.
Their attack was no different from any of the attacks that Barcelona had launched in the past. However, Nottingham Forest messed up its defense this time. Baines had initially wanted to commit a foul on Messi, but he did not expect Messi to take advantage of him instead and make his way past him with a turn.
Baines’ mistake was a little too amateurish. He had rushed up towards Messi like a fool, but Messi easily got past him when he stuck his leg out as though he was nothing but air.
Messi had already made his way into Forest’s penalty box before any of the Nottingham Forest defenders had the time to react!
“He has made his way inside!”
None of Nottingham Forest’s defenders dared to act recklessly now that Messi has made his way into the penalty box.
Messi has a way to score a goal no matter how small a space he is given, as long as the defenders do not stick a foot out to kick the ball away. He skillfully made his way through the tight space within the penalty box and demonstrated his outstanding ball handling techniques. He got past Pepe with the ball still firmly at his feet.
“He has gotten past Pepe! He continues to control the ball at his feet!”
Kompany did not dare to stick a leg out to stop Messi for fear of giving away a penalty.
George Wood did not share Kompany’s reservations. He would never think about the consequences. He would always act first and think later.
Messi sensed danger as he was looking for a chance to shoot. He did not have time to contemplate if he should pass the ball or shoot. He instinctively raised his foot and shot for goal!
Right as Messi kicked the ball away, Wood came at him with a tackle. Fortunately, Messi had jumped up into the air after he shot the ball, and it allowed him to evade Wood’s potentially life-threatening tackle…
The entire incident had happened in a flash of an eye. All the spectators saw was Messi raise his foot to shoot for goal, and George Wood coming in at him a short while later.
The goal had happened too close and too suddenly. It did not matter how fast Akinfeev could react. He would still not be able to get to the ball…
The ball flew past Akinfeev’s feet and went straight into the corner of the net!
“GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!” The Spanish commentator dragged out the word as he roared.
Camp Nou came alive. Everyone began chanting the name of the hero who just scored a goal in unison.
Guardiola, who had been standing nervously by the side of the pitch all this while, jumped up with clenched fists.
He could finally let out a sigh of relief…
All the staff and players sitting at the bench to his side were all locked in an embrace.
Messi’s goal had come at just the right time. If it had come later, Barcelona would have gone into halftime with a score of 0:0, and that would have dealt a blow to their team’s morale. Messi’s goal not only boosted the team’s morale, it also ensured that Nottingham Forest would not be able to play their ‘defend and counterattack’ tactic anymore, and that would shift the game in Barcelona’s favor from here on out.
Messi’s goal was extremely significant to the team. The team has no reason not to celebrate to their hearts’ content.
“F*ck!”
In contrast to the euphoria exhibited by the Barcelona staff and players, Twain was upset and had just shouted an expletive.
“Baines made an idiotic mistake! And those defenders at the back… If you don’t dare to stick your foot out, then you jolly well stick close to him! Why are you all just standing there ogling at his performance? Are you all watching a monkey perform tricks? Sh*t! Bunch of bastards!”
No one beside Twain dared to utter a word as he vented his frustrations. They were also feeling dejected over how their team was one goal down. The team was not able to maintain the goalless situation till the end of the first half despite having held on for 40 minutes. How could they not be dispirited?
“Messi’s solo performance! Brilliantly done! He has allowed Nottingham Forest to realize one thing… You can’t win even if you defend to the death against Barcelona! Messi’s the fairy of football, and he’s the player who has gotten the closest to the King of football, Diego Maradona! He is always able to find a way to pry open the door that his opponents try to seal on him and bring victory to his team! Messi is in an outstanding form right now! He continues to persevere and fight no matter how tightly his opponents mark him and how much they foul him! Well done!”
The commentator threw every compliment that he could think of at the Argentinian shorty. To him, Nottingham Forest was the ‘villain’ who was only capable of using fouls to stop Messi. They were a team that was rotten beyond salvation.
Messi, on the other hand, was like a hero who always managed to get back on his feet to fight no matter how heavy a blow he has been dealt with. He was someone who earned everyone’s respect.
Tony Twain and his team are just not likeable most of the time…
Contrary to how Barcelona’s players were celebrating without restraint on the pitch, Nottingham Forest seemed lifeless and despondent. Baines, who had committed an error, stood rooted at the spot with his head hung low in vexation. Pepe had initially wanted to get back onto his two feet, but he lied back down onto the ground and covered his face with his hands after seeing Messi shoot the ball into the net.
※※※
The Nottingham Forest players appeared dazed when the match restarted. Everyone had been emotionally affected by Messi’s goal. They had worked hard for 40 minutes to no avail, because Barcelona still managed to score against them.
With the Forest players being distracted, the remainder of the first half swung in favor of Barcelona. There was a time where they nearly scored again. If not for the fact that Akinfeev was in a good form and had pounced at the shot from Bojan Krkić as though his life depended on it, the first half would have ended with a score of 0:2.
Twain was very upset with how his players performed after the match restarted. He could not stop yelling and flailing his arms about as he stood by the side of the pitch. He was just like a King Kong who was hitting at helicopters at the top of a building.
The players pulled themselves together after hearing his repeated yells. They fought to the end of the first half and did not give Barcelona another decent chance at goal.
At half-time, Guardiola made his way away from the pitch with a contented smile on his face. Twain stayed behind by the side of the pitch and patted any Forest player on the shoulder when they walked past him.
Twain said nothing besides patting his players on the shoulder. The players were well aware that their boss was very unhappy with their performance towards the end of the first half. They had all kept their heads low as they walked briskly back to the locker room.
Twain was the last to make his way into the locker room. However, he did not slam the door shut after him and admonish the players furiously.
“Don’t think about the goal that you have allowed the opponent to score. What good can come of filling your minds with thoughts about it? Can it make the goal disappear? Can it help us score two goals in five minutes and make a comeback?” Twain was upset with the performance that the team put in after the match restarted, and so he focused on criticizing their performance during that period of time.
“The performance that all of you put in after we went one goal down was too awful! That wasn’t a performance that any professional footballer should be putting in. Don’t tell me that all of you are so psychologically weak?”
As a veteran player for Nottingham Forest, Pepe has more guts to say the words that no other player would dare to say to Twain in the locker room. The words are not words that only he could say, but George Wood was reticent and Eastwood did not play in the match, so he did not understand what the players were thinking during the match.
Right now, Pepe was the only one who understood what the players were thinking and also had the courage to voice his opinions.
He raised his hand and indicated that he had something to say.
“What do you want to say, Pepe?”
“Boss, it was you who told us to play the match as though we were playing in the finals. When we thought that we had allowed the other team to score during the finals… We… Uh… Well, as you can see.”
“Can any of you guarantee that you won’t let the opponent score a single goal during the finals?” Twain was not angry. He laughed instead. “The finals is also nothing more than a regular football match. If you let the opponent score a goal, then you just score one back. There’s nothing else that needs to be said. We actually had a chance to get a goal back if all of you were in a better state of mind after Barcelona scored the goal.”
Twain was not lying. Barcelona had gotten ahead of themselves after they managed to score a goal. They had pressed high up the pitch hoping to find the opportunity to score another goal, but they had forgotten about how Nottingham Forest had the chance to go on the counterattack due to the large space that they had left behind them.
Unfortunately, the Forest players were unable to get over how they had allowed Barcelona to score a goal, and they even looked battered as they defended against Barcelona’s attacks. A counterattack was the last thing on their minds…
“If you can score goals, then the ones who would be dispirited right now would be the ones next door and not us… But, forget it.” Twain shook his head. “There’s no use crying over spilt milk. Focus on thinking about what you ought to do in the second half. Does anyone here think that we should press forward and attack because we are down by one goal?” Twain started laughing as he finished those words.
“I believe many of you would think that way, including those people next door. They think that being down by one goal is the end of the world, but sadly, that’s not the case. We are still going to defend and counterattack in the second half. You guys need to think about it this way. The worst case scenario for us is that we would lose this match, but even then, we would only lose with the score of 0:1. We still have a big chance of winning when we play at home. So, I want all of you to get your act together for the second half. We are going to stick with our plan of defending and counterattacking. Relax, the ones who will falter as the match goes on will be Barcelona. They know that winning by just one goal in their home game is a very risky thing. All you lot need to do is to be even more patient than them and wait for the chance to counterattack. If you do that, you will definitely be able to score a goal. As long as we can score a goal, we can level the score, and we’d be able to seize the initiative in the match. If Barcelona keeps pressing and attacking us, we’d just continue to counterattack! We’d annihilate them at their home ground!”
“There’d be no changes to our tactics. But I want you to be careful not to pick up too many cards in the second half. If I were Guardiola, I’d let Messi, Dani Alves, and perhaps even Xavi and Iniesta attack our left flank. How many of our players have picked up yellow cards?” Twain started counting with his fingers. “Baines, Tiago, Pepe. It’s not like you can only defend by committing fouls. What will we do if all of you get a red card? So, be careful with your actions. Of course, if you can commit a foul and somehow escape the referee’s eyes, then I’d applaud you!”
※※※
In the second half, Guardiola strengthened his attack down the right flank, just as Twain had predicted.
Dani Alves became even more lively in the second half and kept going forward to join in the attack. During one particular attack, he did not even return to his original position, choosing instead to wait in the front of the pitch for the second chance to attack. Messi kept trying to mess up Forest’s defense and exert pressure on Pepe, Baines and others by cutting into the middle from the flank numerous times.
Guardiola chose to ramp up their attacks down the right flank after noticing that Nottingham Forest had no intentions of going on the offense and facing them head on. He was going to let Forest pay the price for choosing to go all out in their defense against Barcelona.
Weren’t you out to injure my players? I’d make sure your players pick up a red card and disappear from the pitch first!
The Nottingham Forest players were more reserved with the way the defended due to the warning given to them by their boss at half-time. This allowed Barcelona to get more chances to attack Forest’s goalpost.
Fortunately for Forest, Akinfeev was in a good form for the match. He became the busiest person on the pitch in the second half. He had to pounce into the air and also get down onto the ground to block the numerous shots from Barcelona’s players.
“Messi shoots! Akinfeev… What a wonderful save!”
“Bojan Krkić’s header is easily stopped by Akinfeev. He might only be 1.84m tall, but he has amazing jumping abilities, and is also very accurate in his judgement as to where the ball will fall. It looks like Tony Twain is intent on going away from Camp Nou with a score of 0:1. That’s not a bad idea, actually. If Nottingham Forest do manage to go away from this match with that score, then all credit goes to Akinfeev…”
“Is Silva trying to pass the ball into the middle? No! He has actually shot for goal! Brilliant! Akinfeev pounces for the ball and sends it over the crossbar!”
“There goes the corner, and Akinfeev gets the ball!”
Akinfeev did not just perform brilliantly during defense. He was also able to initiate an attack by throwing the ball forward. In fact, Akinfeev throwing the ball forward after saving a shot became one of the main ways for Nottingham Forest to switch from being on the defense to going on the counterattack.
Sadly, Nottingham Forest was unable to commit too many players to the counterattack each time, and their entire offense lacked power as well. Hence, Forest’s counterattacks would always lead nowhere and Akinfeev was not able to initiate a successful counterattack for the team.
Despite Akinfeev’s outstanding performance however, the Barcelona fans and the commentator continued to believe that Barcelona were the favorites to win the match, because they did not believe that an all-out defense would lead to victory.
Isn’t Messi’s goal towards the end of the first half enough to prove that such a tactic would not work?
No matter how well the goalkeeper performed, all Nottingham Forest was doing was to play passively and defend. There is no such thing in the world as an impenetrable defense. As time goes on, Akinfeev is bound to commit a mistake that will lead to dire consequences for the team. The match will more or less be decided once Nottingham Forest goes behind by two goals, and Barcelona would become the victor of the match.
This match between Barcelona and Nottingham Forest was beginning to take the shape of a battle between ‘attacking football’ and ‘conservative football’.
The glory belongs to attacking football! The victory belongs to attacking football!
Conservatism will just get buried by attacking football!
Tony Twain, your crude performance will not work at Camp Nou! There is not a single team in this world that has not lost by going all out in its defense against Barcelona!
Come out and face us if you think you have what it takes to win us! Let us fight fair and square!
Twain hid behind his thick and sturdy rampart and yelled at the top of his voice, “Barcelona! Don’t get ahead of yourselves! If you think you are so good, then try getting in!”
“Come out if you dare!”
“No way! Only a fool will go out…”
“I’d count to three. If you don’t come out, then I’m going in!”
“If you think you have what it takes, then try it!”
