Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Mourinho was not willing to settle for a tied game. When the game still had 15 minutes left before going into injury stoppage time, he brought on attacking players and continued to strengthen the offensive, hoping to blast open the Forest goal and end the record that embarrassed him before the end of Twain’s last game.
Amid his bellowing, the Manchester United players also realized that they must win the game – and that in the event of a last-minute sneak attack by the Forest team, the entire season’s effort would be wasted.
The news came that Arsenal was already 2:0 ahead of their opponent in another stadium. If nothing else happened, Arsenal would definitely win.
Manchester United could not place their hopes on others and could only rely on themselves to score a goal to ensure that their fate was still in their own hands…
Seeing Manchester United step up on the offensive, Twain rose from his seat. He went to the sidelines to whistle and make hand gestures. Following this, Nottingham Forest tightened their defensive line and locked down on their defense.
It was actually a defensive counterattack.
The harder Manchester United attacked, the more chances the Forest team would have. Twain trained the team and taught them to remain patient in the face of the opponents getting the upper hand. As a rule, nothing was more important than patience.
As a result, even if Manchester United stepped up their attack, the Forest team’s defense showed no signs of panic, as if they had been long prepared for their opponent’s move.
In that time, Manchester United had obtained no less than five times to shoot but did not actually pose a threat to the Forest team’s goal due to the joint efforts of the team. The rear defensive line led by George Wood cut across in front of the Manchester United players, leaving them in despair.
Even though Manchester United dominated the game, the Forest team’s supporters were not worried that their team would concede the goal. Nevertheless, some people felt the chances of a draw between the two sides were very high…
However, John Motson did not see it that way.
“I know Tony. I’ve been doing commentary on the Forest games for more than a decade. This scene in front of us really makes people think of …”
What would people be thinking of with the Forest team under siege from Manchester United?
“Nottingham Forest is like a spring. The stronger the external force they are under, the tighter their compression is, and the opponents should be wary of being stung by the rebound…”
Mourinho clearly knew it. He and Twain have been rivals for more than a decade. So how could he not read the signs?
He lifted his wrist to look at his watch. It was less than five minutes until the injury stoppage time and the score was still 0:0. Now he had to make a choice.
Should he continue to attack and try to score a goal before the end of the game to win the game and defy his destiny? Or should he stop here, stabilize the defense, hold on to the draw and win the league tournament?
Mourinho did not think about it for long. As the Manchester United manager, he quickly made the right choice. The interests of the team were more important than personal grievances. What could be more important than to take down the league title?
At this point, Mourinho walked toward the sidelines and got ready to deliver his latest instructions.
A step ahead of him, Twain had already gone to the sidelines and shouted toward the pitch, “Geo—rge—!”
Wood heard Twain’s shout in the noisy environment. Although the latter was already 50 years old, the boss’ hoarse voice had a special frequency and was always able to penetrate through the din to transmit its message to Wood’s ears.
Seeing that Wood had turned his head to look over, Twain did not waste his breath but just gave a wave of his hand while he said, “Attack, guys!!”
Seeing his hand gesture, Wood had not given any indication of following it yet, while Bale was already excited. In the second half, his side was closer to the technical area, so he could clearly hear Twain’s words. He simply imitated the boss’s gesture and waved his hand forward as he yelled, “Attack, guys!”
The Manchester United team was also attacking at this time.
The scene where Wood and Chen Jian both almost rushed toward Adrien at the same time was a rare sight. Before, it was always one player from the Forest team’s defense who would rush up to intercept the ball while the other player guarded on the side, waiting for the opportunity to exploit any gaps.
Adrien was a little flustered with the Forest team’s sudden move. After he flicked the ball to the left to avoid Chen Jian’s right leg, he knocked into Wood. In a panic, he lost the ball under his feet.
When Wood saw Adrien about to collide with him, he moved sideways to cushion the impact and turned around to separate Adrien from the ball. In this way, he intercepted the other player’s ball.
Wood, who had intercepted the ball, then tapped the ball to Chen Jian behind him with his heel. The ball just happened to bypass underneath Adrien’s feet. Adrien looked at the football but could do nothing.
After Chen Jian got the ball, he did not dribble it himself but directly sent a long pass to the front to give the ball to Mitchell. By this time, Manchester United had just completed an attack and Mourinho’s latest instructions had not been transmitted yet. The players did not know they should have retreated. Consequently, the Manchester United players reacted slightly slower in defense.
After Mitchell stopped the football, he turned around and started to dribble the ball forward. His pace was wide, and his footwork was excellent. With a height of more than two meters, he still managed to control the ball with ease. Once he took large strides, the Manchester United defender, Evans, could barely keep up with him.
Seeing this, Mourinho changed his mind at the last minute. Instead of shouting “pay attention to the defense” on the sidelines, he shouted, “Foul!”
Before they could enter the penalty area, it was the wisest choice to foul as soon as possible to stop the Forest team’s attack. It did not matter even if they were penalized with a red card. Anyway, it was only a few minutes away from the end of the game. They would just have to grit their teeth and hang on.
Evans appeared to have heard Mourinho’s roar on the sidelines. He reached his hand to grab Mitchell and shovel him under his feet. He succeeded in disrupting Mitchell’s breakthrough but failed to keep the ball under his feet. He let it roll in the other direction.
Balotelli, who plugged in from the back, managed to receive the ball that Evans shoveled over. Manchester United’s other center back, Cathcart, did not expect Evans’ tackled ball to fall at Balotelli’s feet. Before he was ready to intercept Mitchell in front but now he had to hurry to change direction and pounce toward the Italian.
When Balotelli saw Cathcart still unable to come up at that moment, he dribbled a few steps forward. He ran near the top of the arc of the penalty area and suddenly lifted his leg for a long shot!
The Manchester United goalkeeper, Ruffier, had long anticipated Balotelli would make such a move. He rose high into the air and punched the ball out with both fists.
The Nottingham Forest fans in the stands let out a huge sigh. It was a shame that the attack did not result in a goal this time.
Many people clutched their heads in their hands, lamenting.
However, in the next second, the clutching hands reached out and pointed back to the sky.
What did they see?
In full view of everyone, Nottingham Forest’s number 13 player, wearing a gold armband, appeared in front of the football’s drop point like a divine warrior from heaven and then lifted his right leg to meet the football.
“George WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO—”
Motson stood up from his seat. He raised his voice and shouted in a way that did not belong to the style of an English commentator.
He could not predict what was going to happen. However, when he saw Wood taking the stance of lifting his leg to meet the football, he was suddenly fired up and could not hold back.
He just wanted to roar.
Once the football descended, Wood did not dilly dally to adjust the ball, but directly volleyed the football with one shot!
Ruffier had just landed on the ground at this very moment and was struggling to get up to get ready to pounce on the ball again.
The football bypassed the left-back, Fábio, who rushed over to defend. The strong wind painfully brushed past the Brazilian’s ear and caused his mouth to tighten.
Ruffier used all his might to get up and pounce but he did not have enough momentum. The height of his jump was limited. The football flew over him and there was no surprise on this side…
“GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!!!”
The football hit the net hard, swinging it. Countless Forest fans in the stands raised their arms in triumph.
Those arms waved as if the wind had blown through Sherwood Forest, creating a huge noise.
“Boom—!”
“George Wood! George Wood scores a goal at the 88th minute! Nottingham Forest leads by 1:0! A 1:0 lead! Manchester United’s title dream is in jeopardy… No, it’s almost shattered!”
“It’s a powerful strike! George Wood scored his personal 11th goal of the season!”
“Ah-ha! It is an incredible scene. Mourinho once again loses to Tony Twain. Is this fate? Will anyone still say it’s not?”
The commentators gave their comments on the goal in succession.
After giving Wood a close-up shot for more than ten seconds, the television cameras cut to the sidelines and focused on the expressions of the two managers.
Mourinho angrily threw away the notebook in his hand. He would always write and scribble in it whenever he was directing the games. This notebook was useless now and he had thrown it to the sidelines in his frustration.
Next to him, Tony Twain held his arms high and rushed out of the technical area to hug the people around him. People could see that he was very excited. There was nothing more perfect than to conclude his coaching career with a victory.
“Congratulations to Tony Twain and congratulations on his victory in his last game.” In the eyes of the commentators, Mourinho’s side had already lost the game. If Mourinho could hear these commentators, perhaps he would not be satisfied with throwing a single notebook. He must have felt that he had received a great insult – the game was not over yet and a group of scumbags could not wait to announce his failure. How could he not be angry?
However, no matter how furious he was now, he could only endure the cheers and celebration of his opponents. Accordingly, his face looked ashen from choking back the anger.
On the other side, the Nottingham Forest people were wildly celebrating.
George Wood broke free of his teammates’ hugs. He ran all the way and kept waving his hands all along, signaling to the people in front of him to quickly get out of the way.
Then he crashed headlong into Twain’s arms.
He rushed so quickly and violently that when he crashed into Twain, the latter grimaced in pain.
“George, you really…”
He felt the force of Wood’s arms holding him, gripping him so that he could not really speak.
However, he did not tell Wood to let up. He just grinned and bore it. To other people, it looked like he was laughing.
Twain did not know how long Wood held him. When he finally let go, Twain breathed a sigh of relief.
However, he did not complain. He just patted Wood on the back.
Wood’s action inspired the other players. After Wood and Twain finished embracing, the next people who rushed up to hug the boss were Gareth Bale, followed by Joe Mattock, Aaron Mitchell, Mario Balotelli… There was even a line at the back. It looked like everyone was going to come up and hug Twain. If that went on, by the time Manchester United could kick off again, the game would already be in injury stoppage time.
The referee had to intervene.
“Gentlemen, I know how you are feeling right now, but the game has to go on.” The referee also felt a little awkward. He could not speak too harshly at the Forest team’s home ground. He could only tactfully advise the players to go back to their positions.
However, his influence here was far from enough.
No one reacted to his words at all.
Twain certainly saw the referee in a bind at the back of the crowd. This was his last game, and he did not want any hiccups to happen. Therefore, he stopped the players who wanted to come up and hug him as he said, “Okay, guys, it will soon be dawn by the time we wait for you to finish.” Although he thought he was being funny, no one laughed.
Everyone just looked at him.
“Go back.” Twain did not say more. He waved his hands, turned around to walk back to the technical area and sat down right away.
Seeing him like this, the players knew they had to get back on the pitch and continue playing.
When they had all reluctantly returned to the field, Twain stood up again and roared toward the field, “Don’t let yourself slack off! If you let the opponent equalize the game at the last minute, I will make you pay!!!”
He could see that many people were in no mood to continue fighting at all, so he yelled out again to motivate them.
In fact, he worried too much.
In the final minutes, Manchester United was bent on fighting back, but their attack was undisciplined and carried out individually. Mourinho was also at his wits’ end about it. He could only shrug his shoulders at the sidelines. In the end, he simply sat in the technical area and did not get up. He watched the pitch in silence.
Looking at the Manchester United players blindly shooting and running on the pitch, his heart suddenly sank with the feeling that the game was as good as lost.
Truly outrageous. He just couldn’t beat Tony Twain!
He clenched his fists tightly, totally unaware that his knuckles had turned white.
Soon he heard the referee whistle once, a second time in the next second, and followed by the third whistle right after that. The game was over.
