Chapter 786: Dry Wood and Fierce Fire
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Two days passed quickly, and the day of the game was approaching. Both sides already made preparations to deal with the battle.
Mourinho would never allow himself to have any mishaps at home. The hardest way to play for the knockout stage was to have the home match first and then the away match. But it could not be helped because they lost the first place in the group stage competition at the last minute.
Mourinho’s plan was to not lose any points in his own home ground. He demanded that the team’s rear defensive line must keep their opponent out, so he would stick to the defensive counterattack at home.
Whereas Twain’s idea was also simple, which was to score goals. The advantage of playing the away match first was that there was still a home game as a cushion, so that there were a few more opportunities to adjust. Away goals were the number one priority. They had to score, and they must score. That was the reason Twain arranged to play the 4-2-3-1 formation instead of the 4-4-2 formation. Other teams might choose to play defense in an away match, but Twain chose the opposite and emphasized on the offense.
To be able to defeat Inter Milan was obviously the best result. A draw was a must if they could not win. But to lose… that was definitely not allowed.
Twain did not see Mourinho again until before the start of the game. Both managers’ interviews were staggered for the press conference. They would only appear together in a press conference after the game.
But the media did not feel sorry about it. Because there would be more exciting stories when they met after the game. As for now, there was really no good to hype about… The war of words between the two parties was almost over.
Although Twain and Mourinho did not meet before that, they had long been at odds with each other through the media. People really admired these two men just by looking at their explosive remarks. The Italian media exclaimed that Mourinho had been a little lonely since he came to Italy. Now he had finally found his opponent…
Mourinho was an unusual breed in Serie A. His way of shooting his mouth off broke Serie A’s seemingly harmonious atmosphere. When had those academic type of managers seen such men before? They argued with each other about some tactical stuff at the most and fought poorly even if they did quarrel. They were totally defeated when up against Mourinho’s clever and eloquent tongue. Some people also wanted to learn from Mourinho and wage a war of words with other people. The result was they set out to be tigers but ended up with the likeness of a dog. It made themselves look more like a superficial clown.
So, Mourinho gradually did not bother to bicker with those guys—it was really beneath him to do.
Now that Tony Twain was here with his Forest team in Italy, people finally saw the Mourinho, who was once successful in the Premier League.
Waging a psychological warfare and war of words really required an evenly matched opponent for them to be fun.
Twain and Mourinho were really perfect for each other like dry wood and fierce fire.
※※※
On the evening of March 1st, the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium was lit up and the crowd was buzzing. The first round of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals kicked off here.
The Nottingham Forest fans who had specially travelled from England entered the stadium under the police escort. Next to them were some extreme Inter Milan fans who harbored malicious intentions to provoke them. The Nottingham Forest fans were not willing to show weakness and glowered at them.
The police in charge of the security at the stadium were at the highest alert. Neither the Italian fans nor the English media had a good reputation, not to mention the atmosphere that had been heated up by the war of words between the two managers before the game. If there was any group of people who did not want to see the two teams’ managers have a spat with each other, it must be the police officers responsible for the order. The managers had stirred up the atmosphere and the mood of the fans would follow suit and heated up, which could be dangerous. If it was not tightly controlled, a single spark could lead to volcanic eruptions.
The players from both sides had already come out to warm up as the fans of both sides were at daggers drawn outside.
Twain finished what he was supposed to do in the locker room and slipped out. He encountered Mourinho whom he had not seen for a few years, on the sidelines.
“Ha, what a coincidence. Mr. Mourinho.” Twain smiled as he greeted the other man.
Mourinho, on the other hand, looked at him with a straight face and did not want to acknowledge him.
“Don’t put on such an expression, Mr. Mourinho. I won’t ask you to have drinks anymore. I’ve quit drinking. You are the host here. You can’t look so indifferent.”
“Do you want me to say, ‘I’m happy to see you?’ But I’m not happy at all.”
“Because you’re afraid of losing?” Twain smiled and leaned in front of Mourinho.
The remark clearly touched on Mourinho’s sore point. He snorted and said, “Think whatever you like, Mr. Twain. A football match is not won by cheap talk.”
“Ha, great minds think alike.”
Twain did not waste any more time with Mourinho because both men had things to do. The war of words had been fought. It was no use to provoke now.
He walked to the sidelines to observe the team’s warm-up and get first-hand information on who was in a good shape and who was not in the right state of mind… This was the last chance to make adjustments. Once the game started, he would have to use up the three-substitution spot if he wanted to adjust.
The players did well. He did not see anyone overly self-confident and impetuous. These boys were quite good. He had been lecturing them these days and wanting them to take the game seriously. Because this was the “war of revenge.” They could not be sloppy, careless and do as they pleased.
Twain also took a look at the fans’ situation in the stands. The Inter Milan fans accounted for about four-fifths. It was a sea of blue when he looked up, while the red color gathered in a corner, surrounded by the sea of blue, looking isolated.
A circle of police surrounded these fans, separating them from the Italian fans. Under the heavy protection of the police, the Nottingham Forest fans were not afraid of the home fans’ unkind boos and hostile looks. They sang Nottingham Forest’s war songs in their own stands.
Twain saw the scene and smiled. Those lovely fans. He seemed to be able to see John and Bill in the square area on the far side from here.
After spending a moment on the sidelines, Twain was able to hear the boos coming from the grandstand behind him. This was, of course, aimed at him as the manager who had provoked a war of words with Mourinho. He did not care. He even turned to smile at the hostile-looking fans before walking back down the tunnel and toward the locker room.
He was determined to make the Inter Milan fans unhappy for this game…
※※※
The team’s warm-up was over shortly after he returned to the locker room. The players filed into the locker room and started to change into the jerseys needed for the game. Twain paced back and forth in the locker room as he thought about what to say to further mobilize the players’ mood.
The tactic was already laid out a day ago. There was not much time now, so he would not cover that again.
The players finished changing their clothes and sat down to catch their breath while they waited for their spiritual leader to say something.
Twain finally stopped pacing and stood still in front of the team.
“Who among you had played in those two games before?” He looked at the players.
George Wood raised his hand, followed by the goalkeeper, Akinfeev. The full backs, Baines, Rafinha, Pepe, Kompany, Tiago, Lennon, Şahin and Eastwood all raised their hands. They all knew the “two games” the boss asked about.
It accounted for almost two-thirds of the squad list.
“I know some of you must be still be unhappy about that… Ah no, everyone is not happy. After all, the other team scored a total of five goals in two games, but we did not score a goal. If anyone can still accept this, then he’s not normal. It’s fantastic now that you have a chance to correct that mistake and show Inter Milan that 0:5 was an accident.” Twain snapped his fingers and added, “I really wonder if UEFA did this out of full respect for our opinion at the time of the draw.”
There was a burst of laughter among the players.
“Anyway, guys. Now we have a great chance! Are you going to let this opportunity slip away in front of your eyes? Are you really going to do that?”
“No one thinks so, boss!”
“Very good! Then buck up! We’re going to thrash them in their home ground! We’ll settle all the scores today!”
※※※
Mourinho did not stir up emotions in the locker room. Inter Milan was not Nottingham Forest. It was not a group of blood-thirsty creatures with simple minds. And he did have much to fire them up with. Inter Milan and Nottingham Forest did not have many grievances. For many players, it was just an ordinary Champions League quarterfinal game. The star players such as Ibrahimović had no interest in the hyped up “Forest team’s war of revenge” by the media. Some people simply did not understand why Tony Twain would behave like a mad dog and jumped around to bite people. Was it better for him to do so? Could it be the more people he bit, the more dividends he received?
Although their manager occasionally bit people, he did it with purpose and substance. It was unlike Tony Twain’s random attacks.
If he were to be our manager, would he just bite his own people in the locker room? That’s terrible! I don’t know how the Nottingham Forest players can tolerate such a bad-tempered man to lead them.
In fact, … Even more incredibly, how can this man’s team win the Champions League title for two years in a row? There must be something we don’t know about…
Mourinho calmly set out the tactics before talking about what happened in the media.
“No matter what’s said outside, it’s their freedom. You don’t think about anything else. This is just a normal game. If you have any emotional ups and downs because of this, you will have fallen for Tony Twain’s ploy. In terms of strength, Nottingham Forest is certainly not as good as us. They are in a hurry to score away goals and will be aggressive from the start of the game. We just need to be more patient than them and we can get the result we want. That’s it. Get ready to play.”
※※※
The Inter Milan players came out and received loud cheers. The blue and black legion was the hero in the hearts of the Inter Milan fans. Many fans were quite confident of a victory over Nottingham Forest. Those two games of the 08-09 season were still vivid in their minds. Only a few teams in the football world could beat a defending champion so efficiently.
Of course, the Nottingham Forest fans would retort that the loss was due to Tony Twain’s absence. But the Italian fans did not understand this. They thought that even with Tony Twain around, their loss would only be less terrible at the most. But the end result would still be the same—they would still lose. How much power could a manager have, no matter how good he was? The star players, not the star managers, were the ones to dominate the team and determine the strength of the team.
Ibrahimović suddenly felt a deep animosity as he shook hands with the Forest players according to what was customary. This hostility peaked when he shook hands with the Forest captain.
Wood’s hand shook Ibrahimović’s hand to carry out the necessary understanding, but his eyes stared coldly at the other man. It was not a very polite attitude, which also made the Swede feel uncomfortable. The other party’s eyes were piercing, almost poking holes at Ibrahimović inside out, turning him into a sieve.
He did not like the impolite look, so he just touched Wood’s hand and separated.
But even when he turned and left, he could still feel the pair of cold eyes staring at him behind his back.
Ibrahimović was a typical representative of Inter Milan’ players. Almost all of the Inter Milan players felt the unfriendly air from the Nottingham Forest players.
They simply could not understand why these people would view this game as if it were a vendetta. Even if we had defeated you with a wide score, that was a very normal thing which happened often in the football world. Isn’t it very petty to keep hanging onto it? If you seek revenge against every team that defeats you, can you handle it?
The Nottingham Forest players did not care what the Inter Milan players thought. They just knitted their brows with serious faces and looked murderously at their opponents who came over to shake their hands to show goodwill.
It was hard to imagine a situation like this happening in real football. Maybe only the perverted Tony Twain could bring out such an abnormal team …
After the handshake ceremony ended in a strange atmosphere, the players from both sides returned to their respective positions and waited for the game to begin.
All the major media outlets seized the last moments and crazily snapped away in front of the two managers.
Mourinho was expressionless, while Twain smiled. He even repeatedly glanced at Mourinho next door in front of the press, trying to see his manner.
It was a pity that he saw nothing. Mourinho hid himself in the middle of the technical area and was not in the front. He had no idea what he was doing. Twain was not in a hurry. He knew that when the game started, it would not be long before Mourinho would come out on his own.
Why?
Because he would not be able to sit still!
