Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The camera was turned to the rostrum of Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. It was just a routine act. However, when they found that Florentino was not in his position, the camera stopped moving. The commentator also started to talk about it with a tone of ridicule: “Florentino is late. He is late in the second half of such an important match! No matter what the reason is, it will definitely make Evan Doughty have some ideas…”
Then, the camera gave Evan a close-up shot. He was looking at the pitch with a blank look. Displeasure couldn’t be seen in his face. However, people knew that what the commentator had said was right when they saw Evan’s straight face.
***
Twain was standing on the sideline at this moment. The tactical adjustments he had made at halftime had worked.
The players of Real Madrid were not used to the ferocious tackle of Nottingham Forest. Within the first three minutes of the second half, Forest had two fouls for ankle-kicking.
The two victims were Ribéry and Ronaldo. In this way, Real Madrid’s offense was contained. When the players of Real Madrid were thinking about the situation on the pitch and possible countermeasures, the hidden wolves of Nottingham Forest had launched their attack.
At halftime, Míchel had asked Diarra to take on more work in offense because Ribéry had been marked by Forest. If Ribéry was snuffed out, Diarra should run the offensive.
Diarra had always said that he was a great offensive and defensive player. It was a pity that most of the time he had to act as a defensive midfielder. In this match, he found plenty of opportunities to satisfy his craving in organizing the offense. And he decided to put on a good show this time.
In front of Wood’s defensive block, Ribéry hesitated a bit and passed the ball to Diarra behind him.
After receiving the ball, Diarra turned around and shook off Gago, who was trying to stop him. Then, he continued to run forward with the ball.
This time George Wood left Ribéry and started to rush towards Diarra.
Seeing that, Diarra didn’t pass the pall immediately. It seemed that he was still trying to control the ball, so that he could find a better chance to pass it.
When Wood rushed towards Diarra, it was the best time for Diarra to pass the ball. It was a pity that Diarra didn’t do that. Twain, who was standing on the sideline, smiled when he saw this scene. He grinned from ear to ear and almost laughed out loud!
When Diarra saw Wood, who was running towards him at a high speed, he used his old tricks to turn around after a sudden stop. He liked this trick very much, and always used it on the pitch. As a defensive midfielder, he was strong enough to keep his opponent away from the ball. Then, he would fool his opponent by adjusting his body’s center of gravity. In this way, he could abruptly turn around in the opposite direction and shake off his opponent. So, the key point of this dribbling was to keep the opponent behind his back. If he could do that, his trick would be half done—a defensive player was always good at boxing out his opponent on the pitch…
Unfortunately, he was facing George Wood this time.
Before Diarra had enough time to turn around, Wood had rushed up and appeared in front of him. Then, Wood bumped Diarra aside, and Diarra lost control of the ball immediately. Now, both of them had the opportunity to touch the ball. If Diarra tried to box out Wood forcibly, he would have a blocking foul…
Diarra tried to get his position back by pushing back his opponent with his body. However, he didn’t expect to be boxed out by Wood, unable to move a step.
At last, George Wood managed to take the ball away from Diarra. Then, he passed the ball to Gago.
The fans of Forest on the grandstand clapped their hands for Wood’s successful defense. Meanwhile, Twain was also applauding on the sideline. He believed his team would score a goal soon if Real Madrid continued to play like this without making any tactical adjustments.
Gago, whose intention to pass the ball forward was quite obvious, was intercepted by Ramos.
Real Madrid launched an offensive again.
As expected, the ball was passed to Diarra again, as well.
And again, Diarra didn’t pass the ball to his teammates immediately.
Seeing that, Twain continued to smile coldly.
Now, Wood was standing in front of Diarra calmly once again.
This time Diarra didn’t turn around. He planned to move the ball to one side and dribble past Wood by outrunning him.
Unfortunately, he underestimated the reaction speed of Wood’s body…
When he had just moved the ball out, Wood’s left leg had bounced out like a compressed spring. The next moment, Wood touched the ball first!
Diarra, who couldn’t stop his body, bumped into Wood. Bentley, who was beside them, got the ball.
Now, Twain smiled even more.
Diarra realized that Bentley had gotten the ball. At this moment, he was being stopped by George Wood. So, he was terribly frightened.
He was not a fool, because he knew what would happen when a defensive midfielder lost possession of the ball in the midfield…
He left Wood and rushed towards Bentley immediately. Like a cheetah, he was so agile that he caught up with Bentley, who was 10 meters away from him, within two steps.
It was a pity that his opponent didn’t like shaking off one defender after another. When Bentley saw Diarra rushing towards him, he passed the ball to Wood.
Diarra turned around and was about to intercept Wood.
Wood immediately passed the ball to Gago, who was in the front field.
Real Madrid’s offense had just been stopped. Ribery and Diarra were still in the half court of Forest at this moment. Now, only 3 defenders of Real Madrid were still at the rear…Ramos had run across the halfway line because he planned to set up the offense.
When Şahin saw that the ball was under the control of Gago, he prepared to receive the ball immediately. He rapidly ran diagonally in the front court and gave Gago a sign, so that Gago could pass the ball to him.
Garay knew that Forest’s offensive midfielder was the playmaker of the team. So, Garay started to run after Şahin and tried to catch up with him. Luis was marking Mitchell, who was over two meters tall. For a moment, nobody was trying to stop Gago.
Gago found an obvious passing lane. Ramos had run forward to assist the offense. Behind him, there was a big gap which would disappear soon. If Gago failed to take this opportunity, he would have to wait for the next time…
Matías Fernández also saw that gap. So, he shook off Ramos and started to run forward rapidly.
Ramos also noticed that something was wrong. He turned around and started to chase Fernández. Ramos was confident that he could stop Fernández because he was not a “pacey” player.
However, when he fixed his eyes on the Chilean, he didn’t know that someone was sprinting behind the two of them like a shadow…
Suddenly, Fernández cut inside, and Ramos did the same by following him.
Just at this time, Gago passed the ball out.
A slightly curved ground ball went past Fernández. He and Ramos, who was running behind him, failed to touch the ball.
Was it a bad pass?
No!
Ramos saw a figure rush up from one side of his body and receive the ball. Then, the figure changed his direction. In this way, the figure managed to make a break in front of Ramos.
“That’s Gareth Bale! What a fantastic break!” the commentator shouted excitedly. The second half had just started, less than five minutes ago. Nottingham Forest got a good opportunity again.
“Gago’s pass broke Real Madrid’s defense! It’s wonderful!”
After receiving the ball, Bale cut inside and dashed towards the penalty area. The defenders of Real Madrid got flustered. Garay left Şahin and rushed towards the Wales fullback.
Bale took this opportunity to pass the ball to Şahin, who was free from defenders.
However, the pass was misplaced. Although Şahin received the ball, he had lost the chance to shoot immediately. Even worse, in order to receive this ball, which was poorly passed, he had to put his back to the goalmouth…
Diarra was running back, and was about to intercept Şahin, who was still outside the penalty area. So, it was okay to foul him. Şahin’s gesture reminded Diarra of Forest’s goal in the first half. If he passed the ball back to George Wood…
He couldn’t even think about it!
Diarra tried his best to catch up with Şahin. Now, he had overwhelmed his opponent on the momentum.
However, Şahin didn’t want to pass the ball to Wood or Gago. Also, he didn’t turn around to shoot. He just glanced over his shoulder as he kicked the ball out with his foot.
It was a back heel two-versus-one pass!
After passing the ball to Şahin, Bale didn’t stop, but continued to rush forward due to inertia. If Şahin decided to make a two-versus-one pass, he would pass the ball back to Bale. Otherwise, Bale could still attract the attention of Real Madrid’s defenders by rushing forward…
When he was running side by side with Luis, he looked sideways and saw the silver-white ball rolling towards him.
At this time, the best choice would be to shoot with his right foot. But Bale was a left-footed player. So, he leaned sideways to let the ball past him. Then, he swung his left leg and gave the ball…a volley shot directly!
The ball drew a small curve and flew rapidly towards the near corner of the goalmouth.
Forest’s counterattack was so fast that the defenders of Real Madrid had no time to react. When Bale and Şahin had finished the two-versus-one pass, nobody was marking Bale, who was facing the goalkeeper of Real Madrid directly…
Casillas did his best to make the save. But he was still a half-step slow. The ball flew into the goalmouth through the gap between his fingertips and the goalpost!
The ball sighed as it collided with the goal net. There was also a sigh in Casillas’s heart…As the No. 1 goalkeeper in the world, he didn’t expect he could lose two balls in one match!
“Oh-oh-oh!” The English commentator started to yell crazily. What did he see? “This is the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium! Nottingham Forest took the lead twice against Real Madrid!”
“2:1! Nottingham Forest took the lead again!”
“Casillas could do nothing to stop that! In front of Nottingham Forest’s well-planned offense, one man’s effort was really…insignificant!”
Tony Twain jumped up as he saw the goal on the sideline. Then, he started to yell together with the fans as he waved his arms crazily. It was just like Luciano Pavarotti singing “Nobody Shall Sleep Tonight” in front of tens of thousands of audiences members! “Vanish, Night! Set, stars! Set, stars! At dawn, I will win! I will win! I will win!”
***
Florentino’s lateness was not caused by unexpected events. Just now, he had had a few simple conversations with Spain’s Prime Minister. The Prime Minister was commending Real Madrid’s good performance tonight as he held Florentino’s hand. Therefore, it was impossible for Florentino to walk away and leave the Prime Minister out there, because he didn’t put on airs in front of others deliberately.
He talked politely with the Prime Minister about some issues with Real Madrid. The No. 2 leader of the Spanish government, who was second only to the King, was a devoted fan of Real Madrid. He even had a membership card for Real Madrid. The Prime Minister joked that he had elected Florentino as the President of the club. Hearing that, Florentino could do nothing but smile obsequiously.
The former Prime Minister of Spain, who had been a 100-percent fan of FC Barcelona, disliked Real Madrid. During his term of office, Barcelona had hit its peak. However, Real Madrid had had some shaky moments during that period.
Now, they had a new Prime Minister. and good luck had also started to favor Real Madrid. They had managed to enter the Champions League final, and were quite likely to pick up the club’s 10th championship trophy club. It was really a joyous time!
The Prime Minister was nosy enough to ask Florentino about Real Madrid’s possible star player recruitment plan for that summer. Who would be able to catch the eyes of the new Galácticos this time?
In this way, the two of them talked…for five minutes.
When the Prime Minister realized that he second half had started, he ended the conversation apologetically. Then, the two of them walked towards the corridor of the grandstand side by side.
While Florentino was still in the corridor, he heard a cheer coming from one side of the grandstand, which was not very loud. Then, a cheer which was much louder came in.
His heart hitched abruptly—did this mean that Real Madrid had taken the lead?
At this moment, he tried his best to control his pace to outspeed the Spanish Prime Minister. However, the Prime Minister, who seemed to be more anxious, walked up to the grandstand in quick steps.
Then, he was surprised by what he saw. On the spacious pitch, the players in red were gathering and cheering in front of Real Madrid’s goalmouth!
Apparently, a goal had just been scored. And the scoring side was definitely not Real Madrid…
The Prime Minister just stood there, frozen in his stance. At this time, Florentino Pérez walked out. Instead of checking what was happening on the pitch, he tossed his eyes to the big screen on the other side of the grandstand. The latest score of the 2 teams could be found there.
It was 1:2.
The home team was at the front and the away team was at the back…
The team which was taking the lead was not Real Madrid!
A look of surprise came over Florentino’s usually smiling face for the first time. This might have been his only change of expression that day. He turned to the pitch and saw that the players of Nottingham Forest, dressed in red, were celebrating the goal. The players of Real Madrid were rooted to the spot in despair.
“What…happened just now?”
***
Evan Doughty got a feeling of exaltation at this moment. Florentino, who was always smiling ritually, was not sitting beside him now. So Evan wouldn’t need to congratulate him with a toothy smile if Real Madrid could level the score again.
At this time, he stood up from his chair and cheered for his team as he waved his arms without restraint. He kept shouting in English, “Well done! Well done! Pull them down! Pull them down!”
Allan Adams, who was sitting beside Evan, was surprised by the crazy reaction of his old friend.
Luckily, the Spanish around them didn’t understand Evan’s American English. Also, Florentino was not here…otherwise, they would have been totally embarrassed at this moment.
Evan Doughty, who had just finished his cheering, turned around and said to Allan in surprise, “I didn’t expect you didn’t cheer for this f*cking wonderful goal!”
“Eh, I cheered for it just now, and have just sat down…” Allan was even more shocked when he heard Evan’s dirty word.
“It is really a pity!” Evan glanced at the empty seat beside him. “I really want to know what that old guy’s expression is like now! Tell me, can he still keep his iconic smile now, Allan?”
Allan turned around to have a look. Then, he said as he looked at his old friend with a smile, “I don’t know. But if you are interested in that, you can check it for yourself! He is just over there!”
After being reminded by Allan, Evan Doughty turned around and easily found Florentino, who was in a daze. He also saw Florentino’s puzzled expression.
Then, Evan sat down as he smiled delightedly. Meanwhile, he said as he smoothed the collar of his suit, “I am ready to shake hands with that guy. Then, I will tell him with a smile that he has just missed the best goal of the match!” When Evan said that, his eyes were glowing in his face.
***
“In the Champions League final of the ’13-’14 season, Gareth Bale of Nottingham Forest scored a goal! Now, Forest is taking a 2-1 lead against Real Madrid! For Tony Twain, this is definitely a wonderful night!”
“I don’t agree with you, Jerry! The second half just started five minutes ago. Real Madrid still has 40 minutes. I believe they will be 200% powerful in their familiar home stadium. So, it is still too early to say that Nottingham Forest has dominated the match…”
“OK! Then, let’s enjoy the second half of this exciting match—which has just begun!”
