Chapter 539: We Wait Till We Reclaim What Is Ours
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Chelsea did not score a penalty shot and Nottingham Forest did not seize the ensuing chance to fight back. Both sides called it quits, out of ideas, even though both were reluctant to.
Problems began to emerge in the strength of the experienced Chelsea players, who started to slow down. There was no more high-pressure playing. Instead, they withdrew their defensive line and compressed the s.p.a.ce in their backfield so they wouldn’t give the Forest team any chance to fight back quickly. They just moved around and slowly regained their strength.
Nottingham Forest thought Chelsea would have suffered a double whammy on their morale and stamina after seventy minutes. However, they did not expect Carvalho’s foul seemed to galvanize their fighting spirit instead. They did not press on in the entire field. Instead, they organized the retreat of their defensive line in an orderly fas.h.i.+on, so that the Forest team could not find too many ways to invade their hinterland.
Twain did not expect the game to develop like that. The Chelsea players seemed to be completely unaffected by the missed penalty shot. They still had a high fighting spirit and wanted to contend with the Forest team until the end.
Sitting in the technical area, Twain smacked his lips. “So you want to hover and move around? Well, I’ll dilly-dally with you. Let’s see who can afford to drag it out!”
He was not in a hurry since the Forest team was now in the lead. If Chelsea was not in a hurry to attack, they would be eliminated when the time came, and then Nottingham Forest would also effortlessly take down the opponent. If Chelsea planned to go on a frenzy at the last minute, the Forest team would play the quick counterattack behind the opponent in accordance with the predetermined strategy. If they could enter a goal, they could completely smash their opponent. Even if they could not score, they could use repeated sneak attack to hara.s.s their opponent so that they could not put their energies fully into their offense.
“Watch your defense!” Twain, who decided to deal with the opponent to the end, stood up and walked to the sidelines to shout toward the field. He reminded the team to pay attention to the defensive formation during defense and not let the opponent sneak attacks when they were doing it themselves. “Steady yourselves and don’t get agitated! Play with them slowly!” He pressed his hands down so that the team on the field knew what he meant.
Nottingham Forest, who were going to play against Chelsea in its thirty-meter zone, also followed suit to slow down its offensive pace. With fewer pa.s.ses forward, there was a marked increase in pa.s.ses to the side and back. Everyone was clearly aware that they were currently leading in the total score and they should not be the ones in a hurry to attack.
※※※
Five minutes pa.s.sed and the score and situation on the field did not change in the slightest. Mourinho could not sit still, and he looked at his watch as he got up from his seat in the technical area.
If they had wanted to rest, they had rested enough. With fifteen minutes left in the game, Chelsea was still not eligible for advancement. How could they relax?
Can’t run anymore? That’s not going to work. Now is the crucial moment. You have to run and tackle as if your life depends on it!
Seeing Jose Mourinho standing on the sidelines with a serious expression, the Chelsea players on the field knew what they needed to do.
It was not the time to take a break. As the trailing team, they had no right to rest, even if it was only for five minutes.
“With fifteen minutes to go till the end of the game, Chelsea is back in full force. Once again, they have launch an all-out grab, which is physically exhausting.”
When Twain saw Chelsea press up again, he laughed.
It looked like Chelsea had no way out. To score goals, they could not take care of their defense. He decided to add one last straw to Chelsea’s back.
In the 76th minute, the Forest team made a subst.i.tution. Anelka replaced Eastwood, who was too physically drained to run anymore.
In this way, in addition to van Nistelrooy and van der Vaart, every player in the Forest team’s forward attack unit had outstanding skills and speed. Any one of them was qualified to spearhead in a quick counterattack.
Nottingham Forest was resolved to carry out defensive counterattack to the end.
Anelka was very active when he came on. He certainly did not do it for Twain. He did it for himself. His two agent-brothers had repeatedly reminded him that due to his few appearances this season, the teams that were previously interested in him had indicated they need to re-examine whether they would bring in Anelka. After all, it was too hard to tell how good a player was when he did not even play in a game.
If he wanted to leave Nottingham Forest that summer and find a team that satisfied him, he needed to display his standard of playing in a limited number of appearances and send a message to the hesitant buyers that everything was fine with Anelka, both physically and his form.
Based on this thinking, Anelka was a little independent whenever he handled the ball each time he played. He strove to show his performance, and as a result he slowly pulled away from Nottingham Forest which paid more attention to a holistic approach.
When he first came to Nottingham Forest, no one welcomed him, except for the manager. He and Twain had a very good “honeymoon period,” but the honeymoon was short-lived. Now his and Twain’s brand of football was drifting apart, the good memories of that initial period had long been thrown to Timbuktu.
Perhaps his initial move to Nottingham Forest had always been a “beautiful mistake.”
Anelka strove to prove himself with limited opportunities. When the football reached his feet, it basically was not expected to be pa.s.sed again. Van Nistelrooy was somewhat dissatisfied with this. He was a center forward, but he could even run back from the opposing penalty area to his own team’s penalty area to shovel off the enemy’s offense when needed. He would not make a face either if he was required to make a wall in the front field for his teammates to make a pa.s.s.
In the mind of the Dutch veteran, serving the entire team was a normal thing to do. As long as the team needed him, he could sacrifice his chance for a shot and pull back to create s.p.a.ce for the other teammates plugging in from behind. He and Anelka played two completely different kinds of football.
There was no cooperation between the two men at all.
Off the field, Dunn and Kerslake both saw this situation. Dunn remained quiet and did not raise any questions about this, but Kerslake did not hold back. He directly asked Twain, “Tony, you sent Anelka up is to try and launch a quick counterattack against the opponent, right? But he disrupts the attacking pace. Is he the appropriate player to be brought on?”
Twain looked at Anelka’s back and shook his head. “No, it’s a gamble in itself. He’s the only one who meets the requirements for our forward line, so I allow him to play. As for the issue that his presence causes our other offensive routes to be blocked… the merits and drawbacks are divided in half. There are certainly risks. You can’t expect us to take down Chelsea so easily, David. Most of the time, people will always face such a dilemma. I like to use gambling to describe these options.”
Kerslake shook his head. “You are such an avid gambler, Tony!”
Twain guffawed and did not speak any more. He just continued to stare at the game.
※※※
The Nottingham Forest players were in a good frame of mind. Although Anelka deviated from the team’s tactical set up, it did not affect their engrossment in dealing with the increasingly agitated Chelsea players.
Time was poison. As it pa.s.sed by, the Forest team’s state of mind improved, and Chelsea’s agitation became more and more obvious, which was made clear through their constant mistakes.
Twain sat back in his seat in the technical area. Mourinho already stood on the sidelines and did not move anywhere else.
It was not to say that Twain was stronger than Mourinho. In the final stages of this game, the two managers had very different performances, but the source was still traced back to the results of the first round.
If that game had been Chelsea defeating Nottingham Forest by 2:1 at home, then the one who was anxiously fidgeting would have been Twain and not Mourinho.
Why was Sima Yi able to make Zhuge Liang helpless until he eventually died in a foreign land, Wuzhang Plains, under the falling stars? It was not that Sima Yi’s ability was better than Zhuge Liang’s. It was simply because the two men had different backgrounds and mentalities.
Zhuge Liang had to break Sima Yi’s defensive line to capture Wei. He had to take the initiative to attack first.
On the other hand, Sima Yi only needed to steadily defend and stay put. He ignored the other side’s spate of provocations outside and did not go to war. He did not give Zhuge Liang a fighting opportunity. Even though it was pathetic and humiliating to act like a coward, the actual result was effective — Sima Yi won the game of chess.
Like this game, Mourinho was Zhuge Liang. In order to advance to the final, he had no choice but to attack. Twain was Sima Yi. Due to his victory in the first round, he could choose to remain immutable, follow Mourinho’s adjustments and hinder Chelsea.
The game time on the big screen went into the last ten minutes.
The score next to the time was at 1:1, which had not changed for a long time.
Almost all of the Chelsea team had pressed forward, completely disregarding the blank area of nearly half of the field behind them, which could be used by the Forest team’s fast attacking players.
For the last ten minutes, they would not have a chance if they did not try.
This was a game that had to be fought desperately to win.
Chelsea received a corner kick. Terry and Carvalho stormed into the box. The corner kick was launched, and Carvalho moved forward to compete for a header. But he did not head the ball due to Kompany’s interference. Instead, the football slipped to Terry behind.
Terry and Piqué had an aerial showdown, which culminated in the more experienced Terry pressing Piqué down and heading the football to the goal.
Piqué did not completely fail. In the contest for the header against Terry, he caused Terry to be unable to choose the angle and only be able to toss his head, and the football was thrown directly into Edwin van der Sar’s arms.
Edwin van der Sar swung hard to drive the ball out, but soon the football fell at the feet of the Chelsea players and another frenzied offensive attacked the Forest team’s goal.
This time, Drogba directly made a long shot outside the box to create a booter. Seeing this kick, Twain laughed happily off the field. This kind of shot would be a blow to the morale of his teammates — They tried so hard to pa.s.s the ball to you. With little time left, every attack opportunity is particularly valuable. And yet you hastily did a booter!
“If we advance in the end, I’d have to go find that big black guy and give him a hug.” Twain said to his two a.s.sistant managers next to him with a grin.
Kerslake was not in the mood like Twain. He had been focused on the situation on the field with a frown. He was worried that in the case they were being besieged by the other side, they would make mistakes that should not have been made which would cause their efforts over the last eighty minutes go be in vain.
He was not a coach that wors.h.i.+pped defense. Every time he watched his team’s goal be besieged by the opponent, he was on tenterhooks even though he had seen the Forest team’s overall defense ability many times during usual training.
No matter how st.u.r.dy the defense was, there would come a day when it would be breached. Kerslake had a bad feeling.
※※※
Mourinho had used up all his three subst.i.tutions. The players he brought on were offensive players: Salomon Kalou, Michael Ballack and Shaun Wright-Phillips.
Other than that wonderful pa.s.s to Robben, Shevchenko had not adapted in Chelsea from start to finish. In the end, unable to bear it anymore, Mourinho finally replaced the star player, whom his boss valued very much — at the critical moment, he no longer believed in the once-mighty “nuclear warhead.”
In the luxury box, Abramovich saw Shevchenko being brought off. He politely got up and applauded his most admired star player with a smile to send the former Soviet fellow countryman off the field. It was not known whether he thought that Shevchenko’s farewell to the field was also a scene that Chelsea was about to present.
After Shevchenko left the field to sit on the bench and the people in the box could no longer see him, the Russian rich man’s face was livid. It had been four years and his team had never been able to go the next step in the Champions League. Their best result was to break into the semi-finals. Three years ago, because of Ranieri’s foolish performance in the Champions League, he had fired the Italian Tinkerman and brought in Mourinho, the amazing manager who had just won the UEFA Champions League, in the hope that he would bring Chelsea the glory he yearned for.
He looked coldly at Mourinho, who stood on the sidelines waving his arms, directing the game. His face was expressionless as if he were just a blank sheet. No one knew what was on his mind.
It was only five minutes until the end of the game and Chelsea would surely be knocked out unless a miracle happened.
※※※
Twain did not want to give Chelsea a chance to create a miracle. He immediately used the last subst.i.tution spot he had.
Unlike Mourinho, who made adjustments in his offensive, Twain made a defensive tweak. He replaced van Nistelrooy with Albertini. As a result, Anelka became a single arrow, while Albertini and George Wood were partners in the middle of the midfield. The pair focused on defense like they were a pair of pliers to cut off Chelsea’s offensive path.
When Albertini was summoned to play, he informed everyone of the manager’s latest tactic.
“We must defend! Don’t give Chelsea any chance!”
※※※
Chelsea turned out in full force and tragically rushed to meet their death. In the cool night in Nottingham, tens of thousands of Chelsea fans bit their lips and could not make a sound.
The Forest team’s defense erected an impressively thick wall in front of them. In the face of this tight defense, what more could the Chelsea fans do except to lament?
Mourinho did not wave his arms because it was useless. He instructed the entire team to press on and forget about the defense. Except for the goalkeeper, Čech, everyone had pressed past the midline. He had no doubt that Čech would rush up as well if there was a chance for a corner kick.
The Chelsea radio commentator roared till he was hoa.r.s.e, “A goal! One more goal! We just need a d.a.m.n goal to change everything!”
Inside the pubs in London and in the stands of the City Ground stadium, some Chelsea fans had already closed their eyes in pain, unable to watch anymore.
However, before the game was over, the Chelsea fighters were still struggling. How they longed to hear the cheers from the stands. As it happened, there were only Nottingham Forest fans’ tremendous cheers and the early display of the red fireworks in the air.
The fourth official raised the electronic signage on the sidelines, which indicated the game’s injury stoppage time and Chelsea’s last hope of advancement.
Five.
“Five minutes of injury stoppage time. It is not over. Chelsea still has a chance. With five minutes left, as long as they can score another goal, they can equalize the total score and offset the number of away goals from both teams. Then this game will be dragged into overtime… I can see that the Chelsea players are exhausted, but I must say, even if they went into overtime exhausted and have to fight for another thirty minutes, it is better than to fail now!”
While speaking, Chelsea got another corner kick. It was their tenth corner kick in the game. Sure enough, Čech ran out of the goal area and raced all the way. Lampard, who was in charge of the corner kick, stopped to wait for Čech after he saw him running to this side.
“The 1.97-meter tall Čech appears in the Forest team’s box. He’s the tallest in the team right now, maybe…”
Lampard opened the corner kick and it went straight to Čech’s head. He staked the ball on Čech, who towered over everyone.
“Petr Čech! Threw his head to attack — Chimbonda! Standing near the goalpost, Chimbonda blocked Čech’s header on the goal line! The Forest team dodged a bullet once again…”
Čech, who did not score, did not turn around and run back to the goal. Losing 1:2 or 1:3 made no difference. It was better to stay in the front to seek a better opportunity to contribute one last time.
The football was at Chelsea’s feet and the Chelsea players pa.s.sed it back and forth.
On the Forest team’s side, the subst.i.tutes and coaches stood on the sidelines, waiting to rush into the stadium to celebrate.
Kerslake yelled on the sidelines, “Intercept their ball! Their goal is empty! Grab it… d.a.m.n it!”
Lampard swung past George Wood’s tackle. Just as Lampard was ready to shoot, Albertini charged from the side and cut across Lampard’s shooting route.
He stabbed the ball under Lampard’s foot first, then kicked it again to pa.s.sed it on to van der Vaart.
The City Ground stadium exploded in thunderous cheers. The live commentator could barely hear what he was saying even though he wore a pair of soundproof headphones. He could only keep raising his volume and yelled as if he were in a quarrel, “Chelsea lost control of the ball! Čech hasn’t gone back yet… Nottingham Forest faces an empty goal! Van der Vaart chooses to shoot directly — ”
The football drew an arch in the air and crashed into the Chelsea’s empty goal, seventy-five meters away!
Čech ran halfway before he looked up to see the football fly in front of him. He slowed down and stopped running… It was useless to run now. How could anyone catch up with the flying football no matter how fast he was? He could only do one thing now, which was to pray to G.o.d that the shot would miss.
All eyes were drawn to the ball, and everyone raised their heads to follow the football flying in the air. The eyes were filled with surprise, excitement, antic.i.p.ation, or panic.
This football carried these emotions with it, like a comet dragging its tail down from the highest point.
“Van der Vaart! Van der Vaart! Van der Vaart–Oh!”
The commentator cried as he saw the football fall to the ground in the front of the penalty box and then bounce high before it rebounded from the crossbar to land above the net.
“It didn’t go in! What a pity! If the ball went in, it would have been the best goal of the Champions League this season!”
Nottingham Forest was not able to break Chelsea’s goal again in the end.
Van der Vaart hugged his head with frustration. Many Forest Fans did the same.
On the sidelines, Twain was indifferent. The current score and time were enough to guarantee that he would advance to the final.
With half a minute left in the injury stoppage time, Chelsea was unable to save the situation.
He drew his arms back from the shoulders of Kerslake and Dunn, raised them high, and clenched them into fists amidst the thunderous roars of cheers.
He kept the pose until the referee blew the final whistle.
“The game is over! With a total score of 3:2, Nottingham Forest knocked out Chelsea! And break into the Champions League final two years in a row! This is amazing… The Nottingham Forest’s red storm materializes over Europe once again! The air raid alarms are already sounded — Nottingham Forest makes a comeback!!”