Godfather Of Champions

“Maybe… you will not walk alone forever, but remember… Eagles always fly solo… What’s this rubbish?” Twain walked out of the tunnel with the team and glanced at a banner hanging from the stands. It had a black background and white writing. “Are we Liverpool?” he turned back and asked Dunn.

“We and the Liverpool team both wear the red jerseys. Liverpool’s nickname is ‘the Reds’ and we are ‘red.’ Beşiktaş’ nickname is ‘Black Eagles,’ so there will be signs like this. Perhaps to the Turks, all English teams use ‘You’ll never Walk Alone’ as a slogan…” Dunn explained.

“Really incorrigible.” Twain shook his head and sighed as he headed toward the technical area.

At the tactical meeting the day before, the Forest team established that they would still use defensive counterattack tactics, which they were best at, in the game. The Turkish team would surely use their home-field advantage to launch an aggressive attack on the Forest team’s goal. The Forest team’s defense had to do well in the first ten minutes of the game. Otherwise, it would be dangerous.

Twain did not lay out his usual 4-4-2 formation. Instead, he changed the formation to 4-1-4-1, which was the Forest team’s new formation. George Wood, alone, would serve as the defensive midfielder. The rear defensive line would have Leighton Baines, Kompany, Ayala, and Rafinha. Gareth Bale, Martin Petrov, Rafael van der Vaart, and Aaron Lennon covered the midfield line. The lone striker was van Nistelrooy.

Twain did not put Beckham on the starting list because he had a minor injury. The same went for Eastwood, who was also sidelined by his injury.

Before the game, Turkey’s local media reported the Forest team’s recent predicament: frequent injuries, absence of the main players, the players’ brawl during training, the talk of internal discord, their hotel was located in the downtown area and how they did not get a good night’s rest, the team’s continual lack of victory, that they had not won a game in the group stage so far, their low morale, and so on.

The reports attested that their team would win.

Twain could not read Turkish, but he was aware of what the media had said. He had a habit of finding out what was said in the local media when he played in an away game so he could locate what he needed from it. It was easy to find a translator.

After he had read the reports from Turkey, he was happy instead of angry. He saw his chance of winning from the contents. It was best that the entire Beşiktaş team was optimistic about the game. Their optimism could cause them to underestimate their opponents. Underestimating the opponent could lead to changes in the final results.

After he sat down in the technical area, he glanced at the giant banner on the opposite grandstand.

Welcome to Hell.

Hey, you didn’t say whose hell it is!

During the last preparation before the game, Twain did not stir up any emotions. This kind of game did not require him to motivate the team. If they really wanted to win and were mentally strong, they would have a strong fighting spirit to overturn the home team on their home ground and deny what they most wanted to have. Tony Twain was not the only one to take personal vicious delight and also Nottingham Forest team’s vicious delight.

He just told the players that if they could not win this game again, they would play in the UEFA Europa League. He said that Tony Twain could not do something so humiliating. Whoever wanted to play the UEFA Europa League could go, and he would not go anyway.

“Either you’re in the top two to come out of the group stage or be right at the bottom and be eliminated. Which outcome will you accept?” He asked the entire team.

Does that even require a response?

Nottingham Forest never accepts defeat!

※※※

The game began amid deafening cheers. As expected, Beşiktaş took advantage of their home advantage and launched a fierce attack on the Forest team’s goal after the kick-off, hoping to score as early as possible to establish a lead, so that they could play better for the rest of the game. With the frenzied support of 20,000 fans and the intimidating atmosphere of Hell’s home ground, how could they be afraid of not winning the home game?

Twain sat in the technical area for a while before he got up to stand on the sidelines. The Turkish players attacked ferociously. They did not care that the defense stepped up the pressure again and again. However, they really did have a reason to do so. The fierce offensive completely beat back any ideas of a counterattack that the Forest team might have had. Five minutes passed, and they could only withdraw within the range of the three defensive zones. They did not even have a chance to attack the opponent’s thirty meters zone.

When they saw that the defending champion could only ward off the attacks in front of their own goal and had no way to counterattack, the Turkish fans at İnönü Stadium got excited and roared their hisses even louder.

In the past, Beşiktaş had been mostly dominated by young players in Turkey. Ever since Sağlam took over the team, the Turkish manager had a surprising preference for foreign players. Beşiktaş changed its previous tradition and spend a lot of money to bring in foreign players. However, there was no way for these foreign players to compare with Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray, in terms of fame or strength.

The Senegalese national footballer, Lamine Diatta, who just joined the team, was still a substitute and had problems playing with the team. He was only on the substitution list for the game.

The Brazilian striker, Bobô, was once selected for the Brazilian under 21 national team, but there were too many players of his level in Brazil, so his results remained the same. He appeared on the starting list for the game and was the spearhead of the Beşiktaş team.

There was the Argentinian attacking midfielder, Matías Emilio Delgado. A lot of people had the name “Delgado” in Argentina, and there were several famous players with the name. He had nothing to do with those players. He had never been selected for any level of the Argentina national team. Matías Emilio Delgado had the exquisite footwork and dribbling ability that South American players usually had and was Beşiktaş’ main attacking midfielder.

Rodrigo Tello, a Chilean national footballer, was the left midfielder. He had excellent skills and was one of the key players that the Forest team needed to pay attention to. He was also on the starting lineup and assisted with a number of Beşiktaş’ attacks on the left flank in the first five minutes. His passes and long shots posed a great threat.

The Beşiktaş defensive midfielder, Édouard Cissé, had no relations to the French striker Cissé. He was possibly the player that Twain was most familiar with among all of Beşiktaş’s foreign players. The first game that Twain officially coached the Nottingham Forest team was the English FA Cup, where Nottingham Forest hosted the Premier League team, West Ham United. West Ham United’s starting defensive midfielder at the time was Édouard Cissé. After West Ham United was relegated, he returned to France and had unexpectedly wandered into the Süper Lig. Twain had the feeling of “it’s a small world.” The man was Beşiktaş’ main defensive midfielder and the backbone of the defensive line. He had thirty-four appearances in the France Ligue 1 in the last season, scored two goals, and assisted one goal. He appeared seven times in the Champions League, scored one goal, and assisted a goal. Those statistics were considered pretty good for a defensive midfielder.

In addition, due to his arrival, Beşiktaş’ original main defensive midfielder, Burak Yılmaz, became a substitute striker.

Other than Diatta, those players were the foreign players for the game’s starting lineup. Combined with the Turkish players, the lineup was eclipsed by a lot when compared to Nottingham Forest, but they had the home advantage, which made up for the gap in strength.

The Beşiktaş team captain was the 33-year-old veteran İbrahim Üzülmez, who had been selected thirty-two times for the national team. He was a full-back who could only assist and was not very good at defense. He performed as well as Tello in the first five minutes of the game. The two of them took turns plugging in, making Beşiktaş’s left flank the most threatening flank corridor and putting Rafinha and Lennon under intense pressure.

As Chimbonda was still in the reserves to reflect on his fight, he did not come to Istanbul with the team. Therefore, for the game, the Forest team’s right flank was stronger in offense than defense. Rafinha and Lennon were both good at attacking. Rafinha was a Brazilian full-back, and was known for being stronger in his offense than defense. Sağlam, Beşiktaş’ young manager, also realized that and instructed the team to focus their offense on the Forest team’s right flank.

Twain turned his head to look next door where Sağlam was standing on the sidelines to direct the game.

That manager was close to his own age. He had originally thought that managers under 40 years old were rare. He did not expect so many managers in Europe to be under forty. He could still be proud of the fact that he, Tony Twain, was the only one who succeeded.

He was the youngest manager to lead a team to victory in the Champions League history!

The title was so dazzling.

※※※

Beşiktaş had won against Porto in the last game, so they had three points and temporarily ranked second in the group. Olympique de Marseille, who took down Beşiktaş and Nottingham Forest in a row, ranked first in the group with six points. That night, Olympique de Marseille would usher in Porto, who was at the bottom of the group, while Beşiktaş hosted Nottingham Forest at home. The leading team wanted to expand their lead advantage, while the trailing team wanted to reverse it and pull the competitor down. Group A would be shrouded in intense smoke from the explosive atmosphere that night.

Sağlam’s style of command was a bit “rock ‘n roll,” which meant that his body language was quite varied, and his range of movements was exaggerated. He seemed to move nonstop on the sidelines. If he had an electric guitar in his hand, he would look like a rockstar.

Compared with the rock star, Twain was a country folk singer. He just sat in the technical area and crossed his legs with no other movement. But every time he got up, there had to have been something. His players just had to see their manager get up and knew what was going to change.

Twain sat in the technical area with his legs crossed with no intention of getting up. Beşiktaş’ ferocious attacks were well within his expectations. He had laid out the appropriate tactical response, so there was nothing to worry about.

The Forest team had lost count of how many times they had experienced such fierce offensive like the ones from Beşiktaş. The only thing that slightly worried Twain was the fanatical atmosphere. After a few seasons, Nottingham Forest’s home ground was also known as the “devil’s home ground” in the Premier League. Any team going there to compete would be mercilessly booed and abused by the Nottingham Forest fans. That clamor would go from the beginning until the end of the game, with no pause in the middle. Playing in that environment was torture for a lot of players with poor mental strength.

Therefore, Twain understood very well how terrifying it as for a visiting player to play in a favorable home game. Could his own players stand up to the two massive pressures posed by the Beşiktaş team’s fierce offensive and the sonic offensive by the Beşiktaş fans?

He did not want anyone to discern his inner worries through some subtle movements, so he remained seated in the technical area with one leg over the other knee. He looked like he had an ace up his sleeve.

※※※

Ten minutes passed. Although Beşiktaş’ offensive was fierce, the Forest team’s goal was still standing, and the score was still 0:0.

The home fans hissed at the visiting team after the opposing players got the ball, but the booing from the stands would ring as long as the Beşiktaş fans saw that the Forest players had signs of contact with the ball. If a Beşiktaş player intercepted the ball midway, the boos instantly turned into cheers. One had to wonder whether the sound was made by people or a recording that was being controlled by a computer program.

Ten minutes was the time that Twain said that they needed to focus on. When he saw that the score was still 0:0, he breathed a little easier. He turned and was about to speak to Dunn to talk about some of the things that had been revealed during the ten-minute period.

Just as he turned his head, George Wood poked the football out from Bobô’s feet with a shovel that seemed to be a foul and the player who received the ball was not a Beşiktaş player, but a Nottingham Forest player!

The mere 200 Nottingham Forest fans finally broke out in cheers for the first time in the game even though they were quickly crushed by their opponents.

Dunn prodded Twain, who was about to speak to him, and motioned for him to look at the field.

Twain turned back just in time to see the Forest team take the ball to organize the attack.

The player who received Wood’s ball was Martin Petrov, one of the two midfielders. If Ribéry had not been hurt, it would have been his position. Unfortunately, he was injured, so he had to use Petrov as the temporarily replacement. He could see that he was still not comfortable playing in the middle. He was used to running toward the flank. As a result, he compressed Bale’s space. It was one of the reasons why the Forest team was unable to go on the offense.

Fortunately, Petrov did not go to the flank and compete with Bale for territory that time. He did not hurry to move forward after he took the ball in the middle. Although he was suppressed by the opponent for ten minutes, he did not lose his cool. He feinted to look like he was about to break through, which lured the Beşiktaş’ defensive midfielder, Cissé, to quickly run two paces back to block him. However, Petrov pulled the football back and did not break through, nor did he pass the ball. Instead, he looked up to observe and waited for his teammates to plug in. Otherwise, there was no one to receive the pass.

Van der Vaart ran up from one side, while Lennon and Gareth Bale swiftly rushed up. It appeared as if the Forest team was eager to attack after being suppressed for ten minutes.

Petrov passed the ball to van der Vaart and turned to beckon to George Wood to come up, too.

Wood shook his head to reject the suggestion. Even though the Forest team looked like they had five midfielders for this game, George Wood was in charge of the defense when the team attacked. During the game, he was a defensive midfielder and would not press up no matter what. That was what Twain asked of him in order to ensure the stability of the rear defensive line so that the Forest team’s counterattack could be a threat.

Petrov shrugged, turned around, and ran up to participate in the attack.

Van der Vaart diverted the football to Lennon on the flank and then ran forward to pick it up.

But Lennon did not plan to pass the ball. He took the ball and looked at the opposing captain, Üzülmez. During those ten minutes, he got tired of defending all thanks to that person. After much difficulty, he managed to have an attacking opportunity, so he wanted to make sure to turn it around.

Lennon did not see his surrounding teammates raise their hands to request the ball. All he could think of was “duelling it out” with his opponent.

Üzülmez was good at assists, but his defense was not very good. Furthermore, the 33-year-old player was slow. Lennon decided to take advantage of that and rely on his speed to force a breakthrough against his opponent. He was too lazy to even do a zigzag feint.

Lennon, who was confident in his speed, sank at the waist and suddenly shifted gear during a slow dribble. He pushed the ball toward the sidelines while he accelerated.

Üzülmez was indeed good at assists and poor in defense. As he grew older, he could not keep up in speed. But Lennon had missed out on one thing. He did not consider that the other player was more experienced that he was…

When he saw Lennon’s pace, Üzülmez knew what the kid wanted to do. The pre-match intelligence told him that Aaron Lennon was very fast and good at using his speed and feints to change direction and break through.

Therefore, the moment Lennon knocked the ball out, the seasoned Üzülmez suddenly turned around and cut across in front of him. Without waiting for the two to collide, he chased after the football one step ahead. Lennon’s reaction was also fast. When he saw Üzülmez cut across to box him out, he intended to crash into him to cause him to be charged with a blocking foul. However, he did not expect the experienced Üzülmez to also expect that and not give him the opportunity to cause any physical contact. The veteran’s body exploded with shocking energy and suddenly shook off Lennon to catch up with the football.

Lennon, who wanted to make the other party foul, slowed down, only to find that the other party was not fooled. It was too late for him to speed up. He could only watch Üzülmez get the football. He himself stumbled and nearly fell.

That was the end of the Forest team’s first offensive, and Beşiktaş’ attack followed immediately, without giving the Forest team a chance to catch their breath.

Üzülmez sent the football to Tello, who had come back to help with the defense. After the Chilean side midfielder received the ball, he did not hesitate and turned around to break forward. Again, Lennon wanted to give chase but could only watch the opponent get farther ahead.

After the Forest team had been held back for so long and prepared for a massive attack, they did not expect the football, which had been just passed, to be intercepted. Moreover, the opponent’s counterattack was also sharp and determined. It countered their defensive counterattack. The Forest team did not react at once, allowing Tello to break through within the thirty-meter zone.

Tello looked at the two players, Rafinha and Ayala who came up to grab the ball. Without any hesitation, he swung his leg and sent the football across.

George Wood closely marked the attacking midfielder, Delgado, who ran toward the football. If the other side stopped the ball, he would stick to him to force him away from the goal. If the other side intended to shoot directly, then he would shovel and snatch the football on the spot.

Delgado clearly felt the pressure from having the player around him. He was like a hungry beast, close on his heels, and made heavy panting sounds. He could even feel the hot air coming from his mouth, sticking wetly to him. Was he the captain of the UEFA Champions League winner? Although he had not played football for long, he was already a famous defensive midfielder throughout Europe. Countless strong players had fallen at his feet. Could he overcome this?

The hesitation made Delgado lose the best opportunity to handle the ball. By the time he noticed the football, the ball was extremely close to him. It was too close for him to stop it, and there was no time or space for him to position his leg to shoot. George Wood followed closely behind. If he forcibly stopped the ball, it would likely end with him being tackled.

In a moment of desperation, Delgado chose to miss the ball. His legs acted as if he was going to shoot for the goal to trick Wood into falling to the ground to block, but he cleverly missed the ball.

The football rolled in between his legs and remained untouched by anyone.

Serdar Özkan, in the middle, received the ball to shoot straight at the goal!

Kompany dashed to block, but the football refracted off his toes. Although it was in the same direction as Edwin van der Sar’s pounce, it was trickier. The football drew an arc to bypass Edwin van der Sar’s fingertips and brush past the post… to fly into the net!

Did the ball go in?

The ball was in!

A huge cheer erupted at İnönü Stadium, as if the Turkic cavalry, which had swept through the ancient Roman Empire, had crossed time and space to return, the sound of the hoofbeats coming wave after wave, getting closer and louder, jolting the eardrums of everyone present until they throbbed with pain. Everyone could only see each other’s lips moving but could not hear any voices.

It was unbelievable. Was it a stadium that could only accommodate 20,000 people?

The Nottingham Forest players stood on the field and in front of the substitutes’ bench, looking up blankly at the surrounding stands.

Twain sat motionless in the technical area. He only gazed at the banner in the stands opposite with the bloody big letters reminding them that they were in hell.

Welcome to Hell!