Godfather Of Champions

The phrase “enemies and lovers are predestined to meet” could was apt to describe Twain’s coaching career over the past few years.

Nottingham Forest against Barcelona and Nottingham Forest against Chelsea] had been played in the Champions League. Whichever team that had become rivals with the Forest team could not avoid a crucial game with the Forest team.

Now, the “honor” had fallen to AC Milan.

Italian media outlets, especially the local Milanian media, were glad to see it happen. They finally found a chance for revenge. The Italians could not forget Twain’s attitude toward them after Forest team won last year, which caused them to gnash their teeth.

Because the Forest team was the champion and Twain was the victor, they could only accept the insult no matter how furious they were. Twain was right about what he said. He was an Englishman and did not ask the Italian media to interview him. The Italian reporters who needed the news asked him.

Things were different now; it was reversal of the wheel of fortune. As long as AC Milan could eliminate Nottingham Forest, Twain would suffer the frenzied retaliation from the Italian media. The Italians would be delighted to see Twain being attacked at the press conference. No, no, we’re not going to ask Mr. Twain any questions at all. Get ready to accept a cold shoulder from the Italian reporters!

※※※

The AC Milan manager, Ancelotti, frowned as he watched the players training. They were heading to England tomorrow and he was in a lousy mood. Nesta still had not recovered from his injury and AC Milan’s rear defensive line was too old, which worried him.

Since Shevchenko’s departure from the offensive line, AC Milan’s forwards found it hard to score goals. The scoring of goals required more help from the midfielders.

Inzaghi was older and constantly injured, Gilardino had not shown a level according to expectations at all, Ronaldo was seriously injured and had to completely say goodbye to the season, and the Brazilian player was likely to have to bid farewell to his career. It was Pato, who had just joined the team, who gave them hope.

Since he was under 18, Pato was only able to train with the team and could not officially play on behalf of AC Milan, according to the Brazilian Football Association. His birthday was September 2nd, but because of the Serie A and Champions League registration date, he could only play some youth competitions. It was not until January, when he was promoted to the AC Milan first-team squad, that he entered the qualifying list for the Champions League.

After he officially became a member of AC Milan, Pato showed his amazing talent, and he had become the most trustworthy striker since his other teammates were weak and tired. He would also be entrusted with the heavy responsibility in this trip to Nottingham.

Kaka’s performance was as good as ever. But at the thought of that George Wood… Ancelotti’s heart sank again.

Tony Twain clearly did a thorough study of AC Milan and researched their core figures even more thoroughly…

The media out there, as annoying as flies, advocated a war of vengeance. They understood nothing! Was it that easy to get revenge in a game like this? With them fanning the flames between the two teams, he could not keep a low profile even if he wanted to.

Since they lost to Nottingham Forest in the Champions League final, Ancelotti had come to a realization — Twain’s comments only had one purpose: to provoke him into losing his cool and judgment.

Therefore, the most important thing was to stay calm when playing against the Forest team. He had to treat whatever the big-mouthed manager said as bullshit.

Ancelotti shook his head gently. Now that the media had hyped up the situation between the two teams, how many people would be able to remain calm?

※※※

“I think AC Milan will choose a slightly conservative tactic in their away game. Obtaining an away point is the most practical thing to do.”

Dunn explained the tactics for the next day’s game in the tactical session before the game while Twain sat next to him and listened quietly.

“Italian teams are good at defense and if they really want to defend, we’re going to be in trouble. We will focus our offense in the flanks to rip their dense defense apart and then we’ll pass…”

The Forest team decided to use the flank offense they were best at to rip apart AC Milan’s defense. Ribéry and Beckham would be in the starting lineup; their breakouts and passes would help create lethal shots in the penalty area for the tall center forward, van Nistelrooy. Eastwood would cruise behind van Nistelrooy in search of opportunities.

George Wood was responsible for keeping a close eye on Kaka. He only had to deal with Kaka. He did not need to worry about other areas of defense. Pepe, Piqué, and other defenders would be there. The Forest team’s defense had always been covered by the entire team. George Wood only looked impressive because he was the team captain and always went head-to-head with world-class players. He was well aware that there was a group of defensive teammates who silently had his back.

Dunn took some time to finish the tactics. After everyone understood what they had to do, he handed the session over to Twain.

He stood up and cleared his throat. “I’ve been thinking about a problem. Before the season, I said that our goal this season is the league title. So I want to ask you guys, do you think we should give up the Champions League title, or… does it matter what results you achieve in the Champions League?”

“Of course. The more championship titles the better, chief!” someone responded.

Twain looked over and found that it was Eastwood.

“What about the rest of you?”

“We agree with him, boss!” everyone said in unison.

Twain nodded heavily. “Ah, then I’m relieved. I thought you lost your fighting spirit in the Champions League…”

There was a flurry of boos in the room.

“Should we stop training in protest for being underestimated?” Eastwood stood up and waved his arms with exaggeration.

“Are you doing this for your own benefit, Freddy?” Twain asked with a sneer. “I can promise you won’t need to train anymore in the future.”

Eastwood hurriedly sat down and ducked his head.

The boos turned into laughter.

As the laughter subsided, Twain said, “I’m sorry about the baseless assumption, so I apologize to you.”

It was not a baseless assumption. He was distracted when Dunn explained the tactics. He was distracted because he could recite what Dunn had said backwards. As he was also one of the tactical creators, Twain decided to take advantage of the time to think about other things. Later he unknowingly started worrying about the team’s competitiveness.

Before the season, he announced that the team’s goal this season was the league title because he had not yet won it. For countless professional football clubs, the Champions League title was important, but the league tournament was fundamental. He hoped he could pick up the trophy.

However, that was not to say that he was going to give up the Champions League game — the media did think so. Therefore, he was worried that the team would think that, too. There was no knowing what was in a man’s heart. No matter how familiar a person might be, he could still change his mind.

So he was worried that the players would have psychological problems when they needed to compete in two tournaments in the future and when their bodies were severely challenged. He had to nip it in the bud.

He was relieved to hear the players’ responses. Tony Twain’s Nottingham Forest’s instinct for survival was still there. There was nothing to worry about as the source of power to continue winning still existed.

As a result, his apology to the players was a sincere and joyous apology.

“In that case, we show AC Milan what we’ve got in tomorrow’s game.”

The crowd laughed again.

※※※

AC Milan had arrived in Nottingham. The “War of Vengeance” hyped by the Italian media had reached a climax. If more fuel was added to the fire, the Italians would probably collapse on the ground.

But Twain did not respond to the attack. No matter how the “special significance” of the game was hyped up, Twain was not going to fight back.

He wanted to agitate the Italian reporters and leave them hanging.

To tell the truth, Twain did not want his team to be embroiled in the opponent’s psychological warfare. It might not have been initiated by AC Milan, but it was a result they would be happy to see — if he and his team both lost their cool.

He liked to start a psychological war with his opponent, so how could he allow himself to fall into the same trap?

He did not respond to the fight because he just did not want the players to feel like it was some kind of great game. It was actually just a normal round of 16 match that had kicked up a fuss just because the opponent was AC Milan, who was their final opponent in last season’s Champions League.

Was it not normal to meet with an opponent of that rank in the Champions League?

In last season’s game against Barcelona, he valued the significance of the war of vengeance so much because the “revenge” stunt could help him inspire the players to defeat their powerful opponent. As the victor this season, he had no reason to use the same stunt. The best way to deal with it was calmly and not let himself be led by the nose by the media.

At the press conference before the game, some Italian media finally could not help but ask, “there has been talk about AC Milan’s war of vengeance. Manager Twain, what are your views on this problem?”

“No comment.” Twain kept a straight face off and replied diplomatically to evade the question.

The Italian reporters were reluctant to let Twain go like that. It was the last chance. By the time the game was finished, no one would know the outcome. If Nottingham Forest achieved a home win, there was really no excuse for them to hype up the war for revenge.

“Manager Ancelotti said that they want to win this game, so…”

“Don’t tell me you wish to hear Manager Ancelotti say they want to lose this game? Well, that would be a good story, it’s shocking enough…” Twain said seriously as he rubbed his chin.

There was a burst of laughter, and most of the people laughing were from the English media.

Unfortunately, the two managers did not appear at the press conference together. Ancelotti’s expression would probably be quite interesting.

The expressions of the Italian reporters sitting together started to look awkward.

Twain glanced at the reluctant reporters and yawned. “If there’s nothing else, I’m going to leave. Thank you all for attending this press conference, we’ll see each other the next time.” He mimicked the tone of a television presenter, waved, stood up, and patted his butt before he left leisurely.

He had already answered the questions from the English media, so the English reporters had not spoken out to stop him from leaving, but the Italian reporters were very upset.

How many managers would dare to embarrass the “uncrowned kings” of Italy, where the managers’ personalities were not as prominent as their English counterparts?

In May last year, Twain taunted the Italian media just by the virtue of being the new champion. What reason could he have today?

The Italians were furious.

Someone muttered curses that Twain should immediately go to hell. He used Italian. If he had spoken in English, his well-meaning British counterparts would have reminded him that:

Hell is Tony Twain’s home ground.

※※※

The evening wind from the Sherwood Forest brought a bitter chill with it. It was still February, but in the City Ground stadium on the banks of River Trent, the heat could melt the snow and ice.

The hustle and bustle near the City Ground stadium was distinct a mile away. It was not a weekend, but the stadium was crowded, as it was a Champions League game.

AC Milan was the visiting team in Nottingham Forest’s home ground, the City Ground stadium. Not everyone could stay calm with the intense hype for the “War of Vengeance,” so many Forest fans wanted to give their guests the warmest welcome.

The police force on duty around the stadium increased by two and a half times. Historically, Italian and English fans were troublesome, and Nottingham’s chief of police had to not want another brawl and fatality during his tenure.

AC Milan’s bus was tightly protected and the AC Milan players sitting in the bus were not interested in the outside world. They had seen many feverish atmospheres in away games. England was not the only place to have a devil’s home ground.

Only Kaka looked outside at the sinister face and was lost in thought. He was not afraid of the seemingly vicious fans. He was recalling the game last May.

Last season, AC Milan had a bad year. Due to the “Calciopoli” scandal, they almost had to go to the Serie B to start from scratch. The team’s performance in the league had its ups and downs. They were very unstable. Andriy’s departure to London seemed to take away the strikers’ ability to score. The strikers would have soon forgetten the feeling of shooting for goals. He came forward and saved the team, especially in the Champions League. How many times had he saved the team? He could not remember it himself, but the fans always discussed their all-powerful Kaka enthusiastically.

He thought so, too, and was proud of his performance. He believed he just had to stay in his current form, and the Champions League title would belong to AC Milan. Since he joined AC Milan in 2004, he had only ever rubbed shoulders with the honor.

In the end…

Everyone knew what happened — he passed the Champions League title by once again. At one point in the final, he had a chance to save the team again and become the all-powerful hero. But that number 13…

The bus stopped and Kaka came back to reality. He saw the player’s entrance to the stadium not far ahead.

The door automatically opened and thunderous noise instantly poured in. Kaka got up from his seat and walked towards the bus door along with his teammates. He was completely unaffected by this feverish atmosphere.

This time, he must not brush by the opportunity again!