Godfather Of Champions

“Freddy Eastwood is in trouble. He’s caught in between two Chelsea players, front and back. The football is at his feet, but there’s no way he can turn and shoot. If one more player comes up, the ball is bound to be intercepted … He turns around … and shoots—the ball goes in! The ball went in! The ball is in–!!! The—fatal—shot—that—ends—the game!!”

The commentator’s excited roar came from the television set.

Even more excited than him were that the Nottingham Forest fans in front of the televisions. Those people who could not watch the live at the stadium, had to choose to watch it in crowded pubs. They were really lucky to see such a thrilling scene towards the end of the game.

“Champion! We’re the champions!”

The Double Winner!”

“Tony, I love you so damn much. I bloody love you—”

“Whoa, whoa—are you going to propose to him, Joel?”

“If I were a woman, I would marry him!”

“Ahaha haha …”

Such scenes appeared in pubs where the Nottingham Forest fans gathered, including Kenny Burns’ Forest bar.

“Beer! More beer! How can we not have a drink at a time like this?”

“Cheers! To the Champion!”

“Cheers! For The Double Winner!”

People had stopped watching the television or listened to the commentator for quite a while. Everyone was focused on downing the drinks and loudly declared the victory and excitement.

Someone raised his glass high to toast Burns behind the bar and Burns also raised his glass to clink the glass. That man drained his drink while Burns just took a sip. He needed to stay sober as the owner of the pub.

That did not mean he was not happy with the Forest team’s results. He might actually be happier and more excited than everyone here. A defending champion and a Premier League champion … Twenty-eight years had passed, and that scene seemed to emerge in front of Burns’ eyes. It was also this same group of people, but at that time they were still young and could follow the team around. They witnessed Nottingham Forest’s first glory in its history at the Bernabéu stadium— it was “the most brilliant” before Tony Twain—Now these people were older and most of them had graying temples.

Time flew by really quickly.

※※※

In the heavy rain in Moscow, the frenzied celebration in the Luzhniki Stadium was finally suspended by the referee’s forced intervention. The game was not over, and Chelsea still had a chance to attack and equalize the score. If he allowed the Nottingham Forest players to celebrate so recklessly, he was bound to encounter angry complain from the Chelsea players, stating that they took the opportunity to waste the game time.

Just as the Nottingham Forest players returned to the pitch, the fourth official also stood on the sidelines. He held up the electronic display board and the number displayed was the last injury stoppage time for this game—three minutes!

Chelsea still had the last three minutes left to equalize the score. If they were unable to score, they would regret that they had narrowly missed the championship trophy.

Twain also recovered from the excitement. He stood on the sidelines with his arms across his chest and stared nervously at the field. Anything could happen in the last three minutes. The Manchester United ‘s Champions League final against Bayern Munich in 1999 came to mind…

You all must not relax by all means! He stared at the Nottingham Forest players on the field as he said in his mind with gritted teeth.

“Three more minutes, we must hold our ground!” Van Nistelrooy, who had been brought off, patted his sports jacket as he stood on the sidelines and cupped his hands near his mouth to shouted toward the field.

Grant had completed a substitution during Nottingham Forest’s frenzied celebration. This time he replaced two players in one go and did not leave a backup to play overtime with Nottingham Forest.

Shevchenko replaced Joe Cole, who had been feckless under Nottingham Forest’s ferocious tackles. Belletti replaced the physically exhausted Makelele.

It was clear that he wanted to step up the attack and intended to stake all on one throw in the last three minutes.

The game resumed and Chelsea kept the football at their feet. They pushed into Nottingham Forest penalty area. The Chelsea players were also smart enough not to rush and send the football straight to the front of the Forest team’s goal with a long pass, as that could lead to a quicker loss of ball possession.

As long as the football was on their side, they could launch an attack at any time. There was not much time. At this important time, it was not the number of attacks that counted but the quality that mattered.

Ashley Cole also rushed up and threw himself into the offense. Lampard passed the football over when he saw him.

At the final moments, Ashley Cole relied on his speed to drive forward. He finally broke through Rafinha and ripped a gash in Nottingham Forest’s defensive line on the right!

The cheers of the Chelsea fans at the scene rang out.

The Forest players though Ashley Cole was bound to cross from the byline. Pepe rushed up to block to keep him out of the box, while Drogba in the middle was handed over to Piqué.

Ashley Cole did not pass the football to Drogba and did not even send it to the front of the goal. He did a direct pass from the side of the rear and the football flew outside the box!

Ballack received the ball and he made to look like he was going to shoot at the goal to throw George Wood off his balance and make him block with his body. Instead, it turned out to be a pass. The target was Lampard on the other side!

This corner pass was wonderful. Lampard was almost unmarked when he caught the ball. He turned around and shot directly after he got the football!

Everyone got up from their seats. If it went in, the Nottingham Forest fans would have gotten happy for nothing. If it did not go in… Chelsea would be screwed.

“Clang!”

How many times had this sound been heard in this game?

“The crossbar stopped Lampard’s shot! The crossbar stopped Chelsea!”

The football hit the crossbar and bounced back, so the offensive was not done yet.

Although Lampard did not shoot the ball into the goal, it also bypassed the entire Forest team rear defensive line. Shevchenko appeared at the ball’s drop point and he had a chance to kick the football into the goal …

“And he shoots—”

The football flew straight out of the crossbar …

He did not kick in the correct position and shot high.

Tony Twain felt his legs go soft. This was too much for his heart to take… He pressed his left chest with his hand and could clearly feel his heart beating wildly.

“Damn it …” He muttered feebly.

Next to him, Kerslake groaned, “You know what, I almost thought I had a heart attack just now…”

※※※

“This could even be arguably the best attacking opportunity for Chelsea in the second half. But the crossbar rejected Lampard and Shevchenko’s follow up shot was directly sent to the sky! Chelsea has terrible luck! Or we should say Nottingham Forest’s luck has been so good …”

Shevchenko held his head in his hands. He had a chance to be a hero … However, with such a short playing time, he had not even warm up from running. His feet were still cool. How could be any feel for a shot? If he had five more minutes … Damn it! Son of a bitch!

Lampard stood in front of the goal, looking weakly at the shocked opposing goalkeeper, Edwin van der Sar. He had gotten a lucky shot in the first half. It looked like the luck had run over to the other side in the second half.

He had used too much force. If he had been a little lighter and the football moved down a little bit, it could have flown directly into the goal and Edwin van der Sar would have to put his hands down in surrender …

Gareth Bale wildly hugged and kissed the goalpost. He could no longer used words to describe his mood at this moment.

This missed goal hit Chelsea’s morale hard. Although there was still over a minute left in the game, the Chelsea players appeared no longer able to lift up their spirits to attack. Furthermore, Nottingham Forest kept the football firmly under their feet and was in no hurry to attack. They only kept passing the ball back and forth in the back and midfield. The Nottingham Forest players were unmoved, even if they were collectively booed by the Chelsea fans.

In this way the game was getting closer to the end.

Even the commentator announced, “The game is basically over. Chelsea’s morale was hit by the crossbar just now. They seem to have lost all the courage and fighting spirit all of a sudden. They completely do not know how to play in the remaining minute of the game. The football is now under Nottingham Forest’s control and the Chelsea players are played by them to run around in circles …”

In the stands, a man who hid himself in a windbreaker saw this scene and shook his head silently.

※※※

The football was still at the feet of the Nottingham Forest players. With the exception of Lampard, the Chelsea players had no intention of coming up to grab the ball at all. They could tell that Nottingham Forest wanted to waste the time until the end of the game. No one wanted to go up and be the monkey that had been fooled …

Outside of Nottingham Forest’s substitutes’ bench and technical area, the players and coaches gathered on the sidelines, waiting for the referee to blow the whistle three times so that they could rush in to celebrate.

Caught in the crowd, Twain tried to hide the joy on his face as the game was not over yet. He did not want the people on the field to think they could relax.

The Chelsea fans became still and quiet in the stands at Luzhniki Stadium. The Nottingham Forest fans had been singing nonstop since Eastwood’s goal. Other than Lampard’s shot and Shevchenko’s follow up shot which gave them a slight pause, their singing voices were now mixed with growing cheers. Every one of them—no, all the Nottingham Forest fans—were waiting for that moment to arrive.

The referee looked at the watch. He already had the whistle in his mouth. Perhaps they would hear the sweet-sounding whistle the next second.

There were ten seconds left in the injury stoppage time.

Lampard kept running and finally intercepted the ball! This might be Chelsea’s last chance!

There were seven seconds left in the injury stoppage time.

George Wood charged out from the side and pressed on Lampard till he could not dribble the ball to go out nor pass it. Lampard went crazy trying to get rid of Wood. He was betting that the ball was on the offensive side now. Unless this attack completely failed, the referee would not blow the whistle to end the game. But… first he needed to show that he was attacking and not hopelessly tangled with George Wood in the midfield.

Wood gazed coolly at the Chelsea number 8, who was once his teammate in the England national team. He could relate to his thirst for victory and desire for the title. But unfortunately, we are rivals. I’m going to disappoint you this time.

Lampard was waiting for his teammates’ support. He was afraid to do a return pass, fearing that the referee would blow the whistle as soon as he passed the ball.

Wood discovered that Lampard did not seem to focus all his attention on the football under his feet. This was an opportunity!

Without hesitation, he extended his foot out in the back to poke at the ball. Lampard staggered and lost the ball!

After he realized that the football had been intercepted, Lampard’s heart suddenly turned cold like an ice cave.

Then he heard the last sound he wanted to hear:

“Beep! Beep! Beep—”

※※※

“The game is over—” The commentator’s voice was immediately drowned out by the louder cheers.

The Nottingham Forest players and coaches, waiting on the sidelines, stormed onto the field in a swarm.

Twain did not act so excited. He had not forgotten that he had to shake hands with the other manager. Although he still did not like Grant, he did not refuse to shake hands with the loser as the victor.

Hence he walked smilingly to Grant.

Grant came up with an ashen face.

The two men did not speak. It was not appropriate to say that they shook hands. The tips of their fingers touched, and they immediately parted.

Grant turned around to comfort his players, while Twain was surrounded by the reporters.

“Congratulations on your team’s creation of a new history, Mr. Twain!”

“Thank you.”

Would you like to say a few words?”

“Before the final I thought we should take the title, and that we should be the best team in the whole of Europe … No, the entire world. I’m very happy that this result proves my idea.” Taking the title made the already arrogant Twain even more arrogant, He certainly was qualified to arrogant…

The reporters liked to see him arrogant. Whenever, he was arrogant, he would spout a lot of remarks that made the media feel very happy. The readers would be thrilled by the media’s titillation and then everyone would reach a high.

“Care to give us your evaluation of your opponent? Chelsea caused you a bit of trouble in the second half …”

“It’s just some trouble.” Twain wagged his right index finger, which strikingly resembled Bruce Lee’s gesture, made him a favorite of the photographers. His extremely arrogant picture could appear on all the media’s front pages tomorrow.

“They did a good job in the second half. However well they did, they did not score. Instead they let us score and take the title. This meant we did better than they did!”

“How does it feel to be The Double Winner and the defending champion of the Champions League title?”

“It’s f**king awesome! Ha ha!” Twain guffawed. He could not help but burst out with foul language. It was the pinnacle of his life now and he stood high in the clouds with happiness. He fully enjoyed the compliments, praise and touts of those reporters, the joy of winning the championship, the thrill he had never experienced in his previous life …

※※※

In the VIP box, Shania got up from her seat and looked at Tony Twain, who was surrounded by the reporters. She observed wordlessly for a moment and then said to Gloria next to her, “We should go, Clarice.” ”

Gloria pointed to below and asked her, “You’re really not going to say hello, or goodbye?”

“With so many media around, what am I going to do there?” Shania said with a frown, “I can say goodbye on the phone.”

“Don’t you want to at least let him know you came to watch his game?”

Shania laughed, “This is his moment. I’d better not disturb.”

※※※

David Beckham was with the other players, giving thanks to the Nottingham Forest fans in the stands. He was not as excited as his teammates around him. He had experienced big occasions, but he was still very happy.

He did not expect that when he transferred to Nottingham Forest, he could actually win the Premier League and Champions League titles in one breath within a season. It was almost comparable to his 1998-1999 season at Manchester United.

Who would not like championships titles and who would not like to win?

Suddenly he was hugged by someone from behind. Bale’s excited voice sounded in his ear, “David! We’re the champions! Haha, we’re the champions again!”

Beckham glanced back at the happy little monkey and said, “Ah, yes, we are the champions again.” He emphasized on “again.”

This was his second UEFA Champions League title.

The reporters rushed toward David Beckham and wanted to interview him about what he thought of the championship title as the “newcomer” of Nottingham Forest.

This was definitely not special treatment. The other Nottingham Forest players were being interviewed individually. Everyone simply said a few words and it could become a vivid and lively newspaper report the next day

However, George Wood turned down such an interview. He hid in a slightly quieter spot to call his mum.

The two players, Bendtner and Chimbonda, who was once kicked out of the First Team for fighting during training, also hugged together to celebrate the title. Because of the championship title, all the contradictions did not exist…Of course, it was for the time being.

※※※

Just as this group of people was feverishly celebrating or being interviewed, another group of people had put up a billboard in the center to announce the champion. Against the background of the UEFA Champions League logo, the words were in bold red letters:

The UEFA Champions League Winner of the 2007-2008 Season

Nottingham Forest!

Due to the poor weather conditions, it was still raining, and the award ceremony was not held in the middle of the stadium, but on the president’s podium. The red carpet had been laid out from the bottom of the steps to the top. This was the path to the championship and the road of glory.

Chelsea went up first to receive the first runner prize. Each of them was awarded with a silver medal. It was believed that these people must be unhappy when they received the awards. No one wanted to get a silver medal after he advanced to the final. Like how Twain complained in the locker room three years ago, why should he take the silver medal only to serve as a prop to the champion?

The Chelsea players came to the stage with sullen faces to receive the awards. Without saying much, they did not even have smiles on their faces. Most people took the silver medals off their necks and clutched them in their hands after they came down. When everyone received the award on the stage, they would look at the glittering trophy with reluctance. It was so close and yet so far …

The last person to take the stage to accept the silver medal was the Chelsea manager, Grant, who looked ashen and did not let Platini, who was in charge of presenting the awards, hang the medal around his neck. He received it directly in his hand.

Then he stepped off the podium. Unlike everyone else, he did not look at the trophy the entire time.

The podium was in the middle of the grandstand. On the right-hand side, it was the area where the Nottingham Forest fans gathered and on the left was the Chelsea fans’ area. The right side was bustling and lively while the left side was in a dead silence.

Grant walked down and halfway through, he looked at the silver medal in his hand and then at the silent and heartbroken Chelsea fans. Following which, he made a move that caused an uproar in the stadium.

He threw the silver medal in his hand into the grandstand! As if it were a stone thrown into a calm lake, it set off a ripple effect, and people raised their hands to scramble for the silver medal. The quiet grandstand became boisterous again.

Tony Twain whistled when he saw this scene .. He could understand Grant’s idea of doing so. He probably felt angry, frustrated but powerless. What more could he do except to express his displeasure in this way?

Did Twain not do the same thing at that time? It even caused a stir after the game. But now he did not need to resort to such extreme measures because he was not resentful at all. He was the victor for two years in a row!

“Grant finally grew a pair at the last minute.” Twain said to Dunn next to him in Mandarin.

Dunn nodded and agreed.

If Grant had come to the stage with a smile on his face, politely received the silver medal and then thanked the senior UEFA officials such as Platini, Twain’s disdain for him would only deepen.

Grant throwing the silver medal was just an interlude. Soon, it was the Nottingham Forest players’ turn to come to the stage to receive the awards. The players came on the stage excitedly to receive the awards, which was no different from winning the title the first time. This was joy from the bottom of their hearts.

George Wood was at the end of the line. He was in charge of picking up the trophy in a while, and Twain was in front of him.

“Did you call your mother?” The two men took the time to chat for a while.

“Yes.”

“Is she happy?”

“Very happy.”

Twain smiled, “Ah, that’s good. If she’s happy, her health will improved faster … So, George, for your mother’s sake, you’ve got to keep leading this team to win, you know?”

Wood thought these words were strange to listen to, but he still nodded because he also liked to win.

As Twain walked up the steps, the Nottingham Forest fans in the grandstand on the right side reached out to welcome him, as they were the guards of honor with the pikes. They chanted Tony Twain’s name and praised him for winning another title trophy for the team. The others simply had eyes brimming with tears of excitement, too moved for words. In this grandstand, the chill of the rainy night had long been scattered by the fiery red without a trace.

Amid the cheers of the fans, that was how Twain walked up to the podium step by step. Taking over the gold medal that symbolized the championship title from Platini, his expression was not as happy as it was when he walked up.

“Congratulations, Mr. Tony Twain.” Platini held out his hand.

“Thank you.” Twain simply shook his hand and left. He did not quite like these UEFA officials, even the star player, Platini, whom he had worshipped for a while.

Platini was a little disappointed by his reaction. He wanted to say a few more words …

George Wood was already standing in front of him. He snapped back to the present and hung the gold medal around Wood’s neck. Then he put his hand on the championship trophy.

The key moment had arrived.

When George Wood took over the trophy from Platini’s hand, the cheers from the fans at the stadium had already reached the climax. But he did not just lift it up. He handed the trophy to Tony Twain who was right next to him.

“You take the other side.”

Twain looked at the serious-looking George Wood and laughed. This mover whom he picked up from the streets, this ignorant teenager who claimed he was England’s best player …

—–I can give you a chance, but it depends on you whether you can become the best player in England, George.

It was as if he had spoken those words yesterday.

Taking the other handle of the trophy, Twain and George Wood hoisted it together.

At this moment, the continuous tide of cheers lapped on the shore, stirring up thousands of ripples and the deafening roar drowned out everything.

“Long live Nottingham Forest! All hail The Double Winner!”