Godfather Of Champions

Ibišević finally scored a goal. The reporters who watched the game thought that they did not have to worry about what they were going to write in their reports later.

But the Bosnian’s performance was not over yet.

He had a long shot that almost breached the goal before the end of the first half. The ball just brushed against the goalpost and skimmed out.

This time, the commentator stopped mocking him for his poor shooting skill. Instead, he exclaimed, “He almost scored the second time!”

The Nottingham Forest players congratulated Ibišević during the halftime interval as he finally broke out of the goal drought. Then they discussed with great interest about the wager between the boss and Carl Spicer. They encouraged Ibišević to build on the effort. Everyone looked forward to seeing Carl Spicer’s bald look.

Twain smiled as he watched the players make use of the half-time break to have some fun. He felt that the game had been won, and no additional words were needed to be said. Norwich City and Nottingham Forest were basically not on the same level at all. They could not even prevent the Forest team from winning the game at their own home ground with a two-goal lead.

Nottingham Forest slowed down a little at the start of the second half and consciously retreated.

Because Twain knew that Norwich City, who trailed at home, would definitely launch a counterattack. They did not care about the gap in strength between the two teams. All they knew was that being “shaved clean” at their home ground was not something to be happy about.

It was the Forest team’s chance to continue to widen the score difference. As long as Norwich City wanted to attack, then they were bound to leave gaps at their back. Once they seized one or two chances, they could end the game early.

It was also one of Nottingham Forest’s usual tactics—to obtain the lead in the away games and then retreat to lure their opponents to attack as they waited for the chance to fight back. As long as they could be in the lead, the tactic was almost tried and tested.

As expected, Norwich City pressed ahead. They desperately needed to score a goal—no one wanted to lose at home, much less a defeat without a single goal scored.

Nottingham Forest patiently circled Norwich City in the midfield and backfield.

It was not until the game entered the sixty-seventh minute that after George Wood intercepted the ball and did a one-two combination with Cohen, the ball was passed to Eastwood in front.

The Norwich City players rushed back to defend, and Eastwood did not give them the chance. He handed the ball over to Bentley on the other side.

Bentley kicked and crossed the ball.

In the middle of the field, Ibišević plugged in at a high speed, jumped high, and gave a powerful and accurate header!

The Norwich City goalkeeper, Ward had not even reacted yet—when Bentley received the ball, he glanced at the goal while Ibišević was still outside the penalty area….

“What a GOOOOAL!!! Clean and beautiful goal! With a swift counterattack, Nottingham Forest once again showed us what they do best with a quick give-and-go offensive. And Ibišević hammered it home. He appeared at the most opportune spot in the most important moment. The goal was effortless for him!”

“It was his second goal of the game! Amazing, he hadn’t scored a goal for four games in a row and had been criticized for not being able to score. I did not expect him to break out in this game!”

After the goal, Ibišević ran again to the camera and made the same celebratory gesture as he did when he scored the first goal. Then he was hugged by his excited teammates.

※※※

Twain high-fived the people around him off the pitch to celebrate. Then he swept his glance across the press box in the stands and said to Dunn next to him, “If I had known that Ibišević would score in this game, I would have sent a ticket to Carl Spicer. I wonder if he’s watching the live broadcast of the game? I’ve now won a tenth of the victory! Ha ha!”

“Whether he wins or loses, Spicer’s goal has been achieved—he’s famous from the hype.” Dunn said to him.

“I don’t care what his purpose is. I just want him to make a fool of himself.” Twain shrugged and put his arms around Fleming, the team doctor next to him.

※※※

After Ibišević’s second goal gave Nottingham Forest a three-goal lead, they slacked off a little and were less aggressive in the offense. They did not even fought for some of the opportunities. The game was deadlocked in the midfield at one point.

Twain look at the time. Unknowingly, the time almost reached seventy-five minutes.

He walked to the sidelines, cleared his throat, and yelled toward the field, “Ibi! Ibi!”

Ibišević heard his roar and turned his head over.

“Have you run out of energy?” Twain asked aloud, “Do you want me to bring you off?”

Ibišević shook his head and signaled that he could still run. He found his form after much difficulty. He did not want to be replaced so early.

“Then continue to look for opportunities to score goals!” Twain raised his fists and waved. “3:0 is not enough!”

After giving the latest instructions to Ibišević, Twain cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, “Show more drive! Don’t hold back in the face of such an opponent! Score as many goals as you can score for me!!”

His voice was loud. Not only did the Norwich City fans behind the technical area heard, the members of the Norwich City coaching unit next to it and the Norwich City players close to the sidelines on this side also heard.

They suddenly gave rise to a sense of anger of being “looked down upon!”

The Norwich City fans behind the away team’s technical area began to make noise and changed tack to scold Twain, while they sent a message to the players on the pitch, “We’re f**king being looked down upon, and you’re still playing half dead! Get your spirits up! Get at least one goal into those scumbags from Nottingham Forest!”

The Norwich City manager, Worthington was furious and disgusted with Tony Twain’s arrogant way of publicly making such remarks. As the manager of a Premier League team, he could not accept such an insult in any way.

He must fight back and make that bastard, Twain know whose home ground he was on now!

He began to send the team on a task and deploy two offensive players, showing that he wanted to score a goal in his own home ground!

If everyone knew what he thought before the game, they would think how pathetic his thinking was now—before the game, he wanted to get at least one point at home. With a little bit of luck, it would not be hard to defeat Nottingham Forest which had just one striker to score goal…

The Norwich City team became crazy like they were a pack of wild dogs at home, foaming at the mouth and roaring as they pounced towards Akinfeev’s goal.

So, when Ibišević scored the fourth goal against them, only then they suddenly woke up to the fact that they were all tricked by Tony Twain!

※※※

This was what happened at that time…

As soon as they saw the entire Norwich City team all fired up and pressed ahead to attack as if they were on stimulants, the Nottingham Forest team collectively retreated with tacit coordination and compressed the defense. They did not give Norwich City much of a chance and also gave Norwich City the illusion that Nottingham Forest did not want to continue the attack after a three-goal lead. With only ten minutes left in the game, it would be strenuous and unrewarding to go on the offensive with all of their might.

It was the practice for most teams.

Norwich City did not suspect anything. They just wanted to score a goal at home to save some face. Therefore, they did not care about the gaps in the back. From the strikers down to the defenders, they all pressed on and charged ahead.

On two occasions, when they fought for two corner kicks for the team through a barrage of bombardments in front of the goal, the goalkeeper, Ward even ran in one go to stand near the center circle, as if he was considering whether to rush up to join in the action…

Everyone at the Carrow Road Stadium did not realize how dangerous the situation was with only five minutes left in the game.

Finally, in the eighty-seventh minute, Nottingham Forest seized the opportunity after Norwich City fully pressed up and Akinfeev had pounced on the shot to immediately throw the ball to launch an attack.

Tiago did not hold the ball too much in the midfield. He did not even make an adjustment and directly passed the ball to Bentley. Then Bentley made a straight pass.

Ibišević entered into the opponent’s half of the field from the side and he was not offside!

“Not offside! Not offside at all!” The commentator continuously yelled out. Now Ibišević had already received Bentley’s pass, and he was dribbling the ball toward Ward’s goal He beautifully went alone into the enemy lines!

When the Norwich City players, who waited in front for a second opportunity to attack, turned to see that it was not their man who had the ball, but a Nottingham Forest player, they were in a state of shock.

However, with the nearest Norwich City player nearly twenty meters away from Ibišević, how could they make it in time?

A group of people chased back pointlessly, while they watched Ibišević run further away and closer to the goal.

Ward bravely struck but was also unsurprisingly swung to the ground with a feint from Ibišević. Next up in front of Ibišević was a wide-open goal, unrestricted and waiting for him.

Without hesitation, Ibišević kicked the ball in.

“A hat-trick!!! Oh, my God! This is too… incredible!” The commentator got up from his seat, leaned over to look below. His mouth was agape. He could not believe what he saw.

Not only could he not believe it, even the Nottingham Forest side was incredulous—they thought Ibišević had his big break out with two goals scored in the game. They did not expect him to put on a hat-trick!

Two goals were not considered new. A hat-trick could only happen serendipitously.

Even Tony Twain held his head in his hands and laughed in disbelief.

Ibišević ran in front of the camera for the third time after the goal and made his somewhat exaggerated celebratory gesture.

“Is this the Ibišević, who had ‘scored a lifetime’s worth of goals in one season?’ A hat-trick! Hope he isn’t only play outstandingly in this game… If his form stays every game, Tony Twain will wake up laughing every time he dreams!”

“Norwich City collectively pressed on at the last minute and wanted to score at least one goal. But they did not expect Nottingham Forest to seize the chance. They completely forget who their opponent is. It’s not any other team, but Tony Twain’s Nottingham Forest! You can’t even relax the protection of your own goal for a second, playing against them! Otherwise this is the end of the game…”

He was right. At present, there were only the cheers of the away fans at the Carrow Road Stadium. The home fans collectively lost their voices. They frenziedly rained curses on the arrogant and conceited Tony Twain just now but did not expect to immediately lose their own goal. The first people to calm down guessed that the “mass ridicule” which was so loud that everyone could hear was actually Tony Twain’s deliberate use of psychological tactics. He just wanted to make the Norwich City people lose their composure in order to give Nottingham Forest a chance to score at least one more goal…

That horrible man! He was still not satisfied with a three-goal lead. His desire and pursuit for victories and goals seemed endless. When would he stop? It must not be because he was satisfied, but because… he was dead.

After expressing some surprise for Ibišević’s hat-trick, Twain happily celebrated with the people on the sidelines.

Those Norwich City fans who first calmed down, had guessed right. His loud comments to his team on the sidelines just now was done to provoke his opponents, causing them to press on the attack and leave their defense empty.

He thought that it was not enough to just score only three goals against an opponent like Norwich City… The team needed a big win to boost morale and motivate their fighting spirit.

He was reluctantly satisfied with…. four goals.

※※※

The game ended in this way. Norwich City had its head shaved at home by Nottingham Forest. A score of 0:4 was not a fiasco, but it was an utter loss of face.

After the game, Tony Twain became a supporting character instead. The leading figure was the Bosnian striker, Ibišević who completed a hat-trick.

Named as the game’s best player, Ibišević held a bottle of champagne as a prize as he was surrounded by the reporters in the mixed zone. The reporters were intrigued by the reasons for his breakout.

Ibišević offered no fresh explanation. He only said, “Manager Twain had given me the confidence to be in the starting lineup for five games in a row. He had been under a lot of pressure. I thought I had to do something to help him share the pressure, so I scored.”

Pierce Brosnan huddled up and asked, “Can you talk about your celebratory gesture? What does it mean since you’ve never done it before in Germany? I saw that you had used the same celebratory gesture in all three of your goals…”

Ibišević recalled Twain’s expression and laughed, “It’s actually an action for a slap in the face. I just exaggerated it a little.”

“A slap in the face?” The bunch of reporters stared blankly—what kind of celebratory action was this?

“Why a slap in the face?” A reporter for <The Sun> asked first, “Who are you giving the slap to?”

“Someone said I can’t score twenty goals in a season, so I’m going to give him a slap in the face for every goal I score.” Ibišević continued to laugh and added, “At least twenty times.”

Hearing him say so, all the reporters were in a frenzy.

Pierce Brosnan heard these remarks and sighed inside—ah such a good young guy, and he’s already corrupted by bad examples after he has only been with Tony Twain for more than a month…