Godfather Of Champions

Milan, Italy, this city was famous worldwide for its fashion. But in the hearts of the football fans, the city had nothing to do with fashion. There was only one reason why the city’s name could be known around the world—football.

The word “derby” in the sports world was first used in horse racing, but it was football that carried it forward all over the world. There were many wonderful classic “derbies” in the football world, but no derby was more attention grabbing than a same city derby.

In Spain, the El Clásico between Real Madrid and Barcelona might shining bright, but in the minds of the players and fans, the real derbies were The Madrid Derby between Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid and the Derbi barceloní between Barcelona and RCD Espanyol. The same city derby was always the most eye-catching match, such as the most intense city derby in the world—the “Old Firm” of Glasgow, Scotland.

It was no exaggeration to say that “the derby created football.” For football without a competition like a derby and dominated by antagonistic and hateful sentiment, perhaps it would not have developed as far as it had today—that state of mind would have been like a catalyst.

Milan in Italy also had the same kind of city derby, which was one of the few cities where these two world-class powerhouse clubs existed. The powerhouse clubs, AC Milan and Inter Milan had long been spread around the world with their respective brilliant achievements.

AC Milan had an era of three musketeers and Inter Milan had its own dominated era. Both teams were not weaker than which. Sometimes the east wind toppled the west wind, and sometimes the west wind overpowered the east wind. Twain was tired of reading about the war of words between the fans on both sides when he was still a Chinese man.

In fact, there was a possibility that no matter how hostile the fans of the city’s two teams might be to each other, they might at least joined forces when they were up against Nottingham Forest.

Because both teams had suffered the painful lesson of being beaten by Nottingham Forest in important games. By contrast, the AC Milan fans had been hurt even more, with Twain not only speaking rudely often to their red and black legion, he also had a terrible personal relationship with Ancelotti. Furthermore, on the night of the 2007 UEFA Champions League final in Athens, they beat AC Milan which had reached the finals for two seasons in a row but returned home empty-handed.

Inter Milan’s feud with Nottingham Forest was limited to the quarterfinals of the Champions League in 05-06 season, when Nottingham Forest eliminated Inter Milan to eventually reach the final, only to lose to Barcelona. It was just a normal game, which would not implicate too much of a vendetta. Later, Inter Milan eliminated Nottingham Forest. From the point of view of the Inter Milan fans, it was just an equally ordinary game. The team that played better won. It was as simple as that.

Unfortunately, they all thought wrong. Who knew that Nottingham Forest ha a mad dog? A media outlet in England once evaluated Tony Twain’s character as such—“He’s the kind of guy who will crouch down like a dog and bite back once he is bitten by a dog.”

Tony Twain and Mourinho had a long-standing feud in the Premier League, and now that Mourinho had arrived at Inter Milan, the old feud between both sides would naturally be passed on to Inter Milan. Moreover, Inter Milan had thrashed Nottingham Forest before. The personal grievance and the impediment from the team were all stirred up… With Tony Twain around, it would certainly be stirred up. He was the best in stirring things up.

To this day, Inter Milan had the mind to continue their feud with Nottingham Forest until… one day Tony Twain stepped down from his position as that manager of Nottingham Forest.

“I think this matter is incredible, I don’t understand it.” The trainee reporter who came with Pierce Brosnan frowned and disagreed, “If Nottingham Forest accidentally lose again, there is reason enough for their two teams to continue to entangle. But what if Nottingham Forest wins? Isn’t Inter Milan going to be unforgiving? Even if Mourinho is such a man, Moratti is not a president who likes to provoke his opponents. He will surely keep a tight grip on Mourinho’s mouth. In fact, Mourinho has settled a lot more since he came to Italy than in England…”

Brosnan smiled and shook his head while he said, “You really don’t understand, because you really don’t know what kind of person Tony Twain is. If he loses, he’s going to fly into a rage. But if he wins…” He chuckled, “He’s going to insult Inter Milan at the press conference and show off. He will act as the kind of person who will cause the other people to want to pounce on and beat him up.”

His partner really could not figure this out. “But why will he do that? Is it good for him to offend so many people?”

“You can take it that this is his personality. You can also recognize that he is playing a psychological warfare with his opponent.”

When Pierce Brosnan uttered the words with a serious face, the trainee reporter suddenly had a whole new level of respect for Brosnan, “You’re really a reporter who has followed Twain for so many years. Mr. Brosnan, you truly understand Tony Twain!”

Brosnan shrugged and gave a self-deprecating laugh, “When you think you know Tony Twain very well, you will be wrong again. I’m afraid he doesn’t even know himself…”

The two men stopped the pointless topic which also could not improve the mood and watched the Inter Milan manager, José Mourinho, walked to the front of the interview stage.

After the interview with Twain, the reporters flocked to hear what Mourinho would say about his opponent. This group of people were so efficient.

“Ask any questions you have, gentlemen.” Mourinho, who had just arrived from the training ground, was still wearing an Inter Milan jersey. It made his figure look slightly bloated. Maybe he lived well in Italy. He crossed his legs in his seat and chose a posture that made him the most comfortable while he faced the reporters.

“Tony Twain had just commented that Nottingham Forest came to Milan to seek revenge. What do you think of this, Mr. Mourinho?” The first reporter to ask the question was from < La Gazzetta dello Sport>.

“Only a loser will think about revenge. I don’t care about this because I’m not a loser.” Mourinho grinned. He seemed to sketch out in his head how flustered and exasperated Tony Twain should be… it made a deep impression.

A hint of confrontation emerged in just the first question, which made the reporters secretly gleeful. Whenever Mourinho and Tony Twain met, they would never waste valuable time at a press conference asking such questions about the tactical arrangement of the players. It would only lead to the exciting scenes slip away in vain.

Mourinho was clearly relished being able to lead his team to a 5-0 win over Nottingham Forest in the past. He smiled at the reporters as he waited for the second question.

The man who stood up next spoiled his good mood.

Pierce Brosnan raised his hand and asked, “Mr. Mourinho, Tony Twain asked me to relay a message to you.”

Mourinho gave a snort but did not stop the reporter from speaking.

“He said—the Tony Twain whom you can’t defeat, is here again. Do you have any opinion on this?”

Some people laughed among the reporters. Mourinho’s face became slightly ugly.

“I never care about that boring record. As compared to who can’t win whom, I care more about winning the championship.”

If Twain were around, he would definitely speak up to ridicule right away, “I win just as many titles as you, Mr. Mourinho.”

Unfortunately, he was not here, so Mourinho could continue undisturbed, “I never take the initiative to talk about who had not defeated me. It is a very disrespectful behavior…”

If Twain were next to him, he would say “That’s because you don’t have such a result.”

“Some people only see the past, but what I care about is the future and the game in two days’ time…”

If Twain were next to him, he would say, “I’m still going to win you in two days’ time and let this ‘thing of the past’ continue.”

If Twain were next to him… It was estimated that the two men would engage in a real-life PK.

Mourinho did not want to answer Brosnan’s question because he finally recognized who the man in front of him was. He was the reporter for the <Nottingham Evening Post> and was known as “Tony Twain’s mouthpiece.” He was always on the same side as Twain and spoke for Tony Twain because he became famous for his coverage of Twain. It was said that Twain had instructed this person and not allowed him to write a bad word about him. The extent that Twain had dictatorship could be seen. He even interfered with the freedom of press… The crimes he committed were simply innumerable!

“Can you talk about your relationship with Mr. Twain? When you were fired by Chelsea FC, Twain had verbally abused Mr. Abramovich during a television interview…” An ESPN reporter asked.

“I have to correct your mistake. I wasn’t dismissed by Chelsea. I resigned on my own. It was an amicable breakup.” Mourinho put his index finger up and stressed, “As for my relationship with Twain…” Mourinho paused here, as if he was really thinking about his relationship with Twain. “We are definitely not friends anyway.”

He actually did not say, “We are enemies.” It was mind-blowing.

Mourinho did not give the reporters a chance to keep asking. He was tired of being asked idiotic questions on “how Tony Twain was.” It made it looked like he had something to do with that guy. You should ask him how he was himself. Why are you running to ask me about him!

“If you don’t care how Inter Milan has prepared for the game, then I think that’s the end of the press conference.” Mourinho got up and left, not giving any of the reporters present time to react. He just disappeared in the eyes of the dismayed crowd.

Despite Mourinho’s departure, the reporters present showed no surprise and anger, but excitedly discussed the press conference, which had just ended in a hurry.

It was obviously the first time the trainee reporter had encountered such a situation. He was a little stunned. Pierce Brosnan calmly said to him, “Who would ask him how Inter Milan had prepared? This is the way to create news. Come on, let’s go back and write the article.”

※※※

When Twain brought the team to the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium to adapt to the pitch, he met an old friend. This time it was a real old friend with no quotation marks.

The man who came to see him was the former Nottingham Forest team captain and retired Italian player, Demetrio Albertini.

In addition to reminisce with an old friend like Twain, he also came to cheer the Forest team.

“Of course, I’m going to cheer you on. I’m an AC Milan fan.” Not having seen him for a long time, Albertini had put on some weight. He laughed heartily.

Now he was the vice-president of the Italian Football Association and considered a high-ranking official. Impeccably attired, he looked very different from when he was a player.

Albertini came to the pitch midway through the training. Twain called down George Wood from the training ground.

Seeing once again his junior whom he had once pinned high hopes on, Albertini did not warmly embrace him but stared at Wood with a smile on his face for a while.

“You’ve already got seven assists so far this season, George?”

Wood nodded. Seeing his mentor, he did not really know what to say—he was not the kind of person who could express his inner feelings very well. It would simply kill him to take the initiative to do a mushy thing like a hug.

“Well done, George. But you have to keep working hard.” It was Albertini who insisted that Wood had offensive talent in the first place that allowed Twain to focus on training him in that area. Now Twain and the Forest team benefited from this together.

It was somewhat predestined to talk about this matter now—it was at an away game against Inter Milan that Wood suddenly sent a beautiful straight ball out and Albertini appeared on the direction of the ball like an apparition. He scored after he received the ball, helping the team to force a draw on the home team and secure two precious away goals.

It was the first appearance of Wood’s offensive talent, and it was caught by Albertini’s eye.

“You’re not a natural leader, George. But you did a good job as the Nottingham Forest captain. Tell me, do you usually talk more in the locker room?”

“Not too much.” Wood shook his head.

“Then how do you lead your teammates?”

Twain helped him to answer, “Action. He led the team with action. He never talks nonsense, and his actions are more powerful than words.”

On the training ground, he was the one who trained the hardest, the earliest to arrive, the latest to leave, ran the hardest on the field, never gave up, always full of fighting spirit and passion. He seemed to view football as life. It was hard for such a person to not convince the masses.

Albertini nodded approvingly, “That’s your style, George.”

Wood disagreed, “But I don’t help the new players as much as you.” When Aaron Mitchell came into the First Team, Wood’s face was a little too serious when he welcomed him as the team captain. For this reason, he was deeply concerned till now.

Albertini glanced at Twain and turned his face to smile at Wood, “Nottingham Forest is a team with a very good environment. Some things do not require you to manage. Someone else will do it. Freddy and Bale are both warm-hearted people. You don’t want to take everything on yourself. Just like how you are on the pitch, trust your teammates and you will gain more.”

Wood nodded and listened to his instruction respectfully. Albertini’s every word was a valuable experience to him.

Twain did not let the two talk for long. After all, the team was still training. As the captain, Wood was even less qualified to act privileged.

Looking at Wood running back, Albertini sighed, “What a good player. It’s a pity that he did not come to Milan last summer.”

“As long as I’m at Nottingham Forest for a day, he won’t leave the City Ground stadium.” Twain chuckled.

When Twain’s work came up as a topic, Albertini had to ask about his health.

“There’s nothing wrong with me. Everything is working normally.” Twain gently patted his left chest, where a pacemaker was installed, so he could not use too much force. “I was very lucky not to have died the first time. I won’t die in the future.” Twain was now very relaxing when it came to talks about life and death. Once a person had died once, his ideological awareness was not the same anymore.

Albertini laughed, “I had wanted to ask you to drink together after the game at first. Later, I remembered you had given up drinking. So, I can just save the money.”

Twain gave a sly wink and said, “You can always exchange it for cash for me, Deme.”

The two men laughed together. It was like they had gone back to the good old days when they worked together.

As he said goodbye, Albertini held Twain’s hand and said, “When we were together, we did not lose to Mourinho, right, boss?”

He suddenly addressed him this way, but it did not surprise Twain. He smiled, “That’s right, we never lost.”

The two men did not say anything more. They only felt that there was an added strength to their hands held.