Godfather Of Champions

After they played the game with Chelsea, there was still one more league game before Nottingham Forest would fly to Barcelona in Spain for the Champions League quarterfinals.

Their opponent was not strong. It was only Blackburn Rovers. Tony Twain rotated the team again. Only half of the players who would play against Barcelona, were in the game. In the end, Nottingham Forest easily beat Blackburn Rovers, which was not on the same level at all, by 3:1.

Nottingham Forest’s game was played on Saturday afternoon. It was considered a slightly earlier game in this round of the Premier League. After the game, Twain handed the team to Kerslake and rushed straight to London with Dunn. They had to catch the evening flight to Madrid, Spain.

They were not traveling to Spain for a holiday nor for an elopement. They were going there just to watch El Clásico live the next night at the Bernabéu and collect first-hand information at the nearest distance.

The team would not leave for Barcelona until Sunday afternoon. By that time, Twain and Dunn would be waiting in their booked hotel for a long time.

※※※

It was now six hours before the evening’s game. They were already here early. It did not make sense to stay in the hotel. It was better to go out and explore. They could enjoy the atmosphere of a different country while relaxing their tight nerves.

Spain was not like England. Visitors wove through the sun-filled streets. Twain saw a lot of football fans from all over the world. He even saw East Asian faces. He did not know whether they were Chinese or Japanese. Some of them looked like ordinary tourists, wearing sun hats and sunglasses with cameras hanging in front of their chests. But some people paraded ostentatiously about town, wearing the jerseys of Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Fortunately, this was not Glasgow. There was need to worry about being stabbed to death by the other side’s hardline fans…

There were also the media from all over the world doing random interviews with those football fans in the streets.

This scene was absolutely nonexistent in Nottingham. No matter how good Nottingham Forest was, the gap between a big city and a small town was not so easy to close. That was why most people still did not think of Nottingham Forest as a “powerhouse” —the so-called “powerhouses” were not located in small cities.

Inter Milan and AC Milan were in Milan, Italy’s second-largest city. Juventus was in Turin, the city of car industry. Not to mention Barcelona and Real Madrid. Manchester United was in the heavily industrial city of Manchester, while Liverpool was a famous port and tourist city on a large scale. There was also Munich, home to Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga. Hoffenheim was also good in the Bundesliga, but no one would see them as “a powerhouse.” Even they themselves did not think so.

There was no large market without a big city, which in turn lacked more attention. It was all linked. Nottingham Forest completed its revival under Evan Doughty’s administration but there was still a long way to go to create even greater glory.

※※※

“It’s the first time I’ve been to the stadium to watch El Clásico…” Twain and Dunn stood outside the Bernabéu stadium, looking up at the huge white building.

“When I was still a football fan, I looked forward to coming to Europe to watch the famous derbies like the Derby della Madonnina, the Manchester derby, the Merseyside derby, the North London derby, El Clásico… Unfortunately, I couldn’t afford it.” When Twain and Dunn were alone, he did not shy away from talking about who he was formerly. “Now that I can afford it, I’m only able to fulfill the wish after so many years…”

“I thought you really wanted to spy on the enemy.”

“Ha, of course I’m here to spy on the enemy. But it’s normal to have some personal selfish motives…”

“If you were a football fan, which team would you cheer for?” Dunn also asked a question that had nothing to do with his job.

Twain touched his nose and thought for a moment, “Barcelona… I think. Maybe it is.”

“Why the slight hesitation?”

“Because I wasn’t sure what my mentality was at the time. I have been a manager for so many years. I had long forgotten what it was like to purely be a fan… Why did I support Barcelona? Because they played beautifully. But the only thing I think about when I watch the games now is whether I can win, even if I’m not a manager.” He viewed a game the same way even when he was a guest pundit on the BBC.

Dunn smiled, “Occupational hazard?”

“Maybe.”

“In fact, your current style of football is nice watch. The rhythm is very fast, and the game is very intense.”

“Someone thinks I’m whitewashing it, ha!” Twain thought it was funny when he said it.

Dunn laughed too, because he knew what Twain was like. It was not his style to win public support for doing this kind of thing.

In the game against Barcelona, Twain would stick to his defensive counterattack tactics without any surprises. He would try for a draw and score away goals. Then he would go back to the home side and seek a chance for a fatal blow.

To go directly against the team that was best in offense in the world, that manager must be crazy.

Standing in front of the home ground of Spain’s most prestigious club, Twain looked up at the high-up name as a fan. Everyone loved beauty and was willing to pursue good things. Football was no exception. Beautiful football always won applause and cheers from the bottom of people’s hearts. If Twain were a fan, he would pay sublime tribute to the teams which played beautifully but lost the game and maintain the necessary respect. Even if he was not a supporter of that team.

However, he was now a coach who could only rely on the pursuit of victory to prove his worth and maintain his position as a manager.

Suddenly a voice came from behind. Twain and Dunn could not understand it at all, so they ignored it. It was not until the voice rang out again that they realized it was directed at them.

At the same time, the owner of the voice already went around in front of them. She was a professionally dressed beauty, holding a microphone and followed by a cameraman with a camera on him.

It turned out to be an interview. Twain and Dunn looked at each other and saw surprise in each other’s eyes—they came to Spain without informing any media. Why were they found out here by the Spanish media? But they discovered they were mistaken in the next second.

“Tony Twain!” The female reporter screamed out first.

Twain and Dunn glanced at each other again—it turned out to be sheer dumb luck…

They originally thought that in Spain, a place so unfamiliar that even if they had been kidnapped, they would not be able to find anyone for the ransom, they simply did not need to wear any sunglasses or be in disguise. They did not expect the dedicated reporters to be out so early to produce the program that they would run into them among so many people…

Twain’s first reaction was to cough and lower his head to say, “You’ve got the wrong person, Miss.”

“How can it be?” The female reporter looked very excited, and said the rhetorical question with a laugh, “For the past month, the Catalan media has been plastered with all kinds of photos of you. I have collected a lot of them myself. How can I be mistaken?”

She was so happy not because she was a big fan of Tony Twain and eager to have a one-night stand or something with Twain. But it was because she was lucky enough to get the best news that no one else could get.

“It looks like you are part of the Catalan media too. Don’t you really want to give me a slap now?” Twain finally admitted his identity with reluctance. He knew he could not escape today. It would be better to admit it in this way.

“Although I’m not a lady, I’m not going to hit anyone casually, Mr. Twain.”

“Oh, is that so? I read the remarks in the Catalan media. You guys are eager to tear me apart. To give you an exclusive story, I’m already thinking about whether to hire a professional bodyguard to protect me while I direct the game at the Camp Nou. If I were to be knocked out from a weapon of mass destruction like a pig’s head, would the game be suspended for a rematch? Will the home game at Camp Nou be cancelled?”

The Catalan reporter did not know whether to laugh or cry at by Twain’s remarks. She began to think that maybe it was not an enviable job to interview Tony Twain…

“Can we not talk about those things? Mr. Twain, I’m curious as to why you’re here. Yesterday you were at the Premier League’s technical area, directing the game…”

“Don’t tell me you think I’m here to buy toilet paper?” Twain asked instead.

※※※

“This is the latest news from our reporter outside the Bernabéu stadium. Let’s take a look at whom Miss Savier met!” The “breaking news” was plugged in the pre-match special on the television station, TVC. The footage turned from the studio to the outdoors.

In the square at the Bernabéu Stadium, Tony Twain faced sideways at the television camera and opposite him was the beautiful reporter.

“What am I doing here? Don’t tell me you think I’m here to buy toilet paper? Of course, I’m here to watch the game.”

“Are you here to watch your opponent for the next game?”

“That’s right.”

“I can see that you take the next game very seriously. So, what do you hope to be the outcome for tonight’s war of the century?”

Twain gave an answer that surprised the reporter, “That Barcelona wins.”

The footage cut back and the host smiled, “It’s an unexpected answer. After Tony Twain wages a month-long war of words with us, is it him expressing goodwill?”

The interlude ended with the host’s hilarious laughter.

※※※

While waiting in line to check their tickets to enter, Dunn still could not figure out why Twain would answer in that way.

“I thought you would say ‘I want Barcelona to lose’ even if you didn’t say, ‘I want Barcelona to have a few more injured players.’ Why are you acting abnormally…”?

Twain smiled, “We have to play defensive counterattack, so we naturally have to dial down our attitude. That’s how Barcelona will be willing to press out. Although it does not matter what tactics we play and Barcelona will still stick to the offense, they certainly want us to attack them. We are not going to do what they want. A lower stance and playing defensive counterattack will be for our best.”

Having said that, he smacked his lips again and said, “If someone like me goes to Barcelona to coach, I will probably be sacked after the first game, right? Ha!”

Dunn laughed when he thought about what kind of treatment someone like Tony Twain would receive if he were to stand at Camp Nou’s technical area, “You’ll probably be the first coach in Barcelona’s history to be booed by his own team’s fans every game.”

“That’s too bad. I hate the method of booing one’s own team. But I’m looking forward to hearing the boos at Wednesday’s game.” Twain opened his arms as if to hug the boos. He added, “The fiercer they boo, the more afraid they are!”

※※※

The clash between Barcelona and Real Madrid appeared lackluster against the backdrop of the Champions League quarterfinals. This disappointed Twain—the war of the century he most wanted to see should be like this: the referee should crazily issue cards like a dealer in a Las Vegas casino, the players of both teams should repeatedly collide on the field like twenty-two bulls in heat, and then a few core players would be in a heated collision. Maybe it would not necessarily be intense. The process was not important. What mattered was the result—for them to be injured and leave the pitch. The latest news from the hospital the next day would that these people would all be injured for a month, just missing the two games against the Forest team.

Unfortunately, Guardiola was not a fool. The war of the century was a game that could not be lost the most in the season, but he was not willing to give up the Champions League. What heartened him was the rival, Real Madrid also reached the top eight of the Champions League and they did not want to use up too much energy in the war of the century.

The two sides tacitly played a slow-paced “war of the century” on the pitch, much to Twain’s dissatisfaction. He booed in the stands like an ordinary fan, “Such a game should really refund the ticket price and the TV broadcast fee! Practically deceiving the spectators! It’s so fake!!”

There were plenty of spectators who shared his views at the Bernabéu. It was clear how much the fans and the coaches disagreed—the fans who paid to buy tickets to watch the game might only care about this game in a season, whereas the manager of a team could not do that. Otherwise, he would be fired.

Ribéry missed the game due to his injury. So, Twain did not see a showdown between his two former players. Piqué’s performance was adequate without any bright spots. Maybe he was conserving his energy for the game against Nottingham Forest?

When Real Madrid temporarily took a 2:1 lead over Barcelona with twenty minutes left in the game, the Barcelona players were in no hurry to equalize. Messi tried his best to score, but it was difficult for him to achieve anything without support against the backdrop of a slow pace throughout the team. Guardiola did not whistle until ten minutes left in the game to signal to his team to increase the pace of the attack and try to equalize the score.

It was already too late.

For Barcelona, which had been slow for eighty minutes, it was easier said than done for them to suddenly speed up. Only Messi was able to keep up with the pace, but he was replaced by Guardiola five minutes ago—he wanted to protect Messi and keep his strength.

In this way, Barcelona lost the game by a score of 1:2 to Real Madrid. Both sides obtained a victory respectively in the “war of the century” this season which gave them a draw.

Twain was extremely disappointed when he left Bernabéu with Dunn because he did not see some of the key players in Barcelona’s squad injured. He complained that Guardiola treated Messi like a vacuum pack for fear that he would suffer the slightest injury.

From this point on, Guardiola had already won a chip even though the two men had yet to officially fight.

For the Catalan young manager, losing to Real Madrid in the league tournament and equalizing were not too important. The games which already ended were not worth the discussion. No one on the team was injured in this game and that was the greatest victory.

In the post-match press conference, Guardiola looked a little distracted. Perhaps he was already imagining Tony Twain’s expression when he saw the scene.

We’ll use the strongest lineup to deal with you. Hope you won’t be too surprised, Mr. Twain.