Godfather Of Champions

“Welcome back to Old Trafford for the second half of the game. This is the final round of the 07-08 English Premier League season and the winner will emerge on this field. For now, the home team, Manchester United dominates and lead by two goals. Tony Twain’s team didn’t get any decent chances in the first half. Provided that Manchester United plays normally, this two-goal lead will be unshakeable…”

Manchester United could also be counted as “playing normally.” They continued their first-half performance and used an all-out attack to maintain constant pressure in front of the Forest team’s goal.

Nottingham Forest tried to fight back at first. They planned to use offense to suppress the opponent’s offensive and put the initiative back in their hands, as Twain said at halftime.

Instead, Manchester United nearly breached the goal again with two attacks, and the Forest team immediately became ineffectual once again. Due to the pressure of two goal concedes over their heads, the Forest team worried that the difference between the scores was going to be widened further. They could counter a two goal gap, but what about three goals or four goals? That would be a real loss of their fighting spirit.

That was what they thought, and it was not wrong, but due to the fear of conceding a goal again, they acted timidly and dared not move forward, which was no different from a loss of fighting spirit.

When Twain saw that his players were forced to retreat onto their half of the field to defend as they did in the first half, he jerked up from his seat, which startled Kerslake.

“These bastards!” When Kerslake heard Twain stand up, he even swore hard.

Every technical area had a square outlined in white in front, which was the command area where the manager directed the game. Neither manager could not step out of this area, or he would be warned by the referee. The incorrigible repeat offender would be sent to the stands.

Twain stepped on the white line and looked toward the field. Since the two teams switched sides for the second half, the Forest team was in front of his technical area. He could easily roar to direct the game.

Gareth Bale took the ball again and passed it to Ribéry. Ribéry wanted to dribble forward but was disrupted by the opponent and went out of the sidelines. To the annoyance of Twain, the ball was not out of bounds due to contact with the Manchester United player. Instead, he was the one who took it out.

Twain frowned, not angry yet. He was going to keep observing.

※※※

Ronaldo received a throw-in from his teammate and did a one-two combination with Scholes. Then he dribbled the ball to charge forward. Bale tried to stop him, but he swung past his position with dazzling footwork, and Ronaldo once again rushed into the box. This time, George Wood unceremoniously came up to shovel Ronaldo’s ball and knocked over Ronaldo as well.

Loud boos exploded in the stands, accusing George Wood of having a free hand in the “rough foul.”

The referee did not meet the wishes of the people and whistle for another penalty shot. He just signaled for a corner kick.

Both the referee and assistant referee were judicious. Even though it looked fierce, George just shoveled the ball. He could not retract the force of his rush in time and hit Ronaldo, who also could not stop in time — or Ronaldo did not want to.

Although only a corner kick was awarded, Twain was unhappy. Because the Manchester United offensive exposed the Forest team’s rear defensive line problems. If Manchester United continued to attack, even an impenetrable defense could collapse.

The corner kick was sent out and Vidic’s header grabbed the ball but was misdirected under Pepe’s disruption.

While van der Sar lowered his head to place the ball, Twain opened fire off the field.

He ripped off his tie and took a deep breath before he yelled at the field, “Gareth Bale! If you’re not in form, I can bring you off right now!”

As the Forest team got ready to send the ball out in front of the goal, the Old Trafford stadium was a little quieter. Twain’s roar was heard by the players on the field. All the Forest players, including Bale, turned their heads and looked at Twain brandishing his arms and growling on the sidelines.

“Have you forgotten what I said during halftime so quickly? Why are you shrinking in the backfield like tortoises?! Don’t you want to be a champion? You want a season with regrets? Press the hell up! I don’t care what methods you use. I don’t want to see us be pushed back and play in front of our goal again! Aren’t you ashamed!?”

The only thing that Twain did not do was rush onto the field to pull at the players’ collars and shake them. He wanted to roar in their ears with his mouth wide open to spit out obscene words and spittle.

“The two flanks better think up of a way to plug forward; don’t shrink in the backfield! George! Be more ferocious in the midfield, harden up, don’t let Manchester United control the midfield so easily. What’s your task? Whose territory does the midfield belong to?! What are you doing? You’re George Wood! Not a damn soft Wood! You’d better harden up, harden the f**k up! You’re the midfield core! A man’s core is the most important!”

Amid the bellows and abuse, Twain frantically waved his arm on the sidelines, urging the players to move forward and not care about Manchester United’s scary offensive. If they were afraid that the offensive would score goals, then they would shrink in the back until the game was over. Manchester United was delighted to see the situation. They were two goals ahead, but Nottingham Forest could not accept it and had to find a way to change the situation. Risks had to be taken. They could not always worry about conceding the goal and be afraid to act. It was impossible to expect to reap the results they wanted without paying any price.

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Twain’s rant on the sidelines caught everyone’s eye. His “radiant image” spread across England and around the world instantly through live television.

Ferguson’s attention was also attracted by Twain’s sudden outburst. He looked over, and Twain was still growling relentlessly. It looked like he was pushed to the brink.

If he lost his composure, it would be Manchester United’s chance. When Manchester United seized hold of another gap in the Forest team and entered another goal, the game could be declared completely over. No matter how much Twain raged, there would be no other way.

※※※

Tony Twain’s outburst had some effect. Nottingham Forest was back on the offensive and was no longer afraid of Manchester United’s full-on attack. They also seemed to have thrown away the fear of conceding a goal again.

The counterattack started in the midfield. George Wood intercepted the ball from Scholes’ feet. Carrick wanted to come up and tackle but hit an impenetrable wall. George Wood leaned behind him to prevent him from touching the ball and then passed the football on to van der Vaart.

While van der Vaart dribbled the ball, O’Shea wanted to come up and snatch it. Manchester United’s idea was to not let the Forest team pass through the midfield easily. If the Forest team was forced to organize an attack with long passes, Manchester United’s defensive pressure would be much lighter.

Van der Vaart did not want to be entangled with O’Shea. He turned around and passed the ball to Beckham. After Beckham took the ball, he immediately launched a long crosswise pass to send the football to Ribéry on the left side of the field.

Whether it was van der Vaart, George Wood, Rafinha, or Gareth Bale, they were all very determined to plug in into Manchester United’s half of the field.

Compared to the Nottingham Forest team that was fearful of continuing to concede the goal, this was a different team.

Facing multiple attack points at once, Manchester United suddenly did not know how to deal with it. Nottingham Forest had been crushed by them for most of the game, so much so that they had forgotten how fierce Nottingham Forest could be.

Ribéry dribbled the ball on the flank and suddenly cut inside. He passed the ball to van der Vaart, who had been following, after the Manchester United defenders rushed up.

Van Nistelrooy and Arshavin lay in wait in the opponent’s penalty area, ready to receive van der Vaart’s straight pass.

However, van der Vaart chose to do a long shot. He flashed into a gap and suddenly swung his leg for a long shot. The football rolled along the turf toward the Manchester United goal. Ben Foster tried his best to pounce over but did not manage to touch the football. Unfortunately, the football did not roll within the goal range. It brushed past the goal post to roll out of the end line.

The attack caused the hearts of the Manchester United fans to leap to their throats.

Fortunately for them, Nottingham Forest did not score the goal, which gave them a chance to push the Forest team back, but if they really thought that, it would be a big mistake.

Manchester United attacked and was cut off in the midfield. The Forest team’s midfield suddenly hardened, leaving Manchester United bewildered.

It was not that the Forest team was not tough before, but when they were pushed back by Manchester United to the front of the box, there was no way to send the ball out even if the ball was intercepted. They were up against wave after wave of offense from Manchester United.

It was different now. The Forest team’s midfield launched a fierce raid near the center circle. Pushing the scope of the raid by twenty meters should not be underestimated. The small change suddenly let the Forest team’s situation change dramatically. The spot where the ball was intercepted was closer to Manchester United’s thirty-meter zone and the success rate of the offensive improved. Manchester United immediately felt the pressure that the change put on them.

After van der Vaart’s long shot, Ribéry followed up with a long shot. This time it struck within the range of the goal post and created a corner kick.

As Twain watched the team’s offense pick up, he did not turn around with peace of mind to sit in the technical area. He continued to gesture from the sidelines to direct the game. That period of time was the most critical. The Forest team took advantage of a spurt in energy to attack. If Manchester United held on and slowly clawed back from the disadvantageous situation, then the two-goal gap would become a moat in front of the Nottingham Forest team. If Tony Twain wanted to defy the natural order of things, he could only hope to be possessed by a higher spirit.

Therefore, they had to score no matter what. He did not care what the players did on the field, whether they dove to get a penalty shot or scored a goal without tricks, the result he wanted was to score!

He roared on the sidelines like crazy, “score! I want a goal!” He completely disregarded his status. He was even more on edge than the most loyal Nottingham Forest fans in the stands.

He had long thrown his necktie to the ground. His collar was wide open, and the sweat on his chest gleamed in the afternoon sunshine. His black hair was messy from him scratching on his head. With his extremely exaggerated body language, how was it befitting a manager? He looked more like a gambler, eager to make a comeback.

※※※

Ronaldo tried to take the ball using his own personal strength so that Manchester United had possession of the ball again. He raised his hand to ask for the ball. When Hargreaves passed the ball to him, it was intercepted by George Wood, who came around from behind. He did not expect George Wood to be so fast!

The more Wood used the move to deny the ball, the simpler it got. There was no secret. He relied on his extremely-strong-until-it-was-perverted physical quality and brought out the characteristics of the move to its limit — fast speed!

Wood was not in a hurry to pass the ball after he intercepted it. Although van der Vaart was the team’s current playmaker, he had the obligation to share van der Vaart’s work.

He decided to do it on his own.

Ronaldo constantly harassed him behind his back in an attempt to countersnatch. As a defensive player, Wood’s ball protection level was world-class. If Ronaldo wanted to tackle the ball from behind without fouling, he would be out of commission, especially when Wood was bent on protecting the ball.

Wood quickly observed the situation as he protected the ball and suddenly sped forward.

His dribble came out of the blue. He saw the gap between two Manchester United players who had not coordinated yet and threaded his way through. He was only stopped by O’Shea with a foul 28 meters from the goal. George Wood won a free kick for the Forest team.

Gareth Bale wanted to go up and execute the kick because he was the team’s number one free kick player for most cases.

Bale looked at the surrounding red stands in Old Trafford. How would David face the opponent? So far, Beckham had been silent, with no smile on his face.

He thought it was better not to bother Beckham with such an awkward thing.

He picked up the football and walked to the spot where O’Shea had fouled. He had just put the ball down when there was a hand on the ball.

“I’ll do it.” Beckham said with a slight smile to a surprised Bale. “I know you’re the first choice, but… I thought for today, can you let me take all the free kicks in the front field? Is that okay?”

He spoke so sincerely and without any airs at all. How could Bale refuse?

He handed the football to Beckham and backed away.

When the television commentator saw the scene from above, he got excited. “This is an exciting scene! We waited for most of the game and finally Nottingham Forest’s first free kick in the front field is here. It looks like the player who is going to execute this kick is… David Beckham!”

For the first time at Old Trafford, the stands were split into two factions. One frantically attacked this Judas, while the other group hesitated whether to be silent or applaud Beckham, who had returned to Old Trafford.

“I did not arrange for him to take this kick.” Twain finally got rid of his manic form as he explained to the people around him.

Ferguson sat in his chair, looking grimly at the man on the field, who was once a proud disciple of his.

Beckham set up the football. The Manchester United’s human wall was lined up and dared not let their guard down. There were five people across of him, ready to deal with his shot.

The referee whistled. Without any extra action, Beckham ran and lifted his leg to shoot.

The football hit the human wall, with cheers and sighs simultaneously ringing out in the stands at the stadium.

The referee’s whistle rang.

“The human wall moved early and the free kick has to be taken again!”

Beckham set up the football again and ran to kick.

This time, the football bypassed the human wall. However, when it flew past the human wall, Ronaldo jumped up and headed the football, which ended up above the goal and did not fly into the goal guarded by Ben Foster as expected.

The boos from the stands became louder. They were probably gloating over Beckham’s two consecutive missed corner kicks.

“It looks like David can’t let go in the face of his old team’s goal.”

Van Nistelrooy ran up and pressed his hand against Beckham’s head. “David, are you all right?”

“Is there something the matter with me?” Beckham asked in reply.

“Then your two kicks…”

Beckham smiled. “Who can guarantee that they will be able to shoot inside the goal every time they get a free kick?”

Van Nistelrooy thought what Beckham said was right, and that was the truth. “Uh… I thought facing… Manchester United, you have some…” He could not go on.

“This is a really wonderful feeling…” Beckham continued. “I did not get a chance to play against Manchester United when I played at Real Madrid. I did not expect that when I transferred here, I would get to encounter Manchester United and Real Madrid. Are you worried that I can’t let go?”

Van Nistelrooy did not nod or shake his head, but he silently concurred.

“I love Manchester United. I love it very much. Maybe some will not believe it when I say it, but I really love Manchester United. They developed me and made me a star player,” Beckham said earnestly. “But that has nothing to do with today’s game. When there’s a free kick the next time, I think… I’ll try my best to seize the chance.”

He patted van Nistelrooy on the head and turned to run back.

Van Nistelrooy looked at his back thoughtfully.