Godfather Of Champions

Chapter 757: The Group of Death

Ibišević’s hat-trick soon caused a stir in the English Premier League. In addition to him being the only player to achieve a hat-trick in the round, there was his celebratory action. It did not matter everyone did not understand it at the time. Once he specifically explained after the game, everyone knew who he was targeting.

What was Carl Spicer’s reaction to it?

He did not express any views on Ibišević’s hat-trick in the latest installment of <Football Matters>. He discussed other matters. For example, Ferguson angrily said that it would be his last season at Manchester United after Manchester United’s upset loss of 0:2 to Fulham.

Although the topic of Ferguson’s retirement was also an attention grabber, Sky TV still received a number of disgruntled phone calls after the show aired. They all indicated that they would rather see how Carl Spicer would rate Ibišević’s hat-trick.

Most of the calls were said to be from the Nottingham area.

Upon hearing the news, Carl Spicer gave a long breath—it was a good thing that not all of the country’s audience wanted to make a joke out of him. The people of Nottingham were all Tony Twain’s Don’s lackeys and not worth a mention at all!

Therefore, he would not respond.

But that did not stop Tony Twain from taunting him in several of his columns. In his latest column, Twain told his readers a story about the “ostrich.” Any fool would know who he was referring to.

Carl Spicer was quiet for the time being, but it did not mean that no one stopped questioning Ibišević.

<The Sun> described Ibišević’s hat-trick as “fantastic” but said he could score mainly because Nottingham Forest’s opponent was too weak, and Norwich City had begun the countdown to its relegation from the moment it was promoted to the Premier League. It could only be said that both Tony Twain and Ibišević were lucky to have the weakest team in the league tournament served up to them when they needed to score the most.

As a result, his performance in the game proved nothing. Ibišević’s wanted to show that others’ doubts were all wrong, he still needed to keep scoring goals. If Tony Twain did not want to shave his hair clean after the league tournament, then he had to make sure Ibišević was always in good form. It was not something that was easy to achieve.

So, The Sun came to its own conclusion—it was premature of Tony Twain to taunt Carl Spicer now. If Ibišević could not score in the next game, his current taunts would be returned untouched by the shrewd Spicer.

This kind of pressure was really all on the players and the teams. A high-profile wager with Carl Spicer was not a wise move.

In fact, what they was rather reasonable. However, they were all nonsense in Twain’s view— the professional players would face with countless pressures from the moment they entered the circle. As a striker, whether a bet was placed with anyone or not, there would certainly be pressure once he played without scoring a goal in the game. So, a player with good psychological quality would certainly have his own methods to reduce pressure. The media did not have to worry about such things at all.

Twain was not worried about Ibišević’s mental capacity for stress, especially after watching his last game.

For better or worse, Ibišević’s psychology was not a problem. Twain had already confirmed the matter.

※※※

Following which, there would be two weeks without a game for the league tournament to make way for the national team competition. During this time, Twain would not be idle. He had to go to Switzerland to participate in the UEFA Champions League group stage draw ceremony.

After the draw ceremony, he had to rush back to Nottingham to spend his 42nd birthday with his wife, Shania—although he said he would forever be forty years old from then on, the reality was so cruel! He was forty-two years old in a blink of an eye!

This year’s draw ceremony took place in Monte Carlo, Monaco, same as last season’s Champions League award ceremony. In Europe’s famous casino town, Europe’s powerhouse coaches and award-winning star players gathered.

The most popular coaches and players came from one club, the Spanish powerhouse, Barcelona.

When Guardiola appeared with Messi on the streets of Monte Carlo at night, there was a sudden uproar among the reporters and fans waiting there.

The young manager, who steered Barcelona to a comeback by beating Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League in the country, had the last laugh in the European football’s famous Champions League.

Messi, who was also young but already famous, had finally won a UEFA Champions League trophy that truly belonged to him. He was the biggest contributing player that allowed Barcelona to win in last season’s Champions League. At the same time, he was the top goalscorer in the UEFA Champions League last season. This summer he was crowned FIFA World Player of the Year in South Africa and unparallel for a time.

His name was eulogized everywhere. His giant advertising portraits were filled the whole of Europe. Cheers and praises were sung everywhere he appeared. Every time he took the ball on the pitch, he was greeted with loud cheers. Even the opposing fans admired the football magician.

In the past, Argentina had always been looking for a successor to Maradona, a move that was wishful thinking in the eyes of the outsiders, and also a bit of a joke—any player who had been chosen as their successor was not very good. But now, Argentina no longer looked for Maradona’s successor, as they had announced this summer that Messi was Maradona the second!

No one would deride the Argentines again this time as their own wishful thinking. Even the Brazilians exclaimed his strength when faced with Messi. Kaka had been plagued by injuries and his performance were not as before in the last two seasons.

A humble young man who showed a shy smile in front of the reporters’ flashing bulbs was unlike Maradona… At least the king of the ball would not be so modest and shy.

2010 was a bumper year for Lionel Messi, who not only won the domestic league and the UEFA Champions League with Barcelona, but also led the team to the World Cup champion as the core for Argentina. It could be said that there was no other person with such an achievement in ten years of football. No wonder everyone unanimously agreed that Messi was the “king of football” of the era.

From the car drop-off point to the hotel entrance with just fifteen meters of the red carpet, Messi and Guardiola walked for about five minutes. They had to stop continuously for the reporters and fans to take pictures, answer questions from the reporters and fulfill the football fans’ requests for their autographs. The scene was still a little chaotic, even if there were the police to maintain order at the scene.

Pierce Brosnan was flanked by two reporters from Spain’s Catalonia region. They were somewhat smug when they saw the scene and said in the universally used English, “Only Barcelona and Messi in the world have such an appeal!”

Tony Twain entered before them. As one of the hottest young managers in European football in the previous seasons, he also fell by the wayside in the face of a younger Guardiola. There were not many people asking questions when he made his appearance. Only a few British reporters came up and asked a few questions before letting him go. Such a scene would have been unthinkable two years ago. At that time, everywhere Tony Twain went, he was the darling of the media’s pursuit and attention, and he was synonymous with “sensational news.”

Now his limelight was robbed by Barcelona.

He chatted at the door with Ferguson, who had stepped in first, and asked if he was really retiring. Ferguson half-jokingly said he was going to retire and recommended Tony to coach at Manchester United.

That was when Guardiola and Messi came.

The commotion at the scene was so loud that it interrupted the conversation between Twain and Ferguson. They could not help but turn around. Twain did not take a first look at Messi but at Guardiola. He said to Ferguson with a laugh, “Look, your best successor is here.”

Ferguson gave a snort, “Do you think Barcelona will let their man go?”

“Then what makes you think that Nottingham Forest will let me go?” He asked in return with a smile.

“You’re more likely than he will be.”

Twain shrugged and did not intend to continue the discussion of the issue.

He and Ferguson looked at the busy scene in front of them for a while and found it uninteresting. They were not star-chasers. So what was the use of them here to watch the lively scene?

As he turned around to walk away, Ferguson smiled at Twain, “I lost to them in the semi-finals last season. Hargreaves and Carrick couldn’t defend Messi. I thought to myself at that time how nice it would be to have George Wood on my team.”

“Ha.” Twain touched his nose, “I’ll help avenge you and keep Wood for my own use!” He certainly understood what Ferguson meant. England’s powerhouses coveted Wood for a long time. Wenger also occasionally talked about George Wood when he was on the phone with him. He never hid his interest for the kid. From the moment Wood played against the Arsenal youth team, he tried to rope him in but was turned down. Now he would regret the past matter whenever he thought about it.

“You lucky bastard…” Ferguson muttered as he walked into the hall with Twain and left the clamor behind.

※※※

In fact, Guardiola noticed the two men standing on the steps while he was surrounded by the reporters. He even locked eyes with Tony Twain once. Ferguson next to him was sly like an old fox with his eyes roving.

Since Tony Twain took the post, Barcelona and Nottingham Forest had many grievances. Guardiola had been quiet about it as he did not want to waste his time in the war of words when he was hired. Even with regards to the arch-rival, Real Madrid, he rarely spoke strong words. They were always affable remarks such as “Schuster is excellent, I regret his resignation”, “Ramos is a great manager and I believe he can succeed at Real Madrid” ….

It gave people the impression that he was somewhat soft. But perhaps it was the single-minded nature that allowed him to pull Barcelona back up from the abyss and rise to the top again.

Compared with him, Tony Twain was like a mad dog. Everyone detested him, but everyone was afraid of him—afraid of being bitten with rabies.

So, although Guardiola became the Barcelona manager, the relations between the two teams had eased. However, after Tony Twain publicly expressed doubts about Barcelona winning the Champions League this summer, the relationship between the two clubs was strained again.

Guardiola still adopted the stance of not waging a war of words with the other managers, but his men were not so easy to deal with.

Eto’o was the first to jump out and rebuke Tony Twain for using this method to attract attention because he was snubbed by the media, which made him unhappy.

In response, Twain reply was—I can’t wait for the media to cold-shoulder me. Do you think everyone is like you, using your admonishment of your own teammates to attract media attention?

Eto’o was so angry that he almost declared that he and Tony Twain had irreconcilable differences…

Valdés was also displeased with Tony Twain’s doubts, but he chose another way to fight back — “to mock and ridicule.” He said that no matter what we are the king of Europe. Where was Nottingham Forest last season?

So, Tony Twain asked in return, “Where was Barcelona when we were the defending champion of the Champions League?”

Barcelona’s defensive midfielder Keita expressed disdain toward Tony Twain’s team, “I think even if they have a chance to participate in the Champions League and are lucky enough to be in the final, we will still win easily. This Forest team is no longer the Forest team that won the Champions League trophy two seasons ago.”

Following which, Twain uttered the famous quote that led to a fine from the UEFA, “In the new season’s Champions League, I can’t wait for us to be grouped with Barcelona. Come on, you can use the unspoken rule against me!”

Only Messi was more restrained and did not comment on Twain’s words. But everyone believed that if the Argentine youngster would put in more energy than anyone else if Nottingham Forest did have a chance to encounter Barcelona.

※※※

Before the draw ceremony, there was an award ceremony. Last year’s champion, Barcelona was indisputably the biggest winner. Messi alone took the top two awards for the best player and best striker. Barcelona’s right back, Dani Alves picked up the best defender award while the best midfielder belonged to Barcelona’s Iniesta. Only the best goalkeeper was out of Barcelona’s reach. The UEFA gave the prize to Juventus’s Buffon.

Guardiola was voted the best manager. While he spoke cordially with Platini on the stage, it seemed that the two men were congenial.

The UEFA used to want to focus on cultivating Tony Twain but Twain was too tactless and repeatedly embarrassed UEFA. His big mouth was fearless and did not care who he offended. They had to quickly put Twain in the opposite camp. In the UEFA’s eyes, English football, which had always produced individualistic managers, was the least popular. Tony Twain’s appearance just proved the correctness of this “law.”

Now they could breathe a sigh of relief. Guardiola’s rise filled the gap left by Tony Twain’s departure. The UEFA could finally produce a positive image.

Twain was not interested in all these. He did not want the UEFA to promote him, because he did not want to be the face of another company. If someone else did something bad, the first one to be scolded would be the face.

He was only interested in the result of the draw.

The draw ceremony was co-chaired by the football stars and the players who won the awards, invited by the UEFA.

The players would draw for the teams, and the famous players would draw the teams’ groups.

The teams were drawn one by one and went into the groups they were supposed to go to.

Nottingham Forest was disqualified as a seeded team after it missed the recent season of the Champions League in addition to a season of average results. They were assigned to the second tier.

So which team would it be grouped with?

“Nottingham Forest.” Guardiola held up the note in his hand and showed it to below the stage. A burst of laughter came from below the stage. It felt a clever twist of fate stirring things up by having this man pull out Nottingham Forest.

Twain whistled and did not care about the managers who turned their heads around to smile at him.

Next up was Nottingham Forest’s group.

“Group C.”

Once this was announced, the people here looked back at Twain again.

The seeded team in Group C was the Serie A giant, Juventus. In the 2008-09 Champions League, the defending champion, Nottingham Forest was grouped with Juventus in the group stage. At the time, the Forest team had lost the away game to Juventus. They could not win at home as well and were completely crushed by Juventus, leaving them with no chance.

Everyone thought that with Tony Twain’s vengeful character, how could he easily let Juventus go? Now that this had happened, UEFA gave both teams a chance to resolve their grievances, or to continue to worsen their grievances.

After the draw was over, Twain realized his team was in the group of death.

The four teams in Group C were the seeded team, Juventus, Nottingham Forest and Celtic and Atlético Madrid.

Twain addressed the issue in an interview after the draw, “The group of death? That depends on which point of view… It’s nothing to me, but for my opponents, it’s really a group of death…” With that, he turned around and left. He seemed to have little interest in playing a mind twister game with the reporters here.

Unfortunately, he was not sent to Group A by UEFA’s unspoken rules… The seeded team in that group was Barcelona.

But it was all good. Twain had a chance to get revenge. With the gap of two years, the thought of the entire team’s wild celebration after Juventus’s home win over the Forest team still rankled.

The away loss to Juventus and being forced to a tie at home by The Old Lady seemed to be the beginning of Nottingham Forest’s slump in Europe. Now Twain had a chance to get things back to normal.

The group of death?

More like the group of death for the other three teams…