Godfather Of Champions

Chapter 870: The Heart of Champion

Martin, the Spanish tour guide who was proficient in Chinese, took a group of curious Chinese tourists into a pub near Bernabéu stadium.

When they walked into the pub, they saw a large team logo of Real Madrid on the wall in front of them.

They didn’t find noisy music and hot girls in this pub. Unlike the description of Martin, the tourists only found a big TV and many fans who were looking up and fixing their eyes on the screen.

“This is my uncle’s pub. All of you could enjoy…half-off here!” Martin made a decision before seeking advice from his uncle. If his decision was unacceptable for his uncle, he would make up the price difference with his own money. In order to watch a Real Madrid match in peace, he spared no expense.

After getting those Chinse tourists settled, Martin walked into the crowd and started to watch TV by throwing his head back after ordering a glass of beer.

On the screen, players from both teams hadn’t run onto the pitch yet. The grandstand was full of fans. Those who could enjoy the match in the stadium were envied by those who could only watch the match in front of TV. Martin kept smacking his lips as he watched the TV screen.

***

All seats in the Bernabéu Stadium which had room for up to 80,000 spectators were occupied. It was impossible to find even one empty seat in it. Although the match hadn’t started, the fans in the stadium were as passionate as flames. They were singing, cheering and clapping their hands loudly. The entire stadium was noisy with voices. The pitch was lit up by those towering spotlights. Field staff were busy tiling the round flag of the logo of UEFA on the center circle. The journalists were waiting for the players from both teams at both sides of the corridor. A trophy, which was shiny silver, was placed in front of them. It was the highest honor of all European clubs – the European Champion Cup.

It was not a replica in a club’s trophy room. It was the genuine “Big Ears”.

***

After the completion of warm-up, players from both teams had gone back to their clubhouse. The managers of both teams were making final preparations for the most important match of this season.

It was not the time to talk about the tactics again. And they didn’t have time to do that now. At this time, some managers preferred to keep silent and leave time to the players. Some managers kept chattering without stop. The result of the first 45 minutes of the match was always decided in a few minutes like now. Therefore, it was inevitable for any players who were about to take part in such an important match to feel nervous.

Even the players from clubs like Real Madrid and Nottingham Forest were no exception.

Unprecedentedly, Raúl González walked into the locker room. He had never entered the locker room before a match since his retirement. But he did that today, which meant the match was very important for him.

Michels stood on one side and said nothing. It was the time for Raúl to make a speech. This former captain was still quite influential in the locker room.

Raúl’s speech was not long. “This is my long-cherished last match. It is a pity that I can’t fight shoulder by shoulder with you in the pitch!” He said as he looked at his former teammates affectionately. “But I am very glad that my teammates could stand here at last! When I look at you, I really hope I could be 10 years younger…It has always been my dream to pick up the 10th European Champions Cup for our club. Now, I hereby request you to realize this dream for me!”

After saying that, he said goodbye to Michels and walked out of the locker room.

Then, the locker room of Real Madrid dropped into silence. As Raúl’s teammates, they couldn’t forget how unreconciled Raúl was when he decided to retire in the last season. That year, Real Madrid lost the champion of domestic league and failed to get past the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League. It was the intense pain before Real Madrid’s reinvigoration, which should be deemed as the darkest hour before the dawn. It was a pity that Raúl had to experience those difficult days.

Raúl would have a chance to sign a one-year extension. But he decided to retire at the last moment. If he renewed his contract for 1 more year, he would be 37 and he really didn’t know what he could do in the pitch. Would he become a pet doll who sat on the club’s bench to receive the reverence from his fans? He was not a man who was reconciled to sit on the bench. A man with a heart of champion would never accept a fact like that.

So, he would rather retire.

Now, he might have some regrets…as long as he could take part in a match like this, he would be willing to sit on the bench for an entire season!

However, these were just people’s speculations. Nobody knew what Raúl was thinking about now.

After leaving the locker room, he walked into the VIP box on the stand alone, where he would watch the match with his family.

***

Unlike Real Madrid’s solemn locker room, the atmosphere in Nottingham Forest’s locker room was a little bit more casual. The players, who were sitting or standing in the room, fixed their eyes on their boss who was leaning against the wall. Like a group of soldiers who were about to step into the battlefield, they expected their officer to motivate them loudly by telling them everything would be OK when he was there. And they could go home after this battle.

Twain was standing against the wall. When he looked at these players in front of him, an unusual feeling welled up in his mind. He felt he was not leading a team but an army. Among his soldiers, some veterans had fought north and south and hadn’t been home for many years. From their unshaven face, the cigarettes in their mouth and their cynical expression, he knew these veterans gave no thought to life and death. He also saw some baby-faced rookies who were so nervous that they couldn’t even grasp their gun firmly. Their lips were trembling as if they were murmuring to themselves or praying to God. His army was about to fight a crucial battle in the war. Their victory would result in the reversion of the war. His main force would attack Berlin directly. His armored force would crush all obstacles on its way. But if they lost this battle, none of them would go back alive.

There was a moment that Twain fell in to a trance. He just wanted to say, “Stay alive and I’ll take you home after this battle!”

Twain shook his head to dispel the illusion in his mind.

Everything in front of him became clear again. The men in front of him were his players instead of sloppy Allied soldiers of World War 2 who wore tattered uniforms and shabby helmets. They were not in a dirty and stinky trench but a bright and modernized locker room in the Bernabéu Stadium.

However, the feeling of battlefield didn’t dissipate but became more intense.

Twain said as he scratched his head, “Actually, I really don’t know what to say! Just now I had a dream which only lasted for a short time. But I can remember it clearly till now!”

His words attracted those players’ attention immediately. I didn’t see our boss was sleeping just now. How could he say he had a dream? Is it possible to have a dream when people sleep standing up?

“I found we were in a battlefield. Fighters were roaring above our head!” Twain continued to say as he made a gesture, “We could hear the engines of our tanks behind us. Shells were exploding around us. The battlefield was very noisy! All of you were standing around me like now. Our enemy had taken a high ground. We had to fight them off by launching our last charge. If we could take the high ground, our main force could press forward to the enemy’s capital. If we failed, all of us would be buried there!”

“It seems to be a quite absurd dream!” Twain waved his hand to dispel the misty dreamland. “But that feeling is still lingering in my mind and tells me it is not a dream! Several minutes later, the most important match in our career will begin. This is a life-and-death matter for us and I am not exaggerating. We can pick up the trophy alive, or…we will and be forgotten by the world!” He said as he shrugged, “That’s it! We don’t have a third way to go! In the battlefield, we will face Life or death. Here, what we have is champion or loser! Think about how we could come this far! And forget the 2 champions we have won! They are useless in today’s match!”

Twain said as he pointed at the luxuriously decorated locker room, “This is the locker room of the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, which is more beautiful than the locker rooms of the City Ground. But don’t you be fooled by its shiny appearance. We are now in the hell. Guys, please trust me. We might be beaten the living shit out here. Or, we could do our best to win glory!”

Twain stopped looking around and started to stare at the players in front of him in their eyes.

“We could walk out of this hell by holding our head high. But I can’t do that for you now. In fact, I am too old…” he said as he touched his grizzled sidebums. “Sometimes I could even be frightened by myself in a mirror when I forgot to dye my hair!”

Actually, a 45-year-old man was not old at all. However, Twain used to have a cardiac disease which consumed too much vital force. Since then, Twain looked older than his age…

“When you grow old slowly like I do now, everything will leave without you, even those trophies. In fact, this is a part of life. When you lose something, you will know how precious it is because it is an irreplaceable memory in your life! No matter how many years have passed, you could still tell people proudly, ‘I took part in that match and we won at last!’” Twain said proudly with his chest out and jaw squared.

“This is the way of life. And it also applies to soccer. I mean we shall never give up any moment of glory no matter in our life or on the pitch even we have to pay dearly for such a moment! This is a war, guys! You shall do your best in each offense and defense and fight in every minute! Yes, I admit we don’t have a shiny all-star formation like Real Madrid. Compared to them, we are just like hillbillies coming from countryside. But soccer is a sport of 11 people! It is a team-working sport! So, our advantage is that we are a unit! We are a team! I believe everyone in this team is willing to sacrifice his life to achieve victory for the team! And you will fight restlessly for each ball!”

Twain started to say with emphasis as he waved his arms.

The players were motivated by his words and their eyes were filled with flames.

“I know the winner of every battle will be those team-workers who dare to sacrifice themselves! This is also the way of a soccer match. You will be unstoppable in this world when you are united and your heart is filled with the belief of triumphalism. I also know we are 100 times more powerful than that glittering bulb, because we are a team! I know even better that teamwork is the watershed between a winner and a loser! It is also the watershed between life and death!” Twain’s players also started to yell by following him.

“Let me tell you a truth. People who care about teamwork will always win at last!” Crack! He broke off the marker pen in his hand suddenly. The sound was echoing in everyone’s mind.

“If you are in a state of disunity, you will end up like this pen! When you are in trouble, when you have to confront the most powerful enemy in the most disadvantageous situation, you can always count on your teammates around you! Now, look at your teammates! Look at them, look at them in their eyes! They will be your most trusted men in the next 90 minutes! You are comrades-in-arms who share a foxhole and go through thick and thin together! When you are running off the ball, you know they will pass the ball to you. When you lose possession of the ball, you know they will grab the ball back. When you are facing your opponents’ offense, you know you are not alone, because they are just behind you! If you give up, you will put them in peril. You are willing to sacrifice your life to protect and help your teammates. This is not my request. It is because you know when you are in danger, they! Your teammates! They will also do that!!” His words were sonorous and forceful like a war drum. Everyone was motivated by his words and gestures.

“This is…teamwork! Gentlemen!”

Twain spread his hands as he looked at his players. His tone was softened. His heart-stirring speech reddened his face and made him pant heavily. However, it seemed his nuclear-powered heart was still quite efficient. Now, his life was not in danger.

Hearing his exciting words, the players started to look at their teammates around them. From their eyes, a message was quite clear – Hey, buddy, we are teammates!

“Now, you have an opportunity to leave the most precious fortune to your life. You have an opportunity to fight for the same goal together with the best professional footballers in the history! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You will never have another opportunity like this if you miss this one! Fight as if this is the last match in your life!” Twain said as he pointed at the door of the locker room, “No matter how powerful your enemies are, they can’t rival you! They are just a heap of loose sand. And you are the best team in the history!”

“We are the best!” A player, who couldn’t restrain the excitement in his heart, shouted at this time.

“I love soccer! I love this sport so much! Because of you, I can always relive my young years. When you are running and fighting on the pitch, I know my life is meaningful because I can still enjoy this passion! This is my career motivation! I hope you can still take me back to my young years tonight…don’t worry about my heart!” Twain said and shook his head as he placed his hand on his left chest, “It is still beating vigorously, like you! It longs for a victory and a champion, which has never been changed! Remember, guys, this is a nuclear-powered heart of champion! And you are the energy source of this heart!” Twain said as he pointed at his heart and the players in front of him.

“I heard people said…Nottingham Forest is not qualified to win the championship and the Treble! Because we don’t have star players and we look weak! Now, I am very glad that we have the opportunity to mock at their ignorance and stupidity to their face!” Twain said with a smile, “We are born to stand against others. If we are not qualified to win the championship, who else can do such a thing?” Twain looked around as he widened his eyes, “Who else? Who else is more qualified to win the championship than us?”

After taking a short break, he continued to say, “Now, let’s win our championship and let them say what they may. I have finished talking. What are you going to do?”

The players who were sitting stood up. Then, all players started to shout as they raised their arms, “Win the championship! Champion! Champion!”

“Treble! Treble! We will win the Treble!”

Huge roar, which was echoing in the locker room, was kept amplifying in this confined space. Also, it was echoing in everyone’s heart. Twain looked at those excited players with a solemn look.

Even George Wood who was always apathy turned around and looked at his overexcited teammates with his lips pressed together tightly. Raging flames could also be seen in his eyes. Actually, the flame was even more blazing deep in his heart.

At the very beginning, he played soccer to earn money to cure his mother’s sickness. Now, he enjoyed this passion of pursuing success very much.

As Twain said, he loved soccer because he enjoyed this passion! It was just like drugs in his life which was totally irresistible…

***

Florentino Pérez shook hands with Evan Doughty on the podium of Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. In his stadium, although he was courteous and ceremonious, he couldn’t conceal the sense of superiority and pride from the depth of his heart. After all, he was the most successful President of Real Madrid in the past 20 years. Compared to him, Ramón Calderón, Vicente Boluda and Lorenzo Sanz were just like clowns.

Indeed, Nottingham Forest was not on the same level with Real Madrid. In this dazzling and shiny white palace built with marbles, he was just like a proud king who was waiting for the audience of a visitor in his throne quietly.

Evan Doughty was like a foreign diplomat who was humble and inferior.

Evan didn’t like this feeling at all. In this place, almost everyone was looking forward to the victory of Real Madrid. Nottingham Forest had better be an excellent opponent to bring out the 10th champion of Read Madrid. It was just like the relationship between the red flower and green leaves.

Evan Doughty felt very lonely now. Even Allan Adams who was sitting beside him couldn’t bring him any sense of security. At this moment, they were just like 2 sheep who were trapped in a wolf pack.

When Evan saw Tony Twain came out from the corridor and walked to the coach seats of the visiting team, his discomfort disappeared gradually.

We are not making a pilgrimage in the greatest club in the 20th Century now. We are not interested in paying a visit to the 5-star toilet in this place. Tony, remember that and never forget it! Don’t let me shake hands with Florentino like this after 90 minutes!

Pull him down from his damned throne!

***