Chapter 554: Volume 4: The Storm Approaches the City
No matter how important the thirty-seventh round is to the final title of this season, it must be put aside for now. The three protagonists of the thirty-seventh round of the league will usher in a more important battle than this - Manchester United will go to Milan to challenge AC Milan away, and Nottingham Forest will welcome Chelsea at home.
Since three Premier League teams have reached the semi-finals this year, the attention of the media in England to the Champions League is far higher than in previous years.
A large number of media followed Manchester United to Milan, Italy, and a large number of media poured into Nottingham City.
The war is imminent.
For this game, Mourinho attaches great importance to it, and all healthy Chelsea players were brought to Nottingham by him. From the fact that he did not hesitate to draw in the last round of the league and also adopted rotations, it can be seen that he still prefers to make a breakthrough in the Champions League. After all, he has been at Chelsea for two seasons and has already won two league championships. The league championship is not as attractive to him as before, and the Champions League is the stage where he is more eager to prove himself. Chelsea fans are also a little tired of always dominating the country. They hope to see their team win the Champions League.
The European Champions Cup, this is the only championship that Chelsea has not won. Being able to become the king of Europe is an unavoidable temptation for everyone. Many people now say that although Chelsea have won two league titles, they are still nouveau riche. If they fail to win the Champions League, this hat will always be with them.
Nobody likes being an "upstart".
In an interview the day before the game, Mourinho said with confidence that he came here to beat Nottingham Forest and then reach the final. Other than that, he doesn't think about anything.
"...my players are in good shape, my team is in good shape, I'm in good shape, everything's fine. I'm just waiting for one win... two away goals? It doesn't matter, As long as we beat them by two goals or more."
Mourinho was so confident that a Nottingham newspaper even used the term "soldiers approaching the city" to report Chelsea's arrival.
Later, when Tang En was interviewed, he didn't take Mourinho's words to heart. "Anyone can fight with words. It doesn't take three seconds to say that I want to win. It's as simple as that." He spread out to the reporters. Hand, "Let's watch Mr. Mourinho's wild words after the game. I hope he won't blush because of what he said."
A reporter asked Tang En if he still planned to stick to the defensive counterattack at home, but Tang En changed the subject. Of course he wouldn't tell reporters this kind of thing.
Tang En was not in the mood to spar with Mourinho before the game, but Mourinho was very active, and published a lot of remarks in the newspapers to irritate Nottingham Forest. Tang En knew that this was Mourinho's psychological tactic, if he fought against him, he would be fooled by him. So he always avoids, avoids and avoids, letting Mourinho sing a one-man show.
After winning the game, he can use words to fight back against Mourinho, but now is not the time.
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Of the two semi-finals, this one in Nottingham is the first one. Tomorrow night will be Manchester United vs. AC Milan. Because of the personal grievances between Tony Twain and Mourinho, this game has also attracted more people. look.
On May 2, the afterglow of the setting sun still remained in the western sky. From a distance, there was only a little light under the black sky, which proved that the night had not come completely. Despite this, the street lights in Nottingham have long been lit, the Trent River reflects the reflection of the lights along the bank, and the Trent Bridge is crowded with people.
Nottingham Forest fans and Chelsea fans "dressed up" to the city stadium in two different ways, with police guards and close surveillance along the way. Since Twain joined the team, these policemen have been busy every match day. Last year was the first time in 26 years that the City Stadium hosted the semi-finals of the Champions League. At that time, the police in Nottingham seemed a little flustered, but today they are much calmer.
A police car stopped on the side of the road, and the young policeman watched vigilantly at the large group of Nottingham Forest fans passing by.
His partner came around from behind the car, an elderly policeman with gray hair and wrinkled face.
"Relax, boy. It's no big deal. We're not an area where football hooligans are active. And since that incident, it's rare to see large-scale fights before and after games." The old policeman leaned on the car door , chatting with young colleagues. "Relax, relax, will you watch the game later?"
The young policeman turned his head and looked at him in surprise: "We still have to be on duty, how do we watch the ball?"
"It's not just going to the scene to watch the game." He leaned into the car and turned on the car radio. Immediately a voice came from inside:
"...We saw that the teams from both sides had already arrived at the city stadium in buses. Nottingham Forest was the first to get off the bus. The head coach Tony Twain got out of the bus and waved to the fans..."
The young policeman looked at the old policeman in surprise.
"Just listen to the radio. I didn't have such a well-developed TV broadcast when I was a child." He pointed to a signal car for TV broadcast in the distance, "At that time, everyone listened to the radio and liked to listen to the radio. When I won the Champions Cup, I listened to the whole game on the radio. At that time, I was as young as you, and I was also on duty." The old policeman recalled the past with a smile. "Almost every home game of the Forest team, I listen to the radio in the police car. This is the area I am in charge of." He pointed to his feet, "Every home game day, I will be here and watch the city there The stadium, listening to the radio, you have to turn up the volume as much as possible, because from there..." He pointed in the direction of the city stadium, "you can hear a lot of noise, just like watching a game live."
"It was the same when...the Forest team was relegated?" asked the young policeman.
"That's right. As long as there is a home game, I will come here to perform duties. Although we have been relegated, our home attendance has always been the highest among teams in the league at the same level." Speaking of this, the old policeman is quite proud . "Of course, not as good as now." His tone became more proud.
Another large group of Nottingham Forest fans walked past the police car in groups, led by a fat man with a somewhat whitish scarf around his neck. Seeing this group of people, the old policeman turned around and took out a Nottingham Forest scarf from the car, and hung it around his neck. The young man notices that the style and color of the scarf are very old-fashioned, and it seems to be old.
This group of fans became excited when they saw the old policeman with a scarf around his neck. They chanted the slogan of cheering for Nottingham Forest and paid tribute to the old policeman.
"Athens! Athens!"
"0415, report the situation on your side. It's over." The walkie-talkie on the old policeman's shoulder rustled.
"Report at 0415, the south exit of Trent Bridge, everything is normal, over." The old policeman looked at the group of fans and said to the walkie-talkie.
The group of fans had already chanted slogans and walked away.
The old policeman looked away from the fans and said: "I will retire in a week. At that time, I can finally go to a real live game and cheer for the Forest team in the stands, although Athens is a bit far away..."
"But there is still this one in the semi-finals, who knows what the final result will be..."
"No, we will definitely win." The old policeman looked at the young man and said firmly, "Of course we will win."
The young man was stunned, and no one spoke for a while, only the radio in the car was still rustling:
"...The two teams have entered the city stadium to warm up. The two head coaches will definitely give their best in this game, because this is a key battle related to who will eventually go to Athens. Although they scored two goals in the away game After defeating Chelsea, Coach Twain didn't dare to take it lightly. Coach Mourinho also won't give up just because he lost the first round..."
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The heat in the city stadium has cooled down a bit, as the players from both teams who were on the field have returned to their respective locker rooms.
In the locker room, Dunn looked at the players who had already changed their jerseys, preparing for the final mobilization.
"Forget about the 2:1 a week ago." This is his opening line, "If we can't win this game, then that 2:1 is meaningless, so go too much before the result is out." Considering that the game is over will not help to win. Some people say that the first leg victory has us half in the Olympic stadium of Athens, but I will say that is fart! Now I ask you to completely forget the first leg, Put all your energy into the game in front of you!"
"Mourinho's Chelsea will not let us go easily. If you want to go to Athens, you have to step on their dead bodies. Do you understand me when I say that?"
Ribery stood up with his arms raised.
"Do you have any questions, Frank?" Dunn asked with a straight face.
"I think you are talking nonsense, boss. Does anyone among us feel pity for Chelsea?" Ribery looked back at his teammates, and everyone nodded in agreement. "Of course we'll knock Chelsea down and step on their dead bodies to go to Athens, otherwise they'd be stepping on our dead bodies, right?"
"That's right!"
Tang En grinned and said, "Frank, I think you will soon be able to stand here and spit instead of me. Why don't you come up?" He pointed to his feet.
Franck Ribery waved his hand quickly: "This is not good, it is very hard to be a player and a coach." He sat back on his buttocks.
"I'll continue..." Tang En thought for a long time, and found that Ribery had finished all he wanted to say. He scratched his head and said with some annoyance, "Damn it, Frank, you stole my lines!"
There was a huge burst of laughter in the locker room, among which Ribery laughed the most happily and proudly.
"Okay, let's step on Chelsea's dead body to Athens!" He waved.
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Mourinho is pacing back and forth in the dressing room, and the players are already ready, waiting for him to say something. He was thinking about what to say.
The home defeat and the two conceded goals are like a big rock on the head of the whole team, and it is impossible not to think about it. Going to Athens, it is not enough to win the Forest team by one goal in this game. They will also be eliminated 1:0 because of fewer away goals.
"Nottingham Forest will definitely counterattack with defense at their home court." After walking back and forth for several times, Mourinho stood up, turned and looked at his players and said, "If we are eager to score and press hard, we will go up. Twain was fooled. So we can't go all out, or we can't sacrifice defense for the sake of offense, everyone knows that Nottingham Forest is best at defensive counterattacks. Therefore, I ask you to mark the whole game."
After saying this, everyone looked at each other in blank dismay. They didn't expect the boss to arrange such a tactic.
"Is it difficult?" Mourinho asked.
Everyone shook their heads one after another, marking the audience was not a problem.
Grant, the technical director standing next to Mourinho, frowned. He interjected worriedly: "Jose, how can we guarantee our physical strength?"
The Israelis are right to worry. Now is the end of the season. After nearly a season of fighting, everyone's physical fitness is on the verge of exhaustion. It takes a lot of physical strength to mark the whole field. If the physical strength can't keep up in the second half, wouldn't the forest team fight back defensively? Are you more comfortable?
Mourinho glanced at him, and didn't look him in the eye, but looked at the players in front of him and said, "Twain would never have thought that we would suddenly decide to play full-court defense and press. His team couldn't react. , This is our chance. Seize it, the sooner you score the better! The goal completely disrupts their deployment and plan, and then strive to decide the outcome of the game within 75 minutes!"
This is actually the answer to Grant, but Mourinho really doesn't like this Israeli technical guidance that fell from the sky.
Technical guidance, who is the guidance? Coaching players, what qualifications does he have to coach my players, Maradona or Pele? So is it... to guide me? joke!
"Pressure the whole court, use any means to destroy their passing line and offensive rhythm! But be careful to take cards, and show me a little bit of wisdom! We are an away game, and the referee's factor must be considered. I don't want to spend three or four people. The price is to go to Athens." Mourinho pointed to his players and said, "At the most critical time, I will not allow any of you to fall behind!"
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"This is the first game of the second round of the semi-finals of the European Champions Cup in the 2006-07 season. As a civil war in England, this game has attracted the attention of fans in England. Nottingham Forest's home city stadium is full of seats, and there are also a large number of fans. There is no way to go to the scene to experience the atmosphere of the semi-finals, because the city stadium can only accommodate 30,000 people at most, and for safety reasons, 28,000 people entered the stadium to watch the game..."
The TV in the VIP box is playing live commentary, and the commentator will introduce some information about the stadium.
Alan Adams looked up at the TV for a while, then retracted his gaze, looked at the crowded stands below and said to Evan Dougherty next to him: "Although it has a history of more than 100 years, this stadium is really too small. It's... It's affecting our ticket revenue. Nottingham Forest's attendance rate has always been at the forefront, but our ticket revenue is the bottom. It's really not a normal phenomenon."
Evan nodded: "I feel the same way. Our stadium is too small, and it doesn't match our current results."
"Now there are two options. A, expand on the basis of the city stadium and increase the number of seats; B, choose a new stadium."
"Which one do you prefer? Allen."
"B. That way we have the opportunity to attract more investment. It would be great to add 5,000 seats on the original basis, but that number is still not enough. If we build a new one, we can build a luxurious stadium that can accommodate 60,000 people. "Alan talked about his plan enthusiastically.
Evan didn't agree to anything right away, he just nodded: "Money is not a small problem."
"We could auction stadium naming rights to companies investing in new stadiums, like Arsenal's Emirates Stadium."
"It's a good idea, but we are not Arsenal, and there may not be companies that will pay hundreds of millions of pounds to build a stadium for us."
In the stadium, players from both sides have lined up and walked out of the tunnel, appearing in front of the public, and there was a burst of cheers like a tsunami.
Allen watched this scene and said with a smile: "If we can continue to win championships, there will be companies willing to invest in us."
Hearing what Allen said, Evan was thoughtful.
After a while, he said: "Let's wait until the end of the season. If Tony wins the Champions League as he promised, I will seriously consider this suggestion. European champions can't nest in a room that can only accommodate more than 20,000 people." In a shabby stadium."
He looked up and looked at the "VIP box", which was all the way to the end. Compared with Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge, Emirates Stadium, and Anfield Stadium, it was really shabby.
Things that are more than a hundred years old should be eliminated.
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Sorry, things took longer than expected.