Eastwood’s return gave Twain great confidence. Confidence to go further in the Champions League.
Now the team basically had no major injuries. Everyone was in good shape. Twain could finally arrange his players and set the formations without having to factor in injuries this season.
After defeating the Rangers team in the away game, Twain met with the coaching team to readjust this season’s goals, which were to not compete for the title in the league tournament, letting Chelsea defend their own crown. It was good enough as long as the Forest team could maintain its current ranking. They would mainly focus on the Champions League. As for the FA Cup, their opponent for the next round was Chelsea. Twain decided to still send the players with few appearances to play in this game, regardless of the outcome. It would certainly be nice if they could eliminate Chelsea. But he would still be fine if they could not.
Where was the best stage to become famous? It was not a domestic league and definitely not the middling “oldest cup in history,” but the UEFA Champions League, favored by the television broadcasters.
Of course, as a former Chinese fan, Tang En still had a bit of a “Champions League Complex.”
This goal was consistent with Evan Doughty’s. Therefore, he was also very supportive after Twain told him the team’s future direction. Nottingham Forest no longer had the need to prove themselves in the domestic league. Now everyone recognized the Forest team’s ability as a first-rate domestic team. Twain now needed them to prove themselves internationally to the European continent and the entire world. Let everyone know Nottingham Forest through the Champions League. Let AC Milan, Inter Milan, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Juventus… Let all those big guys know that from now on, they have another powerful opponent. We’ll take their money. Yes, Robin Hood is here to rob them of their money and honor!
So, even though there was another game, the Rangers team’s ending had already been determined.
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Before the second leg of their match with the Rangers team, the Forest team lost to Everton in an away game for the league tournament, but no one was surprised by it. Twain had hidden away most of the main players. Even the main goalkeeper, Edwin van der Sar, who had played in the league tournament ever since he first started, was put on the bench. Twain’s thoughts were known to everyone.
Eastwood, who had scored the winning goal in the last game, was not in the starting lineup. Instead, he continued to sit on the substitutes’ bench and watch the game.
Twain gave him fifteen minutes in the game and his performance was quite satisfactory. The Romani Gypsy striker still lacked a rapport with the team, but he did not have to prove himself with a goal. He had already done that in the last round of the league tournament. Now no one doubted his ability anymore.
Moyes’s team sent his strongest lineup to face Nottingham Forest with half of its main force. Perhaps Everton never forgot that Nottingham Forest had surpassed them in the final stages of last season and become the fourth team to represent England in the UEFA Champions League.
Seeing how impressive the Forest team was now, the Everton side would inevitably think, If that were us, we would be just as impressive!
As a result, the game with Nottingham Forest had some special significance. They had lost to the Forest team in the away game in the first half of the season. This time, back at their home ground, Moyes did not want to lose again.
It was as he wished. The final score of the match was 1:0. The home team, Everton, defeated Nottingham Forest. Even though Nottingham Forest had deliberately retained their strength, the points were valid and solidly fought for. Nothing was more important than that.
After the game, Moyes was in a good mood. When he shook hands with Twain as friends, he wished the Forest team all the best in another tournament.
“I think the best result will be for Everton to be second in the league at the end of the season and for you to be the champions of the Champions League.”
Twain laughed when he heard that. He was not the slightest bit upset that he had lost the game. “You’re so unambitious, David. If it were me, I would say this: the best result will be that we become the Premier League champion and you become the Champions League champions. We’ll all be happy.”
Moyes also laughed. “No, that’s not your style, Tony.”
“No?”
“Well, your style is more like…” Moyes lowered his voice and said in a gruff voice, “The best result will be that we get the league title at the end of the season and then also win the Champions League.”
Twain scratched his head. That day was still a great distance away from him. Even though he wanted to say that, he and the Forest team did not have that kind of stamina yet.
Due to their loss to Everton and Manchester United’s away victory of 2:1 over Wigan Athletic in the same round, the gap in points between Nottingham Forest and Manchester United had narrowed from nine to six points. Ferguson’s team was so aggressive, but Twain was currently too occupied to take it into consideration.
Three days later, at the City Ground stadium, the Nottingham Forest fans anticipated their round 16 opponents: the Scottish Premiership team, Rangers Football Club.
Nottingham Forest played with ease. All of the conditions were favorable to them. Their morale was running high and the Rangers team was under immense pressure. The game was very difficult for the Rangers team. They not only had to beat the Forest team, but they also had to score big.
Nottingham Forest’s three away goals were like three mountains pressing down on top of the Scots.
That was not the worst thing to happen.
The match had only been going for three minutes and forty-one seconds when the home team scored a goal.
The player who scored the goal was Arteta. His long shot drilled through the Rangers goalkeeper’s ten-finger catch.
The City Ground stadium immediately went crazy. Twenty-seven thousand people seemed to send out the cheers of two hundred and seventy thousand people.
“4:2! Nottingham Forest has extended its lead to two goals! The Rangers are in trouble now. Before Arteta’s goal, they needed to win two goals against the Forest team in this game. Now they need to score three goals without letting the Forest team score again! But look at Nottingham Forest’s condition and momentum. I think that’s an impossible mission.”
That goal shook the Rangers players’ confidence; it had come so fast that they were completely unprepared mentally.
In the next ten minutes or so, the visiting team desperately tried to score goals. They kept attacking the Forest team’s penalty area. But they played haphazardly. The Scottish team’s play was simple and crude and consisted of long balls. In the face of defenders like George Wood, Piqué, and Pepe, they were not afraid of such physical attacks.
In fact, the Rangers players might ask themselves when they attacked: The home team has already scored three goals, is it still possible for us to stop them from scoring? We can’t do it at all!
Consequently, they really could not do it.
The game completely fell into Nottingham Forest’s rhythm ten minutes after the start of the second half. The home team recklessly passed the ball and the Rangers players were aggressive in their interceptions but to no avail. The Forest players were already in the zone and coordinated well.
At the 79th minute of the game, Mark Viduka scored the second goal of the game in a positional play, completely locking in the victory.
The Rangers players gave up on the conviction that they could continue to resist, and the game went into garbage time.
The score of 5:2 was like a completely insurmountable mountain in the visiting players’ minds.
In the last ten minutes of the game, the intense battle suddenly dissipated. The Rangers players did not know how to charge forward and rob the ball that was controlled by Nottingham Forest in the field.
The Nottingham Forest fans in the stands had already started celebrating.
They shot into the top eight in their return to the UEFA Champions League after twenty-four years. It was truly a great achievement!
The television cameras started to give Tony Twain frequent close-ups. This was the man who had created everything in front of them. The revival of Nottingham Forest had officially begun the day he took the Forest team manager’s position.
“The game is over! The leading dark horse of this UEFA Champions League is born: Nottingham Forest eliminates the Rangers and advances to the top eight! The scene from twenty-four years ago seems to have emerged in front of our eyes again: when Brian Clough led the small team to first appear in the European Cup, who paid any attention to them? Did anyone take them seriously? Did anyone think that they would threaten their teams? And what happened in the end? From now on, those European powerhouses must think long and hard about those questions!”