“Anelka! GOOOAL! Unbelievably, Nottingham Forest takes the first goal in the away field and leads against home team Inter Milan!”
In a corner of Giuseppe Meazza Stadium, Nottingham Forest’s fans were jumping and cheering for joy. Their voices were practically the only sounds resounding through Giuseppe Meazza’s spectator’s stands at the moment. As fans of the away team, they numbered only two thousand. Being greatly outnumbered by Inter Milan’s fans, they had originally been suppressed by them. But finally, they stood proud and elated.
The two thousand fans of Nottingham Forest loudly sang their team song. Meanwhile, Forest’s players dashed towards that part of the stands and gathered at the bottom, cheering with their arms high alongside the group of spectators above.
At the same time, within bars doused in red in Nottingham, countless Nottingham Forest fans were cheering with them.
“In the 27th minute, Nottingham Forest takes a lead of 1:0. The scorer is Nicolas Anelka!” The live broadcast of Giuseppe Meazza reported the scorer’s name as per the usual process, and this time everyone heard the jeers of the home team fans.
Tony Twain and his assistant pumped their fists in celebration with the others.
The match was proceeding in an unexpectedly successful way now that they had gained an away goal in such an important match.
With an away goal in the bag, everyone’s heart settled. Following that, so long as they did not lose to the opponents by a large margin, it would be considered a victory for them.
Naturally, Tang En would not be content with that. While getting an away goal was good, he would not say no to getting more of them.
“Demi!” Tang En stopped Albertini, who had run back to the sidelines to drink some water, and showed him a thumbs-up.
“Great job!”
“That can’t be the only thing you want to say, Boss,” Albertini said with a laugh as he drank a mouthful of water.
“Of course. Tell them to keep playing that way. Defend and counterattack!”
“Alright.”
Returning to the manager’s seat, Tang En muttered to Kerslake like he was talking to himself, “We’re leading, so we can play defensive counterattacking with even more peace of mind now…”
“I think it’s rather interesting that we’re playing defensive counterattacking in front of Italians,” Kerslake said, smiling.
“It’ll be even more interesting if we win.”
The two looked at each other and smiled.
As the two managers of the away team chatted jovially, Mancini was biting his lip with an ashen face, staring into the field.
Was there anything that made him more unhappy than losing goals in the Champions League elimination match, on their home ground?
Yes, and that was to lose the match.
Although they had yet to lose the game, losing a goal was more than a small blow to Mancini’s plans. However, it was not yet time to make any adjustments. The strategy to go on the offense on their home ground was sound. Now, they could only continue attacking; he was not about to quietly watch his team fall behind.
As a result, when the match restarted, Inter Milan’s attacks became even more ferocious. Anelka, however, seemed to completely vanish after scoring the goal. Forest had no attack whatsoever to speak of; once again, they were forced into the 30-meter region by Inter Milan.
Up until now, Verón’s performance had been nothing special. In fact, Tang En felt that his condition was not too good; George Wood did not even need to specifically mark him. With heavy troops deployed in the mid and backfield for Forest Team, the area around and within the penalty box became as crowded as a wet market. When Inter Milan’s players broke through into the area, they immediately found themselves surrounded by people, making it beyond tough for them to accurately send the ball to another teammate.
Even Cambiasso came forward to participate in the offense. He tried to pass the ball over to Martins, who was in front, but it was intercepted by Albertini midway through; due to the crowd of players, it was a feat achievable with the mere extension of his leg. With everyone compacted in the area, it was very easy to kick the ball into the opponent’s possession.
But Albertini’s interception only circumvented that single attack from Inter Milan; the ball did not fall entirely within Forest’s control. In fact, it was the reverse. Due to Inter Milan’s team pressing forward heavily, the backfield of Forest formed tremendous depths. With the offensive line layered upon layers, Forest’s interception of the ball swiftly led to it again landing beneath the foot of another Inter Milan player. They would then move forward, be intercepted again. and the cycle would repeat itself in that way. Entering Forest’s penalty area was as difficult as climbing into heaven. George Wood and Albertini erected a tall wall before Pepe and Piqué. Other than long shots, frontal assaults had, on countless occasions, hit a dead end. And about passing center from the wings… Pepe and Piqué were both more than six feet tall and had excellent skills in heading; theirs was a defense that was entirely three-dimensional.
It looked like the defense of the English was even more authentic than that of the Italians.
But Tang En had learned tremendously about defending from the Italians. Now was an opportune moment to put it to use against an Italian football team; the effects seemed rather good. Inter Milan was unprepared against such a thorough defense from Forest. Other than using long shots, they did not have any better methods.
Verón took a long shot, as did Cambiasso, Figo, Adriano, and Martins. Even Materazzi ran up to take one. By the time the whistle sounded, signaling halftime, everyone had already lost count of the exact number of long shots executed by Inter Milan. The only thing they saw was Inter Milan’s helplessness against Forest.
In general, long shots are the easiest way to pry open an opponent’s defense when they are buckling down in their defense. But it is also the most uncouth, most technically deficient way of doing so. It felt like trying to hit the jackpot. From another perspective, the frequent use of long shots by a team clearly showed their agitation.
It was evident from the expressions of both teams when they were leaving the field; Inter Milan’s members lowered heads and walked swiftly, while Nottingham Forest’s players languidly walked to the players’ corridors.
That went for the two managers as well: Mancini had a stern and displeased expression, while Tang En and Kerslake walked back with smiles.
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“Everyone did really well.” Tang En praised everybody immediately upon walking into the room. “We’ve made Inter Milan suffer. We don’t look good on the field, but look at it: we got an away goal. I think it’s worth it! If we keep playing like this in the second half and wait for Inter Milan’s players to get anxious, victory will be ours!”
※※※
“Look at what everyone’s been doing.” That was the first statement from Mancini after he entered the home team’s locker room. His icy tone showed how angry he was. “Who taught you to take long shots whenever you got the ball on the field? I don’t remember telling you during training that the way to break an opponent’s tight defense is long shots!”
Inter Milan’s players all sat in silence.
“In the second half, seal off Albertini completely. I don’t care what method you use, but you can’t let him get the ball or pass comfortably. He’s a dangerous person. I think a few of you here are familiar with that appraisal.”
Javier Zanetti lightly nodded. Indeed, he was no stranger to it. When Albertini turned to pass the ball, he immediately set off after him, but it was a pity; if he were just a few years younger, he might have been able to intercept that ball. Without his realizing, he had truly gotten old.
“Cambiasso, you have to mark him more tightly!” Mancini pounded his fists. “I don’t want to praise our opponents in front of you, but you should observe number 13 closely! Watch how he defends.”
He had originally wanted to say, “Watch how he defends Verón,” but thought saying so would be unfair to Verón, deciding to change his phrasing at the last minute.
“Foul! Play a little rougher! This is our home field, what are you afraid of?”
Cambiasso felt he could not raise his head after the rebuke from Mancini. He knew in his heart that his defense against Albertini in the first half had been unsuccessful. Most of the time, Inter Milan was suppressing the opponents, so there was no need to pay attention to defending against him. But, when it came down to really needing Cambiasso to mark down the opponent, he had let him execute a high-quality long pass, directly aiding Anelka in scoring.
“Do you need me to teach you how to defend?”
Cambiasso shook his head. “No, sir.”
“Albertini is the core of their team. There’s no need to care about anyone else, Ribéry or Anelka. You only need to mark Albertini, that’s enough! When they get the ball in their backfield, they look for Albertini and let him take the responsibility of sending out the ball. Watch him and intercept their pass routes. Employ high-pressing defense against anyone else who gains possession of the ball. Even if we can’t intercept it, we have to force them into mistakes!”
“In terms of going on the offense…” Mancini waved his hands and made a motion to pull back. “If they aren’t coming out, pull them out. I don’t want to see any more dumb methods like using frequent long shots to break their defense! Use your brains. You’re Inter Milan’s players. You are professional footballers, not any amateur team! Is this your first day playing football?!”
In the end, Mancini failed to control his temper.
“This is the Champions League. It isn’t some friendly match. If we lose this match, do you know what that means?” Mancini pointed upwards at the spectators’ stand.
“Remember what you need to do. Did you see the face of Forest’s manager when he went off the field? He believes he’s already won. He thinks his team can beat Inter Milan here! Don’t let him get away with this.”