Chapter 204: Round 1·City Stadium (Part 1)

The UEFA Champions League group draw ceremony ended in 2005-06. Nottingham Forest was assigned to Group D, with La Liga giants Real Madrid, Portuguese Premier League champion Benfica and Lille last season's Ligue 1 runner-up.

For the Forests, the strength of this group is not weak, and any team will cause them a lot of trouble.

Perhaps only Lille is the opponent that they can have some aspirations.

Real Madrid has almost booked a group qualifying seat. No one would doubt this, and no one would believe that Real Madrid would not even be able to qualify in the group stage in the end.

Then the remaining qualifying seat will be produced between Benfica, Lille and Nottingham Forest.

When Donn brought Shania to Spain in the summer of 2003, he faced Shania outside the Bernabeu stadium and said that there were only two possibilities to let him enter the stadium: one, he became the head coach of Real Madrid and stepped into the temple as the owner of the Bernabeu; the other, he led the team to the Bernabeu game, and was the enemy and opponent of Real Madrid.

I didn't expect that the second possibility would become reality so soon.

Group D is not the death group that everyone knows. European media analyzed that Nottingham Forest and Lille are teams with no hope of qualifying. They will become the first target in the group by Real Madrid and Benfica.

This view was raised by someone after the lottery was finished, when Tang En was interviewed by the media.

"I don't mind making meat to be slaughtered, but I hope that those who are preparing to cut us will sharpen the knife in their hands first so as not to break their own knife at the same time.

"Tang En showed no fear or worry. On the contrary, in the eyes of the media, Tony;Tang En was full of confidence.

But on the plane from Zurich to London, Don N's frown never stretched.

How is he trying to qualify from this group to the semi-finals?

Lille, who is about the same level as the Forest team, is the opponent that Tang En must win. He has to win both games before he is qualified to qualify in the group.

It's like relegation in the league. If you can't get enough points from weak teams, then don't expect to get upset on strong teams frequently.

The group stage is a home and away double round system. Don Eun doesn't bet on two games against Real Madrid. The key is to win two games with Lille.

Time is very tight, and he will start the Champions League strategy when he returns to China.

According to the schedule, in the first game of the group stage, Nottingham Forest will welcome La Liga giants Real Madrid at its home court...

For Evan.

This is good news, because home ticket revenue and TV broadcast dividends will belong to the home team Nottingham Forest. The arrival of Real Madrid will definitely make the originally popular market even more popular, and then the money will be large enough to go into the Forest’s account.

But for Don Eun... his brows were even tighter. George; Wood had two games left in the suspension period, and it was officially executed from the group stage. Without Wood... Don Eun... Don Eun had no confidence to block Real Madrid's terrifying attack cluster.

Although Real Madrid was in constant civil strife at this time, any of those stars had the ability to solve problems alone.

Zidane, Ronaldo, Raul, Robert; Carlos, Beckham... These names are really dazzling and troublesome.

Back in Nottingham's first day of training, Don said to his team: "Guys.

I believe you already know what opponents you will face in the Champions League group stage, and in ten days we will welcome Real Madrid at the City Stadium.

How about it? Did hearing such a name make your legs weak and did your heart beat faster?”

Ribery raised his hand: "Head. My heart beat faster. But it's not because of my nervousness, because my legs are not weak, I'm excited, I'm looking forward to this game!"

"That's right. Boss, we're all looking forward to it!"

"It's interesting to fight with a strong team!"

Seeing these players who were ready to go, Donne remembered that when he went to the bar to chat with Burns yesterday, he met John and the others. When talking about the night of the lottery, the hardcore fans watched it at the Forest Bar.

Unlike what Don En thought, when he saw that it was the same group as Nottingham Forest and Real Madrid, there were unanimous cheers in the bar.

John said to Don Eun: "Tony. To be honest, now we can't get any interest in playing football with weak teams. We just want to watch the Forest team play against the strong team. The stronger the opponent, the more excited we are."

"Do you wish Forests lost?" Tang En rolled his eyes.

"No, who said we will lose? We think the stronger the opponent, the greater the winning side of our opponent." John said with a smile, "Tony, this is all the confidence you give us."

"Real Madrid is not a strong team in the traditional sense."

"Of course we know. So we look forward to it more." John raised his glass and stood up and shouted with his arms wide open: "Let's cheers to the Forest Team this wonderful group! Let's cheer to the Forest Team! For victory!"

"For victory! For the forest! Ooooh!!" The people in the bar howled loudly, and Don shook his head gently with his glass.

You can't let these people down. This puts him in a huge pressure than winning the championship.

After coming back to his senses, Tang En was still in the training ground. He waved his hand and signaled the players to calm down.

"Very good. No matter what kind of opponent you encounter, you cannot lose your fighting spirit and confidence. Now, go for training!"

In fact, for Tang En, facing Real Madrid does not mean surrendering is the only result. In fact, let alone facing Real Madrid, Tang En will not surrender any wealthy family in the European continent.

Real Madrid has been in chaos in recent years, and negative news in various locker rooms has emerged one after another. The team's combat effectiveness has been getting worse every year. These are things that Tang En can use at that time.

He still remembers that this season was a season when the "Galaxy Battleship" fell apart, officially disintegrated, and withdrew from the stage of history.

Zidane will officially retire after participating in the World Cup at the end of the season. Before Zidane, the summer of this season, Figo's free transfer to Inter Milan had already occurred, which is exactly the same as the history in Don En's memory. Don En can determine that the era of Real Madrid's "Galaxy Battleship, Superstars' Race" is about to fall into his world.

Perhaps even if he wins Real Madrid at home, it is still difficult, but Tang En plans to try it out--he originally planned to hold on to a point, relying on the tactic of pressing and struggling all over the game, firmly holding down Real Madrid at the expense of offense and physical strength.

Now he suddenly wanted to try to see if he could win.

After playing the fourth round of the league, there was no game between the end of August and mid-September. The Forest team could devote all their energy to preparing for the Champions League group stage.

Tang En plans to fight for Real Madrid at home, so the tactics need to be adjusted.

It is almost certainly not feasible to defend in this game, because Wood is absent, the Forest's defensive system has been severely damaged. Tang En thought that instead of doing this, he would give it a try.

Anyway, if you just keep defending, there is a high possibility of losing. If you attack... you may even win if you are lucky.

But Tang En had a headache in the starting lineup, George; Wood was not the only defensive midfielder in the Forest team, but in Tang En's eyes he was the only one. Gunnarson's ability, but Tang Enxin, he would definitely not put the important task of defense on this person in such a game.

When Sun Jihai bought it, he was positioned as a panacea, but facing a team of Real Madrid, Tang En did not dare to let Sun Jihai start, and he knew that Sun Jihai's outstanding performance was not actually defense, but assisting ability.

The Forest team is not short of manpower in offense now, but the midfield's midfield defense problem is very prominent.

Pique or Pepe can play guest-game midfielder, but they are the Forests' unstoppable central defender combination this season. If one of them goes to be the midfielder, who will come to the other central defender? Matthew, Epson, Wes, and Morgan?, can't let Don't rest assured.

He had a headache, why did the first group match bet against an opponent like Real Madrid? The suspension of Wood affected the situation of the entire team.

But Wood's substitute is not easy to find - you have to find a player with a similar ability and can still be willing to sit on the bench for more than 30 games in a season... A player with such strength probably has been snatched away by other clubs long ago, right? Will he also come to the Forest team as a substitute?

In the end, Don En asked Pepe to mention playing the midfield as a midfielder. He had been a midfielder for a while when he was in Porto and was not unfamiliar with this position. The central defender partner Don En let Pique and Weiss and Mogan form a young defense line.
Chapter completed!