Chapter 254 The Second Round

April 25th, night.

Nottingham, Trent Bridge.

The police car with flashing police lights was parked on the side of the road, and the policemen wearing bright yellow reflective vests patrolled back and forth in groups of two or three, and kept making rustling sounds from time to time on the walkie-talkie on their shoulders.

"Forest! Forest! Nottingham Forest!"

A group of Nottingham Forest in red jerseys waving scarves in their hands and chanting slogans.

The police stared at the group of fans walking past him, tilted their heads and reported the latest situation in their jurisdiction to the intercom.

"We are in good condition here, everything is normal, it's over."

"Shasha...the north gate of the court...normal, it's over..."

After reporting on the situation, the policeman turned his eyes to the group of fans, and followed them away, turned across the Trent Bridge, and then went left, into countless people like them, and rushed to the city court standing by the river.

The helicopter passed over his head and a gust of wind blew.

"For the fans of Nottingham Forest, this evening is like a grand festival. The European Champions League semi-finals! They haven't experienced this feeling for a long time.

City stadiums are packed, maybe Evan, chairman of Nottingham Forest Club

Dogerty is dissatisfied with the capacity of this stadium... In fact, on such an important night, there are more fans who can only sit in the bar to watch the game because the city stadium cannot accommodate them... Arsenal will encounter very tenacious resistance here and face huge away pressure... Welcome to watch the second leg of the European Champions League semi-finals in the 2005-06 season!"

There were crowds of people outside, and the fans' singing and other messy voices came in through the cracks in the door.

Tang En walked to the door and closed the door of the locker room. The noise suddenly became much smaller, and at least now everyone could hear his words.

"Guys, in another ninety minutes, our fate will be revealed this season." Tang En cleared his throat. It made his voice sound less hoarse, but it didn't work. His voice had long been broken by the constant roars in recent years.

"This is a game that determines fate." He leaned down and pressed his hands on the table, looking at the players in front of him, all of whom had serious faces.

"I don't want to introduce it to you in the semi-finals of the European Champions League. You must be more clear than me. Listen to the sounds outside.

Our fans have never been looking forward to a game as they are today, and we can bring them more…” Don Eun raised his hand and then swung his head, “Victory!”

He looked at his watch, and he had some time to go out, and he had nothing to say.

"That's all, rest and prepare to appear." He turned around and opened the door. The sound from outside rushed in instantly. Tang En walked out and closed the door again, and the locker room returned to quiet.

Tang En walked straight to the dedicated bathroom, he was familiar with the road. Before the first game he led the Forest team.

He was just like this who hid in the bathroom to stabilize his mind and told himself that it was no big deal. Even if it wasn't a game, he would still play it.

Now he continues to play. And he is getting better and better, and he is in the semi-finals of the European Champions League. The feeling of being so nervous that he was a little unruly at the beginning is back.

The second round is different from the first round. This is the last ninety minutes, and success will be achieved. If it fails, there will be no chance of remedy.

The pressure increased sharply in an instant.

He acted as hard as possible in front of the players, and was confident, as if he had already arranged it. He didn't mind playing such a role, but his inner pressure also needed to be relieved.

Sometimes it is a good idea to curse your opponent at the news media before the game. But he can't curse your opponent in this game casually - Wenger still has some personal relationships with him...

So now Tang En can only smoke in this special bathroom to relieve the pressure in his chest.

He took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and took a deep breath. His heart calmed down with this deep breath.

His gaze penetrated the glass window on the left and saw the brightly lit earth court outside.

A group of children are pulling a huge round UEFA Champions League logo curtain towards the middle circle of the court.

The fans had already sat down, and reporters gathered on both sides of the stadium corridor, and then extended to the near the center line, with long guns and short cannons, all the shots were aimed at the exit of the corridor.

Everyone is looking forward to such a night and such a game.

As one of the protagonists, Tony Tangen, isn’t it?

After smoking a cigarette, Tang En, who had completely calmed down, walked out of the bathroom and walked through the narrow passage toward the home team's locker room.

When he turned out, he saw Wenger standing outside the door. Wenger heard the footsteps and turned his head to see Tang En.

"What a coincidence." Tang En took the initiative to say hello.

"Yes, what a coincidence." Wenger answered calmly.

He was not nervous at all, or it seemed like this. Tang En's mailbox may be considered an "old coach" and has a lot of knowledge, so he would not feel nervous. But then he thought about it again and again, for Arthur Wenger, this is also the first time he led the team to the semi-finals of the Champions League.

Such a meeting is really embarrassing. Neither side can say anything, because they are opponents now and have no idea about their future destiny.

Tang En walked to the door of the home team's locker room and said to Wenger, who was standing at the door of the away team's locker room: "Goodbye after the game."

"Goodbye." Wenger's words are as good as gold.

Don Eun turned the door open, and the players looked up at him.

"Are you ready, guys?" he asked leaning against the door.

"They are out!" Someone in the stands shouted loudly, and everyone around him turned his eyes to the exit of the player's corridor. This action was like a rock throwing from the calm lake, ripples spreading to the entire stands.

Amid the huge cheers, players from both sides walked into the stadium side by side. Walking at the front of the team were Arsenal captain Henry and Nottingham Woods captain George Wood.

In this game, Albertini was still sitting on the bench. As the season approached, his physical fitness could no longer keep up. Most of the time he could only sit on the bench and was sent to the court when needed.

The state shown in the game against Inter Milan was indeed unable to last. As he got older, his physical functions could not keep up. He is now consciously sitting near the coaching seat, and during the game, he can hear the coaching staff discussing tactics.

He has been preparing for his future coaching dream from now on.

Every time Henry and Wood shook hands before the game, exchanged team flags, and then began to guess the coin land, he would feel a very wonderful feeling - the captain in front of him was too young. Wood is the youngest captain among the top six teams in the league.

It is said that Wenger is good at using young people, and Tony Donn is even more unwilling to be outdone. There are several people in the Forest team who seem more suitable to be captains than Wood, such as Van der Sar who starts every game.

In fact, it wouldn't be too surprised if you were just young. What's even more surprising is that the young Wood did a good job in the captain position...

"Word." The referee placed the coin in front of Henry, pointing toward this side.

The referee turned the coin over and handed it to Wood, who nodded.

The coin was thrown high and fell on the turf. The referee leaned over to look, while Henry was looking at Wood.

"Word!" The referee picked up the coin, pointed at Henry, and signaled him to first.

"Take-off." Henry chose the one that was most beneficial to them without hesitation.

There is nothing to choose from for the rest. Wood chose the side where their team is warming up now as their half.

The captains of both sides shook hands with the three referees and then separated.

Tang En admitted that he had not considered what to do even after successfully advancing from the semi-finals. In his eyes, it is now the final.

He adjusted his sitting position and waited for the referee to whistle to start the first half.

“Accounting friends.

Welcome to the second leg of the European Champions League semi-finals in 2005-06. Both sides are nottingham Forest vs. Arsenal! This is a civil war in England. I believe that the English people hope that the two teams will meet at the Stadium in France (the venue for this Champions League final).

Taking this opportunity, let us introduce the starting list of both sides..."

Kenny Burns sat in the bar. He looked up at the large-screen TV hanging under the ceiling. The whole bar was packed with people in the same posture as him.

This Forest Bar used to be a place where Tang En often comes. Everyone here knows what kind of people the head coach of the Forest team is. They are also Tang En's most loyal fans. These people worship not a certain star, but a coach.

Although Tang En rarely comes back here to drink and chat due to work reasons, the fixed location of Tang En is still retained. Others are not allowed to sit.

Now, in the crowded bar, the only place is empty.

When the Forests' roster was introduced on TV, the people in the bar were like fans on the scene, shouting the names one by one. After calling the last name "Anelka", everyone added another one.

“…and Tony Donne!”

After shouting, they laughed and raised their glasses to drink.

Burns raised his glass to greet everyone, the charm that Brian Crowf had. It is now reflected in Tony.

The noise gradually stopped. Everyone looked up at the TV and waited for the game to begin.

A crisp whistle came from the TV. It sounded in every corner of the city.

The competition has begun!

“Arsenal took the initiative to attack from the beginning, and they had to do the same.

If you want to get the final ticket and concede a goal at home, Arsenal must attack in this game, score a goal, and break the forest team's advantage. Only in this way can the game be returned to Wenger's mastery... However, they are facing the third best team in the Premier League this season..."

"I don't agree with this statement. The Premier League is not the same as the Champions League. It may not be possible to defend well in the Premier League in the Champions League..."

Arsenal's Henry dribbled the ball and attacked, and he quickly fell into a circle of two people. Donne asked the team to implement clamping defense against Henry and pay attention to front and back protection. He should have depth when defending, so that he must never make it easy to break through.

Henry is no stranger to such defense, after all, he has been competing with the Forest for almost two seasons.

After attracting two Forest defensive players, Henry passed the ball out.

Fabregas followed up and received the ball, and at the same time, George Wood also forced him up. The Spanish teenager did not stop the ball and observed it. He saw Wood running over and passed the ball directly to Reyes.

Reyes made a cross and he pushed a low ball to try to create chaos in front of the Forest team's goal. Pepe kicked the football out of the sideline first.

Wood waved to his teammates in front and signaled them to come back to participate in the defense.

By the way, I forgot to say that recently something that made Donne happy was that George Wood was increasingly proactive in telling others about his thoughts, such as his actions in the game, which were difficult to see a season ago.

If he wants his teammates to return to defense or attack, he will tell them in his own way, rather than silently leaving a word.
To be continued...