Chapter 81: The army is at the city

No matter how important the 37th round is to the final championship of this season, we must put it aside for the time being. The three protagonists in the 37th 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.

With three Premier League teams entering the semifinals this year, England's media are paying much attention to the Champions League than in previous years.

A large number of media followed Manchester United to Milan, Italy, and a large number of media flocked to Nottingham City.

The war is about to break out.

Mourinho attaches great importance to this game. He has brought all healthy players to Nottingham by him. From the fact that he did not hesitate to draw in the last round of the league and had to use rotation, it can be seen that he still hopes to make a breakthrough in the Champions League. After all, he has won two league championships in two seasons at Chelsea. The league championship is not as attractive as before. He is more eager to prove his stage. Chelsea fans are also a little tired of always dominating the country. They hope to see their team win the Champions League trophy.

The European Champions League is the only championship that Chelsea has never won. Being the king of Europe is an temptation that everyone cannot avoid. Now many people say that although Chelsea has won two league championships, they are still nouveau riche. If they cannot win the Champions League, this hat will always be with them.

No one likes to be a "nova".

On the day before the game, during an interview, Mourinho said confidently that he came here to defeat Nottingham Forest and then enter the finals. Apart from that, he did not consider anything.

"...My players are in good shape, my team is in good shape, and I am in good shape. Everything is fine. I'm just waiting for one victory now... two away goals? It doesn't matter, as long as we win more than two goals for them."

Mourinho is so confident that some Nottingham newspapers even used the word "army at the city" to report on Chelsea's arrival.

Later, Don En did not take Mourinho's words to heart in an interview, "Everyone can do verbal battles, and it will take me three seconds to say I want to win, it's that simple." He spread his hands to the reporters, "It's better to wait until the game is over before seeing Mr. Mourinho's crazy words. I hope he won't blush because of his words."

A reporter asked Tang En if he still planned to insist on defending and counterattack at home, but Tang En spared the topic. Of course, he would not tell the reporter about such things.

Don Eun didn't have the heart to have a verbal battle with Mourinho before the game. Mourinho was very active and made many remarks in the newspaper that stimulated Nottingham Forest. Don Eun knew that this was Mourinho's psychological tactics. If he fought, he would be his favorite. So he always avoided, avoided and then avoided, and asked Mourinho to sing a solo show.

He can fight back with words after winning the game, and it is not the time.

In the two semi-finals, this game was the first in Nottingham, and it will be Manchester United vs. AC Milan tomorrow night. Because of the personal grudge between Tony Don and Mourinho, this game also attracted more attention.

On May 2, there was still the sunset in the western sky. From a distance, there was only a little light under the black sky, proving that the night had not come completely. Despite this, the street lights in Nottingham City had already lit up, and the surface of the Trent River reflects the brilliant reflection of the lights along the coast, and the Trent Bridge was crowded with people.

Nottingham Forest fans and Chelsea fans headed towards the city stadium in two different places, with police guards all the way. They were closely monitored. Since Donn joined the team, these policemen have been busy every game day. Last year, the city stadium held the Champions League semi-finals again after twenty-six years. At that time, the police in Nottingham seemed a little busy, and today they were much more relaxed.

A police car parked on the side of the road, and the young policeman looked vigilantly at the large group of Nottingham Forest fans walking past him.

He walked around from behind the car and partnered with an elderly policeman with gray hair and wrinkles on his face.

"Relax, boy. It's no big deal. We are not an area where football hooligans are active. And since that incident, there have been few large-scale fights before and after the game." The old policeman leaned against the car door and chatted 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 work, how do we watch the football?"

"It's not just about going to the scene to watch the game." He leaned into the car and turned off the on-board radio. A voice immediately came from inside:

"...We saw that the teams on both sides had already taken buses to the city court one after another. The first one to get off the bus was Nottingham Forest. Head coach Tony Donn walked out of the car. He waved to the fans..."

The young policeman looked at the old policeman in surprise.

"Just listen to the radio. I didn't have such developed television broadcasts when I was a child." He pointed to a televised signal truck in the distance. "At that time, everyone listened to the radio. Everyone liked to listen to the radio. When the Forest Team won the Champions League for the first time, I listened to the entire game on the radio. At that time, I was as young as you and on duty. "The old policeman recalled the past with a smile. "I listened to the radio in the police car at home. This is the area I was responsible for." He pointed at his feet, "Every home game day, I would be here, watching the city stadium there, listening to the radio, and turning the volume as loud as possible, because from there..." He pointed to the direction of the city stadium again, "There can be a lot of noise, just like watching the football on the spot."

"The same is true 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 work. Although I have been relegated, our home attendance rate has always been the highest among the teams in the same league. " Speaking of this, the old policeman was quite proud. "Of course, it's not as good as it is now." He spoke even more proud.

Another large group of Nottingham Forest fans walked past the police car in groups, leading a fat man with a slightly white scarf hanging around his neck. Seeing this group of people, the old policeman turned around and pulled out a Nottingham Forest scarf from the car and hung it around his neck. The young man noticed that the style and color of the scarf were old-fashioned, and it seemed that he had been a little old.

The fans were excited to see the old policeman with scarves around their necks. They shouted slogans to cheer for Nottingham Forest and paid tribute to the old policeman.

"Athens! Athens!"

"0415, report on your situation.                                                          

"0415 Report, Trent Bridge South exit.    Everything is normal, it's over." The old policeman looked at the group of fans and said to the intercom.

The group of fans were already walking away with slogans.

The old policeman took his eyes off the fans and said, "I will retire in another week. I can finally go to see a real live game and cheer for the Forest in the stands, although Athens is a bit far away..."

"But there is still this game in the semi-finals, who knows the final result is..."

"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. No one spoke for a while, only the radio in the car was still making rustling sounds:

"...The teams of both sides have entered the city stadium to warm up. The two head coaches will definitely send their main players in this game, because this is a key battle that concerns who will eventually go to Athens. Despite scoring two goals away from home, Coach Done did not dare to take it lightly after defeating Chelsea. Coach Mourinho will not give up because he lost the first round..."

The city stadium has been slightly less popular, as both teams of players who were hot on the stadium have returned to their respective locker rooms.

Tang En looked at the players who had already changed their jerseys in the locker room and was ready to make the final mobilization.

"Forget the 2:1 game a week ago." This is his opening remark. "If we can't win this game, then that 2:1 game is meaningless, so going to think too much about the ending game before the result comes out will not help to win. Some people say that the victory in the first round has left us half of our body in the Athens Olympic Stadium, but I want to say that this is fart! Now I ask you to completely forget the first round and devote all your energy to the game in front of you!"

"Murinho's Chelsea will not let us go easily. If you want to go to Athens, you must step on their bodies. Do you understand what I say?"

Ribery stood up with his arms raised.

"Do you have any questions, Frank?" Don asked with a stern face.

"I think you're talking nonsense, boss. Will anyone among us have mercy on Chelsea?" Ribery looked back at his teammates, and everyone nodded in agreement. "Of course we will knock Chelsea down and then step on their bodies to Athens, otherwise they will step on our bodies. Are you right?"

"That's right!"

Donn grinned and said, "Frank, I think you can stand here for me soon and spit it out. Why don't you come up?" He pointed at his feet.

Ribery waved his hand quickly: "This is not possible. It's very hard to be a player and a coach." As he said that, he sat back.

"I'll continue to say..." Tang En thought for a long time and found that everything he wanted to say was finished by Ribery. He scratched his head and said with some annoyance. "Damn it, Frank. You snatched my lines!"

A huge burst of laughter broke out in the locker room, among which Ribery laughed the most happily and proudly.

"Well, let's step on Chelsea's body to Athens!" he waved.

Mourinho was paced back and forth in the locker room, and the players were ready long ago and were waiting for him to say something. He was thinking about what to say.

The home loss and two goals conceded were like a big rock on the top and bottom of the team's heads, and there was nothing we could not help but think about. To go to Athens, it was not enough to win the Forest team in this game. They would also be eliminated 1:0 because they scored few away goals.

"Nottingham Forest will definitely counterattack with defensive attacks at their home court." After several laps, Mourinho stood up and turned to look at his players and said, "If we are eager to score goals and press them on a big scale, we will be fooled by Don En. So we can't attack all the time, or we can't sacrifice defense because of the attack. Everyone knows that Nottingham Forest is best at counterattacks. Therefore, I ask you to keep a full-game defense during the game."

After saying this, everyone looked at each other, but they didn't expect the boss to arrange such tactics.

"Is it difficult?" Mourinho asked.

Everyone shook their heads, it was not a problem for the whole audience to keep a guard.

The technical director of Israeli Grant, who was standing next to Mourinho, frowned, and he interrupted with some concern: "Jose, how can we ensure our physical strength?"

The Israelis’ concerns are not unreasonable. It is now the end of the season. After nearly a season of fighting, everyone’s physical fitness has reached the verge of exhaustion. It takes a lot of physical energy to keep up with the whole game. If the physical strength cannot keep up in the second half, wouldn’t the Forest team be more comfortable in the defense and counterattack?

Mourinho glanced at him and did not look at him directly, but looked at the players in front of him and said: "Donn would not have thought that we would suddenly decide to play the full-game marking and pressing, and his team couldn't react. This is our opportunity. Grab it, the earlier the goal, the better! The goal completely disrupts their deployment and plan, and then strive to decide the game within 75 minutes!"

This is actually the answer to Grant, but Mourinho really has no good impression of this Israeli technical guidance that fell from the sky.

Technical guidance, who should I guide? Guidance players. What qualifications do he have to guide me, Maradona or Bailey? So is it... Guidance me? Just kidding!

"The whole game presses, use any means to destroy their passing route and offensive rhythm! But be careful to eat cards and make me smarter! We are away games. We have to consider the referee factors. I don't want to spend three or four people to go to Athens." Mourinho pointed to his players and said, "At the most critical moment, I don't allow any of you to fall behind!"

"This is the first game in the second leg of the European Champions League semi-finals in 2006-07. As a civil war in England, this game has attracted much attention from English domestic fans. The Nottingham Forest Home City Stadium is full, and there are also a large number of fans who cannot come to experience the atmosphere of the semi-finals, because the city stadium can only accommodate up to 30,000 people, for safety reasons. 28,000 people entered the game to watch the game..."

The TV in the VIP box is playing live commentary, and the commentator will introduce some information about this stadium to you.

Alan Adams looked up at the TV for a while, took his gaze back, and looked at the crowded stands below to Evan Dogette next to him, saying: "Although it has been more than a hundred years, this stadium is really too small... It has greatly affected our ticket revenue. The attendance rate of Nottingham Forest has always been at the forefront, but our ticket revenue is the lowest. It is not a normal phenomenon."

Evan nodded: "I feel the same way. Our stadium is too small and does not match our current results."

"There are two options now. a. Expand on the basis of the city stadium. Increase the number of seats; b. Select a new stadium to build."

"Which one do you tend to? Allen."

"b.  Then we have the opportunity to attract more investment, and it would be great to be able to add 5,000 seats on the original basis. But that number is still not enough.   If we build a new place, we can build a luxurious court that can accommodate 60,000 people.   " Allen said enthusiastically, planning his own plan.

Evan didn't agree to anything immediately, he just nodded: "Money is not a small problem."

"We can auction the stadium naming rights to companies that invest in new stadiums, just like the Emirates Stadium in Arsenal."

"This is a good idea, but we are not Arsenal, so there may not be any company that will pay hundreds of millions of pounds to build a stadium for us."

In the stadium, players from both sides had lined up and walked out of the corridor and appeared in front of the public. A burst of cheers like tsunamis came from the scene.

Allen looked at the scene and smiled: "If we can keep winning the championship, there will be companies willing to invest in us."

Evan thought to himself when he heard Allen say this.

After a while, he said: "Wait until the season is over. If Tony wins the Champions League as he promised, I will seriously consider this suggestion. European champions cannot stay in a shabby stadium that can only accommodate more than 20,000 people."

He looked up at this "VIP box" that was so connected to the end. Compared with Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge, Emirates Stadium and Anfield Stadium, it was really shabby.

An old thing that has been more than a hundred years ago should be eliminated.

Sorry, things took more time than expected.
Chapter completed!