790 Heavyweight Skirmish

After they played the game with Chelsea, there was still one more league game before Nottingham Forest would fly to Barcelona, Spain for the Champions League quarterfinals.

Their opponent was not strong. It was only Blackburn Rovers. Tony Twain rotated the team again. Only half of the players who would play against Barcelona were in the game. In the end, Nottingham Forest easily beat Blackburn Rovers, which was not on the same level at all, by 3:1.

Nottingham Forest's game was played on Saturday afternoon. It was considered a slightly earlier game in this round of the Premier League. After the game, Twain handed the team to Kerslake and rushed straight to London with Dunn. They had to catch the evening flight to Madrid, Spain.

They were not traveling to Spain for a holiday, nor for an elopement. They were going there just to watch El Clásico live the next night at the Bernabéu, and to collect first-hand information at the nearest distance.

The team would not leave for Barcelona until Sunday afternoon. By that time, Twain and Dunn would have been waiting in their booked hotel for a long time.

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It was now six hours before the evening's game. They were already here early. It did not make sense to stay in the hotel. It was better to go out and explore. They could enjoy the atmosphere of a different country while relaxing their tight nerves.

Spain was not like England. Visitors wove through the sun-filled streets. Twain saw a lot of football fans from all over the world. He even saw East Asian faces. He did not know whether they were Chinese or Japanese. Some of them looked like ordinary tourists, wearing sun hats and sunglasses with cameras hanging in front of their chests. But some people paraded ostentatiously about town, wearing the jerseys of Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Fortunately, this was not Glasgow. There was no need to worry about being stabbed to death by the other side's hardline fans...

There were also the media from all over the world, doing random interviews with the football fans in the streets.

This scene was absolutely nonexistent in Nottingham. No matter how good Nottingham Forest was, the gap between a big city and a small town was not so easy to close. That was why most people still didn't think of Nottingham Forest as a "powerhouse"—the so-called "powerhouses" were not located in small cities.

Inter Milan and AC Milan were in Milan, Italy's second-largest city. Juventus was in Turin, the city of the car industry. Not to mention Barcelona and Real Madrid. Manchester United was in the heavily industrial city of Manchester, while Liverpool was a famous port and tourist city on a large scale. There was also Munich, home to Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga. Hoffenheim was also good in the Bundesliga, but no one would see them as a "powerhouse." Even they themselves did not think so.

Without a big city, there was no large market, which in turn lacked more interest. It was all linked. Nottingham Forest had completed its revival under Evan Doughty's administration, but there was still a long way to go to create even greater glory.

※※※

"It's the first time I've been to the stadium to watch El Clásico..." Twain and Dunn stood outside the Bernabéu stadium, looking up at the huge white building.

"When I was still a football fan, I looked forward to coming to Europe to watch the famous derbies like the Derby della Madonnina, the Manchester Derby, the Merseyside Derby, the North London Derby, and El Clásico...Unfortunately, I couldn't afford it." When Twain and Dunn were alone, he did not shy away from talking about who he had been formerly. "Now that I can afford it, I'm only able to fulfill the wish after so many years..."

"I thought you really wanted to spy on the enemy."

"Ha, of course I'm here to spy on the enemy. But it's normal to have some personal, selfish motives..."

"If you were a football fan, which team would you cheer for?" Dunn asked a question that had nothing to do with his job.

Twain touched his nose and thought for a moment, "Barcelona...maybe I think."

"Why the slight hesitation?"

"Because I wasn't sure what my mentality was at the time. I've been a manager for so many years. I had long forgotten what it was like to be purely a fan... Why did I support Barcelona? Because they played beautifully. But the only thing I think about when I watch the games now is whether I can win, even if I'm not a manager." He viewed a game the same way even when he was a guest pundit on the BBC.

Dunn smiled. "Occupational hazard?"

"Maybe."

"In fact, your current style of football is nice to watch. The rhythm is very fast, and the game is very intense."

"Someone thinks I'm improving my act, ha!" Twain thought it was funny when he said it.

Dunn laughed too, because he knew what Twain was like. It was not his style to win public support by doing this.

In the game against Barcelona, Twain would stick to his defensive counterattack tactics without any surprises. He would try for a draw, and score away goals. Then he would go back to the home side and seek the chance for a fatal blow.

To go directly against the team that was best in offense in the world, a manager would have to be crazy.

Standing in front of the home ground of Spain's most prestigious club, Twain looked up at the high-up name as a fan. Everyone loved beauty and was willing to pursue good things. Football was no exception. Beautiful football always won applause and cheers from the bottom of people's hearts. If Twain were a fan, he would pay sublime tribute to the teams which played beautifully but lost the game, and maintain the necessary respect. Even if he was not a supporter of that team.

However, he was now a manager, who could only rely on the pursuit of victory to prove his worth and maintain his position.

Suddenly a voice came from behind. Twain and Dunn could not understand what it was saying at all, so they ignored it. It was not until the voice rang out again that they realized it was directed at them.

At the same time, the owner of the voice had already gone around in front of them. She was a professionally dressed beauty, holding a microphone and followed by a cameraman with a camera on his shoulder.

It turned out to be an interview. Twain and Dunn looked at each other and saw surprise in each other's eyes—they had come to Spain without informing any media. How had the Spanish media found out? But they discovered they were mistaken in the next second.

"Tony Twain!" the female reporter screamed out.

Twain and Dunn glanced at each other again—it turned out to be sheer dumb luck...

They originally thought that in Spain—a place so unfamiliar that even if they had been kidnapped, they would not be able to find anyone for the ransom—they simply did not need to wear any sunglasses or be in disguise. They did not expect the dedicated reporters to be out so early to produce the program that they would run into them among so many people...

Twain's first reaction was to cough, lower his head, and say, "You've got the wrong person, Miss."

"How can it be?" The female reporter looked very excited, and said the rhetorical question with a laugh. "For the past month, the Catalan media has been plastered with all kinds of photos of you. I have collected a lot of them myself. How can I be mistaken?"

She was so happy, not because she was a big fan of Tony Twain and eager to have a one-night stand with him but because she was lucky enough to get the best news that no one else could get.

"It looks like you are part of the Catalan media, too. Don't you really want to give me a slap now?" Twain finally admitted his identity with reluctance. He knew he could not escape today. It would be better to admit it in this way.

"Although I'm not a lady, I'm not going to hit anyone casually, Mr. Twain."

"Oh, is that so? I read the remarks in the Catalan media. You guys are eager to tear me apart. To give you an exclusive story, I'm already thinking about whether to hire a professional bodyguard to protect me while I direct the game at the Camp Nou. If I were to be knocked out from a "weapon of mass destruction" such as a pig's head, would the game be suspended for a rematch? Would the home game at Camp Nou be cancelled?"

The Catalan reporter did not know whether to laugh or cry at Twain's remarks. She began to think that maybe it was not an enviable job to interview Tony Twain...

"Can we not talk about those things? Mr. Twain, I'm curious as to why you're here. Yesterday you were at the Premier League's technical area, directing the game..."

"Don't tell me you think I'm here to buy toilet paper?" Twain asked instead.

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"This is the latest news from our reporter outside the Bernabéu stadium. Let's take a look at whom Miss Savier met!" The "breaking news" was plugged in the pre-match special on the television station, TVC. The footage turned from the studio to the outdoors.

In the square at Bernabéu Stadium, Tony Twain faced sideways at the television camera, and opposite him was the beautiful reporter.

"What am I doing here? Don't tell me you think I'm here to buy toilet paper? Of course, I'm here to watch the game."

"Are you here to watch your opponent for the next game?"

"That's right."

"I can see that you take the next game very seriously. So, what do you hope will be the outcome for tonight's 'war of the century'?"

Twain gave an answer that surprised the reporter. "That Barcelona wins."

The footage cut back and the host smiled. "It's an unexpected answer. After Tony Twain wages a month-long war of words with us, is he now expressing goodwill?"

The interlude ended with the host's hilarious laughter.

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While waiting in line to check their tickets to enter, Dunn still could not figure out why Twain would answer in that way.

"I thought you would say 'I want Barcelona to lose,' even if you didn't say, 'I want Barcelona to have a few more injured players.' Why are you acting abnormally...?"

Twain smiled. "We have to play a defensive counterattack, so naturally we have to dial down our attitude. That's how Barcelona will be willing to press ahead to attack. Although it does not matter what tactics we play—Barcelona will still stick to the offense—they certainly want us to attack them. We are not going to do what they want. A lower stance and playing a defensive counterattack will be best for us."

Having said that, he smacked his lips again and said, "If someone like me went to Barcelona to coach, I would probably be sacked after the first game, right? Ha!"

Dunn laughed when he thought about what kind of treatment someone like Tony Twain would receive if he were to stand at Camp Nou's technical area. "You would probably be the first coach in Barcelona's history to be booed by his own team's fans every game."

"That's too bad. I hate the method of booing one's own team. But I'm looking forward to hearing the boos at Wednesday's game." Twain opened his arms as if to hug the boos. He added, "The fiercer they boo, the more afraid they are!"

※※※

The clash between Barcelona and Real Madrid appeared lackluster against the backdrop of the Champions League quarterfinals. This disappointed Twain. The "war of the century" he most wanted to see would be like this: the referee would crazily issue cards like a dealer in a Las Vegas casino, the players of both teams would repeatedly collide on the field like 22 bulls in heat, and then a few core players would be in a heated collision. Or maybe it would not necessarily be intense. The process was not important. What mattered was the result—for them to be injured and leave the pitch. The latest news from the hospital the next day would be that these people would all be injured for a month, just missing the two games against the Forest team.

Unfortunately, Guardiola was not a fool. The "war of the century" was a game that he could least afford to lose in the season, but he was not willing to give up the Champions League. What heartened him was that his rival, Real Madrid, had also reached the top eight of the Champions League, and they did not want to use up too much energy in the "war of the century."

The two sides tacitly played a slow-paced match on the pitch, much to Twain's dissatisfaction. He booed in the stands like an ordinary fan. "Such a game should really refund the ticket price and the TV broadcast fee! They're practically deceiving the spectators! It's so fake!"

There were plenty of spectators at the Bernabéu who shared his views. It was clear how much the fans and the managers disagreed—the fans who paid to buy tickets to watch the game might only care about this game in the whole season, whereas the manager of a team could not do that. Otherwise, he would be fired.

Ribéry missed the game due to his injury. So, Twain did not see a showdown between his two former players. Piqué's performance was adequate, without any bright spots. Maybe he was conserving his energy for the game against Nottingham Forest?

When Real Madrid temporarily took a 2:1 lead over Barcelona with twenty minutes left in the game, the Barcelona players were in no hurry to equalize. Messi tried his best to score, but it was difficult for him to achieve anything without support, against the backdrop of a slow pace throughout the team. Guardiola did not whistle to signal to his team to increase the pace of the attack and try to equalize the score, until there were 10 minutes left in the game.

It was already too late.

For Barcelona, which had been slow for 80 minutes, it was easier said than done for them to suddenly speed up. Only Messi was able to keep up with the pace, but Guardiola had replaced him five minutes ago—he wanted to protect Messi and keep his strength.

In this way, Barcelona lost the game to Real Madrid by a score of 1:2. Both sides obtained a victory in the two "wars of the century" this season, which gave them a draw.

Twain was extremely disappointed when he left Bernabéu with Dunn, because he did not see some of the key players in Barcelona's squad injured. He complained that Guardiola treated Messi like a vacuum pack, for fear that he would suffer the slightest injury.

From this point on, Guardiola had already won a chip, even though the two men had yet to officially fight.

For the young Catalan manager, losing to Real Madrid in the league tournament and equalizing the scores were not too important. The games which had already ended were not worth the discussion. No one on the team was injured in this game, and that was the greatest victory.

In the post-match press conference, Guardiola looked a little distracted. Perhaps he was already imagining Tony Twain's expression when he saw the scene.

We'll use the strongest lineup to deal with you. I hope you won't be too surprised, Mr. Twain.