Godfather Of Champions

Twain proclaimed that the game had entered his orbit the day before the game. When his remarks were made public, it caused a stir in Barcelona. The Catalan media began to fight back, and they went to the Barcelona players in hopes of getting the team’s support.

The big mouth, Eto’o was the first to jump out in response to Twain’s provocation. In an interview with Mundo Deportivo, he said, “I don’t know what Twain’s orbit is. Maybe it leads directly to a precipice? But I’m not surprised he said that, because he’s the only one who would do such an ungracious thing. Isn’t that what he was like during last year’s final?”

His statement was an attack on Twain’s personality and gentlemanly manners.

The Barcelona captain, Puyol, directly stated that Twain’s action was disrespectful to his opponent.

The Brazilian and the team’s core, Ronaldinho was not worried about Twain’s orbit. With a smile on his face, he faced the reporters and said, “we will play at our own pace, no matter who the opponent is.”

Rijkaard declined to comment on it.

Throughout the Catalan region, the people were aggressive on the outcome of the upcoming game. Barcelona was still ahead in La Liga and their centennial rival, Real Madrid, was at an all-time low. Capello’s team had dared to lose to any opponent and the booing at Bernabéu had sounded more than once, with waves of glaring white handkerchiefs. The Italian’s dismissal seemed to have entered a countdown. Real Madrid players and fans were just as at a loss and did not know where they should go.

The more pathetic their opponent was, the more it highlighted the infinite glory of Barcelona.

The Barcelona team was not worried about the La Liga title at all. They thought that their main focus of the season was not defending their La Liga title because it did not require them to painstakingly defend their title. The glory already belonged to them. Instead, Barcelona hoped to make a historic breakthrough in the European arena: defending their Champions League title for the first time.

The entire Barcelona team is in such a good form. What is Nottingham Forest? A team that was crushed by us!

The Barcelona’s hardcore fan groups even had a chant. “Last year, we beat you once; this year, we will beat you again!”.

The media was still analyzing the idea that Barcelona had a psychological advantage over Nottingham Forest after beating them. Why would they think there was a “psychological advantage?” It was only because Barcelona defeated Nottingham Forest in last year’s Champions League final. It was conventional for the winner to maintain some psychological advantage over the loser, but had they all forgetten what Twain said at the press conference?

Convention has no effect on my team.

“Tony Twain is that kind of person. He is just used to being egotistical. If Rijkaard really thinks that he has any foolproof countermeasures, then he will have been mislead by Twain. My friends in England are happy to tell me all sorts of mischief that this man has caused over there. They say it is a pity that this man was not a circus clown. He is up to all kinds of things all day long, making shocking remarks in hopes of attracting the attention of the world. A lot of the time, he’s does even not act like a football manager. He’s more like an entertainment star. When The Sun reports news on him, it’s always in the entertainment section and not the sports edition,” Mundo Deportivo, Catalonia’s representative media described Tony Twain’s character. When they publicized a foreigner in such a manner, their readers would think so, too.

On the day of the game, the media in Barcelona were filled with such reports.

The war of words between Nottingham Forest and Barcelona was already in progress. Barcelona was fully invested whereas the Nottingham Forest players stayed out of it. They did not accept any interviews or discuss their manager’s remarks in front of the media. They kept their minds on preparing for the evening’s game and let Twain be the shield that attracted all the negative attention.

※※※

In the afternoon, as the team was about to board the bus to go to the Camp Nou stadium, Twain was surrounded by numerous reporters at the hotel entrance.

“One last interview before the game,” he said with his index finger extended. “Hurry up and ask your questions. If you don’t, I’m going to leave. You only have…” he looked down at his watch, “five minutes.”

“That’s too short!” A reporter complained.

“My team is going to the stadium soon. Don’t tell me that you want me to hold a forty-five minute long press conference here?” Twain retorted and then added, “there are four minutes left.”

The reporters looked at each other. They had not expected Twain to do that.

Only one person reacted. While the other reporters were still displeased with the way Twain treated them, she tossed out her own question. “Excuse me, Mr. Twain. Your comments yesterday caused a stir in Barcelona. Are you worried that doing so will provoke your opponent and make today’s game difficult?”

Twain was familiar with the person who asked the question. It was the Chinese journalist, Tang Jing, who always showed up wherever they went.

“Hey, I really did not expect to see you here, Tang, the great journalist.” Twain spoke in Mandarin.

“Answer my question quickly. Don’t try to drag it out,” Tang Jing said ungraciously with a cold expression.

Twain shrugged and replied in English, “do you think the Champions League Round of 16 game will be easy? Even if I hadn’t said that, the game wouldn’t have been easier. Not to mention I’m telling the truth, so why should I be worried? Provoke my opponent? What do their feelings have to do with me? If they’re upset, all right, come and beat me. If they beat me, they will be entitled to cut me to the bone and drown me in their saliva. If I win… heheh.” Twain grinned. “They will have to admit they’re wrong!”

While Twain answered Tang Jing’s question, the other reporters finally reacted. They knew that reasoning was not going to work with the man, so they were ready to ask their questions.

Unexpectedly, after Twain answered Tang Jing’s question, he raised his hand to signal for everyone’s silence. “Well, ladies and gentlemen. Time’s up. I should get on the bus and set off. See you after the game!” With that, he turned and jumped onto the bus. Without waiting for the group of reporters to react, the bus door closed.

Everyone saw Tony Twain standing inside the door and smiling at them through the windows. Consequently, these people realized that they had been duped again.

※※※

George Wood, who would wear the captain’s armband in the game for the starting lineup, was quiet all the way from the hotel to the stadium. The others either listened to music to relax or took a nap to adjust their state of mind. Only he sat with a serious face.

Kerslake noticed the kid while they were still on the bus. When he got off the bus, he whispered to Twain, “I always think George is too serious. He has the biggest task in this game… is he nervous about it?”

Twain looked at the team captain, who was walking at the front of the line and shrugged. “Have you ever seen him nervous about a game?”

“Umm…” Kerslake thought carefully. Wood was seldom nervous. Twain used to say that if Stuart Pearce had a heart of oak, then George Wood’s heart must have been made of diamond.

A diamond is the hardest natural matter in the world. Twain’s remark described George Wood’s character as tough and strong with very few big mood swings.

While Twain did not think that George Wood would be nervous about playing in this game, he felt that Kerslake’s concerns were justified. Before an important game, it was better to make sure everything was in order. He decided to speak to Wood alone and figure out his current state of mind.

Therefore, when the team went out to warm up, Twain followed Wood outside.

“George, I feel that there’s something off with you today. You’re quieter than usual today. Do you have anything on your mind?”

“No.”

“Don’t tell me… you’re nervous?” Twain glanced at Wood.

Wood stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Twain. “I’m not nervous. Just don’t want to talk.”

“You don’t want to talk… Can you tell me why?”

“I didn’t take part in last year’s final, so I want to play this game like it is the final. Just now I’ve been trying to think back to what it was like on the day of the final last season.”

When he heard Wood say that, Twain did not know what to say. He still remembered very well the reason why Wood was unable to attend last season’s final.

“George, you… Did you resent me after?” he asked carefully.

Wood looked at him strangely. “Why would I resent you?”

“Because I insisted on getting you on the field, which caused you to accumulate the yellow cards and be suspended. If I had replaced you in advance, you would have been able to play in that final.”

Wood thought about it and then replied, “if the team was eliminated because you had me replaced earlier… then I would have resented you.”

Twain smiled. He slapped Wood hard on the shoulder and said, “don’t take yourself too seriously, son! Us being eliminated after we replaced you? I wouldn’t allow such a thing to happen.”

“It’s already in the past, so you can say anything.” Wood was noncommittal about Twain’s big talk.

Twain also knew that that hindsight was 20/20, so he changed the subject and said, “You said that you were replaying that final in your head just now. How did that go?”

“If you had not come to me to talk, I would have finished it.”

Twain grinned. “Very well, it looks like you’re confident. Then I won’t say all this crap. I know you want to say that what I’m saying is crap, right? Well, then I won’t say anything. But you can use action to prove what you have just said is not crap.”

Wood gave a grunt. Twain shoved him a little from behind. “Go out and warm up. Don’t let those players from Barcelona wait.”

After watching Wood run out, Twain turned and walked back to the locker room. The boos outside were getting louder. If he went out again, it probably would become louder. As “the ultimate boss” that Barcelona loathed, he would lose face if he showed up too early.

※※※

As the team warmed up amid the earth-shattering boos, Twain was busy with the final preparations alone in the locker room. His preparation was not to put the tactics on the tactical board, but to sort out the newspapers — English, Spanish, Catalan, there was even a Chinese newspaper — on a table in front of him.

When the players came back from their warm-up, they saw the various colorful and eye-catching newspapers placed on the table. Everyone was baffled and did not know what the boss had in store for them during the precious time before the game.

As soon as everyone was in, the locker room door was closed and Twain sat beside the table, clearing his throat.

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is Tony reporting the news now. Tony Twain will take you through the latest news anecdotes and gossip from around the world.”

Everyone who looked forward to the boss’ antics laughed.

Twain laughed with them. This was the result he wanted. He wanted them to be full of fighting spirit, but not nervous. When everyone’s laughter subsided, he picked up several newspapers and showed them to everyone.

“Mundo Deportivo analyzed and demonstrated from ten perspectives and finally came to an ‘authoritative’ conclusion that we cannot defeat the invincible Second Dream Team in this away game. Sport stated that the Nottingham Forest manager, Tony Twain, is bluffing again. It was a ploy to disguise fears and weaknesses.

“There are also some unpronounceable tabloids which claimed that Nottingham Forest’s entry to last season’s Champions League final was just a spark of luck, because no one taking it seriously would go to Paris. Now Barcelona’s home game is a good opportunity for Nottingham Forest to see how the Second Dream Team will crush the pseudo-strong team back to its original form. Let the powerful Barcelona show the ignorant Forest team what a real strong team and what a real … f**king European champion looks like.”

Twain added the last foul word himself.

“Guys, these are all genuine media reviews. I’m not making these up.” Twain shook the newspapers in his hand, causing a crunching noise. “These newspapers are on sale in every corner of Barcelona, and they represent what this city really thinks of us. It’s really hostile.”

He threw the newspapers on the table, and some of them slid to the ground, but he did not lean over to pick them up. He did not even glance at the miserable papers. He had just tossed them aside after he made use of them.

Twain got up from his chair, looked at everyone in the locker room and very seriously said, “obviously we have been looked down upon and underestimated! It upsets me. We have been completely disrespected. What should we do?” He laughed again, and the expression on his face changed as if it were summer in Nottingham. “It’s actually very simple. Use our victory to force the haughty Barcelona team to bow their heads. They don’t think we can win, so we’ll show them! They think it’s a great opportunity for the Second Dream Team to teach us, then let’s show them who’s going to teach whom!”

Watching the positive change in everyone’s expression, Twain took advantage of the momentum and roared, “who do they think we are?! We’re their creditor, the Nottingham Forest team!”

Yes, we are Barcelona’s creditor of a high-interest loan and we have come to collect the interest today.

※※※