“With his nimble positioning, Franck Ribéry exploded with amazing energy. Compared to his performance in the previous two seasons, he is now at the level of the FIFA World Player of the Year!” The commentator was still gushing about Ribéry when the game had already resumed.

“He was fixed on the left flank when he started his career. His first season in the English Premier League was stunning and successful. He was, at best, considered a rather good shock worker on the flank. Then Tony Twain asked him to lean more to the middle, and the fine-tuning of the position gave us a more comprehensive Franck Ribéry. Whether it’s breaking through and passing on the flank, scoring goals from the middle, or even organizing the offense, he’s doing a pretty fine job!”

Just then, Ribéry took the ball and the commentator immediately got excited. “Now Franck Ribéry has the ball!”

Ribéry felt he was in a great shape and wanted to have a face-off with Ramos. However, he was blocked by Ramos and could not cut inside. His speed was suppressed, and he could not accelerate. The ball was sent out of the sidelines by Ramos with a slide tackle.

Seeing the ball shoveled out of bounds, van der Vaart, who was waiting to support, was a bit disgruntled. He waved his hands. He was next to Ribéry and unmarked. If Ribéry had passed the football to him, there was a chance to move the football and reorganize the attack, but Ribéry chose to go alone and ignored his teammates coming up to support.

Ribéry saw the gesture and hurriedly raised his hands to express his apology. He ignored his teammates, beside himself with joy from the goal.

Although the Forest team obtained an out of bounds ball, they did not pose a threat to Real Madrid. Bale’s pass was intercepted, and Real Madrid took the opportunity to launch a counterattack. Nottingham Forest quickly retreated to defend — except for George Wood.

The football reached Guti’s feet again, and George Wood went up to face him.

Guti was still in the center circle. The Forest team’s flanks quickly retreated to defend. George Wood intended to build the first line of defense in the center circle.

Guti was going to pass the ball as he saw Wood come up. However, when he looked up to find someone, he found that there was no suitable route for the ball to go. While he was distracted, George Wood rushed in front of his eyes.

Guti jabbed the football to the left and then quickly pulled it back to get rid of him.

But George Wood was not fooled. He leaned his body forward and forced Guti to turn around. As long as Guti had his back facing the attacking direction, the Forest players would have plenty of time to run back to defend.

Guti had to turn around to protect the ball. He would not be able to send the football to the most dangerous place at first chance.

That was what annoyed Guti the most. What upset him were Wood’s incessant knocks to his back. The little moves were bothersome. The leg kept wanting to reach in front of him and grab the ball, but he could not reach it. Consequently, he could only kick at Guti’s ankles.

Guti did not want to be entangled with the opponent there. He was not a fool. He knew it was tantamount to delaying his team’s attacking speed. So he passed the football to Diarra and then turned around to give Wood a hard glare.

Wood met his glare. The look in his eyes was not friendly. It was cold, as if he was looking at prey and not a human being. Guti hated the look, and he felt insulted.

He ran forward and Wood retreated with him.

He knew he was the kid’s target in this game, so he decided to humiliate the other team.

※※※

The Forest team played defensive counterattack, different from Real Madrid’s rear defensive line, which was full of holes. Real Madrid’s attacking players had to wrack their brains when they were up against the Nottingham Forest team’s dense and comprehensive defense.

After a string of passes, the football reached Higuaín’s feet. He planned to turn around and break through, but he was blocked by Pepe. He turned around and the football was left behind.

However, the Forest team’s ball could not be easily passed out either. Pepe’s forward pass was poked out from behind by Raúl.

Real Madrid continued to launch an offensive, and Raúl held onto the football despite Pepe’s close marking and grabs.

The current Raúl was very different from a younger Raúl. He was no longer purely the striker who only needed to be responsible for scoring goals. On the current Real Madrid team, his job was often not to score, but to defend and set his teammates up with opportunities to score.

Pepe’s desire to intercept Raúl’s ball was not easy. The position was very sensitive. He did not dare to foul and thus could only interfere from behind. As long as Raúl did not turn around to breakthrough, he could only do that.

Raúl found that Pepe’s defense was quite tight. He was not certain that he could turn around and break through into the box, so he sent the football out.

Once again, the football landed at Guti’s feet.

Guti did not even have to look up to know who the dark shadow that appeared in front of him was.

He was now in front of the box and lifted his leg to as if he were going to shoot. Wood did not hesitate to pounce and block, but Guti’s ankle shook and the shot turned into a straight pass.

Instead of passing it to Raúl in front of him, he passed it to the other side, which was a visual dead corner for him. He found a passing path. The football bypassed the crowd in front of the box and was sent to Robinho’s feet.

Huge cheers erupted in the stands at the Bernabéu stadium. The popular Brazilian BMX Boy always evoked some kind of anticipation every time he got the ball. The Real Madrid fans liked this kind of player who was good at performing fancy techniques because it pleased them.

Piqué filled in and Robinho came kick the ball.

The cheers from the stands were even louder when Robinho was seen to start performing.

Piqué’s reaction was fast. He expected Robinho’s next step to be cutting inside after he swung past him, so he quickly turned to cut across the route of Robinho’s advance.

But he anticipated wrong. Robinho did not move after he pulled in the ball. Piqué threw himself into the empty space and fell to the ground.

The Brazilian kid easily flashed past the fallen Piqué, and did not wait for the other Forest players to rush over. He cut inside and lifted his leg to shoot.

Edwin van der Sar put all his attention on Robinho after he received the ball. He saw him shoot, and quickly pounced and sent the football out of the end line.

Although he did not score a goal, Guti shot a smug glance at George Wood. The attack was initiated by him from there, when he deceived George Wood with the ball direction and line of sight. When he looked at Raúl and Higuaín on the left, who would have thought he was actually going to pass the football to the empty space on the right?

But when Guti glanced at Wood, what he saw made him feel more frustrated.

He only saw George Wood’s back. Wood was busy returning to the box to defend the corner.

※※※

Real Madrid significantly stepped up their offensive. A corner kick was not done. The football was topped by the Forest defender and Real Madrid midfielders continued to intercept the ball to continue the attack. Unwilling to trail behind at home, Real Madrid had to quickly equalize the score and the longer they dragged, the worse it was for them.

However, the Forest team’s defense was tested by many major games, and until the end of the first half, Real Madrid did not get any good chances. In addition to Robinho’s shot, Sneijder also had a long shot that bypassed Edwin van der Sar’s hands, but flew out as it brushed against the goal post. Raúl got another close shot, but it was deflected out of the end line by Pepe.

The three attacks were concentrated within ten minutes after they dropped the ball, but when they did not succeed with their attacks, the Forest team’s quick counterattack forced Real Madrid to stop their frenzied offense. They were worried that a quick counterattack by the Forest team would widen the gap in the score.

Twain had a happy smile on his face on the sidelines. So far, the game was well within his plan. Real Madrid was not afraid of other teams going head to head with them, or they liked the other teams to challenge them because they did not care about conceding a few goals. They just needed to have one more goal. What they hated most were opponents that shrank, stationed their players near the box, compacted their defense, and used quick sneak attacks to take care of everything.

Nottingham Forest was one of those teams.

As a result, the Real Madrid players played hard in the first half. They had to strengthen their offense and strive to equalize the score, and they had to be aware of the opponent’s sudden launch of quick attacks. With a long pass expert like Beckham, the Forest team’s quick counterattacks were a notch faster than before.

Nottingham Forest’s offense was like that most of the time. The football would be handed over to Beckham, and van der Vaart and Ribéry would plug ahead. Van Nistelrooy would pull to the flanks, and Eastwood would retreat to provide support. Beckham would do a long pass and send the football to the feet of a Forest player. Perhaps it would be Ribéry, van der Vaart, van Nistelrooy, or Eastwood. His long passes had a hit rate of eight out of ten kicks.

The situation gave Real Madrid’s defense a headache. Unless someone could stick close to Beckham, they could not stop him. The cost for that type of counterattack was so low that it would only take Beckham lifting his foot.

Schuster was silent throughout the first half except during that goal concede. He was looking for a way to break the tactic. He knew that if he could not break it, he could only count on luck.

It would humiliating for any manager to admit he had to rely on luck to win.

At the end of the first half, Schuster’s face did not look good. He already heard the sounds of boos traveling from the stands. Some complained that they were behind on the score, and some complained that the game was ugly to watch. What should he complain about as a manager?

I need defenders. I don’t need Ribéry and Cristiano Ronaldo!

※※※

Twain was happy and made no secret of it. He praised everyone. The attacking players played a good game while the defensive players were credited for the team staying in the lead.

“You guys did a great job. We have to play like that in the second half. We’re not going to lose unless all the luck runs to the other side,” Twain said firmly, enhancing the players’ confidence. The words were superfluous. It was not the first time the current Nottingham Forest team had played in Bernabéu. They were no longer the Nottingham Forest players who pulled out their cameras when they saw the stadium.

Some bobbed their heads. Twain was not saying nice things to boost their morale. It was the truth. As long as the Forest team was in the lead, victory was in the bag.

“Guti is at the heart of their offense.” When Twain finished saying the things that everyone knew, he began to lay out a more detailed strategy. “I think the only problem we had in the first half was… Guti was not provoked enough.” The smile on Twain’s face looked sinister.

“Don’t count on George alone. We will change our strategy a little in the second half. Find ways to irritate Guti and make him lose his cool.” Judging by the first half of the game, Guti’s temper had shown a lot more restraint than before. Whenever Wood pushed someone and refused to show friendliness, anyone would be dissatisfied. If it had been Guti two seasons ago, he might have gotten up and grabbed his neck, or when the Forest team’s attack had not even crossed half the field, he would commit an unnecessary, vicious foul and punished with a yellow card, or even a red card, and then be sent off.

During the game, Guti unexpectedly endured his anger when faced with Wood’s intentional and unintentional provocations, which made Twain view him in a new light. Was it Schuster’s request, or had he matured?

※※※

In the home team’s locker room, Schuster pulled Guti aside to talk about an important matter. “Obviously, you’re the first person that every opponent wants to eliminate.”

Guti sipped his water and did not comment.

“You did well in the first half, but I’m still worried. I wonder if Tony Twain would ask more Forest players to surround you?”

Guti stopped drinking and looked at his manager.

“I’m sure he will do that.” After his previous remark surprised Guti, Schuster seemed to be more convinced of the idea. “He will do whatever he can to win. Everyone knows you’re the core of Real Madrid’s offense.”

“Are you saying he wants his people to irritate me, make me play erratically, or cause me to play rough and be sent off?” Guti asked.

Schuster nodded.

Guti recalled George Wood’s behavior in the first half. It did look like they had the idea. “I’m not going to let them get what they want.” He cursed.

“You have to stay calm, no matter how they provoke you,” Schuster cautioned.

Guti put down the water bottle and nodded. “I know what to do, sir.”

Schuster patted him on the shoulder, ending the conversation.

As long as Guti did not lose his cool, Real Madrid would have hopes of equalizing the score in the second half, or even take the lead.

The key was still Guti, whose form and play was now a barometer of Real Madrid’s results.

But would Twain easily let go of Guti?

Schuster had second thoughts. If Guti can really stay calm, Nottingham Forest will be out of luck. Just wait and see which team has the upper hand in the second half.