Sporting Lisbon at a press conference held in his hotel upon arrival in Nottingham, head coach Jose? Pecero once said very low-key: "Nottingham Forest are a strong team, I am very satisfied to be able to take a point away from home......

This low-key is not just in a press conference, but in many ways. It seems that Nottingham Forest are indeed a dangerous opponent in the eyes of Sporting Lisbon, and the Portuguese were not open to the media when they arrived at Nottingham for acclimatisation training a few days in advance. This cautiousness is a symbol of instrength in the eyes of Nottinghams.

Indeed, Sporting Lisbon is no longer the Sporting Lisbon it used to be, and the only time they won the European Championship was 40 years ago...... As soon as the quarter-finals began, Forest showed the momentum of the home team, without any probing in midfield, and the first attack of Forest hit the goal of Sporting Lisbon.

In this game, Don sent out the best and strongest eleven men he could field.

Goalkeeper Van der Sar. Centre-backs Hierro and Matthew? Epson. The left and right wing-backs are Leighton? Barnes and Zim Bonda. Defensive midfielder George? Wood and Albertini. Left wing-back Frank? Franck Ribery, right-sided midfielder Ashley? Poplar. Two strikers Freddie? Eastwood and Viduka.

When Donn is not rotating, this is the main lineup of the Forest team, with the vigor of young people and the composure of veterans, a very perfect combination.

Sporting Lisbon's lineup looked at the lineup, which made Don feel a little unfamiliar, and it was not easy for him to match the names and faces of many players, let alone know them intimately. But fortunately, the first leg is at home, and the tactics formulated by Donn are to grab points at home, must win, must win by a large score, and must concede as few goals as possible.

If you fail to achieve these three goals, you cannot be considered victorious.

“…… Mark? Viduka! Nice shot! Ricciardo made a brilliant save as the Portugal international scored the final penalty in the Euro knock out of England. ”

These are goalkeepers with the surname Insolent. Donn was impressed, as Ricciardo saved England's penalty without gloves and then scored the final goal himself to knock them out. Because of this relationship, Ricciardo's brilliant save did not win him applause, but was booed by the English fans.

Ricardo is the captain of Sporting Lisbon and one of the few Portugal internationals in the squad. With him at its core, Sporting Lisbon's defensive tactics for this game have been very obvious.

Percelo wants to pick up a point at Forest's home stadium and then build on that and it's best to score another away goal if possible. Even if they don't even get a point in the end, as long as they score away goals and go back to their home stadium, it's all right.

But Don wasn't going to let him get his wish.

Viduka's powerful smash kicked off a frenzy of Forest's attack, and wave after wave hit Sporting Lisbon's goal with the cheers of the Forest fans.

“…… Nottingham Forest are playing very aggressively at their home ground and the speed with which they get into the game is amazing! ”

This is natural, for this game, Don has been preparing for a long time, and the team's regular training has been revolving around the League Cup recently, and if it doesn't meet Donn's requirements by the time of the game, this is the team's white belt.

Viduka didn't find the back of the net, but it was quick to come.

In the ninth minute of the first half, Forest's continuous offensive finally knocked on the door of Sporting Lisbon.

Viduka drew two Sporting Lisbon defenders in front of him before passing the ball to Albertini, who was on the cut in and the Italian was in a position to shoot straight at goal. The Portuguese defenders did not dare to slack off and rushed sideways to intercept them. Although the Italians were old, that long-range shot was still enough to deter the enemy.

When the opponent jumped up and blocked Albertini's shot with his back, Albertini suddenly passed a straight ball!

Eastwood received a pass from Albertini on the edge of the box and leaned in on Fabio who came up to defend him? Roshenbach (fabio_rochemback) then turned and hooked the ball into the box, so that the Sporting Lisbon players around him did not dare to rush into the ball, because if they reached Eastwood with their outstretched foot, the opponent would have a 99% chance of falling to the ground, and a penalty is a more consistent means of scoring than a single goal.

The surrounding Sporting Lisbon defenders threw bogeys and did not dare to move. Roshenbach, who was leaning behind Eastwood, couldn't care about that much, he only knew that the opponent was in the penalty area, and he was on the outside, and he was about to shoot, and he must not let the opponent succeed!

He pushed it behind in the hope that Eastwood, who was about to shoot, would lose his balance. Unexpectedly, Eastwood turned the push into a volley!

Lean forward with your body center of gravity, swing your legs in place, and lift your toes up...... The ball took to the skies, flew over the head of Ricciardo, who had blocked Eastwood's shot from the ground level, and then crashed into the back of the net with a huge cheer from the Forest fans!

“1：0！ With less than ten minutes to go, Nottingham Forest took the lead! What an exciting start! Look at Tony? Donn's excitement ......"

Don was really excited, and he knew exactly what it meant to take the lead at home in such an important game. It's no wonder that when Eastwood hoisted the ball into the back of the net, he was the first to rush from the dugout to the sidelines with his arms raised, and then swung his fist into the sky so that everyone could see his undisguised emotion.

After taking the lead, the Forest team is better to play, there is no doubt about it.

Now it's up to the Sporting Lisbon manager to plan the game. If you win with less or less, this score is not unacceptable, and he can continue to hold on. But if they want to score away goals and a point, then they have to come out and attack, so that while the chances of scoring goals are greatly improved, there are more holes in their backline that can be exploited.

Insurance and adventure.

Jose Sai? Pecero has to make a choice.

“0：1？ It's nothing. Pesero, who was sitting in the away team's dugout, shrugged and said to his assistant that he wasn't too frustrated. Playing away from home, you have to think about everything, it's all in my plan. There is no need to make any changes just now and continue to play. We have plenty of time ......," he said, glancing up at the electronic scoreboard in the stands.

※※※ "The scorer is Freddy-"

The live broadcast was loudly announcing the player who had just scored, and the fans in the stands replied in unison: "--Eastwood!" ”

The Gypsies were celebrating from their teammates in the stadium.

Brazilian Fabio? Roshenbach was still standing where his opponent had scored, staring at the crowd with a gloomy expression.

He originally thought that he leaned in to bother him, and this skinny-looking kid should lose his balance, but he didn't expect that he would help him instead, allowing him to shoot another Ricciardo unguardable pick!

I'm afraid that at least a third of the credit goes to Roshenbach...... That's what makes the Brazilian angry, and his defense has instead become a knife to stab his own people. He clenched his fists, this debt will be recovered sooner or later!

With the resumption of the game, Nottingham Forest, who had taken the lead, were in high spirits and continued to storm Sporting Lisbon to the loud singing of the fans in the stands, with no intention of taking a break.

A one-goal lead is not safe. Donn has managed to instill in his players the idea that if you can score two goals, you will never stop after a one-goal lead. Conservative, but also graded. Conservative after a one-goal lead is obviously low-grade conservative, two-goal, three-goal and more goals are conservative after the lead is high-end, as for the kind of conservative before the lead, it is obviously the lowest grade - refer to the match between Italy and France in the 98 World Cup in France...... Eastwood was particularly active after the goal, dropping back to pick up the ball to meet his team-mates, cruising around Viduka for opportunities, and when he couldn't shoot, he would look for a link with Viduka, who played a very important role on the pitch anyway.

Donn watched Eastwood work so hard below, wondering if the club's emphasis on Wood had spurred him on. The Gypsy didn't care about the club's favoritism or anything, he just didn't want to lose to George in the bottom of his heart? Wood, right?

Despite being a father of two, Eastwood is still a young lad in terms of age. Gypsies marry at a very young age, and they can marry and have children at the age of fourteen.

Since you are still young, you will be very competitive. Losing to someone you don't like? Isn't this Freddy? Eastwood was able to accept it.

Don knew about the Gypsy mentality, and he knew it for a long time. At the time, it was thought that it could be controlled into a good name competition, which was undoubtedly a good thing for the Forest. But now, after the unscrupulous hype of those media, the atmosphere of competition with good surnames may be broken at any time, and the competition between good surnames and evil surnames is only a thin line, and the consequences are far from the same.

This match may be a great opportunity for them to get to know each other and turn their rivalry into friendship. But it might also make things worse - just if you lose.

At the moment, it seems that the team is ahead, and Donn does not need to worry too much.

"Freddie? Eastwood is by far the most active player on the pitch. After scoring a goal, he also threatened the Sporting Lisbon goal on several occasions. He recently scored his first hat-trick of the season in the league and is in fantastic form. ”

(To be continued)