"Welcome to Calderón! You're tuning in to a match in Group C of the UEFA Champions League group stage in 10-11 against Atletico Madrid and Nottingham Forest. The two sides have never faced each other before, and for each other, it is a blank slate. Nottingham Forest beat Celtic 1-0 at home in their first group game, while Atletico Madrid drew away to Juventus. In terms of points, Nottingham Forest are leading for the time being. But this is Calderón, at the home of Atletico Madrid, and Nottingham Forest can't take it lightly! ”

At night, Calderón Stadium is brightly lit, with towering lights shining from all directions, turning the course white. In the darkness of the city, this is the place where the light gathers, and fans walk through the narrow alleys and flock to the stadium. The noise was like droplets being carried into the ocean by a river, and the stadium slowly became buzzing. The whole south of Madrid is in a frenzy.

People here don't care about buying a ticket with a whole day's income, just rushing in and yelling for 90 minutes, and then leaving satisfied or unsatisfied, and going home to sleep. Football is not a pastime for them, it is almost the goal of life.

It's a frenetic stadium where any away team will be under a lot of pressure.

"But we fucking grew up under pressure! No pressure to play away? I don't believe such nonsense. "Donn is doing the final pre-game agitation for his team in Calderon's away dressing room." As professional footballers, and professional coaches, we all face all sorts of pressures. It's just Calderón, I don't care about it yet. Atletico Madrid want to scare us with their home advantage, tell me, are you scared? ”

"How is this possible, Chief?" Eastwood stood up and spread his hands and said, "Who do they think they are?" Vajra? Godzilla? Or the dinosaurs of the Jurassic ......"

Don En hurriedly gestured to him not to continue, otherwise the protagonist of the period before the game would be replaced.

"Alright, Freddy. I know your determination. It's a game about whether we can qualify from the group...... Practically every game is about it. So I ask you to give it your all! Sergio Aguero was a key figure and the whole backline cheered me up, kept my guard tight and froze him completely. If I thought after the game that Aguero wasn't even good, you won! He's very fast, so I'm asking the backline not to press easily. The full-backs also minimized assists and did not give Atletico Madrid the opportunity to play a quick attack. Be aware of the space behind each other. George. ”

Wood straightened up.

'If Aguero drops back to midfield, you go up and defend. If you want to commit a foul, stay away from the penalty area. ”

Wood nodded.

After explaining what happened to Wood, Don said to the whole team: "When you attack, stick to the wing, and with Camacho in the middle, that's a problem. Bypass him, and when he is drawn to the wing, George and Thiago are waiting for the opportunity to plug in. ”

Donn played Atletico Madrid away from home with a two-back lineup, and he almost gave up the tactics of attacking in the middle and mainly played on the wing, on the one hand, in order to play on the pitch and play the side that the Forest team is best at; On the other hand, it is to prevent Madrid's attack. He deliberately compressed the distance between the two players in the middle of the midfield and the back line very closely, not giving Aguero and others the opportunity to make waves in the front.

It's up to Matthias to attack next. Fernandez and Lennon can make a big difference on the wings.

Donn glanced at Fernandez, whose interpreter was not allowed into the team's most intimate place, the dressing room, so he had to rely half on the players' experience and intuition on what tactics the team was going to play, and guess the other half.

Don doesn't speak Spanish either, but he speaks Chinese quite fluently, but unfortunately Fernández, a Chilean, can't understand it......

But Fernandez will be key in this game and he has to be very clear about what he has to do.

He called Fernandez's name.

His name was still understandable, and Fernandez looked up.

Donn drew his position on the tactical board, and then he used a black marker pen to draw a straight line on the circle representing Fernandez, all the way to the vicinity of the opponent's penalty area. He looked at Fernandez with his eyes.

The Chilean nodded in understanding.

Donn then split two lines at this point, one continuing to go near the baseline and pulling a dotted line near the baseline all the way to the door. The other abruptly turns from that point into the penalty area, and then pulls out a dotted line towards the goal.

Donn kept looking at Fernandez during the painting and saw him nod before continuing to paint.

By the end of the day, Fernandez had basically understood what he was going to do. Then Donn said to him in very simple English: "Don't defend." ”

"No" and "defend" are two simple English words that Fernandez still understands. He nodded and said, "Yes." ”

Don raised his voice and said to him, "Attack! attack！ (Attack!) Offensive! ）

Fernandez, who was taken by Donne, also raised the volume of his reply: "Yes! yes！ ”

“ok！” Donn gave Fernandez a thumbs up.

After doing this, Don clapped his hands: "Alright, guys. Stick to one thing in mind in this game – I don't need draws and defeats, I just want to win! Beat Calderón away from home and win Atletico Madrid! ”

※※※

At the start of the game, Atletico Madrid took advantage of the fact that this was their home stadium and launched a fierce attack on the heart of Nottingham Forest, and the attack continued in waves, seemingly never stopping.

Don stood on the sidelines, his hands around his chest, coldly watching the changes in the field. He wasn't in a hurry. He is quite comfortable with Nottingham Forest's defense - as long as he is single-mindedly defending, there are very few teams in the world who can break through Forest's goal.

Maybe Barcelona can?

However, it is only speculation, and this can only be clear after the two sides meet.

Five minutes later, Atletico Madrid came back in vain and slowed down a bit. While beware of the Forest's quick counter-attack, the next wave of attack is brewing**.

Nottingham Forest fought back.

The attack from midfield sent the ball directly to the wing and to Matthias. Fernández.

The Atletico Madrid player has shown some concern for Fernandez. But more often than not, they still have their eyes on George. Wood.

The latest intelligence tells Atletico Madrid's manager Manuel Pellegrini, George. Wood has been in excellent form of late, and to the frustration of Forest's opponents, the midfielder is now also capable of getting back on the attack. The so-called "open guns are easy to dodge, hidden arrows are difficult to defend", Fernandez's good defense, George. Wood's kind of midfielder who doesn't know when to rush up and kick the world wave is too annoying......

Fernandez started his performance on the wing.

He's not too fast, but his technique is outstanding. In La Liga, where technology is emphasized, he is also outstanding.

Donn gave him the most freedom in this matchup, allowing him to play as he pleases with the premise of going down or cutting inside. And he is not required to defend, which is Fernandez's favorite place.

He used his activation to quickly deflect Simao, then burst out of the ball against Greek right-back Cetaridis and then went under. Abang Laho passed the football out at the first time, two over one!

Next, Fernandez did not wait for the central defender Ze to supplement the defense. When Castro came up, he passed the football in, and the target was the high school forward named Kic, who was two meters and two meters tall!

In this game, Donn did not play the technical shooter Eastwood, nor did he let Ibisevic, who came in good form, start, but went to two extremes - one is the extremely fast Abang Laho, and the other is the extremely tall Kic.

Pablo, the tallest of the Atletico Madrid centre-backs, is 1.92m tall, but he was injured a month ago and has not recovered yet. I didn't even make the squad for this game.

Atletico Madrid's two starting centre-backs were 1.83 meters Ze. Castro and Heitinga at 1.80m.

Donn decided to make a big fuss at the height of the opposing centre-back, using Kic's bounce and header to cause problems for Atletico Madrid.

He did it!

Kicic jumped high...... Header!! ”

“gooooooooooooooal——”

When Kicic jumped, there was no one around him who could compete with him in height, and Fernandez's cross was so comfortable that he didn't even need to adjust his posture, just tilt his head slightly in the air and swing it hard!

Atletico Madrid's goalkeeper Rafael Leao. It was good enough for Frank to react at such a close distance, and he pounced sideways, a step too late to watch the ball go in......

"Nottingham Forest scored a goal in the sixth minute! It was their first attack since the start of the game, their first shot on goal! They are ahead! Atletico Madrid has been dealt a heavy blow! ”

They were really stunned. Conceding a goal so quickly in the opening game is definitely not in their tactical arrangement. What's next?

Atletico Madrid suddenly ran out of ideas.

Offense?

After a few minutes of hesitation, Atletico Madrid launched another fierce attack, and to the voices of the home fans, their wave of attack almost drowned out the goal guarded by Akinfeev.

Donn's eyebrows fluttered as he watched from the sidelines. He likes others to press him and beat him, while being beaten, he looks at each other with a thief's eyebrows, and then gives him a cold shot.

Why did he arrange a double back, just waiting for this moment to come? It's just that this moment came much earlier than he expected......

※※※

The rest of the race was completely on the rails of Nottingham Forest. Atletico Madrid, who conceded a goal, attacked quite fiercely, and they got carried away in the frenzied atmosphere at home.

Even Manuel Pellegrini didn't think there was anything wrong with doing so – he was telling his players to keep attacking at home and try to use home advantage to win Nottingham Forest and pave the way for group progress.

Cruising near the midfield, Fernandez looked at the lively backfield, and he chose to continue cruising. The boss didn't seem to be gesturing off the pitch to get him back on the fence. He is certainly aware of the situation the team is facing, so he also knows that his individual skills will be key to the team's counter-attack.

So he continued to cruise in the midfield with peace of mind.

The chance came again near the end of the first half.

Fernandez received the ball from Barnes and ran wildly down the wing. This time he managed to attract the attention of two Atletico Madrid players. Heitinga and Camacho came in one after the other. Instead of blindly going down or forcing an inward cut, he found the way to pass the ball between the two men and stabbed the ball between Heitinga's legs......

Hurry up and kill Ma Abang Laho!

Since it is plugged in at the back, it is not offside at all. Take advantage of Atletico Madrid's big pressure and the back air defense is weak, come again!

Abonlaho received the ball and then accelerated, relying on his speed to shake off Aguero, who was following his butt and chasing him all the way back, and then faced goalkeeper Frank and tricked him to the ground with a feint.

What else is there to hesitate in the face of an empty door? Push!

"Gooooooal - Second Ball!! In the forty-first minute of the first half, Nottingham Forest made a classic quick counterattack! It's completely textbook-ready! Fernandez was Forest's standout player in the first half with two assists, and his two passes resulted in two goals! Perfect performance! ”

Donn and his colleagues applauded the goal off the pitch. He was far from happy with the two-goal lead over Atletico Madrid, who saw Fernandez at his best.

※※※

At half-time, Donn praised Fernandez's performance, and his face seemed to bloom. Although he didn't understand too many English words, he could still know what "good" and "very_good" meant. He is finally starting to think that his choice to move to Nottingham Forest in the first place may not have been a failed venture.

In the second half, Atletico Madrid strengthened their marking against Fernandez. As a player who also played in La Liga last season, Atletico is no stranger to him. This somewhat limited Fernandez's play. Even Camacho was careful to interfere with Fernandez's possession of the ball on several occasions.

In such a situation, Donn instructed Wood on the sidelines to actively plug in and participate in the attack. You don't have to defend from the back all the time.

The hand disrupted Pellegrini's set-up at half-time. If Camacho goes to stop Wood, then Fernandez will have to hand over to full-backs and full-backs to defend, which is tantamount to sacrificing the team's attack on the right side, how can he equalize with one leg? The attack in the middle was stuck by Thiago and Wood, as well as Pepe and others.

At the start of the first half, Sergio Aguero was waiting for support from midfield, but after discovering that all the passes in midfield had been cut off by Wood and Thiago, he tried to drop back to receive the ball before falling under Wood's watch.

George. Wood was rated as someone who could defend Messi one-on-one, and Aguero was helpless and fell silent for the entire first half. Atletico Madrid had a lot of attacking chances, but Sergio Aguero never had the kind of dangerous shot on goal.

In the second half, Wood was on the offensive side and his chances were slightly increased, but he was again tangled up by Pepe and Thiago. Even without Thiago, with Pepe's ability, Aguero alone will not be at a disadvantage.

Aguero is a tough opponent today......

In the past two years, due to Aguero's outstanding performance, Atletico Madrid has almost been Aguero's one-man team. The pros and cons of such are obvious. When Aguero is in good shape, Atletico Madrid can almost see who kills whom, but once Aguero is frozen, then Atletico Madrid will immediately become a second-rate team.

In this game, Donn froze Aguero, the core of Atletico Madrid.

Coupled with Fernandez's outburst, the victory came as no surprise.

Sergio Aguero only saw the light of day in the final five minutes, with two successive shots coming close to breaking Akinfeev's goal, but such a morale-boosting performance came too late to do little to change the scoreline.

In the end, relying on two assists from Fernandez and the steady counter-attacking tactics of the two midfielders, Nottingham Forest won 2-0 away from home to Atletico Madrid, the third-tier team in the group. Two wins in two games have already taken the lead in the competition with Juventus for group qualification. If he can keep winning like this, then the group will really be the group of death for the other three teams, as Donn said.

Manuel Pellegrini looked a little frustrated in his post-match press conference, admitting it was Nottingham Forest's sixth-minute goal that disrupted his team's full set-up. So much so that for the next eighty-four minutes, his team was in a completely passive situation, and was Tony. Donn's team led the way.

And Tony. What about Donn?

"It was just a fantastic night and we won. Fernandez found his form and I couldn't ask for anything else. ”

A reporter asked him what he thought after playing against Atletico Madrid and facing Juventus soon.

"It's always exciting to see old friends." Don smiled charmingly. It seems that the opponent is really his old friend.

After this game, the media can start to officially hype the "duo" of Nottingham Forest and Juventus.

(To be continued)