In the home dressing room, Don gave Ribery a powerful hug.

"Oh, Frank, if you're a beauty, I'll kiss you." Donn said "affectionately", and the hot crowd laughed.

When everyone finished laughing, he stretched out his hands, four fingers on his left hand and five fingers on his right.

'Forty-five seconds and I'm glad we dealt a timely blow to Chelsea's arrogance. I love this kind of game, when the opponent has just a glimmer of hope, we unceremoniously kill it! He made a "pinch" gesture. "Let them go from heaven to hell and know what it means to be difficult in the world, warm and cold in human feelings, and strict in society!"

Everyone laughed again.

"Alright, let's talk about the second half." Donn clapped his hands, and the players gradually fell silent. "Now the situation is in our favor, and that's the biggest benefit. Jose Mourinho's side wanted to disrupt our rhythm and disrupt our attack and defence with full-court pressing. They came close to succeeding, but Ribery equalised after the next 45 seconds. I can expect Chelsea to do the same in the second half and continue their full-court pressing. For there was no other way for him to go. He spread out his hand and made a gesture of helplessness.

'It's physically demanding and this is our chance. Don't change anything, like you did in the second half of the first half, play around with them in midfield, defend solidly, don't give them a chance to threaten our goal directly. ”

The players nodded their heads, and what the leader said made sense.

"After half-time, they will regain some strength. So the first ten minutes of the second half were key, you have to hold on and don't let them score. As long as we maintain this score until 70 minutes later, the balance of victory will tip in our favor. If the score is still 1-1, Chelsea will be impatient, they will press hard, and they will be physically exhausted...... That's our chance! Donn raised his right index finger, "One goal, just one more goal, Chelsea will be completely broken!" ”

"Remember, we must be the ones who go to Athens!"

"That's right! It's ——!! ”

※※※

Fifteen minutes later, the second half resumed, with the two teams changing sides.

Mourinho stood on the sidelines from the first minute, watching the game with his hands on his chest and a serious expression.

He told his players that the first 10 minutes of the second half were prime time to score goals and that they had to be caught, no matter what method was used.

He knew, and Donn certainly knew, so he put his team's attention on the defensive for the first ten minutes of the second half at halftime.

In the space of 10 minutes, Forest completely abandoned the attack, with everyone blocking outside the box to guard against Chelsea's attack.

In the space of 10 minutes, Chelsea made three kills, each of which drew an exclamation from the Forest fans. But it's just an exclamation - there is no danger. Didier Drogba, Arjen Robben and Frank Lampard all had shots blocked by the entire Forest team just outside the line.

One Van der Sar is not enough, as well as Pique, Kompany, Zim Bonda, Leighton. Barnes and George. Wood.

With the exception of the arms, which are not allowed by the rules, they use every part of their body to block the opponent's attack. Chelsea pressing up front? Then kick forward and drag time is the current tactical guiding ideology of the Forest team.

5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes...... It dragged on like this until the whole Chelsea squad started to get impatient and showed signs of not being able to run, and that's when Forest had a chance to fight back.

Until then, all Nottingham Forest will need is patience, patience waiting for opportunities to arise and making sure they don't show their fatal flaws.

And just like that, ten minutes passed quickly. Chelsea failed to score. It looked like they had lost their best chance to score.

No, Chelsea didn't give up, knowing that it was physically exhausting, but they still kept running and pressing all over the field, not missing the slightest chance to threaten Forest's goal.

Don looked at the time on the big screen, and ten minutes had arrived. But he couldn't relax there, he walked to the sidelines, rolled his hands into a "bucket", and shouted inside: "Don't relax, keep guarding for me!" ”

As Donn went back after shouting, Mourinho walked up and shouted Shepchenko's name, hoping that the world-class goalscorer would get into the groove sooner rather than later, break through the Forest defence and open the deadlock for the team.

Helpless...... The striker, whom Abramovich admires, has struggled at Chelsea and has run out of space against Forest's Italian-like defence and has no choice but to be a setter or try a few long-range shots.

Chelsea have also tried to cross from the wing, passing the football into the penalty area in the form of a high ball, hoping that the all-round goalscorer Shepchenko can fight for a header, but the height of the Forest team's back line is too high, and air dominance is their strength, and even if Shepchenko can get the ball, it is mostly out of the way or high.

And most importantly...... It's a whole defence for Forest, starting with the strikers and building the first line of defence, all the way to the goalkeeper. They compressed the three lines into this narrow area of thirty meters, because the formation was very well maintained, like a thick wall, and it was not so easy to penetrate.

Forest's first use of this defensive tactic was in the Carabao Cup final in the 03/04 season, when this overall defence left McClaren's Middlesbrough helpless. It also helped Don win the first championship trophy of his coaching career.

The game was criticised by the media at the time as a passionless, boring game that would not leave a trace in the 42-year history of the Carabao Cup, except for Toney. Don brought a championship trophy that made no sense.

Later, as the strength of the Forest team increased, this extremely low posture tactic was rarely used by Donn. Although it is used sparingly, it does not mean that he will not practice. Defensive is something Donn always talks about, and he doesn't change his style of action because of outsiders' perceptions, and he asks the team to practice a variety of defensive tactics, even if they don't use this "wall defense" very much. Like he used to do to Des. As Walker put it:

I train them, and when I ask them what to do, they can do it.

That was his goal, and now he has achieved it.

※※※

What is the competition for in professional football? It's not the ball under your feet, it's not an ethereal thing like victory or honor. In the eyes of coaches, there are only two simple words for football games with countless big hats - time and space.

When attacking, you need time and space to handle the ball, and when defending, you need to contain time and space so that the opponent can't control the ball.

To put it bluntly, the game of football is actually a competition for time and space on the field.

Nottingham Forest's wall defence is an extreme case of compression of time and space.

Don can allow his opponent to go back and forth in the midfield third (near the centre circle) as there is still enough distance from goal unless everyone is facing Beckham and Harpy. Alonso, too, can kick the ball in from central midfield. The focus of the defense is in the defensive zone 3, which is commonly referred to as the 30-meter zone. This is an area where any team has to be heavily armed.

Why is the "wall defense" extreme, because most of the other teams just put a complete backline here, at most they don't allow two fullbacks to assist, and require the midfielder's defense to be called the midfielder's assistant.

Donn, on the other hand, moved almost all three lines within the 30-meter area.

With the exception of the centre-forward, who is on the back swing and ready to counter-attack, the two full-backs can even move into the box to act as centre-backs if necessary, leaving the full-backs to drop back to temporarily act as full-backs.

Not to mention the two in the middle of the midfield, George. Tim has been hailed as 'man born to defend', and his other partners, whether it's Albertini, Arteta or Van der Vaart, have to come back when the coach needs them. It's just that Van der Vaart is in a special situation, and he doesn't have to go too deep when he defends, because at the same time he has to shoulder the task of getting the team to counter-attack at any time.

Such a lineup, under the guidance of Donn's tactical concept of "defense is the foundation of victory", the defensive tactics that have been painstakingly practiced can be imagined.

This is the second time Donn has used a wall defence, and it has been used against Chelsea. It can be seen how determined he was to go to Athens.

Faced with such a game, the commentator was tempted to yawn: "We thought that Forest would be back on their home turf and leading again, and maybe they would have the confidence to have a hearty battle with Chelsea...... It's a pity, Tony. Don really deserves to be the 'most conservative head coach', and whenever he can't forget it, it's still defense, defense, defense...... Even if he makes it to the final, this kind of performance will not earn them much place in the hearts of the fans. ”

If Don could hear the commentary on the live broadcast, he would definitely scoff at the narrator's statement. It's not the majority of neutral fans he's responsible for, it's only these Nottingham Forest fans he's responsible for. You ask them which one to choose between a good-looking soccer ball and a champion's soccer ball, and nine out of ten people will tell you – champion football.

Why? Because these people have been far away from the championship for too long, far away from the glory days, the glory of the past is always rolling in their minds, reminding them of how great Nottingham Forest used to be, and how exciting and difficult it was to extricate themselves from the years when the red coats swept across Europe.

※※※

A corner of the stands burst into a loud shout.

Chelsea stole the Forest's ball again and turned into attack with a relentless pressing up front. They used the individual skills of several star players to create an amazing combination.

First Makelle passed the football to Essien, and then Essien was George. Wood stabbed the ball out with a close press.

Chelsea are pressing on Forest, so why aren't they doing the same thing to Chelsea?

In front of the ball roll was Shepchenko, and at the same time, Leighton. Barnes has set his sights on the striker, who has been dubbed a "parallel import" by the English media.

Just when he was about to sneak attack the opponent from behind, Shepchenko had already noticed the movement behind him, and he was very smart Li Yongle Barnes to protect the football and turn around from the opposite direction!

As soon as he turned around, Shepchenko saw Pikui in front of him, at such a close distance, it is not impossible to make a strong breakthrough, but ...... He caught a glimpse of Drogba in the middle, Kompany watching him.

There should also be better options......

A little farther away, because there were too many people, the view was blocked, and he couldn't see. But when he usually trains, he knows who that area belongs to, and there is no reason why that person should not be at this time.

Shepchenko made up his mind and shook his foot to pass the ball.

The ball is very powerful, if Drogba catches it, he will not be able to stop because of the excessive passing force, but give the opponent a chance to steal the ball. Drogba was aware of the situation and it was clear that the ball was not passed to him......

He made a gesture to catch the ball and draw Kompany and the rest of the defenders to come up, but when the ball came, he split his legs and let the ball roll straight under his crotch.

This shook the entire backline of the Forest team!

Robben showed up where he was supposed to be.

"Robben! He received a pass from Shepchenko! Unmarked...... This is a great opportunity for Chelsea!! ”

The narrator shouted hoarsely, wishing that Robben could have pierced Van der Sar's door with one foot. Once the score is 1:2, it is useless for Don to be conservative. At that time, the situation will force the conservative coach to give up the conservative and press out to attack, and then there will be a good look.

After receiving the football, Robben adjusted, and Zim Bonda had already turned to pounce on him.

As a team-mate of the Dutch national team, Van der Sar knew that it would be almost impossible for Robben to pass the ball in this situation, and he moved quickly to block the angle of Robben's shot.

Both Zim Bonda and Kompany are moving towards Robben, and as long as they work together, this offensive crisis can be safely defused.

Just when everyone thought Robben would pass the ball, just when the Forest's defensive focus quickly shifted to him, Robben passed the ball!

He swept the ball down the middle......

"Drogba shoots!"

Although there were still people in front of him, the monster still did not hesitate to kick and shoot. He knew that once he stopped football, there was really no chance.

The ball didn't fly into the goal, it hit Leighton. Barnes' arm......

When Barnes turned to block the ball with his back, his arm was raised, and the football hit his hand right on, and the castration was reduced, and George dared to come back. Wood kicked out.

Just as the Forest fans were about to cheer their team for their escape, the referee's shrill whistle sounded.

The Chelsea players in the box all raised their arms and signalled to the running referee for a handball foul!

"Layton. Barnes Handball! It's so obvious! Not even slow-motion replay! The narrator shouted excitedly. Although there are no goals, but the situation is not much different from scoring goals, right? The impasse is about to be broken, and the balance has tipped in!

The referee pointed to the penalty spot without hesitation – a penalty without a doubt!

The players at Nottingham Forest are stupid, Leighton. Barnes was on his knees with his head in his hands, of course he knew he was handballing, but he didn't mean to. The problem is that the referee won't believe it at all, otherwise any player who commits a handball foul can say he didn't mean it...... It was useless to go to the referee to argue, he knelt on the ground and was full of remorse - why should I raise my hand!

He didn't expect that if he didn't raise his hand, the ball would fly directly into the goal. Although it was a penalty, there was still a chance to decide whether the ball went in or not.

Other Forest players surrounded the referee and pleaded with him, indicating that Barnes did not mean to commit a foul, that he had unintentionally handballed, that he had played the ball, not his hand......

Useless.

In the face of these people's explanations, the referee kept shaking his head. How could the decision be changed, not to mention that I saw him handball with my own eyes. This is not the time for self-doubt and criticism.

Seeing the referee award the penalty, Mourinho jumped up from his seat and couldn't wait to hug and celebrate with the people around him. The front-court pressing finally allowed him to grab a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

It was fitting to end Nottingham Forest's madness this season with this penalty!

On the other side, Don stared at the field with wide eyes, he couldn't believe what he was seeing......

Worked hard to keep the ...... He looked up at the big screen again, and after 68 minutes, he was two minutes away from 70 minutes, but he was awarded a penalty!

This is so deceptive!

"What is this? What is this? He muttered, anger already in his tone. What the fuck is this! ”

Tang gently patted Don on the shoulder next to him: "Maybe things are not as bad as you think." ”

Don turned his head to glare at him, "What did I think?" ”

Don didn't answer him, just looked at Van der Sar, who was standing in front of the door shaking his arms and doing simple warm-up movements.

※※※

Seeing Don angry in front of the dugout, a smile appeared on Mourinho's face. If the opponent loses his normal mind, he wins half of the game, and psychological warfare is also very important in football.

He could almost see the goddess of victory waving to him, and she was dressed as an Athenian priestess......

Mourinho had a big smile on his face, wondering how he would repay the first leg in words after the victory.

(To be continued)