The day before the game, the Barcelona squad arrived in Birmingham by plane and then took a special bus to Nottingham, where they had to wait for the game to arrive after a simple acclimatisation session.

At the airport, Messi and Pep Guardiola became the targets of reporters' pursuit. Both men are very low-key, they don't say they will win, they just say that anything is possible in football. This is at home of Nottingham Forest, and everyone knows that Forest's home game is not easy to play, so they don't think it's right to take it lightly......

That being said, what the Barcelona players think in their hearts, only they know.

At the airport, Barcelona was warmly welcomed by the media as the most watched team in Europe today, and the density of the flashing lights made every Barcelona player walk out of the hall with flowers in front of their eyes. Later, Catalonia's newspaper Le Monde Sports published the headline "The Champions Arrive", revealing Barcelona's ambitions.

After leaving the luggage at the hotel, Barcelona went to the city stadium for acclimatization training. Tony at that time. Donn was giving his players a tactical lesson at Wilford, while assistant coach Chris Lak was tasked by Donn to sneak into the City Stadium and take advantage of the home team to watch Barcelona's warm-up training in the box.

Pep Guardiola clearly knows these little tricks that the home team likes to play, so he didn't schedule any training sessions in the afternoon that might reveal his tactical content, just getting used to the venue......

One of the coaches in Barcelona's coaching staff laughed when they saw the turf at the city stadium: "It's really a small club, I'm afraid this stadium is not as good as our training ground." ”

"I've heard that their new stadium is crippling the team's finances, and it's normal that they don't have the money to maintain the turf."

"I really don't know Tony. Where does Donn's arrogant self-confidence come from, is it such a turf? ”

"The stadium, which can only accommodate 30,000 people, really looks like a stadium for a middle school."

They weren't seeing the best turf, of course, but it was Tony, too. Don arranged it on purpose. Just yesterday he asked the turf workers at City Stadium not to pounce on the best turf, but to keep the one that had been used so much before.

Pep Guardiola listened to his colleagues say nothing about the venue. It's not as good as the Camp Nou, but it's normal. Pitches like the San Siro have been ridiculed for the quality of the turf.

He cared more about the condition of the venue than Tony. Donne's tactics.

He'd studied Donn, and he almost knew exactly what tactics he was going to use in the game – counter-attacking. It's nothing new, defending and counterattacking when it's a draw, defending and counterattacking when you're ahead, defending and counterattacking when you're behind, defending and counterattacking away from home, and still defending and counterattacking when you come back home. His playbook probably only says "defensive counter-attack".

Even in the face of the current situation of falling behind 1:2, Guardiola does not believe that Don will press out and play against Barcelona, this coward. He will never know the beauty of the offense, his mind is full of utilitarian mush.

Out of the gap between heaven and hell on the football philosophy, Pep Guardiola vs. Toney. Don didn't have a good feeling. The reason people think he doesn't hate Don is simply that he doesn't say it publicly. But in fact, he hated Donn more than anyone else. While others hate Donn perhaps simply because of his unbridled mouth, Guardiola's hatred of Done is about to rise to the height of ideals and beliefs, a chasm that can never be filled. Jose Mourinho and Toney. Don will sit down one day to have a glass of wine and laugh at the grudge. This will never happen to Pep Guardiola.

Pep Guardiola already has a plan in mind. If Donn continues to defend and counterattack, Barcelona don't mind defending and counterattacking, and it will be beneficial for Barcelona to wear it out anyway. This match is more favorable for the away team Barcelona from any point of view. For the home team, the score of 1:2 is not fatal, and even Pepe, Barnes and Fernandez are suspended and cannot play, and the most fatal thing is that that person cannot appear on the sidelines to lead the team. Without Donn's on-the-spot command from the sidelines, Nottingham Forest's standard will drop a notch, and the players who have lost their backbone will play out of shape and become a disjointed mess. Inter Milan in the 08-09 season was a model for Pep Guardiola, with Jose Mourinho beating a leaderless Nottingham Forest at home, as if he had trampled an ant to death.

If Nottingham Forest want to press out and attack, it will be more in line with Guardiola's expectations. In this case, Barcelona will play against Forest. He's not afraid to concede the ball, and the one who is afraid of conceding the ball should be Tony. Dawn. Because Forest have only one away goal, and Barcelona's chances are limitless in those ninety minutes. With Barcelona's dominating attack, does anyone believe they can't score against Nottingham Forest? Even if Barcelona loses 2-3 away in the end, it will be Barcelona, who has scored one more away goals than Forest, to advance.

In short, no matter Tony. Whatever Donn reacted to, this time he was doomed. The initiative is always on Barcelona's side. If Guardiola has read the classic Chinese masterpiece "Journey to the West", then he will definitely feel that he likes Tony who always bounces in front of the media. Tang En is the hateful Sun Monkey, and he himself is the Buddha who controls everything. No matter how powerful Sun Monkey is, he can't turn over his Five Finger Mountain.

After a hurried acclimatisation session at the City Stadium, Pep Guardiola took the team back to their hotel, where they held a tactical meeting to make final arrangements for tomorrow's game.

※※※

While Pep Guardiola led his team to acclimatise at the City Stadium, Donn was giving the team a tactical lesson. The last day before the game was almost a tactical lesson, and he spoke in more detail than ever before, because he couldn't even set foot in the dressing room the next day.

UEFA were on his guard this time: they couldn't wear any communication devices that could be used, and they learned from Jose Mourinho's time in Porto and didn't allow an assistant to sit next to him in the stands to be a microphone for him. Tomorrow he will be carefully and thoroughly inspected by two UEFA supervisors before watching the game in the stands. UEFA doesn't mind picking that pair of Tony. Don has a great deal of prejudice against people to accomplish this task, because it will help them to better prevent Don from playing tricks and tricks.

In the final tactical lesson, Donn analysed the footage of the first leg between Barcelona and Nottingham Forest in detail, and made arrangements for his players. He believes Barcelona will continue to attack on the road, but he does not rule out the possibility that Guardiola will suddenly decide to be utilitarian and hold on 2-1 on the road.

'I was sent off, Pepe was sent off and Barnes was suspended for one game for accumulating yellow cards. The outside world thinks our prospects are bleak. Pep Guardiola may feel like their chance has come, but I want you to show them in tomorrow's game who it is. Our core tactic in this game is - fouls. Donn cocked up his index finger, "A bad pitch will limit their play, but it's not enough. You'll have to completely disrupt Barcelona's pace with frequent fouls and pressing defenses. If you lose the ball, you will fight back in the front court, don't be stingy with your dangerous actions in a less dangerous place, and if you foul like this a few more times, they will know that they are bad and that they are afraid. ”

'Remember, you have to play like that from the very beginning. Leading Barcelona have better hopes of qualifying than we do – or so it seems. So it's easier for their players to value their chances of playing. They don't want to get injured in this game and miss the semi-finals and finals that follow. Psychologically speaking, their desire to win is not as good as ours. What kind of team is Barcelona? Their technique and tactics are impeccable, some of the best in Europe today. But the psychological quality......" Tang En shook his fingers and laughed, "Artists always lack a little bit of a bachelor's temperament who is not afraid of death. ”

"Break what we do best, and they'll start to crumble from the bottom of their hearts. Body! Velocity! Antagonism! And...... Air. Don looked at Aron. Mitchel. "Mitchel, now that you already know, I'm not going to talk nonsense. Tomorrow's game you start as a centre-forward. We need your height and your headers, and you don't have the slightest bit of a trick to show off your skills in this game, and if you dare to do that, I'll take you off at the beginning. Do you understand? ”

The leader spoke to himself very seriously, and Mitchel nodded hurriedly. His start didn't surprise the rest of his team-mates, as training these days revolves around Mitchel, and any fool can see the clues.

"Your task is simple, squeeze into the opposition penalty area when we get up front, and then get up and down for the top. While we're still at the back, you drop back to the midfield to get ready to respond, use your header to point the ball to a teammate on the counter-attack, or hold the ball for support. ”

Mitchel continued to nod.

After telling Mitchel, Don looked at the whole team again: "The key to winning this game is in the sky, Barcelona's air defense is very weak, and Pique can't be used as four people by himself." As long as we have air supremacy, Barcelona will have to wait for us to be slaughtered even if they have excellent skills and footwork. Does anyone think it's ugly? ”

No one is silent, only fools are silent.

"It seems that no one has an opinion, so that's good. Let me tell you an unbreakable truth on the football field – what is ugliness? Only failure is ugly! Those who shout 'ugly victory' are the ones who can't eat grapes and say that grapes are sour! Believe it or not, when they are victorious, no matter what method they use, they will never say that they are ugly. Barcelona thinks they are the most gorgeous and we are the representatives of the ugly, so let them die gorgeously! In the face of ugliness! ”

※※※

Tony who finished his tactics lesson. Instead of going straight home like the other coaches or players, Donn drove to City Stadium.

By the time he arrived at the City Stadium, Barcelona's team had long since left. In addition to him, there was Thompson who arrived from the Wilford training base. Isaacsen and his team. In addition to this, he met Chris Lack.

"What's the catch?" He asked casually.

Chris Lak pouted: "Guardiola is very cunning, and he didn't arrange any drama." Even after the reporter walks away. ”

Don shrugged: "Normal. Think about how we do it at Camp Nou. ”

Then he turned to Isaksen.

"Thompson, I have a request."

Isaacson nodded in understanding before Donn could continue.

Don wondered, "I haven't said what the requirements are. ”

"Our Tony. Coach Donn must not have a good idea in his head, I've guessed it. You want us to make this stadium look like that training ground, right? ”

Donn snapped his fingers: "Exactly! But I'm more demanding - +C and Ctrl+V. Even every uneven position has to be the same, can you do it? ”

Isaacsen frowned and thought for a while, then nodded: "I think it's no problem, we are professional in maintaining the turf, and we have long remembered every detail of the field." Just a simple copy, I think it should work. ”

Don let out a long breath, and he slapped his face: "Thank you so much!" But you only have one night, okay? ”

"You need to ask the course manager to turn on the lights, but I don't know if the course manager agrees to do that...... The pitch is sacred to them...... "Isaksen grimaced.

'That's not a problem, you can ask for anything you need and the club will do everything you can. It's just that time is of the essence and it has to be done by tomorrow morning, and I don't want those damn media to smell anything. ”

Isaacsen looked back at his team, and when he turned around again, he already had a proud look on his face: "They have been with me for more than ten years, and they are my Nottingham Forest team, Mr. Donn." ”

Don smiled and stretched out his hand: "I dedicate my victory to you, gentlemen!" ”

"But the game hasn't been played yet, Mr. Donn." Isaacsen said this and stretched out his hand.

"The two Nottingham Forest teams have teamed up and won!"

The hands of the two men were clasped together.

"Let's give Barcelona a good look!"

(To be continued)