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Chapter 813: A Blunder

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The Barcelona players were trapped in a vicious cycle.

It all started with them being unable to control the ball at their feet. They started to feel indignant at the venue that they were playing in, and as a result, feelings of agitation began to rise within them. These erratic emotions led to erratic movements, and they became unable to perform at their best. They continued to struggle to control the ball, they continued to blame the terrible venue for their mistakes, and they continued to feel agitated and enraged…

And the cycle repeats.

Not a single Barcelona player had the right psychological state for the match. The players responsible for the team’s offense were agitated, and the players responsible for the team’s defense were on edge.

Even players like Messi who looked cool and composed on the outside would make two consecutive mistakes when bringing the ball forward. Once, he exerted too little force when kicking the ball forward, so the ball did not move by much. Another time, he exerted too much force and sent the ball far away from him.

Messi stomped on the turf beneath him in anger after he committed the two consecutive mistakes. He knew that the reason for his errors lies beneath his soles, but there was nothing he could do about it. He was lucky to not have picked up a sprain during the runs that he has made so far….

Before Guardiola could give any instructions to the players with regards to the situation that they were in however, the Barcelona players began to readjust their playing style by themselves.

They reduced the number of dribbles and passes that they made, and they also stopped making their way into Forest’s penalty box as frequently. They chose to do long shots at goal instead.

Once the ball made its way towards the front of the pitch, the Barcelona players tried to threaten the goalpost that Akinfeev was protecting by shooting from a distance. However, their long shots at goal were ineffective against Nottingham Forest. They lacked power and were nothing more than a shadow of their former selves…

In contrast, Nottingham Forest’s offense was much more exciting and threatening.

The defenders would intercept the ball and do a long pass.

The defensive midfielders would also intercept the ball and do a long pass…

Every single player in the team would do a long pass to the front.

The ball continued to fly about in the air. The necks of the Barcelona players ached just from having to raise their heads to track the ball.

Technical players like Xavi and Iniesta found themselves unable to make use of their techniques and keen awareness following the shift in strategy. They were soon rendered useless in the match even though Twain had not assigned players to mark them.

Yaya Touré was the only player who could contend against Forest in the midfield. However, there was very little that he could accomplish alone. He was not able to stop all of Nottingham Forest’s attacks all by himself.

The fact that George Wood was able to get increased chances to go forward and join in the offense highlighted the mess that Barcelona’s midfield was in.

Guardiola insisted with playing a 4-3-3 formation for the match, and this has resulted in the current situation whereby Barcelona only has three midfielders against Forest’s four. It made it very hard for Barcelona to put up a fight against Forest in the midfield.

Nottingham Forest’s long balls would always make their way past the midfield easily.

Yaya Touré would have his hands tied behind his back whenever Aaron Mitchell retreated backwards to retrieve the ball. He paled in comparison to Mitchell in numerous aspects, be it height, ability to head the ball or the ability to jump.

Mitchell, who stood at 2.02m tall, was superb at jumping. Yaya Touré could only wait on the ground and try to snatch the ball after Mitchell jumped up to head the long ball from his team mates.

Every time Mitchell retreated backwards to retrieve the long ball, there would always be a Forest player positioned near him to provide support, and this allowed Mitchell to have a good grasp of who he could pass the ball over to.

It did not matter how good a player Yaya Touré was. He might be able to try and snatch the ball from one possible spot in which the ball lands, but he was not able to go after the ball at all the possible spots in which it will land.

There were many players that Mitchell could choose to pass to after he had jumped into the air. He could pass the ball to Lennon, to Bentley, to his partner Agbonlahor, and he could also pass to George Wood or Tiago. He could also stop the ball with his chest and then control the ball under his feet.

As a result, it was very difficult for Yaya Touré to try and snatch the ball away given how there were many different ways for Mitchell to deal with the ball after he has headed it…

He was unable to stop Nottingham Forest’s aerial attacks by himself. It was just not something that he was good at.

※※※

“Nottingham Forest’s offense goes unimpeded! There are no obstructions along the way… Yes, that’s because Barcelona do not have the players who can deal with their aerial attacks! They do not have the ‘Royal Air Force’ on their side! Akinfeev kicked the ball to the front of the pitch, and Mitchell headed the ball over to George Wood who has moved up to join in the attack! Wood passed the ball over to the flank, and Bentley passed it into the middle. Agbonlahor jumped up to head the ball! He misses! Valdés gets a hand to it! Forest’s entire attack has been completed in the air. Piqué has become the most important player in Barcelona’s defense. Unfortunately, there’s only one Piqué in the entire Barcelona team.”

The match had only gone on for 20 minutes, but Gerard Piqué was already gasping for breath.

He was under immense pressure. Every single one of Nottingham Forest’s attacks was done in the air, and he was the only player in Barcelona’s defense who was able to deal with aerial balls. This meant that he had to run all over the pitch.

He was not a ‘freak’ like George Wood. There was a limit to his stamina, and running all over the pitch was taking a toll on his body.

Carles Puyol was very experienced as a defender, but sadly, he lacked height. Additionally, his physicality has also deteriorated with age. He was not good with dealing with physical players like Agbonlahor and Mitchell.

As for Dani Alves? He was busy trying to join in the offense. Piqué has to thank his lucky stars that their opponents did not exploit the space left behind by Alves whenever he moved forward to attack.

As for Philipp Lahm, he was also a fullback who liked to move forward and join in the attack like Alves. However, unlike Alves, Lahm was still a ‘newbie’ in the team, having just joined a year ago. Therefore, he was not as reckless and would not go all out during an attack. He would still track back and help in the team’s defense vigorously.

At the back, they had the unreliable goalkeeper Víctor Valdés.

Piqué suddenly felt alone after surveying his surroundings.

He would not be so exhausted when dealing with aerial balls if he had Pepe as his partner. Bale and Rafinha might be attack-oriented fullbacks, but they would stay at the back of the pitch for an entire match if the boss asked them to.

In comparison, Guardiola prefers to get the fullbacks to join in the offense. The main job of the fullbacks is to move forward and attack rather than to defend.

The playing style adopted by Barcelona makes it very exhausting for a center back like Piqué to play in.

It did not take long for Nottingham Forest to initiate another attack. This time, Bentley passed the ball into the middle, and Mitchell jumped up to try and head the ball into the net.

Piqué had to give his all to compete with Mitchell in the air. In the end, he managed to triumph over Mitchell marginally, and he headed the ball out of bounds and gave Forest a corner kick.

“Forest’s ex-player Gerard Piqué has been rather lively throughout this match. He has stopped Nottingham Forest’s attacks numerous times so far. His performance reassures Guardiola.”

The commentator might have praised Piqué’s performance, but there was nothing ‘reassuring’ about the current situation to Piqué and Guardiola. In fact, if Guardiola were to be given a choice, he would rather take Piqué off the pitch, because that would signify that Nottingham Forest’s offense was not a threat to Barcelona.

Twain shook his head vigorously as he sat at the stands. If possible, he wished that Piqué would get injured and miss out on playing in this match, because the game would have been dominated by Forest if not for his presence on the pitch.

There were no other player in the Barcelona team who could stop Forest’s advancements besides him. Piqué was like the last soldier standing for his army, and he continued to put up a resistance against Forest.

The ball flew into the penalty box from the corner. Piqué headed the ball away before Mitchell could get to it. Right after he did, he turned around and yelled at his team mates, “Focus on the defense! Victor, you need to step out a bit more! The area that you can take control of should be bigger! They keep using aerial balls, but we don’t need to fight for the ball in the air! We can interfere with them on the ground!”

The Piqué right now did not seem to remember that he once played for Nottingham Forest. All that was on his mind was to help Barcelona defend its goalpost.

Twain scratched his head.

It looks like I have gotten Piqué all fired up… This is not good.

Mitchell was not a player with a strong body. His performance would definitely be affected if he were to be marked by Piqué. Twain hoped that Mitchell would be able to get tougher, but it was hard for him to achieve that in this match. He needs more training to build on his muscles and strength, but those were things that he could only do after the match.

It would be disadvantageous for Forest if Mitchell were to be tightly marked by Piqué, because Forest’s tactics for the match were formed with Mitchell as the core.

Perhaps some changes need to be made?

※※※

Forest launched yet another attack. The ball was sent to Mitchell through the air once again.

This time, Mitchell decided to stand his ground and engage in a physical battle with Piqué for the ball instead of avoiding him.

Mitchell tried to block Piqué from getting to the ball in the air. His tall stature certainly made things difficult for Piqué. He then jumped up into the air to receive the ball. Piqué also followed suit. Right at the moment where there was physical contact between the two players however, Mitchell led out a cry and fell to the ground.

The referee’s whistle rang out.

Piqué had committed a foul!

Piqué felt wronged. He did not see anything wrong with his actions. They were normal actions that would be taken in any other physical battle.

He checked with the referee over what had been deemed to be a foul, and the referee raised his arm upwards to indicate that Piqué had wrapped his arm around Mitchell during the physical battle earlier.

Piqué knew that Mitchell had deliberately fallen to the ground at the slightest of contact, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Nottingham Forest had finally gotten their first free kick of the match after practicing for an entire week.

Guardiola should feel lucky that Bale was out injured for the match. Bale was Forest’s sole free kick specialist.

The free kick that Twain had trained his team to do for the past week was the ‘indirect free kick’.

There are two types of free kicks in football. One is called the ‘direct free kick’, while the other is called the ‘indirect free kick’. There are no restrictions for direct free kicks. The ball may be directly kicked into the goal without any other player touching it. On the other hand, an indirect free kick requires at least two players to touch the ball for it to count as a goal in the event that it does make its way into the net.

Mitchell had earned a direct free kick for Forest. However, Nottingham Forest was going to play the ball as though it was an indirect free kick that had been awarded to them.

Bentley walked over to the ball. Mitchell kept trying to squeeze his way past the Barcelona’s defenders, and that led to a minor scuffle between the players from both teams.

The scuffle prompted the referee to step forward to maintain order. In the end, Mitchell was able to get what he wanted from the start, which was to squeeze his way into Barcelona’s penalty box.

The Barcelona players all believed that the ball would be sent to Mitchell. Thus, they sent a player to stand right behind Mitchell. The player would able to mark Mitchell and also prevent a gap from being formed that Forest would be able to exploit if Mitchell were to run away after the free kick has been taken.

But, everything was nothing more than a pretense for Nottingham Forest.

Their true tactic was this…

After the referee blew his whistle, Bentley ran up to the ball. However, he did not kick the ball straight for goal. Instead, he passed the ball over into the middle of the pitch!

George Wood ran up from behind and shot for goal at once!

He did not manage to shoot the ball at the height that he was most comfortable with. The ball was low and it lost a bit of speed due to the friction with the pitch below.

Nonetheless, the shot still caused huge problems for Valdés…

The ball bounced about erratically on the pitch, and it was hard to tell where the ball was going towards.

Valdés’ initial judgement was that the ball would continue to follow its current trajectory and land in his arms, but he did not expect the ball to suddenly change direction after bouncing over a small bump on the pitch.

The ball then rolled towards the goalpost!

Valdés pounced towards the ball and managed to tip the ball away!

All the Barcelona players broke into cold sweat at the sight.

“George Wood does a long shot at goal! He nearly scored! The terrible pitch has helped him out. Fortunately, Valdés was completely focused and he did not commit a rudimentary mistake…”

Wood was disappointed that the ball had not gone in. It was not like he could replicate such quality long shots at goal every single time.

Valdés’ heart was palpitating furiously after he got the ball away.

It was a close call.

His heart was in his mouth when he saw the ball make a turn at the last moment, and there were still lingering feelings of fear in him even now.

Thankfully, the ball had not deviated too much from its original trajectory, and it was still within an area that he could get to. However, given the condition of this pitch…

Who knows if Barcelona would still have such good luck the next time Nottingham Forest launched an attack?

The ball was sent into the penalty box from the corner.

Mitchell headed the ball, but sent it wide due to Piqué’s interference.

※※※

Guardiola looked at his watch as he stood by the side of the pitch.

27 minutes had passed since the start of the first half, and Nottingham Forest’s attacks were still as ferocious as ever.

The only thing Guardiola could be glad about was that the team had not let in a goal during the period of time where Forest’s offense was at its most intense. Piqué’s outstanding performance had definitely saved the team.

He definitely has to make changes in the second half…

Nottingham Forest decided to slow down their tempo to allow their players to conserve some stamina after attacking feverishly for 20 minutes. They did not want any of their players to be exhausted before the first half ended.

Barcelona decided to try and shift the game back into their favor now that Nottingham Forest had stopped being as offensive.

They maintained possession of the ball and tried to find a way through Forest’s defense. They did not believe that Nottingham Forest had no weaknesses that they could exploit. They just haven’t found one since they were too busy dealing with Forest’s attacks earlier…

However, they soon realized that Nottingham Forest’s was invulnerable to their attacks. They did not give them any chance to break through and shoot for goal.

What should they do against a team that is defending to the death?

Barcelona decided to pass the ball around the back and maintain possession for the time being. Doing so would attract Nottingham Forest to move forward, because they were the ones who needed to score a goal.

Nottingham Forest were the ones who should be getting anxious. Not Barcelona.

Once Barcelona realized of that fact, they started becoming less frantic. They would pass the ball around at the back, and if Nottingham Forest did not move forward, they would continue to kick the ball backwards and let their goalkeeper Valdés initiate another attack.

On the 30th minute of the match, Barcelona continued to pass the ball about at the back, but Agbonlahor suddenly charged towards Puyol from the middle of the pitch.

Puyol was not in a hurry to pass the ball away. He wanted to attract Agbonlahor and the other Forest players to move upwards. He gestured for his team mates around him to move back and support him.

Piqué turned around and ran back towards him. However, Puyol did not pass the ball over to him, because Mitchell was right behind Piqué.

The Forest players were all like a pack of wolves chasing behind its prey, waiting for the opportunity to strike.

Puyol turned and passed the ball over to Alves at the flank.

Lennon rushed up to Alves after seeing that the ball had been passed to him.

Alves could have passed a long ball to the front of the pitch, but he hesitated. He raised his leg and put it down.

In the time in which he hesitated, Lennon had already run up to him!

Alves turned around and tried to protect the ball at his feet. He realized that it was risky to pass to any player before him, so he chose to pass the ball back to the goalkeeper.

He held Lennon back and passed the ball back to the goalkeeper. Valdés moved forward to stop the ball that was rolling towards him.

Agbonlahor noticed that Barcelona had passed the ball back to their goalkeeper. He did not stop in his tracks. Instead, he shrugged off Puyol and charged towards Valdés.

Valdés had initially wanted to stop the ball at his feet before passing it to a defender, but he realized that he had underestimated Agbonlahor’s pace. In the blink of an eye, the two were already in very close proximity to each other. He would only be digging his own grave if he were to stop the ball at his feet now.

Valdés changed his mind at the last minute and decided to kick the ball towards the other half of the pitch.

Barcelona’s first choice goalkeeper lifted his leg. All he had to do was to connect his feet with the ball…

Agbonlahor was only about 10 meters away from him. He definitely could not afford to make a mistake.

In the next second however, every single player, fan and staff of the Barcelona team could not believe their eyes…

The ball that had rolled over towards Valdés was not fast. It would be as easy as breathing for a goalkeeper like Valdés, who had played in countless games before, to kick the ball away.

Valdés got into position and was ready to kick the ball away…

But, the ball suddenly bounced upwards just when it was a short distance away from Valdés!

It was at this very moment that Valdés swung his right leg out!

His right leg did not hit its intended target and he kicked at nothing but air…

Valdés exerted too much force in his attempt to kick the ball. It tipped him off balance and he fell backwards onto the ground.

It dawned on him at once that he had just missed!

He looked on in horror as Agbonlahor passed him by…

“A mistake! Valdés has made a mistake! This is a chance for Agbonlahor! This is a chance for Nottingham Forest… He shoots! GOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!”

Agbonlahor would have to smash his head against a wall if he could not score a goal before an empty goalpost. There were no defenders around Agbonlahor when Valdés failed to kick the ball earlier. He could have stopped the ball and readjusted himself before shooting. He would still have scored a goal.

The Nottingham Forest fans were already cheering by the time Agbonlahor scored the goal. They had erupted into cheers the very moment Valdés fell to the ground.

Twain, John and Bill all jumped up from their seats. They stretched out their two arms and roared at the top of their voices.

“Forest, Forest! Nottingham Forest!”

Barcelona has committed a blunder…