Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Madrid might not be the city that Matías Fernández is most familiar with in Spain, but he was definitely more familiar with Madrid as opposed to London.
When he was still a player for Villarreal, he would have to go to Madrid at least three times in a single season to play away games at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Atlético Madrid’s Estadio Vicente Calderón Stadium and Getafe’s Estadio Coliseum Alfonso Pérez Stadium.
It was possible that London would replace Madrid’s position a season later, because he has to go to London at least five times in a season…
Villarreal or ‘The Yellow Submarine’, is Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid’s direct rival these few seasons, thus Matías Fernández is very used to hearing boos from the home fans every time their team played in an away game against those two aforementioned teams. However, ever since he came to England, he realized that the boos from the Spanish fans amounted to nothing. The craziest fans in the world are definitely from England!
Forest accepted the media’s interview after alighting from their plane. When Fernández was asked, “How do you feel to be back in Spain?”, he smiled and replied, “I feel as though I’ve never left Spain all this while. It feels like I’m just going to play another away game.”
Over here, the reporters would not ask him questions in English, which is a language he doesn’t understand. They would ask him questions in Spanish instead, which is a language he finds familiar and friendly.
He replied and chatted with the reporters in Spanish. His behavior was completely devoid of the primness that he displayed in England.
Twain noticed the change in Fernández. He hoped that this behavior of his would help in eliciting top-notch performances from him.
A reporter asked Fernández a question that clearly made him awkward. “You have not been able to perform well ever since you transferred to Nottingham Forest. There are some British media outlets that have called you a flop of the summer transfer window. What are your thoughts on this matter?”
The expression on Fernández’s face froze. He went into a daze for a while before replying, “I am still trying my best to get used to the playing style of the Premier League…”
“Did you ever think that your transfer to Nottingham Forest was a mistake? The truth is, you can still be guaranteed a spot in the Champions League if you continued playing for Villarreal…”
Fernández’s final contribution for Villarreal before leaving the club was to provide an assist in the last match that helped his team edge out Valencia and successfully qualify for the Champions League.
This time round, Fernández did not show the reporter any courtesy. “I want to become champions. I believe that Nottingham Forest can accomplish that.”
He lowered his head and quickly walked away from the circle of reporters as he finished his words. He then boarded the bus that had been waiting outside for quite a while.
The reporters then turned to interview Twain who was walking at the rear of the team. They wanted him to talk about his predictions for the match.
Twain did not treat them nicely. “What is there to predict? The match has not started. How would I know what the results would be like? I might say that the team would win and they ended up losing, and I also might say that they would lose and they ended up winning. I will never talk about results and tactics before the match. All of you are Spanish reporters. Don’t you know that that is my rule?”
Besides his usual feelings of disgust towards the media, Twain also has to act cautiously right now.
They are about to play in an away game after all, and it is also against a team that they have never faced before. He has much less understanding of the team as compared to their bitter rivals in the same city.
He did not care about the looks of hostility from the Spanish reporters when he finished his words. He followed his team up onto the bus.
The door to the bus slowly closed before taking its leave haughtily.
※※※
The hotel that the team checked into was situated in the southern part of Madrid, and it was not too far away from the Estadio Vicente Calderón stadium. They could see the calm Manzanares River from the upstairs window, and there were also low houses and narrow alleyways along both sides of the river.
This was an inner city of Madrid, and it was largely inhabited by craftsmen, who practise a variety of crafts, and workers. The houses in this area appear to be much older when compared to the houses in the northern part of Madrid, but they were not dilapidated.
Almost all the people living here are supporters of Atlético Madrid. The environment and the social class of the supporters have contributed to the formation of a ‘commoners’ team’ like Atlético Madrid. As a result, Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid, who represents the powerful government, are sworn enemies.
Based on this point, Tony Twain’s Nottingham Forest might actually find Atlético Madrid to be rather affable. However, they are opponents right now, and he has to get rid of such useless sentiments.
Twain found a Chinese restaurant adjacent to the Estadio Vicente Calderón stadium when the team did warm-up practices at the stadium to get used to the pitch for the past two days. The restaurant had an interesting name and thus he specially brought Dunn over to give it a try.
The taste could not be regarded as authentic, but the prices were very cheap. The most important thing was that it had a very good name, ‘Liang Shan Po’. [1]
The words ‘Liang Shan Po’ and ‘Robin Hood’ can be considered to be synonyms of each other.
Twain felt that if such a Chinese restaurant were to be opened next to the City Ground stadium, he would definitely visit the restaurant often.
The ‘108 Stars of Destiny’ [2] from England would cause havoc at the Estadio Vicente Calderón stadium!
A good omen!
※※※
While Tony Twain led his team in its training sessions at Madrid’s Estadio Vicente Calderón stadium, Van Nistelrooy, who had stayed behind in England, stood before the door to Gareth Bale’s ward with a bouquet of flowers in his hands.
He was not in a hurry to enter the room because he heard sounds of arguments coming from within. The Dutch cleverly chose to get out of the way after making out that there was an argument going on between Bale and his short and fat father beyond the door. He turned around and went down the stairs. He only climbed back up when he saw Bale’s father angrily storm out of the lift.
He knocked and opened the door to Bale’s ward.
“Out of the entire team, only the two of us don’t need to head over to Spain.” Van Nistelrooy smiled as he handed the bouquet of flowers to Bale. “I made a trip to Wilford. The first team training ground is empty, so I came to visit you.”
It was evident that Bale was in a terrible mood. One reason for his bad mood is because he just had an argument with his father earlier. As for the other…
Bale has always been a player who cared a lot about his appearance. He is fine with not bringing anything in his bag that he carries to away games, but a comb and a mirror must never be missing. He would always fiddle with his hair as he hopes to use it to attract beautiful girls to him.
However, the Bale right now had a beard around his mouth and on his chin, and his hair was also disheveled. He looked terrible.
“You can join in the reserve team’s training.” Bale received the flowers.
He might have just had an unpleasant fight with his father earlier, but he was still courteous to the senior whom he respected. “Thank you, Ruud.”
“Ha, my injuries have not healed completely. I did some strength training at the gym and left.” Van Nistelrooy laughed, and tried his best to lighten the mood in the room after the confrontation that had just happened earlier.
Bale averted his gaze onto van Nistelrooy’s right knee. That was also the same spot that he had sustained an injury. He felt odd, “Wasn’t your operation a success? You were also able to get on the pitch and play…”
“It was a success, and I’m also able to play in games,” Van Nistelrooy said with a smile, “But I’m 34 after all, my body isn’t like what it used to be. That injury is too serious for me at my age. I’ve also suffered a severe illness in the past as well.”
The conversation topic naturally shifted to van Nistelrooy’s illness.
“I was only 24 years old back then. Everyone said that I was going to say goodbye to professional football. But I didn’t believe in it. I insisted on returning to the pitch, and I succeeded. Thereafter, I joined Manchester United.” Van Nistelrooy recounted his past to Bale with a smile on his face. “You are much younger than I was back then, ‘Little Monkey’. You will definitely recover better than I did.”
As van Nistelrooy said those words, Bale lowered his head and looked at his knee. “But I suffered an injury without getting in a collision. I’m worried that my knee…”
“There’s nothing to be worried about. It’s just an accident.” Van Nistelrooy reached out a hand and gently patted Bale’s right knee. “You are to blame for the injury this time round. The blame is not on your body, but on your mentality. I noticed that you were a little distracted during the warm-up before the match. Did you get to know some pretty lady at the captain’s party?”
Bale scratched his head. “No. All I was thinking about was the Champions League. We are always up against the same few faces in the league. I just couldn’t get myself fired up…”
“That’s what made your warm-ups really poor in quality. Your body hasn’t been properly warmed up yet, but you performed such an intense cutting maneuver the moment you got on the pitch. It is only obvious that your knee would not be able to handle it. It is not some steel part that you can torment however you like. In actuality, that area of ours is very weak.”
Van Nistelrooy retracted his hand and pressed down on his own ankle.
“As a professional footballer, you have to learn to cherish them. If you don’t cherish them, they will give you a hard time. Bale, your footballing career so far can be considered to be a successful one, which is why there are certain things that you don’t know you should cherish and it has caused you to have a hard time now. It’s not a good thing to get injured, but you have to look at the positives from it… This injury would allow you to understand a lot of things.”
Bale nodded his head. He reckoned that he had come to understand certain things after their conversation.
“So, you can’t get depressed over one serious injury. Look at all the big superstar players. Which of them hasn’t suffered from a serious injury before? But why have they all succeeded in the end?”
“I think I got it. Thank you, Ruud.” Bale lifted his head and thanked van Nistelrooy gratefully.
The first few days after he picked up an injury were the toughest for him. A lot of thoughts flashed through his chaotic mind. Some of the thoughts were positive, while others were negative. He was in a state whereby he almost could not think about anything, and his mood worsened dramatically as a result.
The reason for his fight with his father earlier was also because of this.
His father had comforted him by telling him that his injury was nothing big. His reason was that ‘my son is a genius’. However, Bale responded with a glower, and told his father that he had never experienced such a situation before, which is why he would not think that it was ‘anything big’. Someone who has never experienced what he is currently experiencing will never come to understand how he is feeling right now, and does not have the right to preach to him. What good is there in being a genius? He has heard the same phrase over and over again ever since he was a kid. He has grown sick of it. No matter how much of a ‘genius’ he might be, all he could do right now is to lie on the bed like a wretch.
His father was so angry with his words that his lips quivered. He did not know how to rebut Bale’s words, so all he could do was to slam the door behind him as he left, leaving Bale to sulk alone on the bed.
To a person like Bale, who firmly believes that ‘only someone who has experienced what he is experiencing can understand how he is feeling’, Van Nistelrooy came at just the right time. The few words from a person who has been in his shoes before were more influential than the hundreds of words said to him from others because of how they are able to strike a chord with him.
Van Nistelrooy initially wanted to say, “Don’t thank me, thank the boss. It was him who got me to come and visit you.”
However, he remembered the argument that he had overheard outside the door.
There was not a single person in the team who didn’t know what sort of person Gareth Bale’s father was. The most memorable part of him was undoubtedly his habit of bringing up the words ‘my son is a genius’ all the time. No one would mock him however, because his son was indeed a genius.
As someone who has already become a father, van Nistelrooy felt an obligation to help patch up the relationship between Bale and his father.
Therefore… Boss, sacrifice yourself for a bit!
“Don’t thank me. If you really want to thank someone, then thank your father. He was the one who called me to come over here to speak to you. He knows I have a good relationship with you. However, he told me not to tell you. You know how fathers are like. They care about their pride… But I think I should let you know. The only people who will truly treat you well in this world are your parents.” He placed a finger by his lips as he said those words and winked. “Don’t you betray me, ‘Little Monkey’.”
Bale nodded his head forcefully. He suddenly felt ashamed for arguing with his father earlier.
“Focus on recuperating for now, and don’t think about anything else. The boss will be very happy when you do come back.” Van Nistelrooy was worried that Bale’s father would return. If that were to happen, then the lie that he had intricately fabricated earlier would be exposed. Therefore, he patted Bale on the shoulder and said goodbye.
Before he left, he took notice of the look in Bale’s eyes, and realized that there was light in them. The mission that had been entrusted to him by the boss could be considered accomplished, and he had also done more than what was expected of him.
He chose to go down the stairs after he had exited from the room. He was afraid to run into Bale’s father in the lift. Sure enough, he saw the fat man who was much shorter than others waiting to enter the lift in a crowd of people after he had come down from the stairs.
He was holding onto a takeaway box from a fast food restaurant located in the vicinity. It was clear that he had gone to buy food for his son.
Van Nistelrooy remembered how furious he looked like when he stormed out of the lift. He took a look at what Bale’s father was holding in his hands now and shook his head.
Fathers…
Van Nistelrooy donned sunglasses and his cap and also straightened the collar of his shirt. Then, he scrunched his neck as he lowered himself and slipped away from the hospital.
He had entered the hospital without worrying about anything, but now that he was leaving, he was worried about creating a commotion and attracting the attention of Bale’s father.
※※※
Bale was fiddling with the flowers that he had received from van Nistelrooy when his father pushed open the door and entered the ward.
He saw the flowers in Bale’s hands and went into a daze for a moment. “Who gave them to you?”
Bale noticed what was in his father’s hands, and also went into a daze for a moment. “Er… A friend.” He couldn’t betray his own team mate!
His father made his way over and placed the takeaway box on the bedside cabinet. He then took the flowers from Bale. “I will put them in the vase for you.”
Bale did not voice any disagreement. Things were still a little awkward between the two of them, but it was not as bad as how things had been earlier.
His father walked back to his side after putting the flowers in the vase. He looked at the item that he had placed on the table and did not know what to say.
Suddenly, Bale said, “I’m hungry, Dad.”
“Ah! Just nice, I bought something for you to eat!” It was as though his father had just been relieved of a great burden.
He peeled back the wrapping from the food. “Do you need me to feed you, Gareth?”
Bale pouted. “I injured my knee, not my hand, Dad. Besides, I’m not a 3 year old kid. I don’t need you to feed me…”
“Heh heh!” His father was a little embarrassed as passed the takeaway box to his son. He then sat by the side and began peeling fruits with a knife.
“I have decided to go to America for my operation, Dad.”
“That’s good! The earlier you go for your operation, the earlier you’ll recover!”
“The earlier I’ll recover? How can there be such a good thing in this world?”
“My son is a genius after all!”