The Rise of Millwal

Chapter 224: Championship Within Reach

In the twenty-third minute of the first half, Chelsea conceded a goal.

Van Nistelrooy, beaming with enthusiasm, dashed over to the corner flag to acknowledge the fans. It was a rare opportunity for him to start in such an important match, and scoring a goal made him absolutely jubilant.

Chelsea's players, however, walked back with grim faces, ready to kick off as soon as the opponent finished celebrating.

The Chelsea fans in the stands fell silent, as if they had just received a heavy blow.

Meanwhile, the Lions' supporters were roaring with excitement.

"Chelsea, come thank us, the Lions! We've just handed you a ticket to European competition! Hahaha!"

Indeed, it was true. Millwall had secured the league title, and regardless of whether Chelsea won the FA Cup or not, they would end up with a spot in the European Cup Winners' Cup.

After the goal, Aldrich stood up from his seat, smiling and applauding. Once he sat down, he turned to Jensen and said, "Pavel and Henrik are both clever players. Henrik's playmaking skills have finally started to yield results after three years of development, and Pavel's threats to the goal are becoming more pronounced. It's hard to define his role on the pitch; while he starts as an attacking midfielder, he covers the entire front line. He has a lethal scoring ability, and we need to further explore that potential."

Jensen chuckled in response, "He's already scored a bunch of goals this season; what more do you want from him?"

Aldrich shook his head. "Most of his goals this season have come from late runs or second-strike opportunities. In the future, he needs to get closer to the goal and be more direct in taking chances!"

Jensen raised an eyebrow and said, "I genuinely hope he stays here for a long time."

Aldrich's expression froze for a moment, then he smiled bitterly. "Let's not talk about that today. It can sour the mood."

After conceding, Chelsea gathered themselves and launched a period of dominance in the first half. However, Millwall's defense excelled at neutralizing threats in and around the area.

As the first half neared its end, Millwall mounted a wave of strong attacks. Yet, Chelsea stood firm. After conceding, they became even more focused on defense, with only Larsson's shot from outside the box coming close to causing trouble.

At halftime, the score stood at 0-1 in favor of Millwall, who wore the home colors in name, thus their position on the field seemed more dominant.

During the break, Aldrich laid out tactical instructions and urged his players to maintain their concentration.

As the second half commenced, both sides returned to battle.

The songs from Millwall's supporters echoed in the stands. This time, they were singing a lively tune of their own creation instead of the usual rock anthem.

As the song reached its climax, all Millwall fans cheered in unison: "Millwall, charge, charge, charge!"

Their chants reverberated through the stadium, like the roar of a lion echoing through the wilderness.

Gullit, the head coach, was not necessarily extraordinary; he lacked many brilliant tactics. Problems didn't arise when the team was cruising along. But the true test of any team and coach comes in adversity.

In the first ten minutes of the second half, Chelsea's disadvantages became increasingly clear. They fought harder, but players were mismatched in synergy—some played aggressively and quickly, while others were more cautious and slow, leading to frequent errors in their coordination.

As for Millwall?

They operated like a finely-tuned machine, all players synchronized in their rhythm. Although their attacking play wasn't ferocious, their ability to seize opportunities through keeping control was fully demonstrated.

The busiest person on the field at this time is their spiritual leader Wise. At this time, he was sweating profusely and instinctively rushed to the ball, running tirelessly.

Perhaps among this group of players, his sense of belonging to the team was the strongest.

Twenty-six years!

It's been twenty-six years since Chelsea last won a significant championship!

Today was supposed to be the moment to end that streak.

They couldn't lose.

They couldn't afford to lose.

They just couldn't lose!

Wise watched as Gronkjaer received the ball with his back to him, and driven by an urgent desire to equalize, he lunged in for a tackle, leaving his feet!

The moment Gronkjaer received the ball, he noticed Wise's tackle coming. Shocked, he quickly dodged, losing his balance and tumbling to the ground, landing right on top of Wise and the ball.

Wise jumped up immediately, eager to reclaim the ball, but with the ball trapped beneath Gronkjaer, he aimed his foot to kick it...

"Fuck! Is this how you play football?!"

Aldrich, who was sipping water from a bottle, witnessed the scene and hurled the bottle aside before storming toward the fourth official in a rage.

He had seen Neil suffer a serious injury from a tackle, so he was extremely sensitive to such reckless challenges. Unlike many top defenders, who were masters of the tackle, some players, in the heat of the moment, behaved recklessly, not intending harm but potentially leading to irreparable consequences!

The referee blew the whistle to stop the game, while Aldrich yelled at the officiating crew, "This is the FA Cup final! This represents the image of English football! If you can't control the match and make fair decisions, then you're the one in the wrong — a disgrace to English football!"

Though his words might have irritated the officials, they were valid.

Before the Premier League was established, the FA Cup held more significance than the Second Division!

Gronkjaer, having just stood up, found himself back on the ground. He placed his hands on the grass behind him, glancing helplessly at his left leg.

There were three gashes, with blood trickling down his calf, staining his white socks.

From his expression, it seemed to only be surface wounds, scratched by Wise's studs. Luckily, he had dodged in time; otherwise, who knew if Millwall would have another player suffering a severe injury this year!

Wise hurriedly explained to the referee that his intentions were not to harm. Just as he took a couple of steps away, Southgate charged over, angrily pointing at him while turning to pressure the main referee.

Before the other Chelsea players could reach, the referee had already shown Wise a red card!

The key was his follow-up action, which was too reckless. Gronkjaer had stumbled and fallen on the ball while Wise also fell, but then he stood up and kicked toward Gronkjaer's body, a moment that left him with no choice but to leave the field — his composure had clearly slipped.

Millwall's team doctor rushed over to attend to Gronkjaer's wounds. Although the doctor had the authority to advise, Gronkjaer insisted on continuing to play.

This was a rare start in the final; he didn't want to be substituted early.

Gullit and the Chelsea players confronted the officials, while Aldrich stood at mid-field with his arms crossed, coldly observing. Only when he saw Gronkjaer getting back up without signs of struggling did Aldrich return to his bench.

In the box, Bates seethed, grinding his teeth as he shouted angrily at Arthur, "Did you guys bribe the referee?!"

Arthur exploded in return, "You lot are the dirty ones and yet you're looking for excuses?"

...

Once the storm subsided, the match resumed. Gullit substituted Viali for Hughes, shifting the team formation to a 4-4-1.

With less than half an hour left in the match, facing a deficit and a player down, Chelsea had no choice but to go all out.

Using wingers as forwards, turning full-backs into wingers, and with Di Matteo being effectively contained today, Chelsea's counterattack relied solely on the performance of their flanks.

Facing a relentless siege, Millwall was no stranger.

They were battle-hardened, especially after having endured a furious assault from Barcelona just two days prior, when they faced about eight attacking players crossing the halfway line. If they could withstand that pressure, Chelsea simply had no chance against them in terms of individual skill and teamwork. As long as Millwall kept a calm mindset and avoided mistakes, they wouldn't give their opponents any opportunities.

Zola, receiving the ball on the flank, attempted to bypass Zambrotta. Zambrotta blocked his path, but the nimble Zola slipped by. Just as he evaded Zambrotta, Southgate rushed in for the tackle and intercepted the ball. Zola collided with Southgate and fell to the ground, with the entire Chelsea crowd rising to demand a penalty!

The referee ignored them, even raising his hand toward Zola, signaling him to get up.

The Lions' fans were completely unimpressed: that short guy ran into Southgate all by himself, and the ball was already taken away by Southgate. If this was a penalty, our forwards would be winning them every time they entered the box.

After Southgate intercepted the ball, he passed it to Elgera, who calmly distributed it to Schneider on the right flank.

Schneider launched a long pass forward, catching Chelsea's defense off guard. Formerly a midfielder, Schneider had now taken over the right-back position after Thuram's departure. While his defensive skills couldn't compare to Thuram's, his ability to initiate attacks, especially in transition, was extraordinary.

As the ball crossed the halfway line, Van Nistelrooy controlled it and passed it to the speeding Gronkjaer cutting in from the flank.

Chelsea's defense, now left with only Leboeuf and Sinclair, immediately sounded the alarm.

Leboeuf consciously retreated to block Gronkjaer's path.

However, surprisingly, instead of charging forward, Gronkjaer cut inside diagonally to the center and brought the ball all the way to the left side.

Sinclair watched Van Nistelrooy cautiously step back while also keeping an eye on Larsson.

Larsson, having sprinted from the left flank to the right, timed his run perfectly as Gronkjaer approached the left side of the penalty area. Sinclair hesitated and chose to pressure Gronkjaer instead of Van Nistelrooy, allowing Leboeuf to follow suit and shadow Van Nistelrooy.

When Larsson made his run into the box from behind Van Nistelrooy, Leboeuf hesitated. Just then, the ball arced beautifully over the heads of the defenders from the left side.

Larsson, anticipating the ball's arrival, executed a stunning volley without waiting for it to hit the ground!

The goalkeeper didn't stand a chance as the ball flew cleanly into the far corner of the net!

"Millwall doubles their lead! Larsson, the super striker, scoring his 52nd goal of the season! Just two days ago, he netted twice in the Netherlands to help secure the trophy, and today he's scored again. He's a big-stage player! Millwall's leading scorer is having a dream season!"

Unlike typical goal celebrations, Larsson slowed down after his shot, walking with an odd gait, limping slightly.

Van Nistelrooy and Gronkjaer, the two closest players to him, rushed over and noticed that Larsson regretfully smiled and gestured to Aldrich to sub him out.

"Oh no, Larsson's injured! He's Millwall's player with the most appearances this season; it's understandable that his body couldn't hold up until the end. Let's hope it's not serious," Aldridge looked a little ugly and thought: He is too obsessed with getting Larson to increase the number of goals...

All Millwall's fans rose to their feet, applauding while chanting the title of Europe's top scorer in unison.

Aldrich walked up to the substitute bench, ready to decide who should take Larsson's place.

As he glanced at the substitute forwards, Aldrich couldn't help but smile.

Trezeguet was absent from the squad due to national team duties for the U-20 World Cup this summer.

Shevchenko was sitting on the bench, able to play as either a midfielder or forward.

Neither Tony nor Phillips made the squad either.

But there was one forward whom Aldrich initially intended to sit on the bench just to let him feel the atmosphere.

However, as fate would have it, with the score now at 2-0 and his team up a man, Aldrich decided it was time to let this player truly experience the game.

He approached the youthful-looking guy with a noticeable big toothy grin and said with a smile, "Ronaldinho, it's time to warm up."