450 Five Minutes

Seeing Valdés save the goal from his shot, Eastwood could care less about dodging Puyol's slide tackle from behind. He went flying out after the opponent slammed into him. When he got up, his head was in his hands. It was a real pity, a true regret.

Tang En and all the rest of the players from Nottingham Forest were feeling the same regret. Almost everyone was doing the same thing: arching backward with their heads in their hands.

An opportunity such as this, to counterattack after directly intercepting a ball in the opponent's penalty area, was tremendously rare. If they had grasped hold of the chance, they would basically have had a 90 percent chance of scoring a goal. And if it had gone in, it would be the equivalent of giving Nottingham Forest, who had only been passively defending, a shot of reassurance.

But Fate had to toy with Forest at this crucial moment. Valdés' actions appeared to be a conditioned reflex rather than ones made from his own judgment.