Starting as a Defensive Midfielder at Real Madrid

”Good job applying what you’ve learned. I honestly thought you’d be too cautious to call for the ball, but turns out you’ve got guts. That’s really promising. Running a team’s offense starts with these little things—managing and shifting possession, keeping the whole system running. As for when to speed up play, that’s what you need to learn to sense.”

Xabi Alonso had his arm around Li Ang’s shoulder in the tunnel, patiently explaining the rationale behind the tempo shifts he’d made during the first half.

Li Ang listened intently, head slightly lowered as he thought things through.

He was still new to the world of organizing play. Many of the concepts Alonso mentioned were too complex for him to fully grasp just yet, but that didn’t stop him from trying to put himself in his mentor’s shoes.

What would he have done in those same positions?

What decisions would he have made differently?

By comparing his own instinctive choices with Alonso’s, he was beginning to spot the gaps—seeing where he fell short and where he needed to grow. That was the first step toward improvement.

It’s often said that imitation is a powerful form of learning.

Li Ang knew this well. He had watched Makélélé’s match footage over and over in the past.

He had grinded his way up the youth system by maxing out his defensive stats.

Makélélé’s gifted ”defensive positioning insight” helped him become exceptionally efficient at replicating those qualities.

Before, he didn’t have any natural playmaking talent, so he simply didn’t try to learn.

But now, with Valerón’s ”Core Principles of Orchestrating Play” embedded in his mind, how could he not take advantage of Alonso’s presence and ask about everything he didn’t understand?

”All right, don’t overload yourself. Just think about what I told you for the next couple of weeks. When we do some extra drills, I’ll show you how to make better passing decisions.”

Seeing Mourinho standing by the dressing room door, Alonso ended the conversation and gave Li Ang a pat on the head, motioning for him to head back inside.

”Well done.”

Mourinho smiled as he shook Alonso’s hand, then gave Li Ang a friendly pat on the back.

”You did great in the first half. Keep it up.”

The unexpected compliment nearly made Li Ang bite his own tongue.

Mourinho had always treated him well, but never to the point of giving spontaneous encouragement like this.

It was a surprise, but not something he could question. Still puzzled, he walked into the locker room full of question marks.

”Hey! Our rising star is back!”

Marcelo was sitting on the bench taking off his socks when he spotted Li Ang and immediately whooped, swinging his socks in the air like streamers.

Having taken a 1–0 lead into halftime, the mood in the Real Madrid dressing room was light. Whistling and playful teasing filled the air.

Cristiano Ronaldo, his protective shell of pride temporarily shed, grinned and smacked Li Ang’s backside. Di María came over to high-five him, and Casillas, the captain, offered a round of applause.

”You really exceeded our expectations,” said Karanka, affectionately rubbing the back of Li Ang’s head. ”Your performance was even better than in training. I think José can finally rest easy.”

As a Real Madrid legend himself, Karanka couldn’t help but feel proud seeing a homegrown academy player step up and perform.

Li Ang remained humble, simply saying he would keep working hard.

After shaking hands with his teammates one by one, he returned to his seat to take off his boots and rest.

Mourinho watched the whole scene unfold with satisfaction, his appreciation for Li Ang growing stronger.

Once the joking died down, Karanka rolled a tactics board to the center of the locker room.

Everyone went silent. Players straightened in their seats and turned to Mourinho.

”Even though our attack wasn’t super fluid in the first half, we completely controlled the midfield. Since we’ve taken the lead, we can now afford to slow the tempo a bit in the second half. Keep possession, draw Mallorca’s wide players in to support their midfield, and create gaps in the back. Cristiano and Ángel,” he said, turning to Ronaldo and Di María, ”you two can shift inside to support Sergio.”

Mourinho’s tactical plan was crystal-clear and precisely tailored.

Under his direction, Real Madrid’s second-half approach was quickly set.

Li Ang, watching his coach confidently address the squad of global stars, couldn’t help but be impressed.

This was Mourinho—arguably the best in the world when it came to tactical setup and in-game adjustments.

And at this moment—fresh off his historic treble with Inter Milan—Mourinho was at his most confident.

He’d come to Madrid with one goal: to restore Real’s dominance.

And the players had rallied around him, united and fully bought in.

Looking at the scene, it was hard to imagine that just two seasons later, Mourinho’s time at Real Madrid would unravel in dramatic fashion.

Li Ang briefly sighed at the thought, but quickly pushed it aside.

That was then. He didn’t even know if he’d still be at Madrid two years from now.

Even if he was, and even if he became a starter, dressing room politics would still have nothing to do with him.

Like Alonso, he would stay neutral. Just play football. Ignore the rest.

”Any questions?”

Mourinho looked around the room after finishing his tactical explanation.

Canales raised a point about his defensive responsibilities, which he and Mourinho discussed for a minute.

The others took the time to hydrate, stretch, and refocus.

With no substitutions made at halftime, the match resumed quickly.

As the second half kicked off, Li Ang saw Alonso drop back to his level in the defensive line, and felt more at ease.

This half was all about controlling the rhythm.

Not just sitting deep and countering—Real Madrid had enough talent to contest possession near midfield.

If Mallorca wanted to equalize, they’d have to commit more players to the battle in the middle third.

And with a weak midfield, they’d be forced to pull in their wide players to help.

That would open space for Ronaldo and Di María.

But for that plan to work, Real Madrid’s midfield first had to withstand Mallorca’s assault—to force them to pull wide support inward.

For Li Ang, the pressure alone would have been massive.

But with Alonso beside him, the load was manageable.

Li Ang abandoned his earlier intercept-and-position approach and began sweeping across the midfield in a high-energy, pressing style.

Alonso, meanwhile, played deeper—handling cover duties and last-ditch tackles.

It was surprising to see Li Ang in this new role. He didn’t usually play as a coverage destroyer.

Not because he couldn’t—but because he’d never needed to.

From the youth teams to Castilla to Betis, Li Ang had always been the player with the most distance covered in a match.

The stamina was there.

And now, when Mourinho asked him to be a sweeping machine, he simply flipped the switch.

His lateral coverage allowed Alonso to relax more than he had in all of last season.

Mallorca’s players were stunned.

Li Ang had just helped Arbeloa double-team on the right wing—next minute, he was disrupting their central build-up again.

They couldn’t handle it.

Even when he didn’t win the ball, his omnipresence alone threw Mallorca’s rhythm into chaos.

Combined with Alonso’s perfect tackles and positioning, the opposition was soon forced to abandon their plan.

Not even twenty minutes into the second half, Mallorca pushed both flanks high up the pitch.

Real Madrid’s trap was set.

Now it was time to counter.

Cristiano Ronaldo, still goalless, was itching for a breakthrough.

And the rest of the forwards naturally cleared space for him to operate.

In the 67th minute, Ronaldo received a pass from Higuaín on a break, dribbled past Mallorca’s right back, and curled a beautiful shot toward goal.

From the back, Li Ang didn’t see it clearly—just Ronaldo’s shot and the eruption of cheers up front.

”Was that a goal?”

Li Ang scratched his head.

”Of course it was!” Alonso laughed, waving him up to celebrate.

On the touchline, Mourinho clenched both fists.

Finally, he could relax.

With a 2–0 lead, Real Madrid dropped deeper and played out the rest of the game on the counter.

Ronaldo’s threat in transition kept Mallorca from going all-in on offense.

And when they finally made a desperate push in the last ten minutes, Mourinho subbed on Gago to lock things down.

They held the lead until the final whistle.

As the stadium erupted in joy, the fans celebrated a strong start to Mourinho’s reign.

And Li Ang?

He wore the widest smile he’d shown all night.

Because a prompt from the system had just appeared in his mind—bringing him an overwhelming surprise.

It wasn’t just the generous amount of system points he’d earned from his La Liga debut…

His simple, outdated system…

had finally leveled up.

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