I Am Scouted by Real Madrid

Chapter 100: Chapter 17: The Devil Muscleman

”They’re just a bunch of wimps!”

”We need to play more proactively.” Lodina’s words seemed to still echo in the locker room. In the first half, aside from an opening goal, Deportivo La Coruña was overwhelmed by Real Madrid in every aspect in the following time.

Lodina is not considered a tactical master, but he is indeed an ”expert” in ”defense.”

During halftime, Lodina hoped the team could ”toughen up” on the pitch.

He hoped that the players, especially on the defensive end, would be more active and aggressive. Lodina’s meaning was clear: they could only use determination and ”iron will” to fight for survival at the Bernabeu.

Standing at the sidelines, Lodina watched eagerly, hoping to see a change in the team’s performance in the second half. And indeed, Deportivo La Coruña’s continuous rough tackles on the field caused confusion for Real Madrid.

”What the hell is that damn bastard doing?” Schuster’s eyes widened. The scene now felt unfamiliar to him. This was not yet the era when the charismatic Simeone appeared, the era when Atletico Madrid’s single team raised the defensive intensity of the entire La Liga. Lodina’s defensive strategy was still a novelty in La Liga.

Several players pressed hard in midfield, often resorting to sliding tackles, which caught Real Madrid off guard.

Guti’s eyes flashed with irritation as he jumped to avoid a sliding tackle from a Deportivo La Coruña player, but the ball was intercepted by another person, and Deportivo La Coruña tried to launch a fast counterattack.

”Good, just like that!” Lodina’s eyes flashed with delight. He wanted to turn Real Madrid’s entire midfield into a meat grinder and the whole pitch into a mud pool, dragging the elegant Real Madrid into the mud to roll around with them. The scene before him was exactly what he hoped to see; Real Madrid had no intention of playing smoothly, especially Guti, who was forced by Deportivo La Coruña to make quick decisions under continuous high pressure.

Yet, as Lodina was celebrating, a man with yellow skin and black hair, wearing a number 22 white jersey, appeared.

He appeared brutally and unreasonably in Lodina’s sight from the side, heavily colliding with the Deportivo La Coruña player—this was a very reasonable collision, as both were fighting for ball possession.

The answer was obvious; that ”monster” effortlessly knocked the Deportivo La Coruña player to the side.

After Chen Zhong got the ball, he didn’t choose to dribble. He passed the ball to Guti, who was not far away. During the halftime, Schuster had asked Chen Zhong to escort Guti tactically, get the ball to Guti first, protect the team’s center immediately after losing the ball, and then regain possession.

The blond hair swayed in the air as Guti’s once agitated heart gradually calmed down. He pointed forward with his finger, and as the Deportivo La Coruña players rushed toward him brutally, he passed the ball directly without stopping it.

Chen Zhong started off with a ”rumble,” and the Deportivo La Coruña fans in the stands exclaimed. They had seen this scene before!

Lodina shouted out the names of players loudly on the sidelines, hoping they could intercept Chen Zhong outside the penalty area. Chen Zhong’s running speed grew faster and faster.

Sergio rushed from the side with a fierce look in his eyes, flying in for a sliding tackle directly from the side. However, Chen Zhong’s speed was faster than he expected; he didn’t touch the ball, only hitting Chen Zhong’s thigh.

No, he didn’t even know whether it was him crashing into Chen Zhong’s thigh or Chen Zhong kicking him. He was just like a small car running a red light, being hit by a normally driving truck, spinning and clutching his foot painfully on the ground.

But Chen Zhong just staggered for a moment and continued to run forward.

The penalty area loomed ahead, and there was already a good shooting angle. The Deportivo La Coruña players had already blocked his shot, yet Chen Zhong had no intention to shoot; he knew his own limits better than anyone.

With the outside of his foot, he nudged the ball to the side, and Robinho, like a host excited by a big brother’s gift, sprang into action energetically.

He burst out from the side, and with a simple cut and nudge, he toyed with the rushing Deportivo La Coruña players, then with a fake shot tricked the goalkeeper’s balance, and faced with an open goal, easily pushed the ball into the net.

”Goal!”

”Chen Zhong assisted Robinho, who scored a goal.”

”Robinho bypassed the defenders and goalkeeper, effortlessly scoring against an open goal.”

”2:1”

”Real Madrid took the lead.”

”Chen Zhong is so composed.”

”Actually, he had the chance to take a shot himself.”

”But his vision and awareness made him notice Robinho’s forward run.”

”This is Robinho’s first league goal for Real Madrid this season.”

”This goal means a lot to him!”

After scoring, Robinho pointed to Chen Zhong and then ran towards the corner flag. His performance of dribbling past the defender and then the goalkeeper satisfied the Meiling fans. Even Schuster, who had been somewhat displeased with Robinho, showed a hint of a smile.

Lodina, upon seeing the conceded goal, felt like he was the most miserable person in the world. But soon, a new layer of misery was added because his assistant coach reminded him, ”Boss, it looks like Sergio is injured.”

Sergio was the player who had just slid in from the side to tackle Chen Zhong. He was Deportivo La Coruña’s main defensive midfielder this season, the taller of the two. During halftime, Lodina had tasked Sergio with stopping Chen Zhong. After all, he couldn’t possibly rely on the other midfielder, who is only 1.69 meters tall, to block the 1.9-meter Chen Zhong!

”Damn it!” Lodina bit his lip, planning to let a substitute player on the field. However, the referee’s subsequent actions added yet another layer of pain to Lodina’s misery.

While Real Madrid players were celebrating the goal, the referee approached Sergio, who was still writhing in pain on the ground, and showed him a yellow card, followed by a red card.

”Hmm, something’s happening on the field.”

”The referee walked to Sergio, who is still down on the ground.”

”Is he about to show a yellow card? Sergio already has a yellow card from the first half.”

”He really showed a yellow card; two yellows make a red.”

”Deportivo La Coruña will have to play with one less man for the rest of the match.”

Online, many fans are discussing the scene. The discussions among fans back home are mostly quite harmonious:

[This is too tragic. Tackled someone else and got injured himself, and then got sent off.]

[Did you see the expression of Deportivo La Coruña’s coach? That bald guy was completely stunned.]

[Honestly, is Chen Zhong’s physical condition too strong? When I saw him get tackled from the side, I was completely hardened.]

[Above, is your hardness serious? But really, did you see the replay just now? Holy crap, I was completely shocked!]

[Honestly, with his performance, I almost suspect his Chinese bloodline isn’t pure.]

[Nonsense, that’s a pure Chinese bloodline, okay!]

However, fans abroad are gradually going off-topic, especially when someone suggests that Chen Zhong’s performance might indicate he is a robot, causing a batch of fans to agree, while some Chinese fans spying the conversation are utterly confused by these foreigners’ line of thinking.

Someone even said Chen Zhong is a football robot recently developed by China, and they want to use 11 robots to play in the World Cup and dominate the entire football world.

Saying it is one thing, but in China, it’d probably be considered a joke, a meme.

Yet abroad, many people expressed agreement. It’s really a case of one daring to say, and the other daring to believe. Is this the result of bottom-tier happy education versus elite high-tier education?

...

With one player sent off, Deportivo La Coruña’s defeat in this match was all but certain. If the team hadn’t repeatedly missed opportunities, Real Madrid might have turned this game into a slaughter.

Unfortunately, Van Nistelrooy wasn’t in form. Only after Saviola was subbed out did Van Nistelrooy assist Raul to score, fixing the score at 3:1.

At the post-match press conference, Lodina looked somewhat helpless when facing reporters’ questions, saying, ”We had a beautiful start, breaking down Real Madrid’s defense in less than two minutes.”

”But Real Madrid quickly stabilized their rhythm. Actually, we had studied Real Madrid carefully before this match, but Chen’s presence made many things not go as we planned.”

”He is indeed a genius, at least in terms of physical strength, which is extraordinary.”

Lodina truly suffered a hidden loss in this match; he didn’t expect Chen Zhong to be such a player, especially since La Liga emphasizes footwork techniques.

Schuster, in a post-match interview, also praised Chen Zhong when facing reporters’ questions. When mentioning defensive issues, Schuster said, ”Honestly, I’m a bit troubled right now. When Chen is on defense, our entire backline seems like it’s changed, but he’s also an excellent option in midfield. I might try something new in the upcoming match against Valencia.”

Valencia, the Bat Army, where Mata is currently playing.

When Chen Zhong returned to his dorm, he received a call from Mata.