I Am Scouted by Real Madrid

Chapter 116: Chapter 30: The Chen That Drove Guardiola Mad!!! (Part 2)

”Why the serious face now?”

”Is he born not to smile? Why isn’t he smiling?”

Listening to Schuster’s teasing, Francisco couldn’t help but curl his lips. After Chen Zhong’s outstanding performance in the first half, Schuster’s mood had significantly improved.

Real Madrid launched an attack at the start of the second half, and the team’s offensive mode brought a novel feeling.

Facing Mallorca’s pressing, Real Madrid players always passed the ball to Chen Zhong first, and Chen Zhong would immediately pass it to other teammates.

The continuous one-touch passing exhausted Mallorca’s players, and though they identified the key to solving the problem, which was to press the pivotal Chen Zhong, causing him to make mistakes under pressure or directly snatch the ball.

But they couldn’t intimidate Chen Zhong at all!

Chen Zhong, like an emotionless ”dealer,” always precisely delivered the ball to players in open positions, and with each one-touch pass, the team gradually pressed closer to Mallorca’s penalty area.

”What the hell?”

”Is this Barcelona?”

”No, it’s different, this feels different.”

Schuster had promised to bring Real Madrid back to the path of passing and ball control, and recently he had the team ensure ball possession with short passes in midfield, though the results weren’t particularly remarkable.

During halftime, thinking back to Chen Zhong’s recent excellent performances, Schuster made a bold and crazy decision.

”You need to get the ball to Chen.”

”Do more one-twos.”

This led to the situation in the second half, with successive one-twos and one-touch passes, making Real Madrid’s midfield look smooth and fluid.

Though Chen Zhong’s passing wasn’t eye-catching, his ball shielding ability and extraordinary calmness always made his handling of the ball very wise.

At this moment, Josep Guardiola was also watching this match, and the coach of Barcelona Athletic Team, who retired a year ago, was having a storm in his mind and an earthquake in his pupils.

”This is!”

”This is!???”

The most authentic passing and control, the newest tiki-taka, was happening at the Bernabeu, at Real Madrid?

Art, absolute art, this is the football I want!

Triangles, inverted triangles, one-touch passing, ball control.

Real Madrid was controlling the match, managing everything, and the reason for all this was the 16-year-old genius, Chen Zhong.

This wasn’t the first time the two had met; in the match where Chen Zhong restricted Bojan, Guardiola was also present, but back then Guardiola didn’t pay much attention to Chen Zhong.

But now.

If one sentence could describe the Chen Zhong in Guardiola’s eyes at this moment, it would be...

Oh, this boy drives me crazy, he is the art in my heart, he was born for passing and control.

”He is a stable, absolutely error-free receiving and ball output point!”

”Too terrifying, too terrifying!”

Guardiola stared intently at the screen, somewhat regretting not watching the match live.

After Real Madrid gained absolute ball control, scoring was merely a matter of time, with goals coming at the 63rd, 72nd, and 85th minutes.

Raul and Van Nistelrooy also ended their goal drought in the second half, both scoring their 6th league goal of the season.

Mansano watched this with a gloomy expression. When he saw Chen Zhong still playing passing games with Sneijder inside the penalty area, and managing to pass the ball back to Sneijder while shielding it, and Sneijder delivering a precise through ball to Van Nistelrooy for him to score, he knew this match had slipped away.

Meanwhile, countless fans online went crazy for the traits Chen Zhong showcased in this match.

[What the hell, Chen Zhong joined the wrong club? He should be at Barcelona?]

[Is this Real Madrid? This should be Barcelona, right? This is definitely Barcelona, right?]

[Stop using Barcelona as a standard, can Barcelona even compare to Real Madrid? Besides, Real Madrid doesn’t have so much ineffective ball possession.]

[My head’s buzzing, what’s the implication now? Does it mean that if Real Madrid wants, they can even play Barcelona-like ball control? No, I feel Real Madrid’s passing control is more representative than Barcelona’s?]

[Let me correct what the person above wanted to say, he might mean that if you have Chen Zhong, Real Madrid can even play passing control beyond Barcelona’s, honestly, I can’t help but praise Chen Zhong, he’s absolutely incredible, whenever the ball is at his feet, it never gets intercepted, and the lines he provides are exceptionally reasonable.]

...

Real Madrid’s brilliant performance in the second half delighted the Merengue fans in the stands, witnessing the return of traditional passing control football. Schuster fulfilled his promise, and Chen Zhong showed them the future.

When the referee blew the final whistle, the cheers from the Merengues in the stands nearly lifted the entire stadium.

The Bernabeu was certainly in tune with the atmosphere, first announcing the name of the Best Player, Chen Zhong, leading to the whole crowd chanting ”Chen,” and then playing ”Hala Madrid,” letting the majestic song echo throughout the stadium.

Schuster successfully led Real Madrid to a ”12+1” home winning streak, red-faced, joining the players in thanking the fans for their support.

Chen Zhong, voted the Best Player of the match, thanked the fans with his teammates before jogging to the press area for an interview.

”Congratulations.” The reporter smiled at Chen Zhong, saying, ”This isn’t your first time being named the Best Player.”

”Do you still feel the same as the first time?”

”Absolutely.” Chen Zhong smiled at the reporter, saying, ”Winning Best Player at the Bernabeu always excites me.”

”I hope that in the future, I can perform at my best in every match for the team.”

”Haha.” The reporter laughed, looking at Chen Zhong, continuing to ask, ”This season, your performance has been outstanding. Some even consider you a standout among the younger generation of players. Do you feel any pressure from this?”

”Not at all.”

”Because at Real Madrid, if you’re not the best player, you don’t deserve to wear this jersey.”

Chen Zhong’s words elicited a strange cry from Marcelo, who was eavesdropping, quickly drawing the attention of other Real Madrid players, who all chimed in loudly, before the interview returned to normal.

”In a few rounds, you’ll be facing Barcelona.”

”What’s your opinion on this upcoming national derby?”

”Haha.” Chen Zhong smiled at the reporter before saying, ”I have a friend named Granero, and back in the youth team days, Barcelona’s youth team never beat us.”

”Now those players have moved up to the first team, and I think it’s time to restore things to their original state.”

”Oh~” The reporter looked at Chen Zhong in surprise, and after a few more exchanges, they concluded the interview.

At the post-match press conference, Mansano calmly handled questions from reporters, and when it came to Chen Zhong, Mansano paused for a moment before saying, ”We had a great start to this match; everything was going as planned, but Chen’s arrival disrupted everything.”

”He inspired his teammates, stood up when the team was in jeopardy. In this match, if it weren’t for Chen, I think we would have won.”

”Alright! You’ve won; I’ve remembered his name now, but next time, this won’t happen again.”