I Am Scouted by Real Madrid

Chapter 218: Chapter 82: 17 Years (Part 2)

If Calderon could see the number of fans across China wearing white jerseys, specifically the number 22 jersey of Chen Zhong, he would be very puzzled in his mind.

Because this number far exceeds the number of jerseys they have sold.

It’s not a matter of a few multiples.

It’s a matter of dozens, even hundreds of times!

”Yo, Old Zhang, brought your son to watch the game?”

”Isn’t it just the weekend!? Brought my son to feel the football atmosphere.”

”Hey, your wife agreed?”

”Ahem, my wife came too, watch what you say.”

All of them were wearing Real Madrid jerseys, blending into the group of white jerseys, sitting there, and all they could see were mostly number 22 jerseys.

”Hey, buddy, your jersey looks better in quality than mine, doesn’t it?”

”You’re kidding! It’s an authentic Real Madrid jersey, alright!”

”Authentic!?”

The surrounding fans couldn’t help but glance over. Although online shopping started becoming popular a few years ago, there were still a lot of knock-offs, and the authentic Real Madrid jerseys, especially the number 22 jersey, were often out of stock, possibly due to production issues or because Chen Zhong himself was not highly regarded.

And merchants from some domestic locations naturally wouldn’t miss this money-making opportunity.

Just like in the early years, when Milan jerseys were everywhere in the streets and alleys, you could always find number 22 Real Madrid jerseys on some stalls at home.

Although the workmanship was a bit rough, and the team crest was stitched crookedly, at a glance, you could still make out that it was a Real Madrid jersey.

Take Old Zhang and his family, for example. The adults wore relatively reliable Real Madrid jerseys, while the child wore a Real Madrid jersey with a crookedly stitched team crest.

”Exactly!”

”My friend went to watch the match live.”

”Bernabeu!”

”When he went to the store, he just happened to see a few ready-made jerseys and brought them all back.”

The nearby fans looked enviously at the fan wearing the authentic jersey. Most fans actually didn’t mind the price of a jersey, if the jersey was readily available, they would buy it just as readily.

If they hadn’t been able to buy a jersey, they would still have the desire and urge to purchase it.

However, once they had one, even if it wasn’t authentic, that desire would significantly decrease.

”The match we are broadcasting live for you now is a match from the 07-08 Spanish football league season, the 28th round.”

”With Deportivo La Coruña hosting Real Madrid at home.”

”The team wearing blue and white stripes is Deportivo La Coruña, and the team wearing white jerseys is Real Madrid.”

”For this match, Deportivo La Coruña is still using the 4231 formation, with...”

”Real Madrid is still using the 442 formation, with...”

”Real Madrid has suffered defeat at Riazor Stadium for 4 consecutive years, going 17 years without a win at Deportivo La Coruña’s stadium.”

”Real Madrid made small personnel adjustments for this match.”

”The recovered Cannavaro replaced Marcelo, Sneijder, Drenthe, and Soldado replaced Baptista, Robinho, and Higuain respectively.”

”For a full 17 seasons, Real Madrid has not broken the winless fate at Riazor Stadium.”

”Although today’s Deportivo La Coruña is far from the ’Super Laco’ formed by Beto, Mauro Silva, and other strong players.”

”But whether they can change the 17-year winless streak today, no one knows.”

”In their last 14 away visits, Real Madrid has had 4 draws and 10 losses without a victory, with their last away league win against Deportivo being in November 1991.”

Schuster stood on the sidelines, watching Deportivo La Coruña’s positions, unable to help but frown.

It seems that Rome set a bad precedent. Although Deportivo La Coruña’s starting lineup claims to be 4231, in defense, they look more like a 541 formation.

This kind of compact defense poses a great challenge for Real Madrid.

Real Madrid is using a 442 formation in this match.

Soldado, Raul

Drenthe, Sneijder, Chen Zhong, Guti

Heinze, Pepe, Cannavaro, Torres

Casillas

Neither Soldado nor Raul are players with strong physical confrontations, both standing only around 180 cm. This is partly why Schuster hasn’t been very fond of fielding Soldado before.

After all, Soldado’s reference point is Van Nistelrooy, but he doesn’t have Van Nistelrooy’s height, nor does he like to drop back like Van Nistelrooy does.

To help the team in organizing plays.

Lodina stood on the sidelines, looking somewhat melancholic. Real Madrid completely dominated the situation on the field, with a staggering 80% ball possession rate.

However, they still couldn’t find a good way to break through Deportivo La Coruña’s ”bus” defense.

For both Schuster and Lodina, this match was a ”gamble,” with rewards attached.

If Schuster led the team to victory in this match, then the 17-year winless streak at Riazor Stadium would become a good thing, all turning in Schuster’s favor, making him a media hero in the coming days.

Of course, if Schuster didn’t win, it wouldn’t be too disastrous, since it’s already considered a ”stubborn” problem. Not fixing it is quite normal, isn’t it?

In comparison, Lodina was under more pressure because maintaining a record is less tolerant than setting a new one.

However, Lodina was no pushover. In the first half of the season, Deportivo La Coruña was accustomed to playing 4231, but by the new year, they had fallen into the relegation zone.

By the end of January, Lodina decided to switch to a three-center back formation, unexpectedly achieving good results.

From the match against Valladolid, Deportivo La Coruña achieved 4 wins, 2 draws, and 1 loss. The points garnered in these 7 matches nearly equaled the total of the first half of the season.

Lodina’s coaching career has mostly been in small clubs, and coaching Deportivo La Coruña has been his career peak.

So Schuster was quite familiar with opponents like him.

Schuster was gambling that Lodina would lean towards defense, which was partly correct, but he didn’t expect the opponents to go with a five-back formation.

However, a five-back formation wasn’t entirely negative. At least Baptista not being fielded became reasonable.

With Deportivo having 5 defenders, their midfield numbers would naturally decrease, so only one of Baptista and Chen Zhong was needed.

But Lodina wouldn’t be valued by a Super Laco for nothing.

What is the essence of football or more precise, the essence of a football coach?

It’s naturally adaptability!

The baseline for Lodina’s strategy in this match was five defenders, but he still let Felipe act as a ”free man” on the side.

When they retreated, Felipe was the left-back, with Coloccini, Amo, and Lopo forming a three-center back shield for the penalty area.

The rest of the time, Felipe roamed in the midfield.

”On the right!”

”The right is the weak point of Real Madrid’s attack.”

”Drenthe and Sneijder are both attacking from the left.”

”Ramos is suspended.”

”The defense on the left side is not worrisome.”

”We need to hit their right side.”

Lodina was ambitious too, even if he was just a small fry, but couldn’t small fries have ambition?

The ”forbidden zone” Deportivo had held for 17 years couldn’t crumble under his hands.

As the saying goes,

Gaining dominance but not scoring.

However, the current issue is, Real Madrid hasn’t even gained dominance yet, the match has been on for 20 minutes, and during this time, their ball control reached an astonishing 80%.

But they still couldn’t find any good ways to break through Deportivo La Coruña’s ”bus” defense.

At this moment, Schuster found himself in a bit of a dilemma.

No Robben, no Robinho, and although Soldado tried hard to fall back to be a link in the attack, it was to little effect.

Meanwhile, Schuster couldn’t help but set his sights on Chen Zhong.

In this game, Chen Zhong had two main tasks: to man the midfield, preventing the opponent’s through balls from penetrating the middle, and to occasionally push forward to act as an improvised center forward.

However, this strategy clearly hadn’t proven effective.

Perhaps, it was time for Chen Zhong to take on an offensive role.

Schuster couldn’t help but recall the last time Chen Zhong surged forward from deep, acting temporarily as a center forward.

Perhaps it could be used at this moment, he thought.

”””