I Am Scouted by Real Madrid

Chapter 616: Chapter 63: Defeating Chen!

”Oppa~”

”Every time I see that Chinese Chen Zhong on the headlines, I wish our country could also produce such a football superstar!”

”Recently, there was news about Son Heung-min oppa in Hamburg, but he has already become a hot candidate for the Ballon d’Or~”

Recently in Korea, there’s been a rumor that Chen Zhong is actually Korean, and he didn’t join the China team because he’s waiting for a call from the South Korea Team.

This season, as Chen Zhong became a hot candidate for the Ballon d’Or, such rumors became even ”louder” within Korea.

And in the recent highly anticipated Spanish National Derby, Chen Zhong’s excellent performance directly ignited some Koreans’ passion, claiming that such an outstanding man must be Korean, and they are deeply convinced of it.

This naturally drew dissatisfaction from Chinese fans, while many foreign fans also mocked the Koreans.

This is merely one of the minor controversies surrounding Chen Zhong. Recently, Chen Zhong attended many events, and at the same time, the club is making every effort to help Chen Zhong win the Ballon d’Or.

Real Madrid’s attention to this issue is reflected in every aspect.

After all, Chen Zhong is not only a bona fide youth academy player of Real Madrid but also the cornerstone, banner, and leader of the team.

When Barcelona produced a youth academy Messi, many hoped Real Madrid could also produce an equally matched presence, and now with Chen Zhong’s emergence, their wish has been fulfilled.

Messi won the Golden Boy Award and the Ballon d’Or, Chen Zhong has already won the Golden Boy Award, and if Chen Zhong wins the Ballon d’Or at a much younger age than Messi, becoming the youngest Ballon d’Or winner, only then can Real Madrid proudly hold its head high in this contest with Barcelona.

The youngest Ballon d’Or winner was Ronaldo, who won it at the age of 21, and Chen Zhong, born in 1991, was only 21 in 2012.

This is also a reason why the Koreans wish for Chen Zhong to ”claim his roots,” for compared to Chen Zhong, their highly anticipated Son oppa has just joined Europe with Hamburg, while Chen Zhong is already the captain of the world’s top league and top club.

The time has reached the end of 2010, with not only December’s FIFA Club World Cup approaching but also the imminent voting for the World Ballon d’Or award.

Chen Zhong, Xavi, Iniesta, and Sneijder are the favorites for the Ballon d’Or.

Among them, the original front-runner Sneijder has seen a drop in heat due to his ordinary performance since July.

In the new season, Sneijder’s performance is far less impressive than last season, although he has repeatedly expressed on social media that he will do his best for Inter Milan to win the Ballon d’Or, but Inter Milan just emerged from the biggest slump of the season, while Sneijder and Inter Milan’s fortunes went to two extremes.

When Inter Milan began to emerge from the slump, Sneijder got injured and left the field early in the match, while his competitor, Chen Zhong, performed excellently in the National Derby.

Originally, the victory over Parma was supposed to be Sneijder’s best stage, but Sneijder left the match early due to injury and performed averagely.

This led Sneijder to lament after the match: ”I admit I’ve been a bit unlucky lately, very much so, and also got a slight injury. Against Brescia, I had a terrible headache, and felt extremely weak, never experienced anything like this, so I was really scared.”

It seems as if Mourinho’s departure took away Sneijder’s magic, and this season Sneijder has experienced many disappointing moments, like in the match where Inter Milan lost to Chievo.

After the match, Sneijder was also stubborn, claiming that it was just bad luck.

Sneijder’s ”luck” extended beyond just his body.

This season, both Inter Milan and Real Madrid changed head coaches.

Before the season, many speculated whether Chen Zhong and Mourinho would have conflicts, yet many did not expect Sneijder to first criticize Benitez.

He gave no face to Benitez in the media and fondly recalled Mourinho’s kindness.

He even ”performed” in front of the media: ”Once, Mourinho said to me, ’Wesley, you look tired, I’ll give you a few days off, go on vacation with your wife and kids and soak up some sun.’”

Sneijder laughed towards the camera, saying, ”In my career, all other coaches only talked to me about training, but Mourinho sent me to the bench, so I went to Ibiza Island and enjoyed three days.”

At the same time, Sneijder also defended Mourinho on the issue of players being drained.

At the start of the season, Benitez blamed Mourinho for the team’s poor performance, claiming that Mourinho had exhausted Inter Milan’s players, which caused their poor performance this season.

Mourinho did not respond to this.

However, Sneijder defended Mourinho in front of the media, arguing that Mourinho was more willing to let players rest and knows how to adjust players’ physical and mental states.

Sneijder confidently told the camera: ”When I came back from vacation, I felt much better, and I’d even be willing to die for Mourinho.”

”That’s the difference between Mourinho and other coaches.”