I Am Scouted by Real Madrid

Chapter 709: Chapter 11: Goals Galore

In the past, it was always the club that evaluated the coach.

Now, it’s Mourinho inspecting Real Madrid.

The core of what he wants to express is that he has clarified that the key to whether he continues to implement his four-year contract is that he needs to sign a center forward now.

This is also a form of pressure, this extreme coach shows his ”madness” and ”craziness.” After all, he is dealing with Real Madrid!

Mourinho argues that as a coach, his request to bring in players during the winter transfer market is reasonable. ”There are two types of coaches,” he said, ”One type forgets the club’s efforts during the summer and demands spending 40 or 60 million to buy a forward; the other appreciates what the club did in the summer. This latter type of coach acknowledges the efforts and investments the club has made over many past seasons and only asks for a loan or a free signing, or 1 million, or 50 thousand, or 20 thousand. To compensate for my shortcomings, I express gratitude.”

Mourinho understands that he has received everything promised to him by the president of Real Madrid, and he states that each time he talks to Florentino about signing a new player, the president has made it clear that the club’s resources are limited.

Mourinho says: ”For a club that has recently done all that should be done over the past two years, they have acquired players like C. Ronaldo, Kaka, Alonso, Alvaro, Albiol... making half the team’s players international superstars. And this year, although it chose a different path, focusing on youthful players for a brighter future while reducing the introduction of top-tier players... the club has already exerted maximum effort, and I am grateful because they have tried their best. I only want a center forward; this is my request to the club. Be it a loan, free transfer, spending 1 million, or spending 25 thousand. That’s the difference: I am grateful. While some coaches are different, they directly demand 30 million, 40 million, or even 50 million.”

Almeida is the player Mourinho wants, but ultimately Florentino didn’t sign him. He has been serving at Werder Bremen for the past two seasons.

If the transfer were controlled by Mourinho, he could offer enough to match Besiktas’s 8 million bid and bring Almeida into his team.

Besiktas also signed other Portuguese players, such as Manuel Fernandez, Quaresma, and Simao.

They share something in common: their agent is Haug Mendes, who is also Mourinho’s agent.

”For me, the winter transfer market doesn’t have the players I like,” Mourinho argued while also expressing to Florentino that his position is very important, ”Sometimes you have to reduce difficulties or solve the problems that exist in the first phase of the league through the transfer market. Last year at Inter, we introduced Pandev during the winter transfer, which helped my team play in a style, and he assisted us in ultimately winning the Champions League. Before that, we couldn’t play in this style simply because we didn’t have a left-winger. Pandev solved this problem for us, and now Real Madrid has lost a center forward for the next few months, a reason that needs to find suitable players from the market to fill.”

Mourinho almost treated this pre-match press conference as his recruitment explanation meeting, detailing why he needs to bring in a new player.

This also led to the pressure immediately falling on Valdano.

In this match, Real Madrid will face Mallorca at home.

At Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, because of successive team victories, the stands could almost be called packed, and on the field, Real Madrid also held the initiative, while Mallorca was very aware of their position.

This results in Real Madrid’s ball possession rate being as high as 65%, but they struggle to break through the visitor’s iron-low defense.

The turning point appeared until the 26th minute when Granero, starting in this match, made a brilliant loft pass, and at the point of his pass, Chen Zhong decisively moved forward, seized the ball, and stormed into the penalty box.

Facing Mallorca’s goalkeeper, he decisively chose an outside foot shot, curling a beautiful arc past the advancing goalkeeper.

”The ball is in!”

”Chen Zhong!”

”With his left foot, he kicked a beautiful arc.”

”Directly bypassing the goalkeeper, into the goal!”

”1:0”

”Real Madrid took the lead first.”

After the loss of this goal, Mallorca is also very disheartened, for them, conceding a goal almost means losing.

Following this period, Real Madrid also firmly controlled the situation. In the 30th minute, Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcelo had a tacit cooperation on the wings, Chen Zhong took the ball and unexpectedly made a soft pass and then forcefully turned, pushing the defender aside with his body, and facing the goalkeeper, he used his weaker left foot to poke.

The ball went through the goalkeeper’s legs.

2:0

Real Madrid scored again, almost declaring the death of the match.

On the stands, the few Mallorca fans wore expressions of despair, seemingly having given up hope for victory.

While Real Madrid fans sang and danced, loudly venting their emotional feelings.

The first half ended with both teams at 2:0.

The second half of the match began, Mourinho made substitution adjustments, Di Maria replaced Kaka, Negredo replaced Benzema.

Negredo’s deal with Manchester City has fallen into stagnation, leading to whether Negredo will leave next season being a big question mark.

But staying at Real Madrid!

For Mourinho, keeping Negredo here is even less versatile than Benzema.

Benzema in the center forward position, due to his technical features and character, can be a good auxiliary player,

Benzema’s passing skills are superb, ball control is decent, positional awareness is excellent, speed is fast; he can reduce the firing rights entirely given to Cristiano Ronaldo and Chen Zhong, which is undoubtedly most suitable for Real Madrid now.

Negredo’s ball stopping, ball holding, shooting skills are all top-notch, adjustment ability is strong.

But his speed is slow, passing is average, positional awareness is not as good as Benzema,

although physically he outperforms Benzema, if he is to be a ”supporting role,” then Benzema is obviously better, so for Mourinho, when the other party has proactively proposed wanting to leave, it is already a ”dead person,” he does not need to consider this center forward who, apart from having a tacit bonus with Chen Zhong, does not fit any of his ideas.

The halftime passes quickly, and Mourinho appears very relaxed on the sidelines.

Pre-match statements, continuous victories, and post-match summaries.

No doubt, after this match ends, Mourinho will gain the advantage in the competition with Valdano.

In the second half, Mallorca apparently had some ideas, they nearly scored a goal in the 50th minute, Gonzalo Castro assisted, and Weber volleyed with his left foot in the penalty box. If it weren’t for Casillas’s timely reaction to save the ball, then things could have been uncertain.

After this incident, the slightly slack and careless Real Madrid immediately woke up, giving Mallorca no further opportunities.

During this period, Real Madrid also continuously earned several corner opportunities, but facing Mallorca’s formed wall, they couldn’t breach the opponent’s goal.

In the 61st minute of the match, Chen Zhong scored again.

It was Granero’s pass, Negredo returned the header in the front, Chen Zhong took the ball, paused, switched his right foot to the left, and then used a powerful left foot shot to break through Mallorca’s goal once again.

3:0

The Real Madrid fans in the stands stood up, loudly chanting Chen Zhong’s name, his recent performance can be described with four words, scoring spree!

”Hat-trick!”

”Chen Zhong completed a hat-trick!”

”3:0”

”He once again used his weaker left foot to score a beautiful goal.”

”Sometimes I even wonder if I’ve remembered wrong, maybe his dominant foot is actually the left foot?”

After completing this goal, Chen Zhong also appears very happy; the most challenging aspect in his task has been completed, and with the match settled, he can completely finish his task in the specialization.