I Am Scouted by Real Madrid

Chapter 751: Chapter 30: Isn’t Chen Supposed to Be the Enforcer? (Part 2)

But those are things of the past. Now, as Mourinho gets closer to the national derby and the final of the King’s Cup has already been confirmed to meet Barcelona, he directly claims that Real Madrid has been conspired against, and Barcelona has received special treatment.

There are many reasons behind this.

One of the important factors is that Guardiola is relatively easily controlled by emotions!

Although from the outside it seems Mourinho is being somewhat defensive, within the team, all the players know that despite Mourinho’s belief that Real Madrid has been repeatedly schemed against, the players have not been affected overall. The team’s goal is to do their utmost to win all the upcoming matches.

This can be sensed from his statements. Before the match against Deportivo La Coruña, Mourinho said before the media: ”My team is currently full of motivation because we must win on three fronts. In fact, we are also striving to win all three championships, and it’s easy to get the players mobilized for this.”

”We are confident about eliminating Lyon. Last season we reached the semi-finals, and this season, our vision is set even further.”

When a reporter mentioned Deportivo La Coruña’s ”Devil’s Home Ground”, Mourinho did not shy away from discussing Riazor Stadium, saying: ”Matches at Riazor Stadium are tough to play. This season, they have only lost two home games, against Barcelona and Almeria.”

”For Real Madrid, winning there has always been difficult, but after many years, last season my team broke that curse.”

Chen Zhong also has profound insights into this, after all, under Schuster’s coaching, Chen Zhong’s Real Madrid accomplished the epic task of conquering the Devil’s Home Ground.

In fact, there have been some negative voices about this match outside, mainly because of Cristiano Ronaldo.

On one hand, in his personal life, the Portuguese’s girlfriend was thought to be a streetwalker, which was widely publicized, causing the Portuguese to be somewhat emotionally unstable.

On the other hand, during the Champions League’s 1/8 final between Lyon and Real Madrid, Lyon players unabashedly fouled Cristiano Ronaldo, with Chris, Rivera, Gourcuff, and others attacking Cristiano Ronaldo from all directions, not caring whether it would injure him.

After the match, under the team doctor’s examination, Cristiano Ronaldo had to rest at home due to his ankle being tackled by Lyon players. He told Real Madrid’s team doctor that his foot was somewhat swollen.

In the end, Cristiano Ronaldo received anti-inflammatory treatment. Mourinho is likely to let Cristiano Ronaldo rest for the match against Deportivo La Coruña.

The Portuguese has the highest attendance rate at Real Madrid this season, even more than Chen Zhong.

Chen Zhong also gets time to rest through rotation in some matches, but the energetic and glory-seeking Cristiano Ronaldo always wants to be on the field as much as possible.

After the Champions League match, Marca reported that it was a miracle Cristiano Ronaldo avoided a serious injury against Lyon, yet he still got injured, with his ankle showing bruises and swelling, which might prevent him from playing in the weekend’s league match.

Mourinho now has to assess whether to rest Real Madrid’s attendance king for a match.

Of course, for Cristiano Ronaldo, who desires to play in every match, he doesn’t want to rest, even though he came back from Lyon with an injury.

After the match, Real Madrid got a day’s break, but Cristiano Ronaldo got in touch with the club’s team doctor, telling the doctor that his ankle was swollen and that he couldn’t put weight on his foot.

The team doctor advised him to rest seated, not putting pressure on the ankle, and to apply ice besides taking some anti-inflammatory measures.

Even when he found Chen Zhong for extra training at night, Chen Zhong rarely showed concern for Cristiano Ronaldo, even recommending a Chinese masseuse to help with blood circulation and bruising.

Marca believes that Lyon players’ major task in the match was to stop Cristiano Ronaldo from being effective, and Chris almost succeeded in doing so.

The Lyon defender’s only concern throughout the match seemed to be taking down Cristiano Ronaldo to prevent him from contacting the ball.

Lyon players knew how to stop Cristiano Ronaldo, and they were somewhat ruthless, specifically targeting Ronaldo’s most fragile part, namely his ankle, with black feet.

It’s well known that in Cristiano Ronaldo’s career, most of his severe injuries have been ankle-related.

During the match, when Lyon players tackled his ankle, it took him a long time to regain his rhythm.

The Madrid media believed that on that night at Gerland Stadium, Lyon players’ sole intent seemed to be to injure Cristiano Ronaldo to get him off the field early.

The match had just reached the 7th minute when Lyon players committed their first malicious foul on Cristiano Ronaldo, which was merely an overture.

As time went on, and with the implicit permission of the German referee Stark, Lyon players became bolder and more savage, using both feet in brute movements, repeatedly bringing down Cristiano Ronaldo.

Chris received a yellow card during the match, but he should have been sent off with a red card.

The most dangerous foul came in the 80th minute when Cristiano Ronaldo jumped for the ball, and the Lyon center-back kicked his left ankle. Cristiano Ronaldo screamed in pain, clearly judging by Chris’ forceful kick. The Portuguese held his ankle in agony for quite some time, yet this foul went unpunished.

Despite this, Cristiano Ronaldo still chose to stay on the pitch, continuing to help the team, persisting until the end of the match.

This disappointed some Portuguese fans, who believed Chen Zhong hadn’t fulfilled his duty as captain and should have played the role of an enforcer on the field.

However, this is a wrong viewpoint.

Chen Zhong is now the captain of Real Madrid, a banner, and a spiritual symbol.

If all goes well, the now twenty-something Chen Zhong can still serve Real Madrid for over a decade...

A person like him can be a tough guy but must not be a villain.

The figures Real Madrid promotes cannot be villains either; they have to be ”elegant”...

Chen Zhong has also been discussed in this aspect, and internally they lean towards nurturing newly-renewed players like Pepe or Ramos as the tough guys in the team...

As for why not consider bringing down Chen Zhong?

Perhaps those two injured by Chen Zhong in Sevilla can give the answer.

On one side, Chen Zhong’s physical fitness is terrifying; the one attempting a tackle might get injured instead. On the other hand, it’s Chen Zhong’s position and vision...

Deportivo La Coruña is closely watching the news about Cristiano Ronaldo too.

The latest update is that Cristiano Ronaldo has returned to normal training with the team, and whether he plays in the weekend’s league match is up to Mourinho’s decision.

Last season, Cristiano Ronaldo did not participate in the match at Riazor. This season, he doesn’t want to miss it again.