I Am Scouted by Real Madrid

Chapter 816: Chapter 62: 10 Men

At the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, the emotions of the Real Madrid fans were anything but good. Not long after the second half began, the referee served up a ”red card plus penalty” combo, leaving them a man down and having to watch Messi convert from the spot.

Real Madrid, reduced to ten men, looked a bit overwhelmed in the face of wave after wave of Barcelona attacks. Chen Zhong dropped back into midfield again to help shore up the Defense.

At first, some of the fans couldn’t understand this move, but very quickly the Real Madrid supporters had no choice but to praise Mourinho’s foresight.

When Xavi had the ball, the surrounding Real Madrid players basically all had their own assignments, and at that distance, for a player like Xavi to get a Shot off, the chance of scoring was quite high.

But just when the nearby Real Madrid players were showing despair on their faces—

Chen Zhong stepped up at the moment he was needed most.

The ball crashed into Chen Zhong’s shin with a dull thud, then spun away, rolling and flying out!

”Xavi on the ball!”

”He shoots!”

”Chen Zhong blocks it!”

”This is a chance!”

The ball fell at Alonso’s feet. Alonso swung his leg and launched a long pass upfield to his teammates. Cristiano Ronaldo took the ball and immediately drove forward.

Chen Zhong also left Xavi behind and sprinted madly toward the front.

Barcelona’s Defense recovered very quickly. The Portuguese didn’t dwell on the ball; seeing Chen Zhong making the run, he swept it sideways into the middle.

”Real Madrid on the counterattack!”

”C. Ronaldo in possession!”

”Plays it into the middle.”

”Chen Zhong!”

Busquets tried to stop Chen Zhong, but once they came into Body contact he simply couldn’t budge him. Chen Zhong’s eyes were locked only on the ball ahead; in just a couple of strides he’d already completed his wind-up while still running!

”Bang!”

The ball exploded off the turf like a shell, rocketing toward Barcelona’s goal!

This was Chen Zhong’s trademark Heavy Cannon blast!

Puyol almost instinctively stuck out his thigh!

The ball smashed into Puyol’s leg, and Puyol collapsed to the ground in agony.

”Long-range Shot from Chen Zhong!”

”Puyol gets in the way!”

”He’s down and in real pain.”

”It looks serious.”

The ball bounced up, and Barcelona’s players hacked it out of play. The referee blew his whistle; Barcelona’s medical staff came on, and after a quick check they signaled to the touchline for a substitution.

”Looks like Puyol can’t continue.”

”Barcelona use one of their substitutions.”

”Keita comes on for Puyol.”

”Busquets drops back into the Defense line.”

Guardiola glanced at his bench and, after some hesitation, chose to have Busquets play center-back and bring Keita on in midfield.

After that near-miss, Barcelona played even more patiently and cautiously. Over this spell their Ball Control rate even reached a staggering seventy percent or so.

Sustained Ball Control left the Real Madrid players on the back foot. They really wanted to win the ball back, but with Barcelona having the extra man, they were being run ragged.

”Barcelona in possession!”

”Their Ball Control rate has been really high in this period!”

”Finds Iniesta.”

”And again.”

”Pedro!”

”Pedro takes it and then lays it back from the right side of the box!”

”Xavi!”

Barcelona were Playing multiple passes across the edge of the area, throwing Real Madrid into confusion, and as the ball arrived at Xavi’s feet, he noticed Chen Zhong charging at him with murderous intent and hurriedly took his Shot.

The ball curved away, evading Casillas’s hand, crashed off the top of the crossbar, and bounced out.

Both sets of fans in the stands cried out in shock.

The Real Madrid fans, though, let out a sigh of relief, while the Barcelona supporters wore looks of pure regret.

Mourinho patted his chest, seemingly muttering, ”Scared me to death, scared me to death.”

Guardiola, on the other hand, was all regret and anguish.

Clearly, failing to score with that attack left him deeply frustrated.

In the 64th minute, both sides made changes. On the Real Madrid side, Mourinho brought on Alvaro for Kaka. Kaka was clearly reluctant to come off at this point, but Mourinho didn’t concern himself with Kaka’s mood.

After Kaka left, Ramos moved into the center-back position, Alvaro took over at right-back, and Pepe returned to midfield.

Barcelona also adjusted, taking off Pedro, who was starting to run out of gas, and bringing on Afelay.

”Barcelona on the attack.”

”We’re into the 71st minute.”

”Xavi on the ball.”

”So quick!”

”Plays it to Villa.”

”Villa gets off a decent Shot.”

Xavi glanced at Chen Zhong; just now that sudden charge from Chen Zhong had given him quite a scare.

There was nothing wrong with Villa’s timing for the Shot—Xavi’s pass, though, had a bit too much power, and the end result was that the effort veered outside the frame of the goal.

Real Madrid, playing with ten men, were gradually showing signs of fatigue, and Barcelona launched yet another attack.

”Barcelona in possession!”

”It’s played to Messi!”

”Messi with a string of dribbles!”

”Brilliant!”

As the match ticked into the 76th minute, Real Madrid’s numerical disadvantage meant the remaining players had to cover the extra space left by the missing man, forcing them to expend more energy on running.

And that gave Barcelona their opportunity.