I Am Scouted by Real Madrid

Chapter 113: Chapter 28: Chen Becomes the Key Factor

Santiago Bernabeu Stadium

The Merengues stopped waving their white handkerchiefs. They stood up, craning their necks, looking at the field with anticipation.

Robinho received the ball from Chen Zhong, opting for a direct pass to Raul. Raul dribbled into the left side of the penalty area, lifting the ball for a pass to the far end where Van Nistelrooy was.

Van Nistelrooy tangled with a Mallorca player, and the ball nearly grazed his toes as it went past.

”What a pity!”

”Chen initiated this attack.”

”Everything was so smooth.”

”It was just at the final touch, under the opponent’s interference, Van Nistelrooy couldn’t put the ball in.”

”We can clearly hear the fans’ sighs of regret.”

Mansano, who had been holding his breath, relaxed a bit. He couldn’t help but glance at the young man he met before the game. That pass of his nearly resulted in a goal, causing a bit of unease in Mansano’s heart.

Schuster paced back and forth on the sidelines, muttering to himself, clearly anticipating the difficulty of this match.

On the field, Chen Zhong stood with his hands on his hips, while Robinho at the far end gave him a thumbs up, evidently pleased with his pass. Meanwhile, the Mallorca players around Chen Zhong subconsciously raised their vigilance against him.

”Who said he couldn’t pass?”

Nunes stood with his hands on his hips. At 1.83 meters tall, he was the main player tasked with ”fighting” against Chen Zhong. Coach Mansano didn’t expect to snatch the ball directly from Chen Zhong but hoped to force errors through pressing and pressure, or to have him pass it to Mallorca players.

For the next short period, both teams were in a stalemate.

In the 12th minute of the match, under Mallorca’s siege, Chen Zhong managed another pass to Robinho. However, just before accelerating, Robinho was tackled from the side by a Mallorca player, and the ball went to Ibagaza. Torres immediately rushed up to try and disrupt Ibagaza, but Ibagaza opted for a long pass to the other end.

A burst of exclamations erupted from the stands. Marcelo attempted to intercept the ball, but it just slightly flew over him.

Barrella charged out from behind Marcelo. Casillas rushed out to try and get the ball before Barrella, but Barrella remained calm, directly bypassed the charging Casillas, and coolly shot at the empty goal.

”Beep!”

The referee blew his whistle, pointed to the center circle, indicating the goal was valid.

0:2

The cheers from Mallorca fans were drowned out by the boos of the Merengues. The stands were filled with waving white handkerchiefs, expressing the Merengues’ dissatisfaction with the team’s performance.

Mansano, with his neck up, nodded and clapped, clearly pleased with the team’s performance. Schuster, on the other hand, looked astonished. The team was being stretched awfully in facing wide-range long-distance passes, lacking any form of coordination, especially at the back line.

”What are you doing?”

”Focus your damn attention!” Schuster yelled loudly, ”Show a bit of your national team performance! Do you want to stay on the bench forever?”

Metzelder pointed to his own nose, seemingly confirming if Schuster was yelling at him, took a deep breath, said nothing more, but his eyes showed more determination.

Meanwhile, as Mallorca players celebrated, Chen Zhong communicated with his teammates. He looked at Marcelo and shouted, ”Man, just hold your position, Diara and I will track back.”

”We can’t always be led by the nose by them!”

Chen Zhong repeated the same words to Torres, Cannavaro, and Metzelder.

”This isn’t good.”

”Real Madrid’s defense is simply like it’s made of paper.”

”They need to think of something.”

”The camera is on Chen.”

”He seems to be consoling the players.”

”Is he really only 16 years old?”

”The calmness and composure he displays on the field always makes one forget his age.”

Finally, the Mallorca players finished celebrating. As Nunes passed by Chen Zhong, he couldn’t help but trash talk. Looking at the young player with black hair, yellow skin, and wearing the number 22 jersey, he taunted, ”How does it feel to lose at home?”

”Maybe you need to eat a banana to replenish some energy, my boy.”

Chen Zhong did not get angry at Nunes’ provocation. In fact, he heard trash talk from opponents in every match and had long been used to it. Facing Nunes’ taunt, he responded, ”I hope you can maintain this confidence; after all, this is the Bernabeu.”

”Ha~” Nunes sneered and then returned to his position.

The Bernabeu, so what?

The ball was played out, passing through a couple of feet before quickly reaching Robinho. In this match, Sneijder had been in an invisible state, forcing Robinho to reluctantly act as a troublemaker.

Mallorca’s defense has become much more focused on Robinho during this period.

As a Brazilian, Robinho, when serious, displays his talent. Faced with Mallorca players closely marking him, he delivered the ball to the advancing Chen Zhong with a heel kick. Meanwhile, Nunes was trying to disrupt Chen Zhong.

Chen Zhong had no intention of dribbling but instead delivered a through pass to Marcelo nearby.

Marcelo made a beautiful stop and bypassed the defending player next to him.

Chen Zhong didn’t slow his pace after passing the ball; instead, he watched Marcelo while running forward.

Mallorca’s defense was drawn towards Van Nistelrooy and Raul; Nunes watched the constantly moving Chen Zhong with a look full of confusion, not understanding what Chen Zhong was up to.

After Marcelo reached the bottom line on the wing, he found a suitable position and chipped the ball into the penalty box.

Inside Mallorca’s penalty area, chaos ensued, Nunes tried to tug at Chen Zhong but had no advantage in physical confrontation. He could only shout loudly: ”Attention, attention!”

”Watch out for this guy!”

Within Nunes’ shouts, the other Mallorca players also focused their attention on Chen Zhong.

The goalkeeper’s position and the center-back’s coordination were like confining Chen Zhong in a cage, watching him struggle.

However, it soon became clear to Mallorca’s players that something was wrong; Chen Zhong had no intention of jumping at all and was even tangling up the nearby Mallorca players, preventing them from jumping.

The ball flew overhead, and Robinho dashed in from the side; Mallorca’s goalkeeper quickly adjusted his position, yet Robinho wasn’t about to miss this close-range scoring opportunity.

With a gentle flick from the outside of his foot, the ball made a small leap into the net.

”Goal!”

”Robinho pulls one back for Real Madrid.”

”Let’s watch the replay; Mallorca’s attention was all diverted by Chen Zhong.”

”If Chen Zhong had jumped at this moment, he could have indeed headed the ball.”

”But the goalkeeper’s position was very good; Chen Zhong obviously noticed the opponent’s and teammates’ movements.”

”So he made a bold decision to let the ball pass to Robinho, who was running in.”

”This is not the first time Chen Zhong has made a correct, reasonable choice.”

”He seems able to think calmly in any situation.”

”No matter what situation he faces, he doesn’t panic.”

After scoring, Robinho pointed towards Chen Zhong, wanting to celebrate together, but Chen Zhong merely shouted Robinho’s name while running into the net to scoop the ball into his arms, then swung his arms running towards the center circle.

Won’t let me celebrate?

Robinho felt a bit upset inside, he wanted to celebrate.

However, seeing other players also attracted by Chen Zhong running towards the center circle, he had no choice but to follow suit.

Mansano paced back and forth on the sidelines, his brows furrowed into a crisscross, typically preferring to prevent future troubles; everything Chen Zhong did gave him a sense of crisis.

He turned to his assistant coach and said: ”Give me the information on him to review.”

”I need to make some improvements.”

For Mansano, this match seemed favored by fate; Real Madrid’s core playmaker Guti was injured, and right-back Ramos was suspended with a red card, directly eliminating Golden Madrid’s two major sources of assists.

Under Mansano’s command, Mallorca targeted the weaknesses in Real Madrid.

Originally, everything was under his control, but now he discovered there’s a ”volatile factor” in Real Madrid’s team.

On the sidelines, Schuster realized the source of change; Sneijder’s performance was almost nonexistent throughout the game, he even considered posting a missing person notice to find Sneijder lost somewhere on the pitch.

Mallorca’s targeted tactics against Real Madrid left Schuster stuck in a dilemma, now seeing a new breakthrough.

”Chen’s passing ability seems enhanced.”

”As long as we don’t concede any goals, we will eventually surpass them.”

Schuster mumbled, confident that as long as they didn’t lose the ball, at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, they still had a chance for a comeback.

”In this match, they are primarily targeting our wings and choosing large-scale long passes.”

”We... wait... this is it!” Francisco was about to seriously analyze for Schuster, but Mallorca’s attack this time surprised him, solving a problem they had constantly worried about.

Chen became the key factor.