I Am Scouted by Real Madrid

Chapter 247: Chapter 4: Winter Window, Chen’s Departure (3-Month Span)

No one knows why Schuster wants to do this.

People are eager to know what Chen Zhong will say, especially after Robinho’s record-setting press conference at the hotel and the club’s fallout. Some even think Chen Zhong might do the same.

The rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona has lasted for a century, and some highly distinctive media in both cities often use words or pictures to launch fierce ”attacks” on each other.

Marca and Diario AS have held the flag of public opinion for Real Madrid, while World Sports Newspaper and Daily Sports tend to stand on Barcelona’s side.

While everyone was criticizing Schuster’s personnel choices and worrying about Real Madrid’s future, Marca and Diario AS focused on the recently concluded second round of La Liga.

Barcelona was astonishingly held to a draw at home by Santander Athletic!

If it weren’t for Messi coming off the bench and using a controversial penalty to breach Santander Athletic’s gate, Barcelona might have lost to the obscure Santander Athletic in the second round.

Real Madrid attempted to use another news piece to distract the fans, but World Sports Newspaper and Daily Sports directly did not respond and continued to develop the topic of Schuster and Chen Zhong.

World Sports Newspaper and Daily Sports have a content feature loved by readers, which is the football comics published in almost every issue. These comics humorously express some events happening both on and off the football field with an exaggerated style.

World Sports Newspaper recently published a cartoon, showing Merengue fans with steam coming out of their heads, while Schuster is depicted wearing black-rimmed glasses and holding a guide cane.

Not far away, Robinho is waving his arms in Manchester City, and Chen Zhong is sitting on the ground, crying loudly.

In the 2008 transfer window, Robinho’s speech in front of the media was one of the biggest recent headlines, not only because of his groundbreaking speech but also because his actions directly left Real Madrid’s face trampled on the ground.

World Sports Newspaper and Daily Sports hoped Chen Zhong would stand up and replicate this event.

Chen Zhong indeed granted an interview, but instead of convening a press conference with reporters on his own, it was a statement made under the club’s arrangement. Facing the cameras and Schuster’s targeting, Chen Zhong showed considerable restraint.

”Regarding the recent events, I believe it’s a normal tactical adjustment.”

”The coach has his own considerations.”

”I will work harder in training to gain the coach’s trust.”

Media hoping to stir up a headline ended up looking foolish due to Chen Zhong’s restraint.

Isn’t a young man supposed to be hot-blooded?

When you first joined the first team, weren’t you there arm wrestling with Drenthe and Van Nistelrooy?

What’s happening now?

Are you a fake Chen Zhong?

Chen Zhong’s restraint pleased Barcelona fans and disappointed neutral fans, but it made Merengue fans feel heartache and made some who planned their own schemes feel a bit touched inside.

In the second round of La Liga, Real Madrid won!

They painstakingly defeated Numancia 4-3.

Facing a team whose season task is relegation, Real Madrid barely secured the win, making their supporters dissatisfied.

Now Schuster is completely stuck in a dead end—he originally hoped to use Chen Zhong to knock sense into the club’s top management, to tell them that the team’s current lineup is incomplete, but now, he just wants to prove himself.

Simultaneously telling everyone that Real Madrid’s excellent performance last season was not because Chen Zhong was so great, but because I! Schuster’s tactics were reasonable!

In the following 8 league matches, Schuster withstood the pressure and excluded Chen Zhong from the starting list, even occasionally putting him on the bench without any intention of letting him play.

Among them are tough matches like the 7-1 win over Sporting Gijon, 2-1 win against Atletico Madrid, and 3-1 win versus Athletic Bilbao. The season continued until the 11th round of the league, with Schuster’s Real Madrid achieving a record of 7 wins, 2 draws, and 1 loss, clearly not keeping pace with Barcelona’s 9 wins and 1 draw.

This season, under Guardiola’s leadership, Barcelona’s form is frighteningly stable. Although Real Madrid’s performance isn’t too poor, it clearly fails to satisfy the fans.

Some fans began to mumble, if in those two draws and the match they lost, Chen Zhong had played, maybe the outcome would have been entirely different.

Schuster obviously didn’t anticipate that just one season’s performance would let Chen Zhong hold such a deep place in the hearts of fans, even Calderon, Mijatovic, including locker room captains Raul and Guti, and even Francisco, have already started speaking for Chen Zhong.

But!

So far, Chen Zhong hasn’t softened to Schuster, hasn’t actively come to him for a talk, and told him what Raul and he said at the start of the season.

He hasn’t proactively shown his loyalty to Schuster.

Chen Zhong: ???

Yet, due to pressure from all directions, Schuster still chooses to place Chen Zhong on the bench in the next game.