I Am Scouted by Real Madrid

Chapter 375: Chapter 40: Shock!!!

The halftime break was very short.

When the Real Madrid players emerged from the player tunnel, everyone was full of fighting spirit, their eyes seemingly ablaze with fire. The boos from the Barcelona stands were taken as a form of praise.

Scream!

Scream louder!

The louder you scream, the better we are doing!

Barcelona’s players, however, seemed a bit ”chaotic” when they came out of the player tunnel.

The focus was mainly on Yaya Toure and Guardiola, with Yaya Toure’s face full of displeasure, while Guardiola wore a blank expression and a melancholy look.

In the dressing room, Yaya Toure and Guardiola had a small dispute, mainly because Yaya Toure was unhappy with his positioning.

He believes he has the capital and strength to be the core.

But Guardiola uses him as a jack of all trades.

Especially seeing the treatment Chen Zhong receives at Real Madrid, Yaya Toure, who considers himself on par with Chen Zhong, naturally suggested going heads-on with Real Madrid in the second half as the ”core.”

Since the beginning of the season, communication between Yaya Toure and Guardiola has actually decreased, and this match directly caused a rift in their already unstable relationship.

”The second half of the match begins!”

”Barcelona’s kickoff.”

”Messi’s got the ball.”

”Whoa...”

”Chen Zhong directly knocked Messi to the ground from the side.”

”Real Madrid’s counterattack.”

”The ball is given to C. Ronaldo.”

”Busquets!”

”Brutally fouled C. Ronaldo.”

”The referee has given Busquets a warning.”

”Is he not planning to issue a card?”

The tension between the two teams was extremely palpable, with Chen Zhong just having taken down Messi on one side and Busquets fouling C. Ronaldo on the other side, while Yaya Toure adopted a ”loafer” attitude.

After such a conflict, he still had the mood to glance at Guardiola.

Seemingly saying, see!

The team is too weak and needs a strong man like me to inject ”spirit.”

Henry was mostly restrained by Real Madrid’s strong defense throughout the match. Guardiola rubbed his bald head and looked at the substitute bench at Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The Swede raised his head, puffed out his chest.

Seemingly saying: beg me.

Of course, Guardiola wouldn’t beg Ibrahimovic, but he did send Ibrahimovic to warm up and signaled for a substitution.

”The match is less than 50 minutes in.”

”Barcelona has used their second substitution slot of the match.”

”Ibrahimovic replaced Henry.”

Henry’s face turned even darker when he stepped off the field; he pointed at his nose, looking at Guardiola with a face full of disbelief, but could not refute Guardiola’s decision, instead muttering to himself as he left the field.

Guardiola wanted to comfort Henry, but Henry had no intention of communicating, directly took off his jersey and went to the dressing room.

The match continued, with rapid offensive and defensive transitions on the field; Ibrahimovic did not make an impact after coming on.

Real Madrid gradually established their playstyle, that is rapid counterattacks.

Iniesta returned the ball from the left side of the penalty area to Xavi in the middle, attempting to let Xavi break through Real Madrid’s goal frontally, but Pepe directly blocked Xavi’s shot.

Then, Real Madrid launched a rapid counterattack, with an offensive group led by C. Ronaldo, Negredo, and Kaka bombarding Barcelona’s goal.

A ”clumsy” feint by Negredo miraculously evaded Abidal, then without hesitation, he swerved a shot, attempting a curling shot to the far corner.

Unfortunately, Puyol fearlessly blocked the shot, causing Negredo’s rare opportunity to fall through.

Seeing this scene from the sideline, Pellegrini decided to make a substitution, his eyes darting between Higuain and Benzema, finally choosing Higuain, whose overall performance this season has been better, to replace Negredo.

”In the 56th minute of the match.”

”Real Madrid replaces Negredo with Higuain.”

”Negredo didn’t show his edge in this match.”

If Real Madrid had chosen to control possession in the second half, Negredo’s role as a ”battering ram” would be quite significant, but Pellegrini decided that with the team leading by a goal, they should play steadily focusing on rapid counterattacks.

Negredo’s speed thus became an issue.

Higuain, who played wing-forward in earlier years, seemed more suitable.

Before leaving the field, Negredo glanced at Chen Zhong, raised an eyebrow, seemingly saying: ”Buddy I’m off, keep it up!”

Chen Zhong responded with a thumbs up, then waved his hand, seemingly saying: ”Got it, hurry off.”

On the sideline, Higuain impatiently stretched his legs, and after hugging Negredo, looked at Chen Zhong, flashed a radiant smile, seemingly saying: ”Bro, I’m here, let me know if you need anything!”

During Real Madrid’s substitution gap, Guardiola took the chance to call Messi over to whisper, then handed Messi a small note. After reading it, Messi conveyed Guardiola’s instructions to the surrounding players.

And this scene also made Pellegrini furrow his brow.