I Am Scouted by Real Madrid

Chapter 466: Chapter 83: Pressing Down on You!

”Real Madrid made their first substitution.”

”Baptista replaced Marcelo.”

”Marcelo performed well in this match, breaking through Barcelona’s defense several times.”

”Created some opportunities, even directly threatening Barcelona’s goal.”

”We can see some scattered applause from the stands.”

”Clearly, everyone is satisfied with the Brazilian talent, the left-back who is gradually realizing his potential.”

”Baptista is on the field.”

”How will this old teammate who played with Chen Zhong in the 07-08 season perform?”

”Let’s wait and see.”

Baptista’s appearance somewhat changed Real Madrid’s situation, of course, Barcelona leading and wanting to be cautious played a part too.

Chen Zhong controlled the ball in the center, Baptista cleverly moved forward, attracting the attention of the Barcelona players, but Chen Zhong instead passed the ball back to Alonso.

Alonso, unmarked, slightly adjusted and made a long pass, finding Negredo up front.

Real Madrid in the latter part of the first half and the second half mainly used short passes to penetrate, trying to break into Barcelona’s danger area via the ground, now this sudden change in rhythm obviously caught Barcelona off guard.

Negredo jumped high, gaining the advantage in a contest with Busquets, and headed the ball back to Chen Zhong, who then delivered a precise through ball.

At this moment on Real Madrid’s flanks, both C. Ronaldo and Kaka moved forward, and Chen Zhong chose the long-silent Kaka in this match.

Kaka took the ball outside the penalty area with a dazzling maneuver, the combination of person and ball drawing in countless fans.

”Real Madrid’s continuous passing.”

”Kaka dribbling laterally outside the penalty area.”

”This is his zone!”

”Outside the penalty area.”

”A curving shot!”

The ball arced beautifully, bypassing Barcelona’s fans like a crescent moon.

Real Madrid fans in the stands were full of anticipation, but Valdes’s side dive shattered their hopes.

”A miraculous save by Valdes!”

”He stopped Kaka’s shot!”

”Kaka looks visibly disappointed.”

The camera zoomed in on Kaka, who first looked at Chen Zhong, the two were teammates last season in Milan, winning the Serie A and UEFA Europa League together, he understood Chen Zhong’s intention during the pass, but it was just slightly off.

Chen Zhong didn’t show much regret, just gave Kaka a thumbs-up.

Then he looked at Baptista and Alonso, saying, ”We need to be more aggressive in our midfield defense.”

”Especially Messi.”

”We absolutely cannot let him enter the penalty area.”

The threat level of Messi inside the penalty area versus outside it is completely different, the best way to defend against Messi is to prevent him from entering the penalty area, a strategy gradually recognized and executed by other teams and coaches.

”Real Madrid’s midfield defense intensity has become tougher.”

”In this period we can see both teams often getting knocked down in midfield.”

”Continuous physical confrontations and slides have disrupted Barcelona’s midfield passing and control.”

”Real Madrid is muddying up the midfield.”

Barcelona was gradually entering their comfort zone, playing in the most familiar and comfortable way for them, but Real Madrid’s repeated fouls were turning the game ugly, making Barcelona’s passing and control fall apart.

Guardiola couldn’t help but run to the sidelines to protest to the fourth official, ”Are they playing football or wrestling!?”

But the fourth official ignored him.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid, leveraging their excellent physical attributes, gradually took control of the match, even launching three successive shots on goal against Barcelona.

One was when Alonso took the ball, directly passing it to Negredo, who returned it to Chen Zhong in the middle.

In full view, Chen Zhong unleashed a powerful strike, but it hit the crossbar.

Another was when Chen Zhong shielded the ball at the edge of the penalty area, Busquets attempted to snatch the ball but failed, then Chen Zhong passed it to the diagonal-running C. Ronaldo, who managed to shoot despite Pique’s interference.

The shot was powerful, only narrowly missing the post.

The last time, Chen Zhong jumped up in midfield, overpowering Ziglinsky to head the ball, Negredo followed by jumping and heading it, Kaka volleyed it, but the ball flew into the stands.

This made Kaka couldn’t help but pound his thigh hard.

Having been out injured for three months, his competitive state wasn’t at its best.

”It’s the 60th minute of the match.”

”Guardiola used his first substitution.”

”Iniesta replaced Maxwell.”

”We can see Alves moving to Maxwell’s position, while Iniesta takes the right side position.”

Guardiola’s intention was clear, having Iniesta, Xavi, and Messi form a ”triangle”, attempting to make Barcelona’s midfield passing and control more proficient.

And this effect was significant.

In just three minutes, Real Madrid conceded two foul warnings and received a yellow card.

”Baptista received a yellow card.”

”Iniesta, Xavi, and Messi in midfield.”

”The three of them are about the same height.”

”The vision is similar too.”

”They played together in youth training.”

”This rapport.”

”Just as Baptista approached, Xavi had already passed the ball.”

”Their pace was clearly faster.”

Iniesta, Xavi, and Messi, along with Busquets, made Barcelona’s ball delivery incredibly smooth, Real Madrid were completely led by the nose.

Chen Zhong even had to retreat to defend but it didn’t have much effect either.

The ”duangduangduang” passing was just too silky.

Sometimes Chen Zhong was already aware of who the opponent would pass to, but he was a step slower in terms of speed.

This was no longer a problem that team tactics could solve, at least Pellegrini had no solutions.

”Barcelona’s attack.”

”Continuous passing collaboration.”

”Messi takes the ball forward.”

”Alonso!”

”Foul!”

”Penalty! It’s a penalty!”

”The referee points to the spot.”

Ten minutes, in the tenth minute of Iniesta’s appearance, Barcelona finally found an opportunity.

Iniesta advanced down the flank, passing the ball to Messi who ran into space, Messi dribbled straight into Real Madrid’s penalty area, and ended up falling successfully inside the box.

Alonso looked very innocent, he looked towards the referee, indicating that it was a dive.

Meanwhile, Messi picked up the ball from the ground, placed it on the penalty spot, his eyes full of tension.

”Alonso protests.”

”But the referee insists on the original decision and also gives Alonso a yellow card.”

”Messi takes the penalty.”

”Casillas!”

”The ball is in!”

”1:3”

”Barcelona takes a two-goal lead.”

”We can even see that some Real Madrid fans have started to leave the stadium.”

”Yes, a small number of Real Madrid fans have already left.”

”The boos are very loud, obviously, they are disappointed with the team’s performance.”

”The camera shifts to Chen Zhong.”

”What’s he doing?”

Pellegrini at the sideline doesn’t look happy, once Barcelona gets into their rhythm, almost no team can claim to be able to beat Barcelona right now.

And Chen Zhong, what is Chen Zhong doing?

Amidst the boos, amidst the fans leaving, Chen Zhong just bent down, adjusted his shin guards, and tightened his shoelaces.