I Am Scouted by Real Madrid

Chapter 787: Chapter 47: Privileges (Part 2)

He also talked about his friends within Real Madrid Team, such as Chen Zhong and Marcelo.

He mentioned the conversation he had with Chen Zhong before entering, stating that he was sure he had Mourinho’s full trust and saw no need to change clubs.

The player with the lowest salary within Real Madrid Team was originally Chen Zhong. After Chen Zhong’s salary increase, Pepe is now one of the lowest-paid players in the team.

Despite Chen Zhong now having the world’s highest salary, with Pepe at only about 400,000 Euros, this is still enough to make Pepe one of the six highest-paid center-backs in the world.

In Marca’s ranking, the highest-paid center-back is Terry with a salary of 9 million Euros per year. Behind Terry is Ferdinand with 6.5 million Euros, Puyol with 5 million Euros, Nesta and Heinze with 4.5 million Euros, and then Pepe with 4 million Euros.

After ensuring that Pepe stays, Real Madrid’s next task is to complete the contract renewal with Ramos.

The Real Madrid management is optimistic about Ramos staying, and there is even news that Ramos has already reached a verbal agreement with the management. However, because Mourinho wanted to see Pepe’s renewal first, the club has not announced the agreement with Ramos.

Pepe talked about the national team issue, suggesting that Chen Zhong could choose another team, such as Portugal.

Chen Zhong may not be the top midfielder in the world, but he is definitely the most versatile, and in the future, he is very likely to become the best midfielder.

Such a player would be desired by any country.

Even a football kingdom like Brazil.

Chen Zhong did not immediately respond to Pepe but reiterated his initial response from when he joined during the second day’s press conference, once again mentioning the issue of 250 yuan.

And he expressed his own attitude.

He also talked about the young domestic players now, such as Wu in Barcelona, Wang, and Zhang in Chelsea, and other players. Chen Zhong believes the future is promising.

In fact, some recent football anime or animations have raised China’s status quite a bit because there is a hidden ”king” Chen in them.

In various football games, many national team formations have been created; among them, Chen Zhong as the midfielder, Wu in the front from Barcelona, Wang as the goalkeeper from Chelsea, and Zhang as the defender is a popular set combination.

Domestic football may be somewhat sluggish, but many people have great expectations for the future, and the number of young people participating in football is rising.

This is all because of Chen.

Besides Chen Zhong facing troubles, Mourinho also encountered some issues due to Cristiano Ronaldo’s approach. This is the first time since Mourinho took over Real Madrid.

Some Real Madrid fans and Madrid media are dissatisfied with Mourinho’s handling of Cristiano Ronaldo.

In the match against Lyon, the Portuguese played despite being injured, and both Mourinho and the Portuguese believed it was worthwhile.

However, some Real Madrid senior figures and players did not think so. They believed the actions of the two Portuguese were overly risky.

It’s worth noting that three days later, the same situation repeated. In the match against Atletico Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo had not yet recovered from his injury, but Mourinho and the player himself decided to take the risk once more.

Thus, in Estadio Vicente Calderón, the Portuguese started again while injured, yet his condition was not even 50%.

He even wasted several shooting opportunities.

Not in good form, injured, wasting shooting opportunities, this hit their sore spot, especially since the Portuguese ended up injured again.

Although Real Madrid won, the Portuguese’s left leg bicep injury worsened, even showing swelling, which was clearly not worth it.

After all, Atletico Madrid had not beaten them for a very long time.

Jose Felix, a famous Spanish football journalist, revealed that even within the dressing room, some Real Madrid players do not quite understand Cristiano Ronaldo risking playing.

For instance, Callejon, or Adebayor, who have positional competition with the Portuguese.

If in the match against Lyon, considering its importance, the Portuguese playing injured could still be understood, then insisting on playing against Atletico Madrid, who hadn’t beaten them for 12 years, cannot be comprehended.

In the Real Madrid dressing room, no one questions his professionalism, but they cannot agree with him pushing himself to the limit, because at certain times, Cristiano Ronaldo doesn’t need to go to such lengths to play.

Felix mentioned that Real Madrid players all believe in Cristiano Ronaldo’s extraordinary skills and his role on the team. However, the matches against Santander Athletic and Hercules, where the Portuguese was absent, proved that the team managed just fine without him. In fact, the absence allowed Real Madrid players more freedom, and the team performed well.

At least at the finishing end, chances were not always dominated by Cristiano Ronaldo.

The collision at the season’s start between Higuain and him proved a point, which could be seen as either the Portuguese’s excellent positional sense or his greediness.

The two even collided several times in the penalty area while fighting for position.

Real Madrid players are inherently strong and have proven numerous times that as long as they have the chance, they can always demonstrate their capabilities. Therefore, they find Cristiano Ronaldo’s privileges within the team somewhat hard to accept.

After all, even Chen Zhong doesn’t have such privileges.

Or perhaps he has, but he doesn’t use them as frequently, or one could say he practically doesn’t use them, serving more as a selfless guardian role.

Madrid media also don’t understand Mourinho’s decision to let the Portuguese play while risking injury. They believe Cristiano Ronaldo’s re-injury partially lays the responsibility on Mourinho.

Currently, the Portuguese is still in recovery, with an absence spanning two to three weeks, making his participation in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals a question.

Most media think that facing Atletico Madrid, risking Cristiano Ronaldo was not worthwhile.

This aligns with what Real Madrid players think.

Yet against Atletico Madrid, he played despite the injury, being eager to fight as ever, continuing his unchanging role as an iron man. However, after the previous Champions League match against Lyon where he didn’t score, injured as he was, he failed to score again in this match, also wasting a significant amount of time, and ended up injured once more.

Some view Mourinhoussing the Portuguese until exhaustion, and if not for the recent two league games he missed due to injury, he would’ve been the player with the most playing time in La Liga, even more than Casillas.

Mourinho doesn’t like changing the team’s starting lineup much; his main lineup accounts for 78% of the team’s total playing time.

Felix revealed that Real Madrid teammates hope Cristiano Ronaldo can be more considerate, refraining from insisting on playing when injured and giving chances to teammates instead.

However, despite Real Madrid’s medical team asserting that the Portuguese player will need to miss about three to four weeks, he still had to appear at the Portugal National Team training camp today for the national team doctor’s examination.

If the national team doctor concurs with the Real Madrid medical examination, he will return to Madrid and can skip Portugal’s friendly matches against Chile and Finland.

Additionally, the injured Cavaleiro will also head to the national team, and from the current situation, Cavaleiro may be able to play then.

During this time, someone also approached Chen Zhong, discussing the matter of privileges.

About Mourinho’s favoritism toward Cristiano Ronaldo and the privilege issue of the Portuguese.