I Am Scouted by Real Madrid

Chapter 880: Chapter 1: Provincial Super League_2

During his 21 years at Real Madrid (including the youth team), he won 8 Champions League titles, 7 league titles, and 8 King’s Cups for Real Madrid Club. In his personal career, he also achieved a Serie A title and a UEFA Europa League title. At his peak, Real Madrid possessed the hardest, most versatile, and outstanding midfield in the world.

In the game, he also replaced Gullit and Vieira, becoming the most beloved ”Divine Beast” among all players. If there was anything players were dissatisfied with, it was probably that they couldn’t have 3 Chen Zhong in the midfield, one focused on defense, one on all-around play, and one on organization, or all three as all-around midfielders.

Some players even shouted that if possible, they would field 6 Chen Zhong in their lineup, one as the center forward, three in the midfield, and two as center-backs.

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How long has it been since Real Madrid faced a trophyless season? The Spanish throne once again belongs to Barcelona, as the Catalans secured the league title after defeating Espanyol on Friday.

Twelve months ago, such a scenario was unimaginable.

When Ancelotti led this already talented team to achieve a La Liga-Champions League double, Real Madrid opened a new era of dominance with the signing of Mbappe.

The Brazilian prodigy Endrick, two of the new Trinity—Mbappe, Haaland, and Bellingham—are set to play for Real Madrid this season.

Moreover, the team also includes Valverde, who resembles Chen Zhong, Chuameni, who inherited Chen Zhong’s defensive skills, and Camavinga, who has similar all-around abilities to Chen Zhong.

And with Chen Zhong himself on the field, who would have thought Real Madrid would end up with nothing?

This was also the first time in Chen Zhong’s career at Real Madrid that he led the team without winning any titles.

It’s hard to imagine any team challenging the roster Florentino built at the Bernabeu on paper.

However, football isn’t played on paper, and Real Madrid struggled from the very start of the season.

They flashed their best form in La Liga and the Champions League but were ultimately completely suppressed at critical moments.

Although the individual talents of Real Madrid players are undoubted, and Chen Zhong acts as the spiritual leader, people quickly discovered deep-seated flaws in the team, leading Madrid to an unforgettable season—one that cost Ancelotti his coaching position.

When Real Madrid finally signed Mbappe from Paris Saint-Germain after years, fans and experts generally made two predictions: Mbappe would contribute a significant number of goals for the Galaxy Battleship, but his arrival might negatively impact others, both of which have now been confirmed.

Mbappe certainly scored goals—in fact, he broke Real Madrid’s record for goals in a debut season, but the cost of these goals was equally evident.

No matter how one embellishes it, the most comfortable position for both Vinicius and Mbappe is the left wing.

Some have argued for their compatibility by citing Mbappe’s performance in the French national team’s dual-forward system or Vinicius playing on the right against Manchester City in last season’s Champions League knockout stage, but such claims now seem like self-deception.

Real Madrid’s initial plan was to play Mbappe at the No. 9 position, with Vinicius and Rodrigo on the sides, and Chen Zhong playing more in midfield to dispatch, or even reverting to a defensive midfielder role he hadn’t occupied in a long time.

That idea seemed unimaginable.

Meanwhile, Bellingham, who excelled in the false nine position last year, was to revert to a traditional midfield role.

Though Bellingham’s goal efficiency couldn’t compare to Chen Zhong’s that season, he did remind people of Chen Zhong (which also became a talking point among Real Madrid fans—whenever a good midfielder appeared, they were said to resemble Chen Zhong, but that wasn’t the case with Barcelona).

Despite Mbappe’s personal performance being satisfactory, the overall attacking system never ran smoothly, and he would occasionally drift to the left flank, lacking the instinctive moves of a traditional center forward and failing to provide a focal point.

If Chen Zhong hadn’t occasionally taken on the center forward role in certain matches, Real Madrid might not have even competed with Barcelona this season.

Within the club, Bellingham’s La Liga goals plummeted from last year’s 19 to just 8 this season, and Rodrigo got lost in the left-dominant tactical arrangement, often ending up on the bench during recent crucial matches.

On defense, Mbappe’s lackadaisical attitude off the ball began spreading to his teammates, causing Real Madrid to lack coordination in possession and repeatedly face numerical disadvantage when defending without the ball.

Even Chen Zhong lost his temper several times, but his outbursts couldn’t completely remedy the internal situation.

Many say that if Chen Zhong weren’t still at Real Madrid, the team might have already collapsed, and Vinicius and Mbappe would have started arguing.

After all, the biggest impact of Mbappe’s presence was felt by Vinicius.

Though his data of 36 goals and assists was not much different from last season’s 37, the Brazilian clearly lost his past decisiveness.

Mbappe’s encroachment on the left space was part of the reason, and Alonso’s primary task upon taking charge was to activate these two super attackers. However, the young coach from Bayer Leverkusen, soon to take over, will also need to pull Vinicius out of the shadow of his Ballon d’Or loss.

When Vinicius publicly complained about the unfairness of the 2024 Ballon d’Or selection and declared, ”Fans aren’t ready for my response,” the public expected him to silence critics with his performance. His hat-trick against Osasuna on November 9 last year was indeed stunning, but it was his peak moment of the season.