Starting as a Defensive Midfielder at Real Madrid

Chelsea’s League Cup match against West Ham United didn’t drain the team too much—it just wasn’t that kind of game. After thrashing West Ham 6–1 in the first leg, the return leg of the League Cup semifinals was little more than a formality for the Blues.

With the final set to be played almost two months later on March 2, Chelsea could essentially remove the League Cup from their immediate fixture list.

What replaced it was the FA Cup, with rounds scheduled roughly every two weeks.

Unlike the League Cup—which ends by March and whose knockout format ensures a winner through extra time and penalties—FA Cup rules can be downright nightmarish for Premier League sides. If a match ends in a draw? You don’t settle it on the spot. No, you go back and play a full replay.

For top clubs whose calendars are already stacked, this is a disaster. The third round of the FA Cup marks the beginning of Premier League teams’ entry—and by then, the back half of the season is in full swing.

The deeper into the FA Cup you go, the more intense the schedule becomes. For most top-flight sides, this replay system is nothing short of a headache.

Chelsea had the squad depth to handle the pressure, but Mourinho was still debating how seriously he should take the competition. He would play it by ear. If it ever began interfering with Chelsea’s Premier League or Champions League preparations, he would, like last season, cut it loose—just as he did with the Copa del Rey at Real Madrid to focus on defending La Liga and the Champions League.

You gain some, you lose some. That magical season when Mourinho’s Madrid swept six titles? That was a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon.

With his mind made up, Mourinho turned his attention to something more pressing—sorting out the loan deals for Chelsea’s young talents for the second half of the season.

Van Ginkel and Kalas would remain with the first team, but the rest of the youth group were either being sent back to the reserves or loaned out.

At the top of Mourinho’s watchlist were, of course, Aké, Maguire, and Salah.

Aké and Maguire were easy to place. Mourinho scanned the Championship and quickly had the club contact Barnsley, who were sitting second from bottom in the league.

Barnsley’s higher-ups, desperate after a dismal season of leaky defense, jumped at the chance to bring in two Chelsea prospects—even if it meant they were just helping develop another club’s players.

In any other season, with no relegation worries, Barnsley wouldn’t have agreed so quickly to what was essentially a free development deal. But this year was different.

Since the start of the season, Barnsley had hovered above the relegation zone, and before the halfway point they had already dropped into it. After 25 rounds, they had lost 13 games and conceded 43 goals—the third worst defensive record in the Championship.

At that point, Barnsley couldn’t care less whether they were helping a Premier League side. They needed defenders—any defenders.

And with Maguire being a local boy from their own youth system, now rising to fame in League One as a defensive star, the fit was perfect.

Young center backs like Maguire, if they transferred, would usually go to promotion contenders or mid-to-lower-tier Premier League sides. Getting him for half a season, salary-free, was an absolute windfall.

The paperwork for Aké and Maguire’s loans to Barnsley was completed in record time. Both reported to their new club before Chelsea’s Premier League clash with Hull City on January 11.

Salah, however, was another story. Mourinho wanted to keep him with the team a while longer.

He planned to give Salah more minutes in the Premier League and FA Cup—let him get a feel for the tempo of English football, get used to the first-team training environment, and build chemistry with his teammates.

Later, he would be loaned back to Basel, with Chelsea covering his full wages. That shouldn’t be a problem for the Swiss side.

Once Salah wrapped up the current Swiss Super League season, he’d return to Chelsea next season already integrated and ready to slot into a role.

With all loan matters sorted, Mourinho focused the squad on two days of intense prep for their next league match.

On the afternoon of January 11, Chelsea traveled to face Hull City in the 21st round of the Premier League at the Kingston Communications Stadium.

Compared to their first encounter earlier in the season, Hull had by now been battle-hardened by nearly 20 rounds of Premier League football.

Astonishingly, they were sitting tenth in the table—an incredible achievement for a newly promoted side.

Hull didn’t score much—offensively, they ranked in the lower half of the league—but their defense was outstanding, ranking among the top eight in the Premier League.

Players like Curtis Davies, Tom Huddlestone, and Jake Livermore had gained serious attention from bigger clubs. Maybe they hadn’t shined at their former teams, but at Hull, they were the center of media buzz.

Leon didn’t have a deep impression of Hull, but he did really like their club crest—the tiger on it looked fierce and regal.

That said, Hull’s tactics in this match were anything but fierce.

They rolled out a conservative 3-5-2 formation from the start—clearly intending to bunker down and rely on their defensive shape to frustrate Chelsea.

This kind of setup might’ve made other top-six teams groan—City, Arsenal included.

But Chelsea loved this sort of challenge.

This team, like Mourinho’s Real Madrid from two seasons ago, thrived on breaking down parked buses.

Chelsea had too many tools in their arsenal. Hull’s ”great” defense was only solid when compared to other mid-table clubs.

Everton and Arsenal had both fielded better defenses, and even they had been torn apart by Chelsea.

So Mourinho didn’t bother with complex tactics. He simply instructed his players to press high and bombard Hull’s defense from the opening whistle.

Leon had a blast on the offensive side today. Mourinho assigned Matić and Ramires to form a double pivot behind him—a rock-solid midfield shield.

That freed Leon from his usual defensive duties. He could focus entirely on orchestrating the attack, pushing forward with Hazard and De Bruyne to relentlessly pressure Hull’s backline.

With Leon dictating play from Hull’s half and Ibrahimović frequently dropping deep to link up, Hazard and De Bruyne had a field day on the wings.

Neither had to worry about orchestrating play or drawing defenders—they just went straight at their markers.

Hull’s defensive strength lay in their central compactness, but their fullbacks? Not so much.

Maynor Figueroa and Ahmed Elmohamady, the two wingbacks, were solid for a lower-tier side—but still clearly outmatched.

Forget Hazard—even De Bruyne could out-dribble them at will.

Unable to contain either man one-on-one, the two Hull defenders had no choice but to call for backup.

Usually, when one flank’s defense breaks down, you can still rely on the midfield to slide over and help with double-teaming.

But when both flanks are collapsing? The central defenders are left in a bind.

Because if they shift wide to cover, they leave the middle completely exposed. And if they stay central, the wings are free to be torn apart. Either way, it’s a tactical nightmare.

That’s exactly the situation Hull City faced, and the Sky Sports commentators couldn’t stop praising Leon’s intelligence.

This was what set a true midfield maestro apart—knowing exactly where the opponent was weakest, and using clever distribution to keep forcing them to make impossible choices.

The moment Hull’s defensive structure lost balance, Chelsea’s attacking chances began to flood in.

On the surface, it looked like Leon was just feeding Hazard and De Bruyne possession after possession—but that subtle orchestration was the product of elite football IQ.

Anyone could technically do the same job—on paper. But if you swapped in someone like Oscar, the dynamic would change completely.

Oscar needed the ball himself. He was a player who thrived on possession, on being central to the action.

If he were playing alongside Hazard and De Bruyne, they never would’ve been able to dominate Chelsea’s attacking flow in the first half. The ball simply wouldn’t have reached them as consistently or cleanly.

That’s the brilliance of Leon—not just his vision, but his selflessness. He always made decisions based on what was best for the team as a whole.

And that was what made him irreplaceable.

Maybe that was also why Mourinho had no hesitation in convincing the club to spend big to bring Leon in.

He believed that with Leon as the core, Chelsea could be rebuilt into champions.

He was even willing to sacrifice Oscar—who had been delivering solid performances and stats—just to make room for Leon.

Now, in hindsight, Mourinho’s decision looked absolutely correct. Not because Oscar wasn’t good—but because Leon was extraordinary.

Under relentless pressure from Chelsea’s wide attacks, Hull’s previously rock-solid central defense began to crack.

With Livermore and Huddlestone constantly scrambling to cover for their fullbacks, Leon only needed one well-timed forward surge to break the dam.

In the 29th minute, Leon carried the ball up to the edge of the penalty box, drew the defenders in, and slipped it sideways to Ibrahimović.

With his back to goal, Ibra spun past Alex Bruce with a swift turn and rifled a low drive past McGregor into the bottom corner!

Chelsea’s patience had paid off—they broke the deadlock through sheer control and precision.

From that moment on, with Hull forced to chase an equalizer, the match was 90% won.

Hull simply weren’t built for attacking play. Chelsea, on the other hand, were a fortress in defense.

So when Mourinho shamelessly switched his team into a counter-attacking setup—against Hull, no less—Premier League commentators around the world couldn’t help but chuckle.

That’s peak Mourinho: respect through tactical strangulation.

Final score: 2–0 Chelsea.

They did it in the most economical way possible—conserving energy while securing their first Premier League win of 2014.

With the early kickoff wrapped up, the rest of the league’s top clubs took the field.

Spurs, Manchester United, and Manchester City all won 2–0.

The next day, Liverpool and Arsenal also picked up wins away from home.

After the dust settled, nothing had changed at the top. The ”Big Six” all won. The only real casualties were the mid- and lower-table sides.

But while that matchweek was still underway, Leon had already boarded a flight to Zurich with Mourinho and Ibrahimović.

On the night of January 13, 2014, FIFA’s 2013 annual awards gala took place at the Zurich Opera House.

Six months after leaving Real Madrid, Leon reunited with his former teammates.

He gave a huge hug to his old buddy Ramos, then greeted Cristiano Ronaldo, Casillas, and the others with warm smiles and laughter.

The event was full of familiar faces: Lahm, Neymar, Xavi… and of course, Lionel Messi.

”Been a while, Leo. How’ve you been?” Leon said as he hugged Messi.

Soon, he found himself naturally mingling with the Barcelona crowd, joking with Neymar and chatting away like old friends.

Messi, perhaps more at ease now that Leon was no longer a Madrid player, even teased him: why hadn’t he considered joining Barcelona last summer?

Leon’s true thought? ”Because it’s way more fun playing against you than with you.”

But instead, he offered a diplomatic grin, glanced at Neymar, and said, ”Because I’m a die-hard Madridista, of course.”

”And besides,” he added dramatically, ”Cristiano, Sergio—they’re like brothers to me. I could never leave them for Barça.”

His expression was so sincere, so ”loyal,” that Neymar and Xavi immediately burst into theatrical boos and shoved him playfully out of the group.

Eventually, Leon, Mourinho, and Ibrahimović ended up sitting with the Real Madrid contingent once more.

And that night, their group absolutely cleaned up.

Mourinho was named FIFA Men’s Coach of the Year for the second straight season.

Cristiano Ronaldo claimed the Ballon d’Or again, successfully defending his title.

And last season’s Mourinho-led Real Madrid? A whopping six players made the FIFA FIFPro World XI:

Casillas, Pepe, Ramos, Xabi Alonso, Leon, and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The remaining five were Lahm (Bayern Munich), Dani Alves, Xavi, and Messi (Barcelona), and Ibrahimović—now of Chelsea.

And in the final Ballon d’Or rankings, both Leon and Ibra cracked the top 10.

Ibrahimović placed fourth.

Leon came in sixth.

Not a bad haul for Chelsea at all—one coach named Best in the World, and two players in the Ballon d’Or top ten.

Still, Jorge Mendes couldn’t help grumbling. Leon had missed out on the top five by just a handful of votes, falling short of Iniesta.

Sure, it was just a symbolic gap—but in terms of market value? It mattered.

Leon ended up consoling Mendes instead.

”Jorge, if I finish this season with 20 goals and 20 assists, plus at least the Premier League and the League Cup—what do you think my Ballon d’Or rank will be next year?”

Mendes’ eyes lit up.

”Top three—no question! The only reason you missed out this time was because your personal stats weren’t flashy enough. Otherwise, let’s be honest…”

”You could’ve surpassed Ibra. Maybe even knocked Ribéry off the podium.”

”Look at your age. Your résumé. You’ve got everything—just need the numbers and the spotlight to match.”

Leon slung an arm around Mendes’ shoulder with a grin.

”Then boost the hype, Jorge. Fill in the gaps for me.”

”This summer, I’m lifting at least two trophies.”

Mendes could see the conviction in Leon’s eyes, and it thrilled him.

Leon looked up at the gilded ceiling of the Zurich Opera House, heart pounding with ambition.

Watching Cristiano lift the Ballon d’Or again didn’t frustrate him anymore.

Because he knew—he had taken the first major step in his journey.

Everything was moving in the right direction.

And the moment when the world would call him the best?

It wasn’t far off at all...

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