I Am Scouted by Real Madrid-Chapter 415 - 58: Heroic Moment: Golden Boot
"A Chinese player, in the 09-10 season, scored 20 goals in the first half of the season, and was crowned as the top scorer in the Champions League, league, and King’s Cup!"
With the commentator’s hysterical shout.
The entire stadium erupted into a fierce and piercing hiss.
Athletic Bilbao’s fans stared at Chen Zhong with fiery eyes, muttering under their breath, while looking at Cristiano Ronaldo with a ’hate iron for not becoming steel’ expression!
No way, man!
You, Mr. Ballond’Or, a world-class player, just got overshadowed by a kid like this?
And online, although Chen Zhong has achieved dazzling results, there’s no shortage of "outrageous" remarks among the praises, one famous opinion being that "Chen Zhong’s goals have deeply hurt the team."
They believe that while Chen Zhong scored 20 goals for Real Madrid, his 65 shots meant he squeezed out other players’ shooting opportunities.
This season, Cristiano Ronaldo only had 32 shots in the league, and the team’s main center forward, Negredo, only had a pitiful 19 shots, with their goal counts even more negligible.
Cristiano Ronaldo only managed to score 6 goals in the league, and Negredo only scored 5, with other players’ goals scattered around, Real Madrid’s goal tally appeared extremely average.
These statistics from Chen Zhong came at the expense of other players’ "firing rights."
Such remarks also received approval from some "haters" or "white" and "Europe-first" fans, just like some fans don’t like black players, some people simply dislike Asian players.
Pellegrini applauded and cheered for Chen Zhong’s performance on the sidelines, while a moment of clarity flashed in his eyes; his offensive tactic was essentially about "finding a daddy."
Find a core player in the front, focus on this core, and have others revolve around them.
Originally, he wanted to find a core among the trident, but now he unexpectedly discovered that Chen Zhong, coming up from the midfield and even replacing the center forward’s position, seemed like a good choice too.
This "false center forward" Chen Zhong really used his heavy cannon shooting effectively.
And all this could be traced back to that half-season loan to Milan.
In the past, whether it was passing or shooting, Chen Zhong’s style was always straightforward without any curve, but now it’s different, he could curve the ball.
And Athletic Bilbao’s coach Caparros stood on the sidelines with a helpless face, just dazed, his expression constantly changing, unsure what he was thinking.
After scoring, Chen Zhong immediately pointed to C. Ronaldo, and C. Ronaldo also ran over to join him towards the corner flag area, this goal greatly boosted the player’s morale, the previously dispirited Real Madrid players seemed to have been injected with a shot of adrenaline, instantly rejuvenated.
The match continued, with Athletic Bilbao changing their strategy, making more aggressive midfield press, and the players’ movements clearly becoming larger.
In just ten minutes, 4 fouls, 2 yellow cards, and 2 warnings were enough to show how aggressive it was!
"Javi Martinez is shown a yellow card by the referee."
"He received the yellow card after multiple fouls."
"Athletic Bilbao is trying to disrupt Real Madrid’s attacking rhythm with fouls."
In the 34th minute, after Chen Zhong took the ball and passed it to the wing to Ramos, he was pulled and dragged down to the ground by Athletic Bilbao’s players.
Pirlo took on more defensive duties, while Chen Zhong assumed more of a pushing role.
Ramos quickly pressed forward and then made a precise cross mid-way to find Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Portuguese player stretched gracefully, attempting to gently tap the ball into Iraizoz’s goal, but Iraizoz’s hands were steady, deflecting the ball away with one hand.
Athletic Bilbao continued to provoke Real Madrid players’ emotions, in the 27th minute, Ramos brought down an Athletic Bilbao player outside the penalty area, the referee unhesitatingly showed him a yellow card.
Chen Zhong stepped forward to calm Ramos and said, "Don’t fight with them!"
"What we want is victory, don’t let them provoke you."
Athletic Bilbao got a decent free-kick opportunity, they took the kick aiming for their Basque Lion King Fernando Llorente, Chen Zhong disrupted him in the penalty box, preventing him from making proper contact with the ball. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖
Real Madrid had a chance to counterattack!
After Pirlo received the ball, he made a surgical knife-like through ball, piercing through Athletic Bilbao’s defense, allowing Cristiano Ronaldo to take the ball and swiftly charge into Athletic Bilbao’s large penalty area.
He faced the goalkeeper one-on-one on the right side of the penalty box, directly making a diagonal shot!
The ball was fast and fierce!
But the goalkeeper Iraizoz used his foot to block the ball.
"What a golden opportunity!"
"The goalkeeper was simply amazing, C. Ronaldo’s shot quality was already very high."
"But Iraizoz kept the goal safe!"
The fans on the stands at Athletic Bilbao applauded their hero, while C. Ronaldo was clearly quite annoyed, he made a thumbs-up gesture towards Pirlo, and after a glance, Pirlo, although a bit disappointed, gave a positive response.
After all, Athletic Bilbao’s stamina was not infinite, in the latter half of the first half, they started to shrink their defense, trying to finish the first half with a 1:1 score.
Real Madrid launched continuous attacks.
By the 41st minute, Chen Zhong under the siege of Athletic Bilbao’s players managed to pass, Marcelo made a left flank run and after an inward cut, made a low shot which Iraizoz saved.
In the 44th minute, Negredo, after taking possession in the large penalty box, chose to pass back due to no shooting space, Chen Zhong, after receiving the back-pass outside the large penalty box, made a heavy cannon shot without halting!
The ball roared towards the goal but Iraizoz, playing bravely, tipped the ball with his fingertips out.
This was also Real Madrid’s last threat to the goal before the first half ended.
Before entering the locker room, Chen Zhong gave a deep look at Iraizoz, always feeling that their continuous attacks pushed Iraizoz to perform extraordinarily.
In the locker room, Pellegrini made a substitution, replacing Pirlo with Alonso, returning the team to the Baptista, Chen Zhong, Alonso midfield combination, completely liberating Chen Zhong on the offensive end.
While Athletic Bilbao clearly understood that the gap between them and Real Madrid players was enormous, they had no choice but to fight desperately.
At the start of the second half, both sides engaged fiercely at midfield.
Not long after coming on, Alonso and the opposing Koyigi both received yellow cards.
Chen Zhong also received a verbal warning from the referee, and Real Madrid’s attack fell into a stalemate.
By the 62nd minute, Pellegrini replaced the underperforming Callejon with Granero, Callejon leaving the field looking visibly dirty and disheveled.
In this match, although he made no standout plays, he took all the tackles and infringements.
With Granero on, Real Madrid’s attack fell into a stalemate, Callejon on the field previously, although not dazzling with the ball, had at least somewhat attracted Athletic Bilbao’s attention, while Granero was essentially a "weaker version" of Guti against such fierce opponents like Athletic Bilbao.
It was difficult for him to showcase his strengths.
And due to lack of rest, Real Madrid gradually found themselves in a passive position after the 70th minute.
In the 87th minute, Cristiano Ronaldo once again had a golden opportunity, Chen Zhong took the ball outside the large penalty box attracting Athletic Bilbao’s attention, then made a through pass to a cutting C. Ronaldo.
C. Ronaldo tried a powerful shot to score but was blocked by Iraizoz.
In the remaining time, Athletic Bilbao didn’t care about their dignity, lying down frequently to waste time, and goalkeeper Iraizoz even received a yellow card for time-wasting.
In injury time, C. Ronaldo acted irrationally towards Athletic Bilbao players, he was too eager for victory, leading to a yellow card for complaining to the referee.
The final score locked at 1:1.
Real Madrid settled for a draw, allowing Barcelona to catch up with their point difference.
