Chapter 413: Chapter 57: The Fall of the Sleeping Skin (Part 2)

“The Real Madrid players seem to be struggling to find their form.”

“Baptista’s clearance failed and went straight to the feet of an Athletic Bilbao player.”

“They’ve switched it to the wing!”

“Pass it again!”

“To the middle!”

Athletic Bilbao’s counterattack was extremely quick. Chen Zhong immediately moved towards the Athletic Bilbao player, and then they swiftly switched the ball to the wing.

Chen Zhong realized something was off right away, but at that moment, Albiol was covering in front of the goal, so he didn’t panic.

An Athletic Bilbao winger received the ball and quickly crossed it in.

Chen Zhong marked the two Athletic Bilbao players cutting into the middle, but Albiol on the far side lost out in the aerial duel with Fernando Llorente.

Fernando Llorente pushed above the somewhat careless Albiol, stretching his neck to nod the ball.

The ball slipped past Casillas into the net.

1:0

Athletic Bilbao took the lead!

The entire San Mames Stadium was filled with the cheers of the fans, and even many Barcelona fans watching the game couldn’t help but cheer!

“That’s it!”

“Today we’re all Bilbao fans!”

Currently, in La Liga, Real Madrid and Barcelona are the sole title contenders, with Real Madrid as the halfway champions, securing the top spot firmly.

Yet, Athletic Bilbao clearly is a team that can trouble Real Madrid, given that whether at home or away, they have never made things easy for Real Madrid!

After scoring, Fernando Llorente was momentarily stunned, clearly not expecting such a “sudden” goal. He glanced at the tall Albiol, then at Chen Zhong, seemingly saying…

Hey? This guy is pretty big, how come he feels less challenging than you!

On the sidelines, Caparros was overjoyed, quickly rushing to the edge of the field and shouting loudly, “Don’t relax, hold the area, don’t let them easily shoot, don’t let them easily enter the box!”

The coach clearly understood the gap in raw strength between the two teams, wanting to learn from other teams’ successful experiences, using a tough defense to disrupt Real Madrid’s smooth attack.

Pellegrini realized this as he looked towards Pirlo and Baptista. This time, it seemed he made some mistakes in the midfield choices.

Indeed, with the team’s peril and interference from Athletic Bilbao fans as factors.

But Pirlo’s frailty in physical confrontations and Baptista’s roughness in defense were key components of this scenario!

Alonso could better guard the defense while hitting long passes, and Baptista, originally in the attacking midfield position, wasn’t expected to be a hero at critical moments, but at least he had the physicality to cause some trouble for the opponent’s defense!

And Chen Zhong was the entire team’s “CPU,” organizing all the information and issuing effective commands.

“Maybe we should substitute Pirlo.” Francisco noticed Pellegrini’s hesitation and suggested, “Pirlo needs players to operate around him, but our only core is Chen.”

Yes, that’s exactly the problem.

Pirlo needs to be the protagonist, requiring two “wingmen,” two bodyguards to protect and serve as enforcers for him, but at Real Madrid, Chen Zhong is the sole protagonist.

Of course, Pellegrini could let Pirlo act as the “core,” but the fact is, one is a core without obvious flaws and the other has clear flaws—a core that can elevate the team’s efficiency and processing speed versus a core that works inconsistently and might even crash. The choice doesn’t seem difficult.

On the field, Pirlo evidently realized this as well. Shortly after the match started, he was targeted several times by Athletic Bilbao while in the attacking midfield position.

It’s not that he didn’t resist!

After all, it’s a rare opportunity to prove himself!

He wouldn’t want to settle as a substitute at Real Madrid, but reality is indeed harsh.

In Real Madrid’s current tactical system, Pirlo’s strengths and weaknesses are too apparent, and not everyone is Ancelotti.

Ancelotti could tailor tactics based on the player’s characteristics, while Pellegrini clearly required players to adapt to his tactics.

“Phew~” Pirlo exhaled a breath of stale air, his fox-like slender eyes engraved the surrounding environment deeply onto his mind, knowing the situation the team faced now, but feeling like an unlucky soul stuck in a quagmire, knowing not struggling means demise, yet the struggle’s consequence is sinking faster: “Maybe, this isn’t the right place for me.”

Pirlo had come to terms with the situation.

Pellegrini, however, hadn’t figured it out yet. If Schuster were on the sidelines, he would substitute Pirlo immediately, even Ancelotti would make adjustments.

But Pellegrini was different!

To him, Pirlo was a “star,” and he’s not adept at handling stars.

He didn’t want to substitute but didn’t know how to adjust!

This was a terrible thing for Real Madrid, already in poor form.

In the tenth minute of the match, Chen Zhong looked at Pellegrini three times, and when Athletic Bilbao launched another attack, Chen Zhong couldn’t bear it anymore.

He helped the fouled Pirlo up and walked to the sidelines, looking at the indecisive Pellegrini, shouting, “Do something!”

“We can’t keep going like this!”

“I know!” Pellegrini replied, with a stiff neck, hesitated for a moment, then said, “Have Pirlo drop back.”

Chen Zhong didn’t listen to all of Pellegrini’s words because the match wouldn’t pause for them to communicate, so Chen Zhong ran back to the field and shouted, “Andrea!”

“Come here!”

“Yes, just like we did in Milan!”

Real Madrid’s midfield made a simple change, Baptista on the left, Pirlo in the middle, Chen Zhong on the right, this familiar setup gradually normalized Pirlo’s performance!

With protection on both sides, he could also deliver some beautiful through balls to the forwards.

Everything seemed to be moving in a positive direction, but those familiar with tactics could see at a glance that now Real Madrid’s baseline was secured, but their ceiling was lowered!

Their attacking methods had become simple, reducing the defensive pressure for Athletic Bilbao!

Especially after Kaka’s injury in Real Madrid, during the match, with Cristiano Ronaldo as their main threat, most of the time, C. Ronaldo was fighting alone!

Without Chen Zhong restricting in the front, C. Ronaldo was like a wild horse, becoming somewhat reckless!

“After the match against Mallorca, Real Madrid announced Alonso’s injury.”

“The day after the match, news broke about Higuain getting injured during the game, with the Argentine suffering a left hamstring muscle fiber tear, requiring three weeks of rest.”

“Reportedly, in the match against Mallorca, Higuain felt discomfort in his leg muscles by the 79th minute, but since Real Madrid had already used up all three substitution slots, Pellegrini couldn’t replace him, and Higuain decided to play through the final 10 minutes, worsening the injury.”

“In this match, Benzema’s role on the field clearly couldn’t compare to Higuain or Negredo.”

“Certainly, some may miss the already departed Soldado.”

“The player who was dubbed the weakest in club history to wear the number 9, has already scored 10 goals this season, ranking fifth in goalscorers.”

“A free kick opportunity!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep