In the blink of an eye, half of January 2008 had passed, and the two hottest news topics during this ti were Barcelona’s impending change of coach, with Mourinho as the potential new head coach, and Schuster’s private discussions with the higher-ups, seemingly making so demands.
Guardiola, the then-coach of the Barcelona Athletic Team, showed no change in expression upon hearing the news that Mourinho might take over as coach. From both a reputational and "heritage" standpoint, Mourinho had reason and qualification to beco Barcelona’s head coach.
However, Mourinho’s flamboyant attitude in facing the dia seed to pose a problem for securing his position as coach.
Yet nevertheless, Mourinho becoming Barcelona’s head coach was commonly accepted online as an impending "fact," even sparking jokes about whether they would just pull a coach up from the youth team if it wasn’t Mourinho.
anwhile, Schuster’s demands to the club were rejected by Calderon, which left Schuster a bit enraged.
"What do they an by this?"
"If Mijatovic continues to handle transfers."
"Next season, we might even lose to Barcelona because of him!" Schuster’s dissatisfaction with Mijatovic began at the start of his tenure, but back then he was new to coaching the team and had his own troubles.
Originally, Schuster’s demands could have been realized, but in the King’s Cup round of 16, Schuster’s Real Madrid encountered an unexpected issue.
The first match was at Mallorca’s ho ground, where Guti rarely got a chance to play, but the team ultimately lost 2-1 to Mallorca. However, Schuster didn’t pay much attention as they had too many examples of resolving battles at ho and the next league ga was evidently more crucial.
Because winning the subsequent league match would tie Real Madrid with a record of 15 wins, 2 draws, and 2 losses from the 1987-88 season coached by Ben Hake.
This was also the best midseason record since La Liga expanded to 20 teams, surpassing Ben Hake’s 13 wins and 6 draws (which would be 45 points under the three-point system) from the 88-89 season.
It also ant Schuster had acquired the best La Liga start in the last 19 years, with 47 points breaking Barcelona’s half-season 46-point record from the 05/06 season under the three-point system.
Such honors were crucial to Schuster this season, as he continually broke various team and league records, thus Levante was in trouble.
They received the sa treatnt as Barcelona.
Historically, in the league, the two sides had clashed 8 tis, with Real Madrid holding an overwhelming advantage of 7 wins and 1 loss.
In this match, Real Madrid fielded a full-strength lineup: Van Nistelrooy and Raul up front, Robinho, Baptista, Chen Zhong, Sneijder in the midfield, and Torres, Pepe, Cannavaro, Marcelo on the defensive line, with Casillas as the goalkeeper.
This match played out with no suspense, even though Real Madrid was the visiting team, they completely controlled the match dynamic. In the 8th minute, Chen Zhong advanced with ball control, bulldozing through two Levante defenders, and unleashed a violent long shot from outside the penalty area.
The shot was so powerful that so of the closer caras even captured the "bang" sound, and the angle and power were quite impressive.
The only pity was that Raul was running in the penalty area at the ti, and the ball hit him so hard he was a bit dumbfounded.
The ball then rebounded and slowed down, making it easy for the goalkeeper to collect it.
After being hit, Raul ran to Chen Zhong, grimacing, and gave Chen Zhong’s shoulder a firm slap, saying, "You’ve got so leg power! Are you eager to score in this ga?"
Chen Zhong grinned, although he didn’t say explicitly, his deanor said it all.
Not far away, Robinho watched Chen Zhong with a pensive look.
Three minutes later, Robinho got the ball on the wing, twisting and turning while his teammates made active runs. But Robinho waited until Chen Zhong reached a threatening position before passing the ball to him.
Chen Zhong, holding off the defender beside him, unleashed a long shot from the top arc of the penalty area.
The ball rocketed towards the far end of the goal like a cannonball.
Unfortunately, the goalkeeper was excellently positioned, barely touching the ball with his fingertips to deflect it out.
Levante then launched a counterattack, with Cannavaro demonstrating his sliding tackle skills by clearing the ball, earning them a rare corner kick.
Upon realizing that the center was hard to penetrate, Levante attempted to break through with simple and rough wing crosses, with Kartuis delivering a well-placed cross precisely finding his teammate in the center. But Chen Zhong ca out on top, forcefully heading the ball away.
"Chen!"
The fans in the stands chanted Chen Zhong’s na. Whether in attack or defense, whenever they needed soone, the 16-year-old’s na always ca to mind.
Real Madrid quickly retaliated, but Van Nistelrooy seed out of form, hitting a shot too directly, easily saved by the keeper.
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