Starting With Real Madrid

In the last few minutes, Barcelona did attack like crazy.

Gao Shen truly understood what it meant for a second to feel like a year.

He almost counted the seconds with his fingers, waiting eagerly for the whistle to sound at the end of the game.

In the first 80 minutes or so, Rijkaard's team had an overwhelming advantage. Except for defensive statistics, they held an absolute advantage, but they failed to break Real Madrid's goal.

The last few minutes were no different.

Gao Shen kept reminding the players on the sidelines, and the Real Madrid players were also in high spirits, showing even more fighting spirit than before.

For Barcelona, the more hurriedly they played, the more chaotic they became, making it easier for them to make mistakes.

Even in the end, with 100,000 fans at Camp Nou cheering for Barcelona, when the game was about to go into overtime, the Barcelona players began to get discouraged.

Especially in the 89th minute, when captain Puyol fell to the ground while hurriedly contesting a header with Guti, and didn't get up again. Rijkaard was forced to replace Puyol with Gabriel.

From this moment on, Barcelona's energy was completely drained.

Going into overtime, it was difficult for Barcelona to organize a decent attack.

Real Madrid also expended a lot of energy and didn't plan to organize an attack either.

Time slowly ran out.

...

...

When the referee Brewer blew the whistle to end the game, there were bursts of wailing from the Camp Nou Stadium.

The live TV footage swept across the Barcelona players on the pitch, each with an extremely pained expression, clearly unable to accept such a loss, even Deco and Ronaldinho, the team's best performers.

As Barcelona's top card, Ronaldinho was limited by Real Madrid's right-sided defense throughout the game. Although he often ran back to the middle, he couldn't find a way through the double midfielder setup of De La Red and Gravesen.

The camera swept across the home team's coaching bench. Rijkaard and Ten Cate were both sitting there, their expressions difficult to read, but it was clear they were extremely disappointed with the result.

The camera moved up to the stands, capturing scenes of Barcelona fans covering their faces and crying.

Zero to one!

Before the game, they were filled with excitement and high expectations, but now they were deeply disappointed.

Were Barcelona's players not good enough? Not working hard enough?

Obviously not.

But Real Madrid's players were working too hard!

Losing to such a team should be acceptable, but this team was called Real Madrid, and this game was the most important focus of the championship so far this season.

How could they accept this?

...

In the chairman's stand, when Brewer's whistle sounded, Butragueno stood up from his seat excitedly, raised his arms high like the Real Madrid fans in the corner, and let out a very relieved cheer.

The Barcelona management sitting next to him looked extremely embarrassed, disappointed, and even angry at that moment.

They had said too much earlier, and now they had been slapped in the face!

Butragueno, the head of the public relations department, always paid attention to his demeanor, speaking and acting like a gentleman. But at this moment, he couldn't help but savor the sweet taste of victory in front of the Barça leaders.

"I said, the outcome is still unknown."

The faces of Laporta, Echebarria, and others were very ugly.

They couldn't figure it out, why did Real Madrid win?

Why could a 25-year-old rookie bring such an earth-shaking transformation to Real Madrid?

Could it be that he is really a genius?

But they'd only ever heard of geniuses on the football field, never of young talents on the coaching bench.

But if he isn't a genius, how can they explain what he's done at Real Madrid?

Ugly? ugly? defense?

All of these, in the face of real three-pointers and the situation of winning the championship, become insignificant.

Butragueno was also in a state of ecstasy.

In fact, he didn't know how Gao Shen did it, because in his eyes, Gao Shen was a mystery from beginning to end.

For example, De La Red, Negredo, Abeloa, and Felipe. These players were in the Real Madrid youth team before; they were not unknown but were not used and were unnoticed.

After Gao Shen used them, they immediately became the pillars of Real Madrid.

There is also Lorenzo Buenaventura. This fitness coach cannot be said to be unknown, but Cadiz, where he was, did not see how high his level was. Now, with him in charge of training, look at the results.

Real Madrid's running ability tonight might not be spectacular compared to other teams, but compared to the previous Real Madrid, the improvement was visible to the naked eye. This improvement is definitely a talent.

But the question is, how did Gao Shen discover them?

Especially considering how Gao Shen used them, it seemed he believed from the very beginning that these people would definitely be successful and help him. Could he foresee the future?

Butragueno never believed anyone could be a prophet. He could only think this was Gao Shen's amazing vision, seeing things others couldn't, which allowed him to tap so many talents.

More importantly, the Real Madrid locker room under Gao Shen's coaching had gradually returned to the right track.

When Ronaldo scored just now, Ramos rushed out to celebrate with him.

Maybe there was still a grudge between them, but at least on the pitch, they were a team, and that's enough.

If Real Madrid had done this earlier, how could they have been reduced to this point?

Only two points away!

Butragueno couldn't help laughing when he thought of this.

From falling behind by ten points to only two points, with seven rounds left in the league, this was enough.

Especially Barcelona, who suffered such a blow tonight, can they make no mistakes in the next seven rounds?

If not adjusted properly, maybe they'll falter against Benfica next Wednesday.

The Barcelona management became increasingly embarrassed seeing Butragueno laughing all the time.

Damn, what a shame!

...

...

Gao Shen hugged the Real Madrid players who walked off the pitch one by one, offering each of them positive appreciation.

Especially Ronaldo.

Gao Shen smiled and hugged the Brazilian superstar, "Nice job, especially your hard work. We have all seen it."

Ronaldo was also in a good mood. Scoring a goal when coming off the bench, he was very happy.

But he also heard the deeper message in Gao Shen's words.

Gao Shen never mentioned the goal, only appreciating his efforts, which proved that what Gao Shen needed was his attitude.

It's true that Ronaldo scored this goal, but the alien knew in his heart how the goal came about.

Without the advanced tactical arrangement, without the desperate efforts from his teammates throughout the game, without Negredo fighting until the whistle sounded, and without the efforts of Raul, Zidane, Guti, and others, could he have scored this goal?

Gao Shen's words were not only praise but also a reminder, warning him not to become proud after scoring a goal.

"Thank you." Ronaldo was smart and immediately nodded in thanks. "I cherish this opportunity to play. Whether in training or competition, whether as a starter or a substitute, I will give my best performance."

Gao Shen smiled and patted Ronaldo on the shoulder. "After we go back to Madrid, talk to the others. If they want, they can come to me anytime."

Ronaldo was a little surprised but soon understood.

Gao Shen was giving the green light to the Brazilian players.

This was also normal. Real Madrid was in need of players.

Although many players were recruited from the second team, compared to some Brazilian players, they were still inferior.

For example, Callejon was really good and had potential, but compared to Robinho, there was still a significant gap.

Of course, Robinho's problem was that he held onto the ball too long and delayed crucial moments.

...

After Gao Shen sent the players away on the sidelines, he spoke to Rijkaard again.

But it was clear the Barcelona coach was in a very bad mood and didn't want to talk to Gao Shen.

When he returned to the locker room, he heard the cheers and celebrations of the Real Madrid players from a distance and faintly heard someone mentioning Gao Shen, with respect and admiration in their words and tone.

During this period, the transformation of the team was visible to the naked eye, especially to the players in the Real Madrid team.

Initially, they opposed Gao Shen's coaching because they thought he couldn't lead the team. But now, they were shocked and admired by his coaching ability and naturally convinced.

Even rebellious superstars like Ronaldo and Zidane were always convinced when they mentioned Gao Shen.

The only person in the team who still had an issue with Gao Shen was probably Roberto Carlos.

But everyone knew this was more of a personal grudge.

And when Gao Shen opened the door and walked into the locker room, everyone immediately surrounded him when they saw him.

At this time, Gao Shen was not stingy with his admiration at all, throwing it out one after another, praising the players, his words like a continuous stream, not repeating, and making everyone feel elated and happy.

This also made Maqueda, Lucas, Buenaventura, and others on the side marvel.

Being able to praise people is actually a skill.

In the end, when it came to praise, Gao Shen directly praised the members of the coaching staff.

Anyone could see he was in a very good mood tonight.

But when Maqueda was about to turn around and go out, Gao Shen stopped him.

"Take a rest tonight, I'll go to this press conference!" Gao Shen stopped Maqueda, patted his chest, with a righteous and awe-inspiring expression.

This left Maqueda momentarily stunned. "You... you're going?"

"Yes, I'm going to face these so-called uncrowned kings!" Gao Shen said maliciously.

Anyone could see what he intended to do.

"No... No, I can handle them, I..."

"I know you've endured a lot during this time, and I'll get revenge tonight!"

Maqueda was almost in tears.

Gao, my boss, I don't want you to do this for me!

When the media was criticizing us before, you didn't want to go, and I bore the brunt of it, enduring all their taunts and ridicule.

Now that we're finally turning the tables, and I'm about to get my moment of triumph, you want to take it from me?

Revenge for me?

I want to do it myself, okay?

....