Chapter 13： The invisible boss and the glass man

The morning training session started amid protests from Real Madrid fans.

Nearly 300 fans came to Valdebebas, all of them came to protest the lofty heights.

They made a lot of noise and movement on the sidelines, which seriously affected the training of players on the court. Raul and Guti both walked over to appease the fans, but to no avail.

Since it was a rehabilitative training, Gao Shen still asked Maqueda to preside over it, while he stood by and watched silently, paying particular attention to Woodgate, who was injured again a few days ago.

England's central defender has played intermittently in recent times. Carlo even prefers to use Raul Bravo rather than risk using Woodgate. It is not entirely because of his poor performance. In fact, he has had a very good performance. , but his fragile body is very worrying.

Gao Shen noticed that when Woodgate participated in the team's joint training, he was obviously unable to let go of his movements. Obviously, there was a lot of psychological pressure and burden.

During the 90-minute training session, Gao Shen watched silently throughout, which once again surprised the Real Madrid players.

Could it be that this rookie head coach really just wants to be a mascot?

Especially Raul, who knew his thoughts, was even more puzzled in his heart.

The time for the intra-city derby is getting closer, shouldn't we start arranging targeted tactical drills at this time?

Different from running away after the training session yesterday afternoon, after the training session in the morning, Gao Shen still stayed where he was.

He also stopped Zidane.

…

In the Real Madrid team, the French have always had few words, but this does not mean that Zidane has no weight.

On the contrary, everyone knows that Zidane's words are often more effective than Ronaldo's.

Sometimes people are like this. Ronaldo is very self-willed and likes to call Florentino at any time. It seems that he has frequent exchanges, but Florentino really likes this superstar who complains at every turn and even pushes the palace?

Zidane is usually calm, it's not a big deal, and generally he won't disturb Florentino, but this makes Florentino take him even more seriously, which can be called the invisible in the Real Madrid dressing room. Big guy.

No matter who he is facing, Zidane has always been calm and calm, as if nothing can anger him.

He deeply understands Zidane's character and is not long-winded. When there is no one around, he goes straight to the topic.

"We received a call-up fax for the French national team."

When Zidane heard this, he raised his head and stared at Gao Shen, a trace of mockery flashed in his eyes.

"Don't get me wrong, I just follow the usual practice and ask for your opinion. If you want to go, I will send a fax later. If you have other ideas, I can also help you." Gao Shen said lightly.

These remarks fully respected Zidane's personal wishes, and Gao Shen used a word to tell Zidane that he was on Zidane's side. If he didn't want to go, Gao Shen could come out and be the villain.

Zidane is a smart person. He immediately realized the meaning of the profound. He raised his head and looked at Gao Shen with a change in his eyes.

He found that Gao Shen in front of him was not a rookie or a pustule.

"After Domenech took office, he promoted the youth reform of the national team. The average age has dropped a lot, and he has become more aggressive, but he lacks experience, so he has recently recruited a group of experienced veterans, which requires running-in. '" Zidane explained.

As early as after the European Cup in 2004, Zidane had withdrawn from the national team, but Domenech later persuaded him to come back.

Anyone can see that Zidane's goal is the World Cup in Germany.

In the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, he was eliminated from the group stage, which was a humiliation for a superstar of Zidane's level.

He wants to be ashamed!

"From November to May last year, we only had this warm-up match," Zidane said lightly.

Gao Shen nodded, "Understood, I'll send a fax when I go back."

"Thank you." Zidane's tone was still flat.

Seeing that the French superstar was about to turn around and leave, Gao Shen suddenly spoke again.

"You played for France in the World Cup in Germany, the purpose is to leave no regrets, what about Real Madrid?"

Zidane frowned and looked at Gao Shen angrily, "What do you mean? Do you doubt my professional ethics?"

"No, you misunderstood." Gao Shen smiled kindly in return, "I never doubted your professional ethics, I was just thinking, are you willing to end your Real Madrid career like this?"

Zidane was a little silent.

What level of superstar is he?

In the past ten years, after Maradona, he and Ronaldo are the most powerful.

When it comes to superstars at their level, everyone is arrogant and even arrogant, which is normal.

Without this kind of self-respecting aura, how can you stand up at the critical moment of the game?

"I believe you have seen that we are currently ten points behind Barcelona and two points behind Valencia, but Vigo, Celta and Osasuna are in hot pursuit. , but if you can step up and push forward, even threatening Barcelona's top position, it is not completely impossible."

After a pause, Gao Shen reminded again: "There are still thirteen rounds of the league and the second round of the Champions League, what do you think?"

Zidane understood what Gao Shen meant and was a little surprised, because he originally thought that Gao Shen would do his best to suppress the superstar, including himself, but he didn't expect that Gao Shen would take the initiative to tell him this.

"Didn't you just declare war on the superstar yesterday?" Zidane's tone was still calm.

Gao Shen smiled and said, "The media always likes to do articles like this, what I'm saying is that some players don't deserve to wear Real Madrid's jerseys, but that doesn't include you, because I know that you have a lot of affection for this team, you It was here that you reached the pinnacle of your career, and it will be a lifetime memory for you."

Zidane was silent again, because Gao Shen was right at all.

His national team career was brilliant, but at the club, Real Madrid was his pinnacle, where his career underwent a transformation, especially for Florentino.

"I believe that you would never hope that this memory of yours would end in bleak, no matter what?"

The profound question left Zidane speechless.

Why did he choose to retire this summer?

It is because he is extremely disappointed with the current situation of Real Madrid. He feels that if he continues to play, he is just repeating the mistakes of the past three years. For him, instead of enjoying the fun of playing, it is more like torture. kind of humiliation.

Gao Shen's words spoke to his heart, but so what?

"What do you think you can change?" Zidane was so arrogant and arrogant that he immediately made a strong counterattack when he was told the central matter in person.

Gao Shen didn't take it personally, but was rather happy because he talked about Zidane's weakness.

"I don't know what I can change. Many people say that I won't be in this position for a long time, but I feel that there is always something to do, and I have always felt that a team like Real Madrid is the best What is lacking is not a great manager, but a manager who can bring the players together and work together for one goal."

After Gao Shen finished speaking, he smiled freely and said: "Maybe I'll be dismissed after losing to Atletico this week, maybe I won, anyway, as long as I'm still here, I'll do what I can and don't leave any regrets for myself. , what do you say?"

Zidane stared at Gao Shen, as if he wanted to detect something in his eyes. In the end, he left a light sentence, turned around and left.

"Let's talk when you can sit firmly in this position."

Watching the back of the French superstar leave, Gao smiled deeply.

He saw it, Zidane remained neutral.

…

After sending Zidane away, Gao Shen went straight to the medical room.

Sure enough, the team doctor was there to conduct medical examinations on several wounded in the team, which is also a routine after training.

Gao Shen casually asked about the conditions of several injured players, focusing on Woodgate.

The team doctor was quite satisfied with the England central defender's physical condition, and there was basically no serious problem.

He was injured in the first round of the Champions League round of 16 against Arsenal in the ninth minute of the game.

Woodgate joined Real Madrid in August 2004, but he has been recovering from injury since April. The day before he signed for Real Madrid, he was still receiving treatment in Munich, but Real Madrid still chose to sign him, which shows the importance attached to him. degree.

After joining, the restorative training was not done well. As soon as he joined, he was injured in training, and then injured again and again. His debut was delayed until September 2005, which is the fourth round of this season, against Bilbao at home. Athletic, he started the game and scored an own goal in the 25th minute, causing the team to fall behind.

Since then, Woodgate's playing time has become intermittent, even after the head coach has changed, Carlo is very cautious about his use, mainly because of his long hiatus.

This situation continued until the end of January. In the twenty-first round of the league, Real Madrid played away to Celta Vigo. At half-time, Danish midfielder Gravesen was injured, Woodgate came on as a substitute, and Elgra was pushed to the middle. As a result, Real Madrid's defense was greatly improved in the second half. Not only did they not concede any more goals, but they scored a goal and defeated Celta Vigo 2-1. UU Reading

Immediately afterward, they beat Espanyol 4-0 at home and Athletic Bilbao 2-0 away, keeping two clean sheets in two consecutive games. With Woodgate as the main force, Real Madrid's defense has improved significantly.

The most typical is the King's Cup. In the first round, they lost 6-1 to Zaragoza. The main central defenders were Elgra and Ramos, but after the combination of Ramos and Woodgate in the second round, Real Madrid returned to home four games. Zero completes revenge.

It can be said that the three games at the end of January and the beginning of February have proved Woodgate's strength and convinced everyone that he is a trustworthy member of Real Madrid's backline.

Unexpectedly, in the first round of the Champions League against Arsenal, Woodgate was injured after playing nine minutes, and Real Madrid lost to the Gunners 0-1 at home.

In the following two games, Woodgate failed to enter the squad, and Carlo even used Raul Bravo as a central defender.

What many people don't know is that, aside from the Arsenal game, Woodgate has played 13 games for Real Madrid this season, 891 minutes, with 11 wins, one draw and one loss, and five losses. Three goals were conceded in a 3-1 away loss to Deportivo Deportivo, and only two goals were conceded in the remaining 12 games.

Here is an own goal that Woodgate himself kicked in.

Again, without injury, Woodgate is a world-class central defender.

Gao Shen also clearly remembers that this glass man who couldn't play in Real Madrid turned into a defensive pillar of Middlesbrough after his transfer to Middlesbrough, showing a super standard. , and returned to the England national team.

So what made him so different at Real Madrid and Middlesbrough?