CHAPTER 60: CHAPTER 31: DYED RED

In the pristine white changing room, the players looked up at Schuster.

Schuster, like a lion surveying his territory, felt the gaze of the players upon him and roared, "Do you think you played well?"

"I’m telling you, it was terrible, absolutely terrible."

"I almost thought we were facing a top-tier team."

"But in reality, it’s just a newly promoted team!"

"My God!" Schuster raised both hands, looked at the players below, and roared, "The time it’s been established isn’t even as long as most of your ages."

"What are we?"

"We are Real Madrid."

"Do you know what we need to do when facing a team like this?"

"We need to completely control the match, score goal after goal, and drive the fans into a frenzy, crushing the opposition."

Schuster’s words were like a whip, mercilessly lashing at the players. His golden hair fluttered with his movements, and his gaze was sharp and authoritative.

"Robinho!"

The Brazilian raised his head blankly, clearly unsure why Schuster was calling his name at this moment.

"What do you think of your performance in the first half?"

"Not bad." Robinho’s response greatly displeased Schuster, but looking at Robinho’s demeanor, he knew that further criticism would only turn this conversation into an argument.

He never expected this Brazilian genius to understand what being "obedient" meant, as he had long seen through Robinho’s inherent laziness.

"Really?" Schuster laughed and glanced around the changing room, finally fixing his gaze on Higuain, saying, "Higuain, you will replace Robinho in the second half."

"Robinho, this is my reward for your outstanding performance."

"If anyone else feels satisfied with the current score, feels satisfied with their performance, I can reward you too."

The changing room fell silent, Robinho pressed his lips without speaking, but his dissatisfaction was clear to everyone.

"Good!" Schuster nodded, then said, "We must play harder in the second half."

"We’re not making the fans cheer for us now because our performance doesn’t match the jersey we’re wearing."

"I don’t want to say anything else to you, I just want to tell you to go on the pitch and match your performance to this jersey."

"Tell them, welcome to the Bernabeu!"

"Hala Madrid!"

"Hala Madrid!!"

The players filed out, chanting, while only Robinho sat in his place motionlessly like a big master.

Francisco approached Schuster in an empty corner and said, "I don’t mean anything by this, after all, you are the head coach."

"But making a substitution at this time, isn’t it inappropriate? Especially since it’s Robinho."

"He is a genius player, we should be more patient."

Schuster stopped and looked at Francisco with surprise, as if seeing him for the first time: "Do you hear what you’re saying?"

"I even doubt if you used your brain when you said this."

"Did you see Negredo on the opposite side?"

"What does being a genius count for?"

Francisco was momentarily stunned, his inner worries quickly dissipated.

Indeed! We are Real Madrid, no matter the player, in front of Real Madrid, they are insignificant, just a passing story in the long years, but the club will remain forever.

Just a Robinho!

The halftime break ended, and both teams returned to the pitch. Almeria launched a fierce attack at the start of the second half, with Emery showing his attitude through action.

Today, the team he leads will score at the Bernabeu.

No matter if it’s 3 points or 1 point, they will score.

"Almeria’s offensive is very fierce."

"They are trying to equalize the score at the start of the second half."

"Bruno’s long pass from the flank."

"It’s not Negredo, but Uche."

"Uche attempts to shoot from the right side of the penalty area!"

"Chen Zhong! It’s Chen Zhong again, he’s made a beautiful block."

"Heinze cleared the ball to the front field."

The fans let out exclamations as Almeria’s attack unfolded, in the first ten minutes of the second half, Almeria’s most common attacking methods were Bruno’s passing and Corona’s passing.

They passed the ball from the left and right towards the middle, but unlike before when they focused on Negredo, now there’s a richer combination of short and long passes and personnel choices.

"Ha." Schuster let out a cold laugh, Almeria’s large-scale forward pressure and the stretched formation looked full of opportunities in Schuster’s eyes, it’s just up to the players to seize it.

At the 63rd minute of the match, Chen Zhong completed a beautiful steal in the backfield, and after taking the ball, he swiftly made a long pass towards the front point, Higuain leapt high and headed it backward to Saviola.

Saviola faced Almeria players’ pressing and made a direct pass to the stride of Sneijder, after taking the ball, Sneijder made an immediate long-range shot without hesitation.

"Bang!"

The ball turned into a white shadow, quickly darting into Almeria’s goal, the goalkeeper didn’t even have time to react.

"Beautiful!"

"Beautiful goal!"

"Sneijder’s super world-class goal once again opened Almeria’s door!"

"3:1"

"Real Madrid has nearly locked in their victory."

"This counterattack originated from a beautiful steal by Chen Zhong, yet after two or three passes, it quickly reached Almeria’s danger zone."

"Almeria’s overall formation was too forward, and the players’ positions were also spread out, giving Real Madrid a big opportunity."

"Now Almeria faces a dilemma, to either continue risking conceding more goals and attack, or to accept their fate."

"However, even if they continue to attack, it’s feared to be difficult to break through Chen Zhong and Cannavaro’s defense."

At the 72nd minute, Real Madrid repeated their tactics. After Chen Zhong intercepted the ball, he launched an attack with a long pass, his long pass might not be as stunning as Beckham’s, it even seemed ordinary.

Yet in such a match, it became Real Madrid’s rallying call for a counterattack.

"Beep!"

The referee blew the whistle and showed a red card to Cruyff.

When Higuain received Chen Zhong’s long pass and passed it to Saviola, Cruyff’s tackle from behind on Saviola earned him a red card.

Emery stood on the sidelines with his eyes wide open, watching Cruyff in disbelief.

Cruyff and M’Vila were the double-core of Almeria’s midfield, and Cruyff was a veteran of the team, staying with them through three tough years in the Segunda Division to reach La Liga.

This player, whose style was rough, seemed more like a Premier League player than La Liga, had his heated brain rapidly cooled, he hung his head low and walked to the sideline, looking at Emery, wanting to apologize but in the end, said nothing, knowing he messed up, initially just wanting to intimidate.

Cruyff being sent off with a red card became a major turning point in the match, Emery no longer thought about scoring, instead, he let the entire team retreat into turtle shell defense, just hoping the loss wouldn’t be too ugly.

Lacking Van Nistelrooy and Robinho, in facing a set defense, Real Madrid were evidently weaker. Van Nistelrooy’s ability to receive and shoot in the penalty area, Robinho’s breakthrough ability, were excellent means to break a tight defense.

"(ˉ▽￣～) Che~~" Schuster stood leisurely on the sidelines, somewhat dissatisfied: "I still prefer how Emery looked eager for points just now, can’t he revert a little?"

"Really wasted my locker room speech."

"The foundation is still too weak."

Francisco looked at Schuster’s demeanor, it’s not just Emery, even he wanted to throw two punches at Schuster.

In the end, the score was fixed at 4:1

In the final moments of the match, Guti delivered a precise through ball like an eye from the heavens, finding Higuain who successfully beat the offside trap, in the penalty area, facing the oncoming goalkeeper, he chose a bold lob.

When the ball landed in the net, the Merengues applauded this young player.

And Higuain was extremely excited as he ran to the corner flag to celebrate wildly, this was his first goal for Real Madrid this season.

"The match is over!"

"Almeria suffered their second consecutive defeat."

"Real Madrid claimed their third consecutive victory."

"Schuster leads the team to the best start in 16 years."

"His coaching prospects at Real Madrid are undoubtedly bright and splendid."

"The Man of the Match award went to Sneijder, his world-class strike might become the goal of the month."

"In 3 days, Schuster will lead the team at the Bernabeu for his first Champions League group stage match."

"In the Champions League draw at the end of August, Real Madrid was placed in Group C with Lazio, Werder Bremen, and Olympiacos."

"Facing the challenge from Werder Bremen in the first match, we hope Schuster can lead the team to a strong start!"