Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

"I'm going to Real Madrid? I'm going to the greatest team on the planet?"

When Mascherano learned that Real Madrid was willing to spend 3000 million euros for him, he felt as if he had been hit by a bolt of happiness from the sky, and he could hardly believe it was true!
Mascherano would have been content to stay in Liverpool.

After all, just a year ago he was playing in the South American league, and now he has joined a top team in one of the top five leagues, which is a huge leap for him.

However, he never expected that Liverpool would not be his final destination, but that he would actually catch the eye of Real Madrid!
This is Real Madrid, the world's number one powerhouse with nine Champions League trophies!

Liverpool is good, but they are still far behind Real Madrid!

Moreover, for South American players, the climate, language, cultural customs, and dietary habits of La Liga are more suitable for them, in addition to the high salaries offered by Real Madrid.

He currently earns only £1 a week at Liverpool, which is approximately €70 a year, placing him in the bottom-wage bracket.
But after signing with Real Madrid, Mascherano's annual salary tripled, reaching 200 million euros.

This annual salary is much higher than when Ramos first came to Real Madrid.

When Ramos joined Real Madrid two years ago, his annual salary was a paltry 75 euros, but his transfer fee was no less than that of Mascherano.

Ramos's annual salary is so low simply because he didn't catch the right time.

When Ramos joined Real Madrid in 2005, each of the five key players in the Real Madrid team was almost a top earner in the football world.

Real Madrid has to spend a huge sum of 3200 million euros every year just to pay the salaries of players like Ronaldo, Zidane, Beckham, and Raul.

Adding in the salaries of other players such as Casillas, Carlos, and Guti, Real Madrid's total annual after-tax salary is close to 6500 million euros, which translates to a whopping 1.3 million euros before tax, making it the world's highest-paid team!
While the Galactic Battleship may look dazzling, it's also incredibly expensive!

Such a rapid expenditure of money is something that even wealthy families can't withstand!
But by 2008, all five of the original five players had been purged by Real Madrid.

Currently, Real Madrid only has two players with the highest salaries – Raul and Lin Feng, both earning 650 million euros per year.

Following the two, Cannavaro and Van Nistelrooy are tied for third with €600 million each, while Guti and Casillas are tied for fifth with €450 million each.

The combined salaries of these six players barely match those of the original "Five Tigers," effectively freeing up €650 million in salary cap space for Real Madrid.

This is why Mascherano's starting salary is higher than Ramos'!
Mascherano was very satisfied with the contract from Real Madrid and signed it without hesitation.

Then he hurriedly packed his things, said goodbye to his Liverpool teammates, and flew to Madrid on the same day the transfer news was announced.

……

Mascherano is quite an interesting guy; there's a South American faction within Real Madrid.

But after he came to Real Madrid, instead of getting close to these people, he went to Lin Feng to pay his respects.

"Brother Lin, I've been your fan since I was a child, my love is like a never-ending river, like the Amazon overflowing its banks, it's unstoppable..."

Lin Feng's lips twitched. The Amazon River had overflowed; that would be quite difficult to manage.

After talking for a while, the other party basically said the same thing: they hoped to work with Lin Feng in the future.

Although the Spanish gang seemed to have more power, Little Ma knew very well that they couldn't defeat Lin Feng.

After all, Lin Feng is not only younger, but also performs better in the team, making him an indispensable piece of Real Madrid's puzzle.

In addition, he heard that Raul, the leader of the Spanish gang, had recently reconciled with Lin Feng. In that case, instead of following the Spanish gang, he might as well skip the middleman and follow Lin Feng directly!
As for why he didn't align himself with the South American group, it's because after Robinho was purged, the South American group was no longer a force to be reckoned with.

It is said that Mourinho dislikes Baptista and is preparing to sell him to Sevilla.

If this is true, then the South American contingent has completely declined, with only a few newcomers like Higuain and Marcelo left. Can they hold up the sky for the South American contingent?

Little Ma is very skeptical of this!
Lin Feng knew that Mascherano was very capable and an important piece of the puzzle for the Dream Team Barcelona.

Therefore, Lin Feng welcomed his initiative to join him.

Given that Real Madrid is indeed lacking a defensive midfielder, his ability will likely secure him a starting position.

If I could take him on as my underling, it would make things much easier for me when I'm playing on the field.

He comes with two bodyguards, Pepe and Little Ma, so he can do whatever he wants to anyone!

……

Mascherano's intelligence was quite accurate; shortly after he joined, Baptista was released by Real Madrid.

On January 17, Real Madrid announced on its official website that the club had reached an agreement with Sevilla to send the Brazilian back to his original club for 12 million euros.

Two and a half years ago, Real Madrid spent more than 20 million euros to sign this prodigy who could score more than 2000 goals in a single season from Sevilla. At that time, many people were very optimistic about his future at Real Madrid.

Even Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez was thrilled, telling reporters that he had signed Maradona.

However, after joining Real Madrid, due to intense competition within the team, Baptista could not compete with either Zidane or Ronaldo, so he had to play on the wing, which he was not good at, resulting in a sharp drop in his statistics.

When Mourinho took over the team and needed him to switch back to his old position as a defensive midfielder, his performance was truly appalling.

Therefore, having completely lost his place in the team, it was only a matter of time before he was released.

Returning to his former employer is a good outcome for him.

Perhaps he can rediscover his former glory here and return to his peak, living a second life.

Mourinho actually wanted to offload Guti, who is quite capable and competent enough to play as an attacking midfielder.

If he's willing to stay and be Lin Feng's substitute, then there's naturally no problem.

Guti himself was unwilling to be Lin Feng's substitute. He had finally outlasted Zidane and secured his starting position for only a year. Now, a young man who was not even 20 years old had come along, and he was expected to obediently give up his starting position. Why should he?
Apart from being slightly weaker in defense, Guti doesn't think he's inferior to Lin Feng in any other aspect.

Moreover, he is a player developed by Real Madrid's own youth academy and has served Real Madrid for more than ten years. He is extremely loyal to the team, which is something that mercenaries like Lin Feng cannot compare to.

Therefore, he believed that the club's management and board of directors would definitely stand by his side, and with the support of the club's management and fans, he would regain his starting position.

Guti himself didn't want to leave, and Mourinho really couldn't do anything about it. After all, he was a legendary Real Madrid player with a long and distinguished career. If he were to force him out, it would likely anger Real Madrid's management and a large number of fans, which would be a complete loss.

Besides these two, the first player Mourinho will let go is the Dutchman Robben.

Robben suffered an injury not long after joining Real Madrid.

Not long after recovering from his injury, he injured himself again...

So far this season, Robben has only made 5 appearances, a pitifully low attendance rate, and his statistics are even worse. To date, Robben has yet to score a goal in La Liga…

Real Madrid spent 3600 million euros to buy an old man...

However, due to his lackluster performance in the first half of the season, Robben's market value has plummeted, and if he were to be sold now, it would probably cost more than 2000 million euros to recover his investment.

So Mourinho can only hope that he will have fewer injuries in the second half of the season and recover his health as soon as possible!
……

This year's winter break was relatively short, and the players only enjoyed two weeks of vacation before having to return to their teams to start the second half of the La Liga season.

On January 21, Real Madrid visited the Calderon Stadium for the second leg of the Madrid derby.

In this match, Mourinho boldly fielded new signing Mascherano alongside Diarra as a double pivot, which yielded unexpected results.

Perhaps because it was his debut for Real Madrid, Mascherano appeared exceptionally excited on the field.

He could be seen throughout the midfield, intercepting, pressing, tracking back, and tackling – Mascherano was proficient in everything.

During the match, he even made a spectacular comeback, making a brilliant defensive play by thwarting Aguero's one-on-one chance in the penalty area, leaving the Real Madrid fans in the stands and Mourinho on the sidelines in awe.

With two reliable generals guarding the backcourt, Lin Feng and the front four can attack with confidence and boldness.

Therefore, in the first half, Lin Feng assisted Raul to open the scoring.

In the second half, he provided Van Nistelrooy with another easy goal, which Van Nistelrooy also scored.

On the other hand, although Atletico Madrid has a strong attacking line, their midfield was unable to connect with the forwards after being restricted by Real Madrid's two defensive midfielders.

With no one to help them, Forlán and Aguero had very few chances to even shoot, let alone score a goal.

In the end, Real Madrid easily defeated Atletico Madrid 2-0 away from home, completing a season double over Atletico Madrid.

Atletico Madrid's lineup is still somewhat lacking against Real Madrid.

If they want to win back, they need to further strengthen their roster to address its weaknesses.

After Real Madrid defeated Atletico Madrid in the Madrid derby, Barcelona also narrowly defeated Racing Santander 1-0 in another match thanks to a goal from Messi.

The two teams remain 10 points apart, still occupying the top two spots in La Liga.

After the two Spanish giants, Villarreal has returned to third place in the league thanks to their resounding victory over Valencia in this round.

However, they were already 5 points behind second place, making it difficult to catch up with Barcelona. As for winning the title, that was out of the question, as they were 15 points behind Real Madrid!

Although Real Madrid is making great strides in the league, they are struggling in the Copa del Rey.

In the fourth round of the Copa del Rey, Real Madrid, fielding a completely reserve team, were surprisingly held to a 1-1 draw by their opponents.

Although Real Madrid defeated and eliminated their opponent 2-1 in the second round at home.

But for Real Madrid to concede a goal to a fourth-tier team at the Bernabéu would be an absolute disgrace.

But this is not over yet!

When Real Madrid faced Mallorca in the fifth round of the Copa del Rey, their lineup, consisting of half starters and half substitutes, was defeated twice by Mallorca, resulting in their elimination.

This result caused an uproar.

Although Mourinho's goals are the league and the Champions League, he doesn't value the Copa del Rey and treats it almost like a training match.

But given Real Madrid's squad strength, it's really hard to believe they performed like this in the Copa del Rey.

But this result is not surprising. When Real Madrid was eliminated, the team was in the worst period of injury crisis and could not even find a proper defensive midfielder.

Without a reliable defensive midfielder, the team's midfield will lack strength, and a weak midfield will have a huge impact on both the attack and defense.

Furthermore, Mourinho was reluctant to field Lin Feng in the Copa del Rey so early, resulting in Real Madrid's attacking firepower being far less fierce than that of the first team.

In addition, cup competitions are always prone to upsets, and with multiple factors combined, it is not so surprising that Real Madrid was eliminated early.

However, Barcelona was still in contention when Real Madrid was eliminated, leading to speculation that Barcelona is likely to win the Copa del Rey this year.

If they ultimately fail to overturn Real Madrid's lead and prevent them from winning the league title, then winning the Copa del Rey would at least be a small consolation for the fans.

For top-tier clubs, not winning a championship is fatal.

……

Having just finished the Madrid derby in the last round, Real Madrid will face a challenge from the third-placed team in the league in the next round.

In the first half of the season, Real Madrid thrashed Villarreal 5-0 away from home.

Villarreal considered this crushing defeat a great humiliation and vowed to get revenge on Real Madrid.

In order to avenge their defeat against Real Madrid, Villarreal had thoroughly studied Mourinho's tactics and the strengths and weaknesses of Real Madrid's players in each position.

So despite playing at home, Real Madrid had an exceptionally difficult time in this match.

In the 17th minute of the first half, the opponent scored first, and then decisively tightened their formation, parking the bus in their own half.

Real Madrid racked their brains and tried every possible method to break through the opponent's solid defensive formation, but to no avail.

In the end, it was thanks to Lin Feng's corner kick tactic that Ramos was able to score with a header from the corner kick, thus managing to equalize the score.

However, at the start of the second half, Villarreal launched a quick counter-attack, taking advantage of Real Madrid's own mistakes, and regained the lead in the 47th minute.

The situation returned to what it was like when Real Madrid were trailing in the first half. Facing Villarreal's solid defense, Real Madrid had no way to break through, while the opponent kept stimulating Real Madrid fans' nerves with counterattacks.

The Bernabéu fans anxiously began chanting Lin Feng's name, hoping he could step up and save the team once again.

Seemingly heeding the fans' calls, Lin Feng once again stepped up at the crucial moment, and from 34 meters away from the goal, he used his superb footwork and ultimate skills to take a difficult S-shaped free kick.

The ball darted left and right in the air, leaving Villarreal's goalkeeper completely bewildered. He tried to dive to the left based on his experience, but the ball flew to the right instead.

2-2, Real Madrid has equalized again! (End of Chapter)