Chapter 257 Zidane's Trial Invitation, the Final Begins!

Cristiano already had a lot of training equipment at home, and he also had many training plans. After thinking about it for a while, he decided not to leave with Bai Ran.

"Forget it, I have something to do at home, so you can go first."

After refusing, Bai Ran also set off for training at the stadium.

Soon, Bai Ran arrived at the stadium and met Sans as promised.

Sanz was playing on the court with his pockets in his black shirt.

His feel for the ball is indeed good, and he is evenly balanced when hitting the ball. Bai Ran feels that his feel for the ball is much better than that of some professional players.

When they came to the court, the two started running training. While jogging with the ball, the two also talked about their future lives.

"Then you will settle here in the United States from now on, don't you plan to leave?"

Sans nodded when he heard Bai Ran's question: "If there are no problems, I might find a job in a company."

"According to my parents' requirements, they should be satisfied with this."

Bai Ran sighed, feeling sorry for the loss of such a genius in football.

"If you have the opportunity to engage in football in the future, would you still consider it?"

Of course, if there is such an opportunity, Sanz will never give up. The reason why he is so persistent is because of his passion and love for football.

When Bai Ran said these words, Sans's eyes flashed with passion, but then they instantly became cold.

His football dream ended in a car accident a few years ago.

The lack of support from his parents and the blank looks from others could not cool down his enthusiasm, but the injury to his leg was really not enough to support his ideals.

The two of them trained quietly on this field until midnight before leaving.

Bai Ran also quickly returned to the hotel to rest. One day later, they will face the final battle of the International Champions Cup. Real Madrid will face Bayern Munich again.

During the training on the second day, Real Madrid players were jogging on the court to warm up. Zidane was watching from the sidelines. He heard that Bai Ran would go to special training alone these two days. Zidane was also a little curious about Bai Ran's recent behavior. There had been some improvement over the past few days, so he called Bai Ran over.

"Bai Ran, come here."

Bai Ran ran over and said excitedly: "What's wrong, coach?"

Zidane showed a smile and asked: "How are you doing recently? Have you made any progress in training?"

"I see you leave in a hurry after training every day. From what I know about you, you should be making rapid progress now."

Bai Ran was also confident: "No problem."

At this moment, a voice came from the sidelines.

"Hey!"

"Zidane."

At this time, everyone looked out and saw a figure standing at the gate of the stadium.

Everyone recognized that the iconic curly hair was Raul, the former prince of the Bernabeu.

Why did Raul appear here?

They were surprised and delighted that this heavyweight quickly obtained a coaching certificate after retiring, then went to the Di Stéfano Stadium and took up the coach of Real Madrid's B team Castilla.

Logically speaking, he is currently in the preparation stage before the season. How could he come to the United States all the way?

"It's none of your business, keep training."

Zidane spoke loudly to the team members, and then waved to Raul. Raul walked over in a suit and leather tie and smiled calmly: "Old friend, where are you training?"

"Oh! Bai Ran, long time no see."

It's true that Bai Ran hadn't seen this coach for a long time. He thought that he helped arrange his devil training back then. Those days were also an important turning point on his road to success.

After that, Raul said: "I came to you today because I want to ask you something, and I also want your help."

Zidane grinned: "Okay, just say it."

The two head coaches have taken over Real Madrid's strength, with the first team and B team lineups in their hands. Last season, Castilla also advanced to the Spanish Second Division with its outstanding performance in the first half of the season.

But with the loss of talent, their lineup is getting worse and worse. Raul can deeply feel this during training. If you come to the Second Division with such a lineup, it is absolutely a no-no.

Since Ran flew away and came to the Bernabeu, Castilla's overall strength has even dropped by two levels. In the second half of the season, they frequently lost to the bottom-ranked relegation teams.

Although the relegation team is not easy to mess with, this is not Castilla's real strength.

Rodriguez and Hermoso in the team successively signed contracts with other teams in the top league. In order to make money, Real Madrid's senior management also relented and sold them. Now the only thing left for Raul to handle is the approval from above. A valuable budget, and a group of rising youth team stars waiting to be nurtured.

The strength of this lineup is not even as high as when they were in Segunda B, let alone where they will go when they come to Segunda B next season.

So Raul came here and got straight to the point.

"I would like to ask you for advice on what should be the best solution to my current situation."

"Look, this is the tactical map I designed."

As he spoke, Raul took out a pamphlet from his pocket, with a drawing of a football field and his own tactical formations on it.

At this time, Zidane was listening attentively to Raul describing his thoughts and questions, and Bai Ran was also listening by the way.

Bai Ran could understand Raul's general meaning.

That is to say, at the beginning of the next season, Real Madrid B team Castilla fell into a dilemma. The strong midfielders and forwards in the team all left, and there were almost no real attackers.

However, the team now has several young men from the youth team. They are fast, but their dribbling skills are not outstanding, and their court experience is almost equal to 0.

In terms of shooting, they need to hone their skills. Now they can only be said to be at a level that is just enough for the Western Second Division.

With this kind of personnel configuration, Raul can only formulate the team's tactics as defensive counterattacks, so whether it is 352 or 442, they are facing a huge problem.

There is a stealing expert like Patri in the backcourt, so there is no need to worry too much. There are several new fast wingers in the frontcourt, which can barely be used, but the midfield is a big gap.

They need a ball outlet, otherwise they can only change their strategy.

Zidane took the booklet and fell into deep thought.

"Indeed, do you have any signings now?"

Raul's eyes revealed a confused look.

"I am thinking about this question, should I stick to my strategy and introduce a midfielder who can pass the ball, or should I adjust the tactics based on the personnel I have now?"

In short, it is whether to choose players to serve tactics or tactics to serve players.

A head coach, especially an excellent head coach, never applies a template and fills players in it. Instead, he can make the best use of everyone in the face of different player allocations. This is a qualified coaching job.

But facing the situation where no one is available, Zidane also sighed deeply.

"I think there is nothing wrong with your tactical concept."

"Because your general direction must be towards what you want. If you follow your idea, all you lack is a midfielder who can pass the ball."

As he said, Zidane drew a red circle at two positions in the center circle of the court in the booklet.

"And if you make tactical changes, there will be too many things to consider, and the gains will not outweigh the losses."

"Maybe you need to introduce a lot of players to fill the combat power."

"How about this, I will help you take a look in the next few days. Anyway, you don't have any games recently, I can send my people to observe the players. If I find a suitable midfielder, I will give you a satisfactory answer."

Raul knew in his heart that although Zidane promised him, he has been doing this.

It is like finding a needle in a haystack to find a player who can adapt to his own tactics. How can it be so easy?

"Okay, thank you very much."

"I'll go back to the hotel first and have dinner together in the evening."

"You take the players to train first, I'm leaving."

Zidane nodded: "Call me in the evening."

Raul stepped away from the court, and Bai Ran was a little dazed looking at the notebook in Zidane's hand.

Zidane drew a red circle in the midfield, and Bai Ran was a little absent-minded.

He suddenly thought of something.

When he was in Castilla, Zidane did not design a replica of this "classical free man" tactic, but Zidane already had a relatively mature concept in his mind at that time.

As a prototype of the tactic, Zidane even used it in the last few games of the first half of the season.

At that time, Bai Ran was just a free man in the frontcourt, and he had many opportunities to move in the middle.

As the axis of the attack, Zidane gave full play to Bai Ran's strengths, while also trying to avoid Bai Ran's technical shortcomings.

At that time, Bai Ran's passing was world-class, his footwork was average, his physical confrontation was almost zero, and his speed was not advantageous.

Zidane even asked Bai Ran to watch Pirlo's games and highlights, trying to let Bai Ran follow the old path of Pirlo.

After all, his passing, shooting, and free kicks were too strong.

But later, unexpectedly, when Bai Ran imitated him, he surpassed him directly...

Later, Zidane brought this set of classic free man tactics to the stage of the Champions League final, and finally defeated Bayern Munich, which was in its heyday, and successfully realized his dream of the Champions League.

But when Bai Ran thought carefully, an idea suddenly came to his mind.

Poor running ability, poor speed, poor physique, and almost no defensive ability.

Good free kick skills, accurate passing, good at finding opportunities, offensive initiator and organizer within the team.

This is not only the characteristics of myself back then, but also Sanz!

Due to the influence of leg injuries, Sanz had no choice but to give up his football career because he did not have the endurance to support him running all over the field, and could not do strenuous exercise.

Being rejected again and again also made him lose hope, but it can be seen that his love for football has continued.

Why not let him try?

So, Bai Ran suddenly said: "Coach, if you are short of candidates in this position, I have a recommendation."

Hmm?

Zidane looked at Bai Ran, narrowed his eyes and said, "Do you have a candidate?"

"Don't mess around, go to training."

Zidane was unwilling to believe it. The good seedlings worth cultivating have been poached in the market. Who is waiting for you to sign them?

This group of scouts has a keener sense of the market. As long as there are better seedlings, even if their specific abilities have not been discovered, there will be teams that sign them directly and buy lottery tickets.

Now, the people recommended by the players are not necessarily unwanted, right?

How could such a player easily step onto the big stage of Real Madrid, even for the B team?

Bai Ran insisted, "I'm telling the truth, coach."

"Give him a chance."

"I can guarantee that he can be a starter, at least a starter in the Spanish Second Division."

During the two days of training, Bai Ran was already familiar with Sanz's abilities.

Sanz's technical level is fine, his passing ability is also very strong, and his ball sense is definitely superior to everyone in Castilla.

It's just that his running ability is weaker, but it doesn't matter. Wasn't it the same when he was in Castilla?

Sanz is even better than before.

If Sanz joins Castilla, it will definitely greatly enhance Raul's lineup.

Zidane saw Bai Ran's unusually firm expression and sighed helplessly.

"How about this, after today's training, you can contact him to come here."

"I'll see if he's qualified first."

"If I don't like him, I don't think there's any need to introduce him to Raul."

"Is this considered an opportunity?"

Bai Ran nodded vigorously, believing that Sans would be very happy to hear this news.

The day's training passed quickly, and around four o'clock in the afternoon, Bai Ran hurriedly called Sans.

"Sans, now and immediately! Come to my location!"

Then Bai Ran sent the location of the stadium to Sans.

"Real Madrid B team invites you to try out!"

Trial! ?

When Sans saw this reply, he immediately cheered up and ran straight to the stadium!

In less than ten minutes, Sans arrived at this place, facing Zidane, Sans's face could not hide his excitement.

Zidane looked at the boy in front of him wearing a black sweater, who looked like he was in his twenties.

"Is it him?"

Bai Ran nodded: "It's him."

Then, at Zidane's request, Sanz showed Zidane his sense of the ball and his skills.

It doesn't matter if you don't see it, but Zidane was scared when he saw it!

Damn it!

A genius!

The last time he saw a player with this style and talent was Bai Ran!

And now, Bai Ran has grown into the main force of Real Madrid's first team and the core player of the team.

This level of horror needs no further explanation.

At this level, it is impossible for a casual person to appear without professional practice day after day.

But the brown-skinned guy in front of him can do it.

He is indeed a person recommended by Bai Ran, and he is indeed reliable!

Later, Bai Ran also told Zidane the story of Sanz, and Zidane suddenly realized it!

So that's it...

It's such a pity. Sanz even came to Real Madrid for a trial and was almost taken to the Bernabeu.

Unexpectedly, natural disasters and man-made disasters wasted this child's talent.

But it doesn't matter. In this increasingly competitive football world, Real Madrid is willing to spend money to treat him. Cultivating such a good seedling is undoubtedly a good thing for both parties.

Zidane asked: "Are you willing to play in the game?"

Sanz certainly wanted to. His eyes were very firm, just like Bai Ran before.

"Yeah!"

Zidane continued: "If you insist on choosing this path, you may face pain and hard work that ordinary people can't bear. Are you willing?"

Tears burst out of Sanz's eyes.

Everything he did was for today!

"Of course!"

As long as he can play on the field, let alone work hard, it is worth it for him to give his life for it.

This green field is his dream!

Zidane nodded: "I'll give you a phone number. You go and contact him. Tomorrow, you may be arranged to fly to Spain. See if your time is acceptable."

"Whose phone is this, Real Madrid's agent?"

Sanz took the business card handed over by Zidane and asked casually.

Zidane shook his head and said calmly: "Raul."

Raul! !

Sanz was stunned. He didn't expect Bai Ran to be so tough!

He knew all these veteran stars and legends of Real Madrid!

Originally, I thought Bai Ran was just a young player in Real Madrid and had no status.

But now it seems that Bai Ran can persuade Zidane to bring him here, which shows that his influence is amazing.

At the same time, Sanz smiled and looked at Bai Ran, his eyes full of gratitude.

Bai Ran is equivalent to a second life.

For himself, this road is basically impossible to embark on again, but Bai Ran turned this impossibility into possibility.

"Okay!"

Sanz replied excitedly, Zidane nodded and said: "Go, you have good talent, but if you want to become a professional player, you need to make great efforts to make up for it."

"But it's not impossible."

"Just contact Raul directly tomorrow."

Sanz's nose was sour. This is too dreamy, like a dream!

"Thank you!"

"Bai Ran."

"Thank you."

As he said, Sanz's tears fell down.

Bai Ran patted his shoulder: "You deserve it."

Then, the two of them sent Sanz away, and today's training camp ended here.

And tomorrow, they will usher in an epic showdown.

Real Madrid vs. Bayern Munich, after a holiday break, I wonder what kind of sparks will burst out from both sides.

Time passed quickly, and it was the match day in a blink of an eye.

The Metropolitan Stadium in New Jersey, USA, ushered in an unprecedented grand occasion.

The two top European teams are about to start the International Champions Cup final here.

The scene of the game was bustling with noise, reporters from all walks of life swarmed in, and fans almost filled the entire Metropolitan Stadium. The cheers like a tsunami sounded before the players entered the field.

The whole stadium was immersed in a roaring sound, which made people's eardrums vibrate a little.

The International Champions Cup is about to start, and the commentator has already prepared the materials in his hands and is about to present this focus duel to everyone.