Santiago Bernabeu Stadium

On the green field, Cristiano Ronaldo stood at the penalty spot. He turned and glanced at Chen Zhong, and upon seeing Chen Zhong nod in encouragement, he thought somewhat awkwardly, "It's not like I'm looking for your encouragement, whatever, it doesn't matter."

He took a deep breath, calming the distractions in his mind.

C. Ronaldo took his run-up, swung his leg!

The shot was powerful, and the goalkeeper judged the right direction.

But his speed was a bit slow.

The ball went in!

4:1

C. Ronaldo was very excited after scoring, running towards the corner flag with open arms, welcoming the cheers and applause from the fans, and the fans in the stands cooperated enthusiastically as well.

This was C. Ronaldo's first goal for Real Madrid, his debut goal in La Liga. After scoring, much of the emotion that had been bottled up inside him was released.

Pellegrini showed a smile on the sidelines. This was his first league match coaching Real Madrid, his first match at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, and it was his "debut."

He was actually pretty afraid of "failing."

After all, strictly speaking, his control over the team's locker room depended entirely on whether Chen Zhong was willing to cooperate.

In the remaining time of the first half, neither team scored, but the gap between C. Ronaldo and his teammates seemed to disappear after the goal.

At least he was willing to cooperate with his teammates.

He even performed a nutmeg dribble on the left wing, which was his only successful dribble in the first half, and the resulting cross was quite decent.

Negredo leapt high outside the small penalty area, striving for a header, and it was almost another goal against Deportivo La Coruña.

In the subsequent time, Real Madrid utilized corner kicks and free kicks to continuously attack.

Kaka even attempted a long-range shot after a solo rush down the left, but unfortunately it was slightly off-target.

During this period, C. Ronaldo attempted several breakthroughs, and Deportivo La Coruña did not hold back, knocking him down multiple times.

When the main referee blew the whistle for the end of the first half, and the players prepared to head back to the locker room, Chen Zhong approached C. Ronaldo and said softly, "Actually, you can choose to pass to your teammates more often."

"A one-two pass, a wall pass, just like what Pirlo, Kaka, and I do."

C. Ronaldo gave Chen Zhong a polite smile without directly responding, clearly the successful breakthrough at the last moment had given him confidence. Maybe he was thinking, are you afraid I'll perform too well and outshine you?

Of course, it's very possible that C. Ronaldo simply doesn't like to lose, holding a determination to become the most outstanding player on the field.

Who can really say for sure!

The team returned to the locker room, and Pellegrini stood in front of the whiteboard to indicate his plans for the second half.

"Chen, I need you to reduce the frequency of your forward runs."

"Yes, I know it's wonderful."

"But the risk is too great." Pellegrini's eyes were filled with sincerity, and he said, "We are currently leading, we shouldn't be the ones anxious."

Pellegrini's mentor was known for the "424" formation, and Pellegrini's philosophy is also "offensive philosophy," but this doesn't mean Pellegrini doesn't value defense. In fact, his offensive philosophy is mostly built on a solid defense.

He hoped Chen Zhong and Alonso could cover a large area of the backfield, allowing C. Ronaldo, Negredo, Pirlo, and Kaka to attack freely up front.

His offensive philosophy is to use wing breakthroughs (C. Ronaldo, Kaka) and creative midfielders (Pirlo) to create opportunities for an efficient center forward (Negredo).

Alright! Simply put, Pellegrini is "attack-oriented football," but his "attack-oriented football" involves a lot of counter-attacks, neither defensive counter-attacks nor rapid counter-attacks are suitable terms, probably flexible counter-attacks would cover most of it.

The issue is that Pellegrini also emphasizes "passing control," giving the impression that Pellegrini's tactics are a mix without specializing in any, if one needs to excel both in offense and defense, there needs to be a "central" role.

And now, Pellegrini's intention is that in terms of offense, the player carrying the system, he prefers C. Ronaldo to take on that role, while Chen Zhong's main task should be to focus more on defense.

This is also the difference between Pellegrini and Guardiola, he remains within the square boundaries, with breakthrough but not much, still within the old concepts, players must do their own things in their positions, appearing innovative but actually the same old stuff.

"Alright." Chen Zhong looked at Pellegrini, agreed in front of the other players in the locker room, which made Pellegrini secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

He's not trying to confront Chen Zhong, it's just that he really isn't the type of coach who "plays according to the dish," he has his own set ways.

Not fond of certain players is just dislike, for instance, Rafael van der Vaart, he never intended to include him in his tactical system.

Chen Zhong is a good player, but in Pellegrini's tactical planning, he's more for solidifying the team's defense, he does have attacking abilities, and his two goals were absolutely stunning.

But...

It's not like I'm banning him from attacking!

Just want to reduce it a bit...

After receiving Chen Zhong's "support," Pellegrini felt a surge of confidence and, after explaining his thoughts, looked at the players and smiled, "Alright, in the second half, let's keep up the good work."

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