Gao Shen was on the touchline. When he saw Ronaldo score right at the start, he immediately clapped hard and shouted his praise for the Portuguese. He turned and hugged Carlo, Zidane, and the others who rushed out to celebrate.
At this moment, the entire Bernabéu had turned into a sea of celebration.
In the first match of the new season, a goal after just over fifty seconds. Could there be a better start than this?
"His long passes are still a bit raw," Gao Shen said to Zidane with a critical look.
When it comes to refining technique, Zidane is a true expert.
Take shooting technique for example, even Ronaldo has to admit it.
The two had competed in free kicks before. Although Zidane used a little guile so the Portuguese would not be too embarrassed, Zidane's free-kick ability was still very impressive.
"The arc is a bit high and there are still issues with the contact. I will go through it with him in detail later," Zidane said with a smile.
A good long pass needs three qualities, speed, accuracy, and stability.
That is what you get from Toni Kroos and Xabi Alonso. Receiving their long passes feels effortless.
If Pogba's long pass just now had been quicker, Dzeko would have scored.
Who scores is not the main issue. What matters is that if you can remove an extra action, the success rate goes up significantly.
In a scoring move, one extra step often means one extra risk.
"This kid is such a gem," Carlo said without hesitation.
Who would disagree?
Pogba is the kind of player whose talent is obvious at first glance.
He has excellent physical attributes and is very secure on the ball, which is very different from Yaya Touré.
What Yaya Touré does best is attacking, especially driving forward through the middle. That is when he is most dangerous. When he bursts to the edge of the box, he is often at his most threatening.
He is good at both passing and shooting.
But Pogba is different. His straight-line impact is actually slightly inferior to Yaya Touré, but his ability to slow down to receive, to dribble, control, and pass is far superior. That is Pogba's biggest advantage.
Both players have certain problems. For example, they are both tall and powerful, which makes it hard for them to cover the entire pitch like smaller players such as Kanté and Modrić.
Neither is a natural holding midfielder, and neither has been trained strictly as a defensive specialist, so playing them as a defensive midfielder, especially as a lone pivot, would be fatal.
Gao Shen had always felt in his previous life that Manchester United spent a fortune to buy Pogba from Juventus, only to put him at defensive midfield. That was absolutely a waste of his talent.
Pogba is at his most dangerous in the final third, so we should reduce his defensive tracking and allow him to press higher. The aim when progressing the ball is to maximize Pogba's strengths when receiving.
The best example is how Gao Shen used Zidane when he first coached Real Madrid.
Zidane and Pogba are very similar in this respect. Both are very strong in duels, and both are excellent at holding and distributing the ball. They are ideal focal points high up the pitch.
But if you use Pogba as a holding midfielder, it is like buying a Ferrari and using it as a moving van, then complaining about its cargo capacity.
"The combination play down the left just now was good. We should try that kind of pattern more often." Gao Shen was very satisfied with the earlier goal.
The key was the passing down the left. It was beautifully done.
"Marcos Alonso should push a bit higher, and Casemiro should drop a little, to free up attacks from both flanks," Zidane suggested.
Gao Shen nodded. That was his idea as well.
So Gao Shen went to the touchline and immediately signaled instructions, adjusting positions and asking both full-backs to push up and restart the game.
As soon as Real Betis kicked off, Real Madrid pressed high and quickly forced an error in their passing.
The ball was intercepted as it crossed into Real Madrid's half.
Madrid immediately launched an attack and worked it to the left again.
Soon, Marcos Alonso had a chance to cross from the left side of the box, but it was a little behind the intended target.
The Betis center-back headed it clear and the ball dropped outside the 30-meter zone.
Casemiro, sitting at the base of midfield, brought it down and quickly played it to Verratti, warning him that there was a man on.
Verratti already knew. He immediately cushioned the ball to the left, barely evading the opponent behind him, then stepped sideways and fed Pogba.
As soon as Pogba controlled it, the defender behind stepped in to block him.
Pogba leaned into Nosa, who was marking him, calmly shielded Verratti's pass, drove the ball to his left, and when a second defender came to double up, he took it one step forward.
These days, let alone midfielders, many center-forwards cannot control and turn under pressure with their back to goal.
But Pogba's move was so smooth that it caught the Betis defenders off guard, and he slipped between the two.
As soon as he broke the line, Pogba released it to the left.
Marcos Alonso arrived, took a touch, glanced into the box, and whipped a low left-footed cross across the face.
Ronaldo surged forward, got across his marker, and poked it into the bottom left corner from the edge of the six-yard box.
"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!"
"2-0!!!"
"Not even three minutes into the first half, and Real Madrid have two goals from two shots."
"Ronaldo has a brace!"
"My word, Real Madrid's attack is brutally efficient tonight!"
"Paul Pogba, the French midfield prodigy who joined for 60 million euros this summer, is showing astonishing talent in his first appearance."
"The first goal came from his combination on the left and the long pass that created the opening. This time, he used his body to break through and then slipped it to Marcos Alonso to create the chance."
"Two goals in under three minutes. Real Madrid's performance tonight is sensational!"
…
On the big screen at the Bernabéu, Gao Shen could be seen raising his arms and shouting his praise for the Real Madrid players.
Everyone rushed out to celebrate with Ronaldo, and many also congratulated Marcos Alonso and Pogba.
It was obvious that these two young Madrid players were indispensable in this goal.
Especially Pogba.
In the box, King Juan Carlos of Spain was stunned.
"This kid is a genius. That physique and that technique, incredible."
Florentino laughed and nodded. "He must be someone Gao Shen picked."
Juan Carlos nodded repeatedly.
In today's European football, every player selected by the top coaches seems to thrive.
"To be honest, with his physicality and technique, I do not think many teams in La Liga can stop him," Juan Carlos kept praising.
"And look at how Gao Shen is using him. He is making him the focal point up front. I remember he used Zidane like this in 2006."
"Yes, but Real Madrid were not as strong then, and Zidane was older."
"Exactly."
Even Juan Carlos did not expect Real Madrid to deliver such a big surprise right from the first match of the season.
In less than three minutes, they scored twice. Their attacking efficiency was simply off the charts.
The key breakthrough was Paul Pogba.
This kid was a huge surprise and caught everyone off guard.
The Betis head coach must have scouted Pogba, but he could not have imagined the Frenchman being used in this way. One-on-one, he is unstoppable.
"That 60 million euros is worth it. Worth every cent," Juan Carlos laughed.
Florentino could not help feeling a little proud.
He was the one who brought this star in, and he is destined to become a top-class superstar.
As Gao Shen joked earlier, his biggest headache now should be how to allocate minutes, because he has four excellent midfielders, Toni Kroos, Modrić, Pogba, and Verratti.
What to do?
When the Real Madrid president mentioned Gao Shen's headache, Juan Carlos could not help but laugh.
"Good, let him worry about it."
After a pause, the King of Spain added praise. "Gao Shen's ability to develop and trust young players is remarkable. Look at our start tonight, it is very polished. That is definitely not a coincidence."
It had been less than three minutes since kick-off, and Betis had barely put their foot on the ball. It was all Real Madrid attacking.
First on the right, then on the left, Madrid were relentless.
"I keep feeling the team's approach tonight is not simple at all, especially the sophisticated use of personnel. This is not how they are supposed to look," Juan Carlos clicked his tongue twice. He understood what the emperor of football meant.
"When we scored the first goal, Isco seemed to drift into the middle. I keep thinking we are not really playing a 4-3-3, or rather, the 4-3-3 at the start was a bit of a smokescreen."
You know what, looking at it that way, it might be true.
For the first goal, Pogba hit the long pass, and it was Nacho who advanced to receive it from the flank.
Where was Isco?
Florentino had not paid close attention, but he certainly was not hugging the touchline.
In fact, Gao Shen tried Isco on the wing several times last season, but it did not work well because he lacks explosiveness.
On the other hand, when Gao Shen used Isco in midfield, the young Spaniard could play to his strengths, but he held onto the ball too long and missed the timing of the pass, costing opportunities. Gao Shen was furious and had Ramos and the others "shape" Isco hard in training.
Because of this, Isco complained to the media that the head coach had "abused" him.
So why did Gao Shen put Isco at right wing in this match?
The more Florentino thought about it, the more he felt Juan Carlos' suspicions made sense.
Perhaps Gao Shen really had something else in mind.
(To be continued.)
***
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