"During the period without him, Real Madrid have already found a new way of playing. Beating Bayern and Barcelona is the best proof."
"At this moment, Zidane's return could actually bring side effects to the team."
"Besides, Zidane has been away from competitive football for a long time, and his match fitness may not be ideal."
"And at his age, once a veteran like Zidane gets injured, a cliff-like decline is inevitable. That's just the law of nature."
"So we are optimistic about this match!"
"Real Madrid may have many of Europe's most famous players, but Chelsea have many of Europe's best-performing players!"
"And considering the Galácticos are already in decline, they might not even match us in reputation anymore!"
Mourinho's confidence was not without foundation.
The starting lineup Chelsea announced was extremely luxurious.
A two-striker setup featuring Drogba and Shevchenko.
The former had already firmly established himself in the Premier League and was one of the strongest target men in the game.
The latter was Serie A's biggest superstar. Although he hadn't adapted particularly well to English football, he was still firmly among the world's elite forwards.
That said, Mourinho actually preferred playing with a single striker.
But Abramovich didn't care what you thought—only what he thought mattered. He went ahead and bought the most expensive and "best" Shevchenko anyway, forcing Mourinho to deploy a two-striker system.
In reality, this weakened the team.
Mourinho's system placed huge emphasis on defensive structure, and adding one more striker meant losing one defensive player—and effectively two or three attacking players as well.
Yes, the math is correct.
It sounds absurd at first, but it's a very real phenomenon in football.
Especially when that striker is a big-name player like Shevchenko, someone with what is essentially a "defensive exemption."
If you have a forward like that, they barely participate in defensive duties.
When defending, it's effectively nine against ten.
Your defense is inevitably stretched and under constant danger.
As a result, when you finally get the chance to attack, your fullbacks and holding midfielders often hesitate to push forward, worried about defensive coverage.
That leads to attacking situations where it's five against ten, or six against ten.
No matter how you look at it, you're outnumbered in attack as well.
Under those conditions, how could results possibly be good?
And if you have more than one such player, then…
Fortunately—or unfortunately—modern football teams almost all have attacking players who don't defend much. Or rather, the definition of an attacker has long included limited defensive responsibility.
But in the future, the Dutch concept of total football will truly be realized.
Players will be capable of contributing both offensively and defensively.
Everyone except the goalkeeper will be required to take part in both phases of the game.
At that point, if your team still includes players who cannot perform deep, systematic defensive work, it will be extremely difficult to gain an advantage.
Cristiano Ronaldo ran into exactly this problem in the latter stages of his time at Juventus and at Manchester United.
Even players of Messi and Ronaldo's historic caliber have been caught in this dilemma as football continues to evolve.
It's not just their status that allows them to skip defensive duties—their age and physical condition also make deep defensive work increasingly difficult.
And it's not that they refuse to defend. They do defend.
Ronaldo often tracks back all the way into the penalty area, and his attitude is beyond criticism.
But they can't participate in deep, system-wide defensive rotations.
They can't always make it back on time, every single time, whenever the system demands it.
They have the will—but not the physical capacity.
As a result, teams that have them are, by default, one man short.
Even with their built-in "one-goal advantage," such teams often struggle and are suppressed on both ends of the pitch.
Unless the other nine players can collectively cover the workload of ten, plugging that defensive gap while fully exploiting the star's attacking output.
But that requires an extremely high level of tactical ability from the head coach.
Guardiola might manage it.
Other managers? That's harder to say.
Most of Manchester United's recent managers have been merely competent—not remotely elite.
Ten Hag, in particular, is completely out of his depth. He simply doesn't have the ability.
He keeps copying answers from his elementary-school exam papers, unaware that the game has moved on to university level—and those old tricks stopped working long ago.
Alternatively, if your entire squad is packed with elite players, you can compensate through top-level chemistry—like treble-winning Real Madrid once did.
In any case, the difficulty is enormous.
Tactical demands, elite teammates, the tide of the era, the passage of time, personal ambition—
the challenges Ronaldo faces are beyond what most people can imagine.
If young Ronaldo rose with the wind at his back, then late-career Ronaldo is truly a man running against the current of his era.
Of course it's hard.
But if it weren't hard, he wouldn't be Ronaldo.
He's a born fighter. He's been fighting his entire life.
Even if his body falls, his spirit never stops moving forward.
By comparison, Shevchenko faced fewer powerful enemies—he wasn't crushed by the era or by time to the same extent—yet his Chelsea spell still ended in disappointment.
Perhaps belief itself is the most important factor separating these top players.
Chelsea's midfield quartet consisted of Joe Cole, Lampard, John Obi Mikel, and Ballack.
Lampard—one of England's two best midfielders, a Ballon d'Or runner-up and true superstar.
Ballack—the top star of the Bundesliga.
Joe Cole—a regular starter for the England national team.
As for Mikel, standing 1.88 meters tall, he was once dubbed the "Nigerian Zidane." Unfortunately, under Mourinho, he was forcibly converted from an attacking midfielder into a destructive holding midfielder.
That was classic Mourinho.
See someone big, strong, and immediately turn them into a midfield enforcer—offensive talent be damned.
"Defensive counterattacking football" was just the surface.
In Mourinho's philosophy, a pitch full of big, strong players was the strongest lineup possible.
He really did play too much Pro Evolution Soccer.
That said, the future French national team ended up embodying Mourinho's philosophy in practice.
So the most suitable coach for France wouldn't be Deschamps or Zidane—it would be Mourinho (doge).
Still, Mikel genuinely had ability.
After being converted into a holding midfielder, he actually kept historical greats like Makelele and Essien on the bench.
Yes—both of them were sitting on Chelsea's bench.
Just think about how extravagant that was.
In fact, Chelsea's talent acquisition over these years was unquestionably among the best in Europe.
That was largely thanks to Abramovich poaching Manchester United's CEO, Kenyon.
At the time, the internet wasn't as developed, and different parts of the world were relatively isolated—football included.
Identifying talent relied heavily on scouting networks.
Manchester United's scouting system was extremely advanced. Combined with their success on the pitch, global reputation, and commercial power, they naturally attracted top prospects.
Their scouting lists were worth a fortune.
Once Kenyon joined Chelsea, he immediately used Chelsea's financial muscle to smash Manchester United's targets, hijacking deals for talents like Mikel, Essien, Duff, and Robben.
Looking back now, Manchester United had already taken a big loss.
But viewed from the future, this loss was catastrophic.
With just a few of those players, Manchester United might well have completed a Champions League treble before Real Madrid ever did.
...
(35 Chapters Ahead)
p@treon com / GhostParser