I Am Scouted by Real Madrid-Chapter 457 - 79: No Man’s Land

Santiago Bernabeu Stadium

The fans in the stands were completely fired up, waving everything they could wave, shouting with all their might, while the players on the field followed Chen Zhong, bowing to the fans at the corner flag.

Chen Zhong’s celebration boosted Real Madrid’s morale, while Barcelona’s players had mixed emotions.

Pique stood with hands on his hips, his lips moving silently like a string of sausages, Busquets slightly opened his mouth, his eyes somewhat vacant, Messi rubbed his nose, stared intently at Chen Zhong, and then bent down to tighten his shoelaces.

After celebrating, Chen Zhong returned to his half under the embrace of the Real Madrid stars, while Ziglinsky stood in place watching the "commanding presence" of Chen Zhong, and couldn’t help but think, "A great man should be like this."

Real Madrid’s morale was soaring, completely suppressing Barcelona during this period.

"Real Madrid’s attack."

"Chen Zhong has the ball in the middle."

"He can choose to advance, distribute to the flanks, or make a long pass."

"He has the ability to do all these."

"This is one of the frustrating aspects of Chen Zhong in the game."

"If you send one player to press him, you might not win the ball, if you send two, you still might not, and you’ll leave spaces open."

"Chen Zhong’s awareness and vision on the field are very commendable, and as his long and short passes become more accurate, he frequently delivers key passes."

A game called ’League of Legends’ has become popular in the United States, and in Moba-type competitive online games, Chen Zhong is like a split-pushing hero; sending one to catch him is futile, sending two won’t guarantee success, yet if ignored, he can push straight to your base.

After all, Chen Zhong has a powerful shot from outside the big penalty area.

"Steal!" Guardiola shouted on the sidelines: "Follow the tactic."

Guardiola already had his own theory, known as the "seven-second rule," his exact words were: "If we win the ball within the thirty-meter area in front, we don’t need to advance fifty more meters to threaten the opponent’s goal."

Within seven seconds of losing possession, Barcelona’s players would press aggressively to force a mistake or win back the ball.

The toughest aspect for Barcelona about Real Madrid is that Chen Zhong’s ball control and shielding ability is top-notch, and he is now gradually improving in long and short passes and ball-carrying advances.

Even more outrageous is Chen Zhong’s excellent sense of the big picture, vision, defense, and he also has a strong physique!

Guardiola couldn’t even imagine how happy he would be and how "intense" his tactical play would be if he had a player like Chen Zhong under his command.

Barcelona’s pressing might affect other players, but for the calm Chen Zhong, there’s just one phrase: "unfazed," or as they say domestically, "shows the demeanor of a great general," remaining calm as a mountain collapses before him.

He didn’t pass the ball immediately; instead, he actively dribbled forward, only making a pinpoint long pass when the opponent closed in to the critical limit.

The ball drew an arc, seemingly about to cross Barcelona’s final line of defense, landing at the feet of Cristiano Ronaldo.

However, Pique did something no one expected; he raised his arm to block the ball.

"Beep beep beep!"

The referee blew the whistle, and the commentators were very surprised.

"Pique’s raised arm!"

"That shouldn’t have happened!"

"Lack of composure!"

"He’s definitely going to get carded for this."

"The key is whether this was an optimal scoring chance."

"If the referee deems it an optimal scoring chance, he might even issue a red card directly."

"Of course, even just a yellow card."

"Receiving a yellow card as a central defender in the fifth minute of the match."

"Also has a significant impact."

The Real Madrid fans in the stands used their voices to pressure the referee, while Pique shrugged his shoulders urgently defending himself. Just as the referee was about to pull out a card, he placed his right hand on his ear, listening to the communication from the headset, then turned his head towards the assistant referee. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

The assistant referee was seen holding the flag high, indicating that Cristiano Ronaldo was in an offside position at the time.

At this moment, the referee Mejuto Gonzalez had two choices.

One, if he believes the defender committed a deliberate handball, with his own subjective intent, intentionally interfering with the play, then he can call a handball foul.

This type is all about the referee’s subjective judgment.

In this situation, if the referee believes the player in the offside position interfered with play, it should be an offside infraction.

If the referee believes the player in the offside position interfered with an opponent, he should call an offside infraction.

If the referee believes the player in the offside position did not interfere with an opponent, he should call a deliberate handball foul.

And based on Pique’s action of raising rather than retracting his arm, it was clearly a conscious foul.

The other option is, if he considers Pique to be fouling intentionally, he can issue a warning, or a direct free kick, or even a yellow card.