Chapter 66 Ronnie is here
The morning after the match against Juventus, at the gate of Valdebebas training base, Gao Shen finally enjoyed the treatment of Real Madrid head coach.
When he was riding his bicycle and trying to slip in through the small door on the side, he was stopped by two young female Real Madrid fans.
They wanted to ask Gao Shen for an autograph.
Gao Shen was very surprised, because this was the first time someone asked him for an autograph since he started coaching Real Madrid a few months ago.
The key is still young female fans.
Behind the two female fans, there were more Real Madrid fans watching from a distance, and many of them even looked at them coldly.
It was rare for a fan to ask for his autograph, especially a female fan. Gao Shen certainly couldn't refuse. He immediately got out of the car, took the autograph book and pen, and quickly signed his Chinese name on it.
After seeing Gao Shen's signature, the two female fans revealed an expression of awe, which greatly satisfied Gao Shen's vanity as a man. He had practiced Chinese calligraphy.
"Although many people have doubts, we know that you have done a great job. We hope you can continue to work hard and lead the team to a triumphant return from Camp Nou." One of the female fans said happily, holding an autograph book.
"Thank you." Gao Shen nodded in thanks.
Pushing his bicycle and entering through a small door on the side, Gao Shen heard two female fans behind him whispering and laughing, vaguely saying words like "so handsome", which made him feel extremely satisfied.
We have female fans too!
Even the security captain at the gate looked at Gao Shen with envy and a slightly ambiguous expression, as if smiling.
This suddenly made Gao Shen feel as if he was even walking with the wind.
…
The news of the accident at the gate spread quickly throughout Valdebebas.
At first, Lucas, Buenaventura and others saw Gao Shen smiling the whole time and thought it was because of the away game against Juventus. But when they knew the whole story, their eyes changed when they looked at Gao Shen.
I didn't expect you to be this kind of person!
Feeling a little embarrassed by being stared at by everyone, Gao Shen could only cough loudly and knock on the table.
"Be serious, we're in a meeting!"
Everyone calmed down a little, but they couldn't hide the smiles on their faces.
"Well, Lorenzo, you go first."
As soon as Buenaventura arrived at Real Madrid, he was highly valued.
It can be said that Gao Shen handed over the team's training power to him, which made him become Gao Shen's right-hand man.
He is mainly responsible for physical training and adjusting the players' condition. Now he is mainly analyzing the players' general physical condition based on last night's game, and also arranging training for the next few days.
After playing against Juventus, Real Madrid's next focus is the national derby at the weekend.
This is the battle that Gao Shen and everyone at Real Madrid attach the most importance to.
There are only eight rounds left in La Liga. Excluding the battle at Camp Nou, there are only seven rounds left. Real Madrid is currently five points behind Barcelona. If they cannot beat Barcelona at Camp Nou, even if it is a draw, the gap will remain at five points, and it will be very difficult to reverse the situation.
But if they can beat Barcelona at Camp Nou and successfully narrow the points gap to two points, the situation will be completely different.
Buenaventura felt that the team's game in Turin was a bit exhausting, mainly because Juventus played too hard in the last twenty minutes of the game, which exceeded his previous expectations. He will try his best to adjust the players' stamina and physical condition, hoping to allow them to face the national derby at the weekend in better shape.
"In addition, after returning home last night, I looked at Barcelona's game data and some situations as you asked. I feel that Barcelona's recent state is not very good, especially the midfield. The players' physical energy consumption is also very high."
Barcelona's lineup has always been relatively thin.
What impressed Gao Shen the most was that during Guardiola's coaching period, there were only 19 players available in the first team at one point. If there were more injuries, the team would be even more stretched.
Although Barcelona is not so bad now, the depth of its bench is not much better.
Messi, Xavi, Edmilson, Marcos and others are all injured, resulting in Barcelona being even more short of manpower.
In terms of schedule, Barcelona has also experienced a period of devilish schedule, and now they are fighting on two fronts. It can be said that the pressure of the game is also very high. Coupled with the thin lineup, it would be strange if their physical fitness was good.
"I guess that their away draw with Benfica is also a way for them to save their strength for the national derby at the weekend," Gao Shen concluded.
Everyone nodded.
This weekend's national derby is indeed very important. It can even be said to be the most important battle of the La Liga this season. It can be called a watershed. If they win, Barcelona's championship will be secure. If they draw, then there will still be suspense. If they lose, the situation will be reversed.
Rijkaard would have known the importance of this game.
There is still a home game in the Champions League quarterfinals, but if Barcelona loses the national derby, its situation will be more difficult.
"Let's ask the scouts to do some research and find out whether Puyol can play." Gao Shen looked at Maqueda.
Maqueda nodded. He is not only a tool for the press conference, but also a communication coordinator between the coaching staff and other departments. After all, he was born in Real Madrid and is very familiar with everything about Real Madrid.
Whether Puyol plays or not is related to the quality of Barcelona's defense, which is very important for the team's advanced deployment.
Unlike Messi, Xavi, Edmilson and Marcos who are destined to be absent, Puyol is said to have participated in joint training.
"So how are we going to play this weekend?" Buenaventura asked with concern.
He will formulate the next training plan, especially group training, based on Gao Shen's ideas.
Everyone also took it very seriously and looked at Gao Shen.
Unconsciously, they have all accepted Gao Shen's identity and have become accustomed to following his arrangements.
"Wait a little longer, and do recovery training first. I need to see someone before deciding on the specific matters."
"Who?" Maqueda asked curiously.
Gao Shen smiled mysteriously, "Guess."
…
…
There was nothing profound about the training session in the morning.
Woodgate played the entire game against Juventus. After the game, Gao Shen asked the team doctor to make a detailed physical examination report for him. The England central defender is still unable to cope with the pressure of playing two games in a week.
This is also a big trouble.
Real Madrid has three central defenders. Elguera is old and his form has obviously declined. Ramos is irritable and Woodgate has suffered many injuries. As a result, the three players have been used in rotation and have never been able to form a stable partnership. This is also quite fatal.
Fortunately, after this period of adjustment, they are all clear about Gao Shen’s requirements and can cooperate well.
The recovery training was presided over by Buenaventura, and the players were still divided into two groups, with players who had games and those who did not have games training in different venues.
When Carlo was there, he promoted a lot of players from the second team, and Gao Shen promoted more than a dozen more. However, after a period of observation, he temporarily put some unsuitable players back to the second team.
For example, Callejon's younger brother and several players promoted by Carlo were all released by him. Now the first-team lineup has been reduced to more than 30 players. Players like Parejo and Juan Mata have all trained with the first team, but returned to the second team to participate in the game. This can be regarded as an encouragement to young players.
Gao Shen promised them that the schedule was tight now and he did not dare to use them, but when the pressure of the next games was less, he would give these players a chance to appear in the first team and hoped that they would continue to work hard.
This also makes the training of the first team always particularly vigorous and the scene is always in full swing.
…
After the training, Gao Shen walked to the coaching room side by side with the team doctor, looking at the players' morning physical examination reports as they walked.
The injuries of several players on the team are still controllable and will not affect the game, but we cannot be careless.
Back in the coach's office, on his desk was an analysis report submitted by Fernando Lucas on Barcelona's recent games, as well as a USB flash drive containing some game highlights for reference.
After Gao Shen made the request to Butragueno, Real Madrid also signed a formal contract with Lucas and arranged for him to study at Loughborough University. He went to the UK two days a week, both on non-match days. The rest of the time he still worked in Real Madrid, and all expenses were reimbursed by Real Madrid.
Lucas now feels like he is practicing with Real Madrid, and Gao Shen is responsible for commenting on his analysis report.
There was also information about the hotel where the team would stay sent from the Bernabeu, including rooms for employees and players, training equipment, food and drinks to be carried, etc. A lot of things needed Gao Shen's confirmation and signature.
Even though it's not a match day, as the head coach of the team, I still have a lot of daily trivial matters to deal with. Especially now that the schedule is so tight, I forget about time once I get busy.
It wasn't until the office suddenly became quiet and Lucas gently nudged Gao Shen from the side that he looked up from the computer.
Ronaldo was standing in front of him with an awkward look on his face, and seemed to have been waiting for a while.
Gao Shen looked around and found that the coaches had become silent and were all looking at the two of them, so he stood up immediately.
He swore that he didn't mean to ignore Ronaldo, it was just because he was too busy.
It was at this moment that Gao Shen suddenly realized why so many leaders and other head coaches had to have their own offices, just to avoid this kind of embarrassment at this moment.
In the past month, he was the one chatting with the players, and no player had ever come to see him privately. This was probably because he was working in the coach's office.
"Sorry, I'm a bit busy." Gao Shen explained apologetically and hastily tidied up the things on the table.
Ronaldo also saw that since he came in, Gao Shen had been busy looking at documents, replying to emails and signing. He was really busy.
"It's okay." The Brazilian replied calmly.
Gao Shen looked around again and found that these gossipy guys all pricked up their ears, obviously intending to eavesdrop.
"Let's go next door." Gao Shen said with a wry smile.
Ronaldo suddenly felt relieved. He stood up again as soon as he sat down, followed Gao Shen and left the office.
As soon as the two left, the coach's office was suddenly in an uproar.
They never thought that Ronaldo would take the initiative to find Gao Shen, and it seemed that Gao Shen had already known about it.
What are these two going to talk about?
Could it be that we are going to break up again while talking?
