CHAPTER 143: CHAPTER 47: WHY ARE ALL THE MEDIA PRAISING ME? (PART 2)

Asking Messi about his views on Chen Zhong.

"Hmm..." Messi stretched the sound, touched his nose, and said, "I’ve heard about him, he’s not the same type of player as me, he’s taller."

"But looking at his contributions and performance for the team, for him to have such data and display at the age of 16 is surprising and unbelievable."

"He and I both have our strengths, and I look forward to meeting him on the field."

Messi’s remarks seemed to have opened the floodgates for the media. Seeing everyone’s interest in the 16-year-old Chen Zhong, many media outlets began "warming up" for Chen Zhong before the game.

As a result, they were surprised to discover through their reports that Chen Zhong had unknowingly left a significant mark on Spanish Football.

This truly homegrown Real Madrid youth player has now become a new idol and representative of the younger generation. After Messi mentioned Chen Zhong, many media outlets, including "Marca" and "Diario AS", started reporting on him. Schuster, when asked by the media, used what he thought was the best compliment: "This kid is like me."

"Marca", which has had discord with the Real Madrid higher-ups in recent years, directly described Chen Zhong as the flag of the future, the new generation’s Raul, the leader of the young generation.

The "Diario AS" reviewed Chen Zhong’s performance this season, listing the data that pointed out Chen Zhong has become the "number one in La Liga history".

The data shows that after scoring his debut goal for the club in an official match at the beginning of the season, Chen Zhong, after becoming the first post-90s player in La Liga and the youngest player in Real Madrid’s league history, once again broke the record for the youngest goal scorer in Real Madrid Club’s history.

The youngest record holder in Spain remains the Argentine youngster Messi, who scored in the league at 17 years, 10 months, and 7 days.

In the entire history of the Spanish league, the highest record originally held by Real Madrid is the third record held by the so-called Golden Boy, Raul.

This post-90s player is ahead of all players born in the 90s. After scoring his first goal in an official match, he is forever recorded in Real Madrid’s history as the first Chinese to appear for Real Madrid and also Real Madrid’s first Asian player.

In over a century since Real Madrid’s founding, no Chinese player has ever donned the white jersey of the Galaxy Battleship, and likewise, no Asian player has ever featured for Real Madrid in an official match.

Most importantly, as the first post-90s player to appear in the five major leagues, Chen Zhong is destined to leave some mark in the history of world football.

Of course, the reason why newspapers like "Diario AS" and "Marca" are so keen on reporting this news has another layer, which is that they suddenly realized that if not for Chen Zhong, the first post-90s player to appear in the five major leagues would have been Bojan.

Bojan: I feel like I’ve always been living in his shadow.

...

Reports abroad naturally get reprinted locally, and under the praise from foreign media, countless Chinese fans also joined the discussion:

"Wow, is this considered winning glory for the country?"

"World number one, definitely the world number one, the leading figure of the future young generation."

"A post-90s player, the first to appear in the five major leagues, and showing such strong strength, the future of post-90s is promising!"

"China number one, Asia number one, world number one, I was skeptical if these reports were fake, but I checked across the firewall, and they are all true."

"Doesn’t anyone think Bojan is quite tragic? If Chen Zhong hadn’t appeared, I feel many honors and aura would have belonged to Bojan, but now, he is entirely overshadowed by Chen Zhong. In the future, the two of them will compete for the banner bearer of the post-90s."

"Isn’t this really our Chinese player? Too unreal! Am I dreaming? When I saw the stats, I thought nothing of them at first, but seeing the stats of those superstars of the same age, I think he’s defying the odds!"

"What’s the use? Our foundations are still there, and many talents have been ruined. I just hope Chen Zhong can continue to play in foreign clubs, at least set a benchmark. We have had talents, but where have they all gone?"

"Have you seen the latest news? The national team sent a call-up to Real Madrid Club, wanting Chen Zhong back for a friendly or warm-up match, and Real Madrid directly refused."

"They can refuse that?"

...

The "World Sports Newspaper" and the "Daily Sports" originally wanted to resist slightly, after all, they once drew cartoons mocking Chen Zhong as a baby.

But seeing that praising Chen Zhong is now mainstream, they naturally followed suit, giving Chen Zhong lavish praise and even attempting to interview him.

On the surface, it seemed these two newspapers genuinely meant well for Chen Zhong, as if having Chen Zhong meant Real Madrid could slash Barcelona at Camp Nou at any moment.

However...

It’s worth noting that current sentiment favors Barcelona as the likely winners.

If Real Madrid doesn’t win, or even suffers a crushing defeat...

Then the current praise will all turn into sharp blades against Chen Zhong. Such occurrences are not uncommon in football, commonly known as being "elevated to death."

Real Madrid Club evidently noticed this, with Schuster, Real Madrid veterans, and players all speaking out, emphasizing Chen Zhong’s age, spirit, and fighting spirit, sharing some internal anecdotes, hoping to dampen this hype.

But the snowball has already started rolling, and even fans who don’t usually watch much football, when someone talks about the upcoming national derby, would act knowledgeable and say: "Spanish national derby, right?"

"I think Real Madrid will win because they have Chen Zhong! He’s a superstar; the media is all hyping him, saying he’s better than Messi or C. Ronaldo."

They say this now, showing as supporters of Chen Zhong, but if Real Madrid loses, then Chen Zhong’s image in their words will change to...

The time swiftly arrived at the match day.

On the streets of Barcelona, everywhere red and blue jerseys gathered, and the distant white Galaxy was unwilling to be outshone. Before the match, both teams displayed their prowess to create momentum.

And the mystery Rijkaard had concealed for a week, attempting to obscure with countless smokescreens, was officially unveiled before the match.

Upon the mystery being unveiled, sports director Mijatovic excitedly proclaimed to the media: "I knew it all along, I knew it! He couldn’t possibly start Deco and Ronaldinho on the bench."

Schuster was somewhat speechless upon seeing Rijkaard’s "revelation".

"So, why on earth did he do it?"

"I really haven’t figured out his reasoning for this."

"Perhaps..." Francisco, with a mixed expression of amusement and helplessness, said: "Maybe he just wants to?"

Rijkaard’s smokescreens didn’t have much impact, as Barcelona’s hand wasn’t much to play with, but his smokescreens instead choked his own players.

Recent confusion in Barcelona’s dressing room arose because Rijkaard had not made his stance clear in advance, not confirming the team’s starters, leading to debates surrounding Ronaldinho within the team.

Many Barcelona players couldn’t help but stand for Ronaldinho, such as Messi, Dos Santos, who publicly expressed support for Ronaldinho in the media, with an internal sentiment along the lines of: "Do you support Ronaldinho starting?" "Do you support Ronaldinho?"

This made Rijkaard’s smokescreens more counterproductive.

Ronaldinho and Deco’s inclusion meant that Dos Santos and Gudjohnsen, who had been in outstanding form recently, could only wait on the bench.

Rijkaard chose to bet on "Ronnie’s" form for this match.

It seemed like an operation that fooled only himself, not anyone else.

Meanwhile, Schuster unexpectedly reintroduced Guti and boldly selected Chen Zhong and Baptista to pair as double midfielders, indeed astonishing many.

A 16-year-old debutant.

A beast still striving for a starting position.

Starting in this Spanish national derby match?

Schuster, are you sure you want to win?