People are Not Ready
Why was Ronaldo so eager to score tonight?
Because so far this season, his Champions League report card read zero goals.
During Luxemburgo's tenure, he did not play in the Champions League and was more focused on La Liga.
Until the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 knockout match during Carlo's coaching, he started and played for 90 minutes, but that game Real Madrid lost to Arsenal 0-1 at the Bernabeu.
At that time, all the superstars were heavily criticized.
Soon, Chairman Florentino was dismissed because of this, and Vice Chairman Martin replaced him. Then Gao Shen replaced Carlo and became the youngest head coach in the history of Real Madrid and even La Liga.
Even though it was only as an interim coach at the time.
After that, Gao Shen started a strategy of suppressing the Brazilian contingent and supporting the local players, and Ronaldo stayed away from the arena.
It is said to be more than a month, but in fact, Real Madrid only played two Champions League games, one away to Arsenal and one away to Juventus. In these two games, Ronaldo did not even enter the squad.
In the Bernabeu game against Juventus, Ronaldo came off the bench but did not score.
Facing AC Milan tonight, after winning at home, the away game will definitely be a defensive counterattack.
If he couldn't score tonight, it would be harder to score away.
If the team reaches the finals, it would be even more difficult to predict if he wanted to score.
If Real Madrid can win the championship and Ronaldo can come to the stage to receive the first, maybe even the only Big Ear Cup, he didn't score a single goal as a striker. It would be a huge regret for him, even humiliating.
At that time, what face does he have to tell others that he also won the Champions League?
As a star, Ronaldo is willful but also very proud.
He didn't want to leave such regrets and shame in his career, so he asked Gao Shen to give him a little more time when he walked off the court so that he could score a goal.
He really wants to score a goal!
...
Gao Shen did not agree to Ronaldo on the spot. He needed to consider the whole situation.
But he reassured the Brazilian and told him to hurry back to rest and wait for his decision.
The moment Ronaldo walked into the player tunnel, Gao Shen also saw the eyes of other Real Madrid players, especially those like Zidane, Beckham, and Raul.
Maybe they have different positions, maybe different angles of thinking, and there may even be conflicts of interest. However, as professional players, especially the top professional players in the world, they can understand Ronaldo's urgent mood now.
If it were them, they would do the same.
Gao Shen has never played football, but he felt it from the players.
After sending all the players away, Gao Shen first looked at the warm-up substitute players on the court and scratched his chin.
"Fernando, Lorenzo, what do you think?"
Lucas is in charge of data analysis, and he has real-time data on players, including players' movements and on-field performance.
"He worked really hard, but his physical energy was almost exhausted. In the last 15 minutes, his performance was completely down from the previous 30 minutes, and all the stats dropped sharply." Lucas only talked about the stats.
Buenaventura sighed, "He's really at the end of his rope."
Ronaldo was not physically fit, he was overweight, and he had many injuries. Although he trained very hard during this period, he could not improve his body in a very short time, especially his physical fitness.
Gao Shen still clearly remembers that when some students failed physical education in the high school entrance examination, in order to practice long-distance running, they would go to the playground to run 1,000 meters every day between school in the afternoon and self-study in the evening, just to barely pass.
Of course, this has something to do with this classmate being slightly overweight, but it is not difficult to see from this point that physical fitness really cannot be achieved overnight.
To a certain extent, it is not easy for Ronaldo to last through the first half.
"Let him go in the second half," Maqueda suggested. "According to our original plan, we have to defend in the second half and not give AC Milan the chance to score. It's not worth taking this risk."
If Negredo is used, both Gao Shen and Real Madrid are confident they can hold the 2-0 score.
But if Ronaldo remains on the field, there will be more unknowns. It may be 3-0, but it may also be 2-1.
Giving the opponent an away goal would make the second leg more suspenseful.
Maqueda is right, it's not worth it!
"But in this world, you can't do everything until it's worth it, right?" Gao Shen sighed and asked back.
Rather than saying he was questioning Maqueda, he was questioning himself.
He is confident that even if he replaces Ronaldo now, there will be no problem. But is it really good?
Locker room management is still the management of people, and people are emotional beings, aren't they?
"Our female reporter from Real Madrid TV recently sent me a list of questions, saying it was a question left by fans on the official website. She carefully selected some representative ones."
Gao Shen said with a smile, but the topic seemed unrelated to Ronaldo.
Everyone also heard it in a fog, not knowing what was the use of Gao Shen suddenly talking about it.
"One of the questions in there is, why did Queiroz and Luxemburgo fail to manage the locker room when they were coaches, while I was able to have a good relationship with this group of superstars in the team?"
After hearing the question, everyone also showed their thoughts.
In fact, this is not only the doubt of the questioner, but also the doubt of many people, even everyone.
From the locker room management in the football world to the personnel management of the enterprise, such problems are encountered.
"I think one of the main reasons is that I have been trying to convey a concept to this group of superstars and this group of veteran players from beginning to end. I am not here to end their careers. On the contrary, I have been telling them they can also contribute more and more to the team."
"I'll even tell them that they can win things they've never won in their careers, like Ronaldo's Champions League, or David Beckham's title at Real Madrid."
This is the reason why the Real Madrid superstars are willing to be driven by Gao Shen and do their best for him.
A player's career is like a person's life. When a player realizes that his career is coming to an end and that he is no longer important in this team, it often means that the player will become a big trouble.
So Gao Shen is giving hope to Raul, to Zidane, to Beckham, and later to Ronaldo.
So, they are no longer troublesome.
Instead, they are getting better and better.
And behind all this is Gao Shen's understanding of them, including the setbacks they have suffered, their aspirations, and their doubts. Through this understanding, they believe that Gao Shen is fighting side by side with them.
This is his secret to controlling the locker room and activating the superstar!
Managing a locker room is the same as managing a company, a department, or a unit.
In this case, what reason does Gao Shen have to reject Ronaldo now?
Is there any reason not to accompany him to take this risk?
...
Gao Shen exhaled heavily, and the whole person became relaxed.
Around him, when the members of the coaching staff looked at him again, it was obvious that something was different.
A little more admiration.
In the past, many people thought that Gao Shen was lucky, that he could speak well, praise people, and coax superstars effectively.
But now, they realized that things were not so simple.
It turns out there is such deep meaning behind everything Gao Shen has done.
Looking back, it's actually not surprising. If managing superstars were easy, then Real Madrid wouldn't have had the issues they've faced.
"Lorenzo, go back first and do everything possible to keep Ronaldo playing in the second half."
After making the decision, Gao Shen acted decisively.
Buenaventura didn't say much. After nodding in agreement, he immediately walked back.
"Everyone, go back and prepare."
...
When Gao Shen returned to the locker room, he happened to see the masseuse doing a muscle massage for Ronaldo.
When the Brazilian saw Gao Shen enter the door, his eyes were filled with gratitude.
The eyes of other players looking at Gao Shen were also obviously a little closer, and there was a feeling that he was truly regarded as one of their own.
"Ronnie said that he was going to score in the second half and could score. I believe him!" Gao Shen came to the players and said solemnly.
"I know that it may be a bit risky to do this, but I don't want you to have any burden. Even if you go to the game, I will bear all the consequences. I believe you will not let me down. I will definitely see you score again in the second half!"
There was no excessive motivation, no inflammatory words, but just these two simple sentences, and the emotions of all the players in the locker room were mobilized.
Because Gao Shen was saying two words from beginning to end: trust!
Ronaldo, who bore the brunt, clenched his fists with excitement, gritted his teeth, and looked as if he could not return to the court immediately.
Before, he bowed his head to Gao Shen, somewhat forced by the situation, but from this moment, from now on, he obeyed!
Thoroughly, be convinced!
After Raul, Zidane, Beckham, and others looked at each other, they all saw admiration in each other's eyes, and their impression and evaluation of Gao obviously improved.
Real Madrid players were high-spirited. The unfortunate ones were Ancelotti and his AC Milan.
Based on the situation in the first half, Ancelotti guessed that Real Madrid would be on the defensive in the second half, and AC Milan's situation would improve.
Unexpectedly, at the beginning of the second half, Real Madrid took the initiative to attack again and continued to adopt the high pressing tactics from the first half.
This caught AC Milan off guard again, making it difficult to parry.
People were not ready yet. Is it interesting to be in such a hurry?
Where is the sportsmanship?
Ancelotti did not expect that Real Madrid would continue to push hard in the second half and immediately walked to the sidelines to signal the team to stabilize their defense.
But after Real Madrid played in the first half, their style became more refined, and AC Milan could not find their bearings.
Although Gao allowed Ronaldo to focus on offense without expending too much physical energy on defense, the Brazilian was still very determined, looking like a hungry wolf with scarlet eyes, staring at his prey.