Chapter 366: Cassano's request
Returning to Spain, on September 24th, in the fourth round of La Liga, Real Madrid faced Valladolid away. This team also bears the name "Royal", and their home stadium, Jos�� Zorrilla Stadium, can accommodate 26,500 people.
The previous season's Segunda champions were very conservative in the summer transfer window. Their biggest investment was only �500,000 to bring in Valencia's substitute, Estoyanoff. It seems that the club's upper management also believes that excessive investment does not necessarily bring returns to the team.
The game was completely dominated by the Galacticos. In the first half, Wang Feng assisted Sneijder to open the scoring, and then the Dutchman returned the favor by assisting Wang Feng for another goal.
Just before halftime, Wang Feng suddenly took a long shot from thirty meters out, once again piercing the fingers of Valladolid goalkeeper, Butelle, and widening the score to 3-0. This was also Wang Feng's first brace of the new season.
In the second half, Coach Schuster gradually substituted the main players. In the 78th minute, substitute Higua��n scored again, sealing the score at 4-0, and Real Madrid achieved a resounding victory.
On September 28th, in the fifth round of La Liga, the Galacticos faced a challenge from Real Betis. This year marks their centennial celebration, and the club invited Wang Feng's old acquaintance, H��ctor Cooper, to be the head coach.
Since leaving Inter Milan, his coaching career has not achieved much success. His experiences with several clubs have been less than ideal.
The Argentine was somewhat regretful that he couldn't encounter a magical player like Wang Feng again. Gradually, he withdrew from the mainstream coaching ranks in Europe.
There's not much to say about the game process. Real Madrid scored a goal in each half, with Wang Feng contributing to the first-half goal. In the end, the Galacticos comfortably won 2-0 at home.
After the full-time whistle, the Chinese superstar took the initiative to approach Cooper and embraced him in greeting. The two hadn't lost contact over the years, and Wang Feng even invited him to his wedding.
He never forgot Cooper's invitation to join Inter Milan personally, and the care and attention he received right from the start, when he was just 18 years old.
"To be honest, coaching you is probably the most glorious thing in my coaching career," Cooper patted Wang Feng on the shoulder. "You still have a lot of peak years ahead of you, go create more glory that belongs to you."
The post-match exchange with Cooper made Wang Feng sigh at the passage of time. Many old friends had changed, but at this moment, another acquaintance, Cassano, also contacted him after a long absence.
"Wang, I'm afraid I need your help. Can you talk to the Real Madrid higher-ups and see if I have a chance to join the Galacticos?"
Since leaving Serie A, the two had less contact. At that time, Cassano was still in a dispute with the Roma management and faced punishment.
After more than a year of setbacks, the once proud Italian star had almost worn away all his edges. Now, he just hoped to stand on the field again, and the choices in front of him were not many.
Real Madrid's attacking lineup wasn't very deep. The absolute starters were Ra��l and Wang Feng, with Higua��n and Saviola as the first substitutes, along with the youth product Soldado and Bueno.
Compared to them, Cassano at least had richer experience in major competitions. "I can mention it to the club, but Antonio, coming to Real Madrid, you may not get a starting position," Wang Feng kindly reminded him.
"It's okay, as long as I have the opportunity to play. I'm already 25 this year. How many more years can I stay in a top club? I just want to give it another shot during my peak years." Being benched for so long almost extinguished the arrogance in the Italian's heart. All he wanted now was to play well.
So Wang Feng agreed to his request. After hanging up the phone, he thought for a moment and then separately called Coach Schuster and the first-team manager, Sandro, to briefly introduce Cassano's situation and explain that he just hoped to give him a chance, and whether he could succeed would depend on the club's opinion.
However, with Wang Feng's current influence at Real Madrid, the higher-ups soon held a meeting to discuss the possibility of the transfer. Schuster had no objections, "As long as the Italian accepts being a substitute, I think having one more player in the talent pool is not a bad choice."
Subsequently, the club initiated preliminary discussions with Roma and Cassano's agent. If nothing unexpected happened, his transfer could be initiated as early as the winter break.
On September 30th, in the sixth round of La Liga, Real Madrid challenged Getafe away. Their coach, Laudrup, was deeply influenced by Cruyff, advocating attacking and beautiful football, but his philosophy also injected rational elements.
After the game started, the home team initially dominated the field and took the lead in the 26th minute with a goal from forward Kopa. This goal woke up the players of the Galacticos, and they soon turned the tables, gradually gaining control of the situation.
Just before halftime, Wang Feng received a through pass from Sneijder on the right side of the penalty area, cleverly turned to shake off the defense, and crossed to Ra��l in the middle.
The shot from the Spanish forward was saved by Getafe goalkeeper, Abbondanzieri, but Wang Feng quickly rushed to the ball and scored with a follow-up shot, equalizing the score!
Shortly after the start of the second half, it was Sneijder's through pass again, this time finding Wang Feng inside the penalty area. The Chinese superstar successfully beat the offside trap to form a one-on-one situation and used his signature move, the pendulum feint, to dribble past the goalkeeper and score into the empty net, making it 2-1! The score was reversed!
In the end, with Wang Feng's brace, the Galacticos left Alfonso P��rez Coliseum with a victory. After this round, their record stood at 5 wins and 1 loss, totaling 15 points, rising to second place in the standings, just behind Villarreal, who had 5 wins and 1 draw.
As for Barcelona, their performance was still disappointing, with 2 wins, 3 draws, and 1 loss, accumulating 9 points, ranking eighth. This disappointed all Spanish media, and even Catalan media believed that Barcelona had missed the opportunity to compete for the league title this season.
"Barcelona hasn't had such a poor record of dropping out of the top two in the league for many years. I hope they can maintain this standard this season."
On October 4th, in the second round of the Champions League group stage, Real Madrid continued their away journey, heading to the Italian capital, Rome, to challenge Lazio.
The day before the match, Wang Feng met Cassano, who now appeared with long, untended golden hair and unshaven stubble. He looked very disheveled.
"Thank you, Wang. I received news that Real Madrid is negotiating my transfer with Roma," Cassano said gratefully. "But I'm worried that the club might block me, you know, we had a big fallout."
Wang Feng didn't want to comment on their past grievances and could only reassure the Italian that everything would go smoothly.
In the match against Lazio, the Chinese superstar scored a goal in the first half, helping the Galacticos take the lead. In the second half, Robben tore apart the Blue Eagles' defense with his speed and then crossed to Guti in the penalty area.
Guti successfully headed the ball into the net, piercing Lazio's defense once again. The final score of 2-0 was maintained until the end, and Real Madrid secured their second consecutive victory in the Champions League group stage.
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