Estadio Vicente Calderón, where Atletico Madrid fans on the stands were making noise.

Reyes dribbled down the wing, and between Fernando and Aguero, he chose a short pass towards Aguero. Aguero lowered his body, trying to receive the ball, but Chen Zhong firmly pushed him aside.

In the image, Aguero was holding his waist, grimacing at Chen Zhong, making countless fans chuckle.

"Kun is getting a bit impatient!"

"I remember Aguero being praised by the media this season?"

"Chen Zhong’s physical presence is simply too overwhelming; Aguero is trying hard but really can’t get the ball!"

"I’m a fan of Kun. In that position, if it was against other defenders, he would receive the ball, turn, and directly enter the penalty area for a shot."

"I have to say, Chen Zhong is extremely calm on the field, his judgment of Aguero is very precise, whether in positioning or tackling, it’s very accurate."

Aguero’s lack of form left Atletico Madrid with little offensive play in the first half. Near the end, Baptista contested a high ball at midfield with Atletico Madrid’s players and then headed it back to Chen Zhong.

After Chen Zhong received the ball, he passed it to Robben on the side. Robben took the ball and quickly went forward, passing to Chen Zhong with a backheel facing Atletico Madrid’s players. Without stopping, Chen Zhong passed the ball directly to Baptista, who was diagonally inserting from the side.

Baptista took the ball and lobbed it towards the center.

Brazilian center-back Fabiano leaped high, but his 183 cm frame couldn’t clear the ball far under Raul’s interference.

Van Nistelrooy, unmarked, caught a lucky break, turned to evade the attempt from Atletico Madrid’s defenders to tackle him, and took a shot.

The ball was deflected a bit.

Chen Zhong, Baptista, Raul, and others quickly moved forward, but the ball still dropped beside Van Nistelrooy.

Van Nistelrooy, sideways, directly hit a half-volley.

Abbiati was thrown off by the first shot, a bit unstable in position, touched the ball with his fingertips on the second shot but to no avail.

Chen Zhong ran to the goal with some regret; even if Abbiati had blocked it, he could have been there for the rebound right away.

Upon seeing the goal, Van Nistelrooy quickly ran to the corner flag, while Chen Zhong and other teammates followed Van Nistelrooy to the corner flag in celebration.

"0:2"

"Van Nistelrooy!"

"His first shot in front of the goal was blocked."

"But the second shot hit the bullseye."

"Real Madrid leads by two goals at Estadio Vicente Calderón."

"As long as they don’t make mistakes in the next game, they will replicate the feat of 44 years ago."

"Atletico Madrid’s defense seems to be consuming a lot physically."

"They have just made two or three consecutive basic mistakes."

"You can only say Real Madrid is putting enormous pressure on them."

"Oh, by the way, this is the Dutchman’s 12th league goal this season."

"Chen Zhong has directly or indirectly assisted at least a quarter of those goals."

"From the interaction between the two after the goal, it seems the rumors about them having conflicts are completely baseless."

Some tabloids posted about a conflict between Van Nistelrooy and Chen Zhong.

After all, Chen Zhong had just joined Real Madrid, but considering he was only 16 years old, most thought he might be loaned to other teams for a season, or even before the season started.

Who would have thought Chen Zhong would gradually build his place thanks to his outstanding performance in friendly matches and frequent injuries within the team!

Some fans even believe Chen Zhong carries some luck and destiny.

Besides the nickname "Monster," a small group of fans call Chen Zhong "The Lucky One." Whether this nickname is more positive or negative, it’s a matter of perspective.

Fans of neighboring Barcelona are not too fond of Chen Zhong. Compared to "Monster," many prefer to call Chen Zhong "A Lucky Kid."

In the injury time of the first half, Atletico Madrid launched their last attack, Motta passed to Antonio Lopez, who, seeing his teammates in the penalty area tightly guarded by Real Madrid players, helplessly ended the half’s final attack with a long-range shot.

And this long-range shot certainly didn’t challenge the goalkeeper.

As the whistle blew, the first half ended with both teams heading to the dressing rooms with different thoughts, Aguirre and Schuster having entirely different feelings.

In the dressing room, Schuster excitedly praised the team’s performance. After slightly tweaking the team’s tactics, he looked at Chen Zhong, saying, "Keep up the first half’s performance."

"We now have two goals, they should be the impatient ones."

"My current demand for you is, to secure the fruits of victory, and not give damn Atletico Madrid any chance to break through our goal in the second half."

Compared to the "happy" atmosphere in Real Madrid’s dressing room, Atletico Madrid’s dressing room seemed a bit gloomy.

The opening goal from Real Madrid disrupted Aguirre’s plans, and with half a season’s performance, Schuster was no longer the rookie daring anyone to attack.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com