Spain, Madrid
Coach's office
The atmosphere inside the room was somewhat heavy, Francisco insisted that the first match failure sent a dangerous signal, and Cannavaro's injury absence further cast a shadow over the victory in the next match.
Schuster looked at the photo of his family on the table, his eyes somewhat vacant, recently Francisco's emotions had been a bit agitated, surprisingly thinking that I would lose my first official match at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
Will my debut at Bernabeu end in failure?
That's ridiculous.
"Knock knock knock."
The knocking sound interrupted Francisco, Schuster looked towards the door as if he had been pardoned, it was Valter Di Salvo who walked in.
Disalvo, although only 44 years old, is considered one of the best in the world in his field. He followed Queiroz from Manchester United to Real Madrid in the 2003/2004 season.
After Queiroz was dismissed, he left with Queiroz and returned to Manchester United.
And in July 2007, Real Madrid spent heavily to bring him back to Bernabeu, which caused some friction with Manchester United.
While at Manchester United, Disalvo was in charge of players' daily training and diet, strongly trusted by Lord Ferguson, even jokingly called "Ferguson's little darling" by some fans.
Beckham, who had already gone to Major League Soccer, was fortunate to enjoy Disalvo's services both at Manchester United and Real Madrid, and he fiercely criticized Disalvo's physical training arrangements in both England and Spain.
Of course, there are those who highly agree with Disalvo's training arrangements, such as the Portuguese star Figo.
Schuster also trusts Disalvo very much, he has no choice but to, because Disalvo is highly valued by the club president Calderon, to some extent, Schuster may not be able to command Disalvo.
Because in Schuster's coaching contract, there is a clause stating: "Player's physical training and recovery work are under the full responsibility of Disalvo."
To put it bluntly, now Schuster's words in the club may not carry as much weight as Disalvo's, almost equivalent to club orders, because he is a senior talent personally invited by club president Calderon, a senior consultant, a high-level advisor.
Not just simply a fitness coach, he was brought in to establish a player recovery training center at Real Madrid similar to the "Milan Laboratory."
This is also why Disalvo left Manchester United in a near-face-to-face manner, departing England the day before Manchester United's summer training camp in 2007 and boarding a plane to Spain.
Then, he stood before Schuster.
Facing Schuster's queries about the injuries of Van Nistelrooy, Cannavaro, Higuain, Robben, and subtly suggesting whether it was due to excessive training intensity.
Disalvo frowned slightly, and he spoke: "I will not change the team's training methods."
"My mind is clear, I know what I'm doing, I am a professional, and will not change my training methods because of temporary team injuries."
"Van Nistelrooy's is a previous season's injury, not my responsibility, Higuain, Robben were injured in matches by opponents triggering old injuries, not my responsibility either, Cannavaro is getting older, pulled a muscle in a match, surely it's not the training method that's wrong."
Schuster's face looked somewhat unpleasant, his fist hardened, Francisco sensed the change in atmosphere, finally waking from that absurd dream, first time directing his gaze at the man he initially thought had nothing to do with him.
He had a premonition, the presence of Disalvo might bring some unpredictable factors to the team during the season.
"Actually, there's no need to worry that much." Disalvo seemed to realize, the implication of his previous words was too obvious, making the atmosphere somewhat awkward, so he hurriedly added: "Players like Cannavaro, veterans aged 34, cannot be without injuries."
"Actually, I understand Cannavaro very well, no one knows him better than I do; he takes good care of himself, a very professional player, and this time it's because of continuous matches following training, leading to his muscle strain."
"He just needs a good rest for a period, I believe, he can make it to the end-of-month league matches, moreover I've hired Jordi Garcia over, he is a very professional fitness coach and will follow my instructions to formulate suitable training plans."
Disalvo's underlying implication was already quite clear, essentially saying I have more important things to do, such matters should be checked with Garcia from now on.
After a few more words exchanged, Disalvo left the office, leaving Schuster and Francisco staring at each other.
After a long time, Schuster finally spoke: "I really want to curse."
"Now we need to consider the issue of choosing center-back candidates." Francisco avoided Schuster's question, directly asking: "Metzelder, Torres, Chen Zhong, who should we pair with Pepe?"
Cannavaro's injury absence has apparently disrupted Schuster's plan, in his original conception the defense line was composed of Ramos, Cannavaro, Pepe, Heinze.
He even proudly mentioned to Francisco: "With these four, enough to form one of the best defenses in Europe."
But now, before the season even starts, the old treasure at home strains a muscle without confrontation and needs to miss matches?
Schuster shook off the negative emotions, initially thinking that after becoming the team's manager he could do as he pleased, but in a month's time, he deeply felt the chaotic structure of team internal management.
Of course, this isn't entirely Calderon's fault.
Even before Calderon, the chaos in management structure has a long history, but after Calderon took over, it seems to have worsened.
The simplest point is, Schuster found that many tasks lacked long-term planning, a month's plan sounded nice, but isn't that just an impulsive approach?
Blocking the chaotic thoughts in his mind, Schuster first excluded Torres, letting Torres play center-back is worse than letting Ramos fill in.
But now Ramos is the team's important offensive means on the right, his assist ability is relied upon by Schuster, so ultimately a taller player must be chosen from these three shorties.
"Last time, did you tell me Chen's speed has increased?" Schuster asked Francisco: "Between Metzelder and Chen, who is faster?"
"Chen is a bit faster," Francisco replied truthfully: "Especially in terms of acceleration."
"However, Metzelder is taller."
"Hahaha." Schuster suddenly laughed, he looked at Francisco: "Looks like our little guy is going to grow into the team's third center-back, just hope that he can seize the opportunity."
Francisco looked at Schuster with some surprise, ever since becoming Real Madrid's coach, bold usage of players has become his tag.
Originally thought using young players like Marcelo, Drenthe, Higuain was already astonishing, but when Francisco heard Schuster really wanting Chen Zhong to start, his heart was still impacted.
Francisco once again roared in his heart: "This is Real Madrid."
"Are you sure?" Francisco's voice trembled somewhat, asking again: "Chen, starting at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, Spanish Super Cup finals."
"Aren't you afraid he can't handle such pressure?"
"He's only 16..."
Schuster at this moment restored to his initial look, his blond hair fluctuated with his movements, his eyes revealed an unspeakable boldness.
"I said it, Francisco." Schuster looked domineeringly at Francisco, his voice slightly trembling, clearly this decision made him somewhat trembling, or perhaps excited: "True geniuses aren't cradled; they need to endure all hardships, only those who survive and emerge can be called geniuses."
"He is a genius, I gave him the opportunity, either crushed under pressure, or rapidly grows under pressure, does he have pressure? I have pressure too!"
"16 years old! Tsk tsk tsk, this has never happened in Real Madrid's history, right?"
"Unprecedented!" Schuster stood up from the chair, forcefully patting the table, leaning forward, looked more oppressively at Francisco and said: "I said it! By promoting him to the first team, he will thank me, I'm giving him a chance now to become a legend, or a joke."
Francisco still wanted to say something.
But the next moment, only Schuster's determined voice echoed.
"Chen, starting!"