It's cheating, but Hazard

Chapter 284 Ronaldo and Eel Jelly (Daily Transition)

After arriving at Clairefontaine, Charles had just put his things away when Benzema opened the door.

"Guess who I just saw?"

"Who?"

Benzema threw his luggage directly into the cabinet, "Zidane and Barthez."

Hearing this, Charles couldn't help but be a little surprised.

After putting everything away, the two walked towards the training ground together. Sure enough, Blanco, Zidane and Barthez were already waiting at the training ground.

Moreover, Zidane was wearing the French team's jersey!

Seeing this scene, Charles was almost shocked.

No, Zidane is back?
As Charles and Benzema got closer, the three men noticed them.

Zidane even walked over and said, "Charles, Karim, you're here. I was just discussing today's training match with Blanco. I didn't expect you to come so soon."

"So, Zidane, are you going to make a comeback?"

Charles looked at Zidane's jersey and couldn't help asking.

Barthez behind him couldn't help laughing when he heard this, "No, no, no, he just came here for a trial today. If it doesn't work out, he won't come back."

Blanco smiled but said nothing.

Benzema was stunned. "So it's true?"

Zidane nodded seriously, "It's true, so I will join you in the training match later. If I win, I will come back. If I lose, I can only continue to be a spectator in the stands."

"Then I'll be on your team," Ciel said seriously.

Benzema was stunned for a moment.

Will he have two top midfielders to feed him the ball in the future?
"Hahaha..." Barthez couldn't help laughing in the end. "I was kidding. We came here to visit and have some fun. With you here, why would we need Zidane to come back?"

Blanco smiled and nodded, "But I can let you be on the same team with him in today's training match."

"I want it too, I want it too!"

Benzema also came over and frantically signaled to Blanco.

"What do you want?"

Diaby, the two Diarras, Valbuena and Mene, who arrived later, asked curiously.

Zidane quickly stood side by side with Charles, "There is a training match today."

"I will be in the same team with Zidane," Charles added.

Las Diarra was horrified, "I want to be on the same team with you too."

If he were to face off against this divine lineup, he wouldn’t know how miserably his death would be.

Valbiena held Diaby back, "No, no, no, I'm a newcomer, I want a team."

Gameiro, who arrived late, decided to take a different approach. "Can I be a striker?"

"No," Benzema shook his head, "I have already reserved the striker position."

"Alright, alright, stop arguing," Blanco quickly came out to mediate, "I've already decided on the group list..."

Soon, the group of players who were assigned to play against Charles and Zidane put on masks of pain.

Charles and Zidane, who were watching the show on the side, almost couldn't help laughing when they saw this scene.

Zidane whispered, "Wait a minute, show me how you do your Marseille turn."

"Am I just showing off my skills in front of an expert?" Charles asked in a low voice.

"No, no, no, originally Blanco wanted me to be an assistant coach for a day, just to teach some technical moves, but then I watched your highlights again and felt that there was nothing to teach, so I just wanted to watch it live."

"Okay," hearing this, Charles could only nod and agree.

Because there are not enough players selected for the national team this time to be divided into two groups for training, in addition to Zidane, Barthez also joined today's training match.

Except for Charles, Benzema and Lori, who are veterans, the rest of the team are basically newcomers who have just been selected for the national team.

Mandanda's team is mainly composed of veterans of the national team.

But after the training match, the result was both unexpected and reasonable.

The combination of Charles and Zidane was invincible in the training match. Although the players of this team did not have enough tacit understanding, they eventually led Mandanda's team 3:1.

After training, everyone went to the cafeteria to have lunch together.

Because the majority of the national team members were newcomers this time, after Charles chose his lunch, he did not go directly to his seat. Instead, he observed the seats of the newcomers and then walked towards the place where the newcomers were most concentrated.

"Can I sit here?"

Saha and others who were eating happily immediately looked up.

Did they sit in the wrong seats?
That’s not right. The seats they chose are relatively remote, right?
"Okay, okay," Saha nodded quickly.

Mandanda, who had already sat down, also came over with a plate.

"No, you scored two goals against me in today's training match, so let Lori be my sparring partner tonight."

Saha and other newcomers pricked up their ears.

"Let's not talk about this over dinner," Charles said with a smile, "Saha, did you find anything delicious in Everton?"

When Saha heard this, he immediately opened up: "Everton is exactly the same as other places in the UK. There is no delicious food at all, only fish and chips. When Christmas comes, if the British coach invites you to his house for a dinner, you must eat a full meal before going."

Rami, who was beside him, was also curious when he heard this, "Why?"

"Because they might eat eel jelly for Christmas, my God, when I first saw this thing, I couldn't believe it was a delicacy."

"If eel jelly says it's the second worst, then no food can claim to be the worst."

"Even stargazing pie can't compare to eel jelly. Really, don't try it. You'll never know how the British can make such delicious eels so unpalatable."

Saha complained.

"I've heard about that," Benzema enthused.

He knows nothing about food, and the thing he is best at is fishing.

Charles turned around and asked, "You haven't been to England, how do you know this?" Tremulina also looked over, "Is it because the chef of Real Madrid also made this?"

"No," Benzema couldn't suppress the corners of his mouth that turned up, "Do you know why Ronaldo chose to transfer?"

Saha seemed to have thought of something, but couldn't figure it out for a moment, "Why?"

"Because Ferguson likes to have his players over to his house for dinner at Christmas, and his wife's specialty is eel jelly, and every player gets a bowl of it."

"As the player that Ferguson cares about the most, Ronaldo would always finish a whole bowl of eel jelly under his watchful eyes."

Benzema couldn't hold back his laughter after he finished speaking, and he almost cried with laughter. "Can you imagine that scene? I really suspected that he hid behind the door to avoid the eel jelly and was finally caught by Ferguson. In the end, he finished eating the eel jelly, and then Ferguson asked him why he was crying. He had to say that it was so delicious that he cried."

A burst of laughter immediately broke out in the cafeteria.

"Then why Real Madrid?"

Ciel asked with a smile.

Everyone at the table looked at Benzema.

"I think it's because of David Beckham."

"I see," Saha's eyes sparkled, "Because Beckham likes to try all kinds of magical dark cuisine, and basically he can eat anything, even eel jelly, he likes it very much."

"At that time, he and Ferguson had not yet broken up. Every Christmas, he would take the initiative to go to Ferguson's house to eat eel jelly."

“Maybe he wants to get some eel jelly antibodies.”

Charles thought, "So Ronaldo joined Real Madrid because he wanted to follow in Beckham's footsteps? He wanted to like eel jelly like Beckham?"

In fact, Charles thinks it makes sense, because part of the reason he left Barcelona was to escape from Reus.

"I think, after eating eel jelly for so many years, he might have become immune to it," Benzema said thoughtfully.

Lori put down his fork, "Why don't you bring him some eel jelly to verify it?"

"Hahahaha - then why don't you take Sir Alex Ferguson with you?"

Saha burst into laughter.

On the other side, Blanco, Zidane, Barthez and others who had finished their meal felt relieved to see the players sitting together in harmony, chatting and laughing without any barriers.

"I've already said it, with Charles as the captain, why do you need me to come over to do any ideological work? Look, isn't he doing a good job now?"

Zidane exclaimed.

Bartezu smiled but said nothing.

Zidane's influence on the French team is really huge, and this influence is not only reflected on the tactical level, but also on the spiritual level.

When he's on the court, all the players perform better.

When he is not there, there will be a situation of "no leader" in the locker room.

Now, the French team has a new leader after his retirement, which is a rare blessing.

"I'm just too worried. After all, this is the first time I've taken over the national team. You know, the only treasure that Domenegue has left is the captain, Charles. I'm worried too."

Blanco was also helpless.

Bartezu stopped the two from walking out and said, "Alright, alright, isn't this treasure enough?"

"By the way, Blanco, are you sure about the tactical tone?"

"My idea is to pass the ball back and build up the attack from behind, keep moving, pass more, increase coordination, move ahead, learn from Barcelona's style, in the back line, let the two central defenders stand apart from each other, and the two full-backs press forward boldly, and even play sentinel in the midfield to regain possession in time."

“然后就是阵型，我想参考我在波尔多时期的4-4-2菱形中场和4-2-3-1。”

"But the problem is that several players in the 4-4-2 diamond midfield are in their familiar positions. Charles' performance is OK, but his performance is not that amazing;"

"In the case of 4-2-3-1, our new lineup will have difficulty attacking when facing a compact positional defense, but Charles is very suitable for this formation and can tear open the defense with his personal ability...so it's very tangled."

Zidane nodded as he listened. "So this is part of the reason why you want to imitate Barcelona's style of play? To be honest, although Barcelona's achievements in the past two years are amazing, it is difficult for us to achieve the same level because even Spain can't do it."

Blanco scratched his head. "So what's your suggestion?"

"Everything is in place. The change of style cannot be achieved overnight. If you like the 4-4-2 diamond midfield, even if Charles is a monster, you have to give him some time to adapt. After all, he has always played 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1. Maybe..."

The three people's discussion figures became farther and farther away, and the gap between the new and old players in the restaurant gradually dissipated with this conversation.

On September 4th, the first round of the European Cup qualifiers officially kicked off.

France will face Belarus at home.

"Sky Sports, Sky Sports, you are now watching France vs. Belarus in Group D of the first round of the 2012 European Cup qualifiers."

"After the World Cup in South Africa, Blanc took over as France coach from Domenegue, and this game was his first official match since taking over."

"After the World Cup, the national team coaches of various countries have made major updates to their national team lineups."

"Although France is the World Cup champion, Blanc did not hesitate to start his team renewal plan."

"Currently, the French national team has half new and half old players, and his behavior has been supported by the Football Association and the dressing room."

"England and Germany also made similar choices."

"Spain and Argentina are basically the same team. Only three of Bosque's 21 players did not go to South Africa."

"In Argentina, since Maradona has been fired as head coach, interim head coach Batista, who has the possibility of becoming the head coach, must also send out the full main lineup. On the other hand, the Argentine Football Association also needs a victory to quell the dissatisfaction of fans caused by the World Cup defeat and the dismissal of Maradona."

"Here are the match rosters for both teams:"

“法国（4-3-3）：1-洛里/2-萨尼亚、5-梅克斯、4-拉米、22-克里希/15-马卢达、19-迪亚比、10-夏尔/7-里贝里、9-本泽马、39-阿内尔卡。”

“白俄罗斯（4-5-1）：12-泽夫诺夫/7-奥梅尔雅丘克、5-尤里维奇、6-堤格雷夫、16-希托夫/3-马蒂诺维奇、10-赫莱布、2-库尔奇、13-库图佐夫、9-小赫莱布/11-罗迪奥诺夫。”

"There are two Hlebs in Belarus, but the one who was Charles' teammate was No. 10 Hleb."

"In the 2008-2009 season, Hleb stayed at Barcelona and was not loaned out. In the winter window of that season, Charles joined Barcelona."

"In the second season, Hleb was loaned to Stuttgart. This year, Hleb was loaned to Birmingham in the Premier League."

“I wonder if Hleb, who was his teammate for half a season, has taught his teammates how to defend Charles.”

"This formation is an innovation of the new coach Blanc. The French team used it once or twice in the World Cup warm-up matches before, and later changed to 4-2-3-1. I wonder what kind of surprises Blanc can bring us this time."

What Ronaldo said was just a joke, not a serious analysis.

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(End of this chapter)