I Am Scouted by Real Madrid

The clash between Real Madrid and Barcelona is not over yet. Besides this league and the King’s Cup final, the two teams still have a two-legged battle in the Champions League.

The victor will advance to the Champions League final, moving towards the Champions League trophy.

This trophy is crucial for both Barcelona and Real Madrid.

For Barcelona, this is almost the last trophy they can compete for this season. For Real Madrid, the league title is basically in their pocket, they have already secured the King’s Cup title, and if they win the Champions League, they will achieve the "Triple Crown" for the first time in their long history.

Barcelona’s media naturally do not want Real Madrid to proceed so "smoothly," but fortunately, Real Madrid recently made a blunder that made Barcelona quite delighted.

The Real Madrid team won the King’s Cup trophy, but during the celebration parade on the 21st, defender Ramos accidentally dropped it in front of the open-top bus, and it was crushed by the rolling wheels for several seconds. According to reports, the trophy was quite damaged.

At that time, the open-top bus was receiving cheers from fans in the center of Madrid. Ramos held the 15-kilogram silver trophy aloft to respond to the fans, but his hands lost control, causing the trophy to fall heavily in front of the bus and get crushed by the wheels.

After the bus stopped, the police quickly picked up the trophy and handed it to the bus driver, no longer allowing the fans to worship it.

According to local media in Spain, the staff collected more than ten fragments of the damaged trophy at the scene. Ramos, when interviewed afterwards, seemed a bit incoherent. He said, "The trophy fell, the trophy fell, it’s fine, it’s fine."

The trophy suddenly disappeared from sight, and the other Real Madrid players still didn’t know what happened.

Most people continued jumping and cheering, while Benzema, Pepe, and others were enthusiastically discussing something nearby.

And the culprit, Ramos, clearly frightened, first reacted by crouching and hiding to the side, secretly tugging at his teammates’ clothes to tell them what had happened.

The players, coming to their senses, hurried to look under the bus but the damage was irreparable.

The trophy had been crushed and deformed.

The driver got off and picked up the trophy, and the emergency staff following the bus were now picking up the scattered trophy base fragments.

However, this accident did not dampen the mood of Real Madrid’s celebration.

After a brief shock, the crowd of fans cheered again.

Only at this time did the culprit, Ramos, dare to carefully get up, looking around awkwardly, and seeing that no one cared, he nonchalantly waved the scarf in his hand again.

Although the celebration went on as usual, the trophy wasn’t shown again afterwards.

Its extent of damage quickly became the focus of media attention. Ramos, still visibly shaken during an interview, spoke in an inexplicable manner: "It fell, it fell, now it’s fine, it’s fine." But early the next morning, he seemed much calmer, joking about his butterfingers on Twitter: "Last night’s trophy incident was a misunderstanding. It didn’t fall; she saw the Goddess of Harvest, saw so many Madrid fans, and jumped by herself." He later confirmed on Twitter, "Don’t worry, the trophy is fine." As if to validate his words, Real Madrid also announced that a perfectly intact King’s Cup trophy would be on display for fans at the Bernabeu starting Thursday.

Did the trophy miraculously escape destruction? Or was it somehow auto-repaired overnight?

The jeweler responsible for making the trophy spilled the beans: the one in the exhibition room was not the one that Chen Zhong received from the King on Wednesday night.

In fact, this jeweler named Alegre had previously made a "twin brother" for the King’s Cup trophy at the request of the Spanish Football Association, secretly accompanying it to every final to provide a backup in case of any unexpected situations.

After hearing about the trophy incident on the radio last night, he quickly contacted Real Madrid, delivering the brand-new trophy while retrieving the original for repair.

According to him, the original was seriously damaged, but not beyond repair, "like a person in a coma but still expected to wake up." The existence of the association’s "Plan B" was little known until Ramos’s mistake gave it a chance to come to light.

Though this blunder was laughable, the Real Madrid fans, in high spirits after defeating Barcelona to win the championship, clearly did not hold Ramos accountable for the mistake.

"Who hasn’t broken a cup here and there?" Someone excused Ramos this way; others joked, "Winning a championship, we got two trophies, we profited!"

After this incident, the Barcelona media did not let Real Madrid off easily.

Real Madrid and Barcelona are equally matched; their recent encounters ended 2-2 and 2-1. They hope to create some pressure for Real Madrid, ensuring that Barcelona gains an advantage in upcoming matches.

Of course, the Madrid media are no pushovers either.

In fact, after a tie between Real Madrid and Barcelona at the Bernabeu in the league, Marca reported an eye-catching exclusive: During halftime, Pique allegedly provoked the Real Madrid players in the players’ tunnel, sparking a minor conflict between the teams.