I Am Scouted by Real Madrid

This time, it was the determined Cristiano Ronaldo.

It was a clever pass from Chen Zhong, and the Portuguese player received the ball, kept it from his opponent, and then took a violent shot inside the small penalty area, directly breaking through Athletic Bilbao’s goal.

This was his 40th goal of the season, with 29 in the league.

Cristiano Ronaldo is Real Madrid’s top scorer.

Though three goals behind, Athletic Bilbao at home did not give up, and the substitute Iturra narrowly missed a header from the corner.

Similarly, substitute Gavilondo shot wide in front of the penalty area.

The final score was 0:3.

Real Madrid defeated Athletic Bilbao on the road, securing three crucial points once more.

Mourinho’s "Plan B" worked.

As Real Madrid secured a 3-0 victory away at Athletic Bilbao, Mourinho also gave main players like Cavaleiro, Marcelo, Alonso, Chen Zhong, and Cristiano Ronaldo a rest, although Cristiano Ronaldo seized the brief moment he was on the pitch, bringing his season’s goal count to 40.

Mourinho gave Cavaleiro, Marcelo, Alonso, Chen Zhong, and Cristiano Ronaldo a chance to rest, though Cristiano Ronaldo took advantage of the short time he played to reach his 40 goals this season.

Marca considers that Real Madrid has three key aspects for winning this game, two being on the offense, which include creating two penalties by Di Maria and scoring two penalties by Chen Zhong, and one being defense, as Mourinho may have seemed to employ a three-center-back formation, but in reality, Pepe played a defensive midfielder role. He was responsible for playing from the back and allowing Albiol to defend Fernando Llorente, which was a very challenging task they accomplished excellently.

Mourinho is no stranger to San Mames Stadium; this wasn’t his first visit, and he’s unlikely to forget his experience there 14 years ago.

It was a rainy Saturday night, more precisely on November 23, 1996.

Abelardo’s goal was in vain, Guerrero and Jose Mari’s goals helped Bilbao achieve a 2-1 turnaround.

After the game, Bilbao’s then-coach, now the coach of Israel’s national team, Luis Fernandez, walked toward Figo and made a swimming gesture, implying "the Portuguese are always diving in the game." Figo was stopped and couldn’t move forward, leading to a conflict between Mourinho and Luis Fernandez.

Fernandez grabbed the Portuguese’s collar, ready to throw a punch, when Guardiola stepped in to help Mourinho.

Guardiola yelled at Fernandez, "Coach, you can’t mock the opponent like that; it’s not professional." After the game, Mourinho told reporters, "Fernandez won the war, but he’s like a mad dog; here I only talk about men with courage, not those uneducated children." Fernandez also scorned Mourinho, "I only know Mr. Robson, I don’t know who that guy after him is, there’s no place for him to speak here." Interestingly, after last season’s game between Barca and Inter, Guardiola accused Mourinho of being ungrateful and even shouted at the "Madman", "Don’t forget that night at San Mames!"

On March 11, 2000, as Van Gaal’s assistant coach, Mourinho returned to San Mames Stadium, where Barca won 4-0, and Mourinho didn’t have any conflicts with the opponent.

This game was Mourinho’s third time at San Mames Stadium, and this time, he won.

The adjustment for Pepe was the most noticeable, as in this game, he resembled more of a defensive midfielder than a center back.

Pepe is not unfamiliar with this role; in the Portugal National Team, he often plays this position and performs well. Mourinho is well aware of Pepe’s ability as a defensive midfielder; early in his career, Pepe played as a defensive midfielder. It was then when Mourinho, as Porto’s coach, noticed him and brought him in from the Maritimo Team.

But when the Madman went to England, Porto’s new coach Adrian transformed him into an outstanding center back and attracted Real Madrid’s interest.

Pepe enables Real Madrid to quickly launch attacks after intercepting the ball, which is Real Madrid’s favorite tactic.

This was the method used when Chen Zhong played as a defensive midfielder.

Pepe’s advanced position reminds many of Chen Zhong.

But clearly, Pepe will not be the next Chen Zhong.

In this game, Real Madrid cunningly ceded ball control, abandoned creating and weaving football, entrusting their fragile hopes of winning the league title to counterattacks.

This football approach is practical; if Higuain and Di Maria were more inspired in shooting, Real Madrid’s victory would have been even bigger.

Athletic Bilbao presented almost nothing, except for Toquero’s shot. On the field, they hardly showed any performance, and Real Madrid resolved the game easily.

Khedira, Benzema were not included in the squad, and Cristiano Ronaldo, Chen Zhong, Alonso, Marcelo, Cavaleiro sat on the bench, with Cristiano Ronaldo replacing Higuain and Chen Zhong replacing Callejon.

Marca describes Real Madrid’s bench as a "luxurious bench"; when calculating the market value, this bench’s worth approaches 200 million Euros, not to mention Benzema and Khedira not entering the squad.

Ultimately, Mourinho achieved a triple objective, allowing the main players to rest while giving training opportunities to injured recovering players like Higuain, and yet smoothly securing 3 points.

Without a doubt, Mourinho’s arrangement for this game was entirely in preparation for the upcoming century match and the King’s Cup final, while Real Madrid indicated the peak of their form with massive victories against Tottenham and Athletic Bilbao.

Spanish Diario AS stated before the match that Real Madrid versus Athletic Bilbao is an "air battle". Although Fernando Llorente is the second-highest header goal scorer in La Liga and Europe this season (with 8 header goals), Athletic Bilbao has the most header goals in La Liga (reaching 16).

In this game, Adebayor did not play, preventing the "tower battle" between Adebayor and Fernando Llorente. However, Fernando Llorente had a mediocre performance against Real Madrid, as he was closely marked by Real Madrid’s center-backs and couldn’t showcase the level of playing for Real Madrid.

Before the game, there was news that despite Adebayor’s recent excellent performance, Florentino still favored Fernando Llorente. This summer, Real Madrid is planning to send Adebayor back to Manchester City and instead sign Fernando Llorente. Even though Real Madrid only needs to pay 16 million Euros to sign Adebayor, acquiring Fernando Llorente might cost over 40 million Euros.

Fernando Llorente is La Liga’s tallest striker, standing at 1.95 meters, taller than Lekić (1.93 meters), Kanoute (1.92 meters), Hulda (1.91 meters), and Adebayor (1.91 meters).

There is no midfielder in La Liga taller than 1.90 meters, while the tallest players are goalkeepers, with four goalkeepers standing taller than 1.96 meters.

Fernando Llorente is the header king in La Liga; he has twice scored three consecutive header goals this season, but now, he is in a goal drought. His last goal was on March 2nd against Zaragoza; in fact, he has only scored two goals in the last two months.

However, facing La Liga’s tallest team, Fernando Llorente hit a wall.

Real Madrid players average 1.83 meters, taller than teams like Santander, Athletic Bilbao, Levante, Osasuna, and significantly taller than La Liga’s shortest team Barcelona by a full 5 centimeters.

Athletic Bilbao has the most header goals in La Liga, totaling 16; however, among the last 16 goals they’ve scored, only one was a header goal.

At San Mames Stadium, Athletic Bilbao completely lacked the spirit of the "Basque Lions", defending poorly, with almost no midfield, and having a rushed, unfluent attack.

Athletic Bilbao’s attempt to compete with Real Madrid in physique resulted in a comprehensive defeat after a tough battle.

Fernando Llorente was completely isolated from his teammates, who couldn’t find him.

After the game, people turned their attention to the upcoming two matches with Barcelona; those are what they are most concerned about.