Young, inexperienced, injured, with an uncertain future, from a different culture, and linked to his predecessor—these were all labels pinned on Su Hang, and to Luxemburgo, they screamed: "Make an example of him."
Su Hang—this was going to be difficult.
But Zidane would never have imagined that Su Hang, right leg in a cast, would let out one of his most relaxed laughs in recent memory.
He got on well with Simon, but he didn't actually want to keep playing right now.
Simon had lost control.
Su Hang had supported him precisely so Simon wouldn't need to rely on him. Instead, Simon was swept up by Su Hang's charisma, fighting tooth and nail to get him back on the pitch so that more people could see his "talent."
Real Madrid had now stripped Simon of the head-coach role—forcing Su Hang to step back. Not that he had much choice.
The hospital's diagnosis called for two months out.
But if Su Hang didn't get back on the pitch this season, he'd consider it a loss.
Think he'll be fully recovered that soon? Not a chance.
"Su, why are you smiling? Don't you feel betrayed?" asked Clara, the deputy editor-in-chief of Marca, in an exclusive interview.
Yes, the beautiful Clara had been promoted.
Her column drew huge readership and had become one of Marca's flagship features—thanks to her knack for securing exclusives from Su Hang.
Many of Su Hang's supporters were loyal fans of her writing.
You know how the news cycle is.
"But Simon's results were clearly good," Clara pressed. "Letting him go like this feels too harsh."
"Letting him go?" Su Hang replied. "No—it says right here that Simon's been reassigned to the sports department as deputy director."
"In that role, he can still contribute to the team."
"This way, Real Madrid has two coaches with head-coach pedigree—Luxemburgo and Simon."
Clara was stunned. Was Su Hang serious?
How could Simon stay after being humiliated like that?
Su Hang chuckled. "I know what you're thinking. Simon must be feeling awful right now, but for the good of the team, sometimes the details don't matter."
"We just have to ask ourselves—what do we truly want?"
"Is it a graceful farewell? Or is it genuinely making the team better? Or using our ability to help the team and fulfill our value?"
"If it's the latter two, then Simon should stay, keep helping in his own way, and prove himself."
"I'll try to persuade him to make that choice."
Clara nodded thoughtfully. "So, just like you—able to start, but willing to sit on the bench for the team's good?"
Su Hang flashed a bright smile. "Of course!"
Of course not.
Su Hang wasn't that much of a saint.
He wanted Simon to stay for one reason—so that when he was strong enough, he could help Simon rise to become the real head coach of Real Madrid.
Then his place in the team wouldn't be that of just any starter.
It would be a core role.
The same treatment as Zidane and Ronaldo.
If he relied solely on ability and fame, even five more years might not get him that.
But with a head coach willing to listen to him, he could be the team's core overnight.
Sometimes you fight so you can stop fighting. And sometimes not fighting is the bigger fight.
Truth in falsehood, falsehood in truth.
That's Eastern philosophy.
Think about it.
Real Madrid only wanted star coaches.
Unless Simon became a top-tier coach elsewhere, he'd never return.
But if he stayed to build seniority, he could one day play the emotional card and maybe earn a short "trial period."
Real Madrid had a tradition of promoting insiders to interim coach.
...
The next day, Clara published the interview.
The headline was so bold that even Su Hang felt embarrassed reading it.
Marca – Clara's Column: "With a Mortal Body, He Stands Shoulder to Shoulder with the Gods!"
"Number 24—a fringe squad number in the football world."
"A Chinese player, with no successful precedent in world football."
"Some call him Real Madrid's Crown Prince, the White-Clad God of Death."
"But a German doctor's diagnosis felt like a life sentence for his career."
"His body is fragile. Whether in physical tests or team statistics, he is utterly ordinary."
"But it is this ordinary man who stood up again and again."
"The Copa del Rey, El Clásico, the Spanish Super Cup, the Champions League group-stage decider—time and again."
"Under the lights—The Phenomenon, the French maestro, the Portuguese right-wing star, England's poster boy, the only active English Ballon d'Or winner, the world's best left-back, the rock at the back, and Spain's new No. 1—he never looked out of place."
"I know he's not a god—he's just an ordinary man."
"I know he will fall one day, but I'll always miss the days when he was here."
"This is my first love in football… Su Hang!"
"It's not his heroic moments after saving the day that I love most."
"It's his earnestness when clapping for teammates from the bench, signing autographs for fans outside training, or offering strategies for the team's future from his hospital bed."
The article spread like wildfire across Europe.
Countless Real Madrid fans were moved to tears.
"My God! Is Clara confessing? Does this mean I'm heartbroken?"
"Ah! Su Hang isn't just Clara's first football love—he's mine too!"
"I always wondered why I liked him so much. Turns out, it's because he's so ordinary at Real Madrid—ordinary enough for me to see myself in him."
"Man… I was a standout at Madrid's training camp until U11, but a doctor said I wouldn't grow past 1.70 m, and they let me go."
"I was with Sevilla's youth academy until U16, but didn't get a pro contract. My family wouldn't let me play in lower leagues, so I ended up at the family bank, just wasting away."
"There are too many ordinary people. Even bench players in the top five leagues have physical gifts far beyond most of us."
"I trained in football for two and a half years, but then I grew too tall, and they pushed me to play basketball. I'm in Real Madrid's basketball youth setup now, but I still watch their football matches—I still love football more."
"I thought you switched to singing, dancing, and rap!"
"You've got it easy. I'm Asian. First time I went to a training camp, they rejected me outright. Wouldn't even give me a trial."
...
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