On the evening of April 5, in the 32nd round of La Liga, Real Madrid faced Real Sociedad away.
With the second leg against Barcelona coming up soon at the Bernabéu, Gao Shen made a major rotation for this match.
The first half was very tough, and it was not until the 45th minute that Illarramendi scored a long-range strike against his old club to open the scoring for Real Madrid.
Under Gao Shen's guidance, Illarramendi's development has been smoother than in his previous life, but for now his place at Real Madrid is still slightly behind Casemiro, though the gap is small.
This was also Gao Shen's deliberate plan. He wanted these two young midfielders to compete with each other and take turns starting.
Competition creates motivation, and they will work harder to improve.
After the start of the second half, Ramos scored with a header from a free kick.
After that, Džeko, Morata, and Varane all scored. Among them, Morata netted the final goal of the game in the 88th minute to complete his brace.
In the end, Real Madrid defeated Real Sociedad 6-0 away.
…
On the evening of April 9, in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, Real Madrid hosted Barcelona.
After winning 3-1 in the first leg at Camp Nou, Real Madrid had one foot in the semi-finals. Barcelona, however, were not resigned to their fate and wanted to give it a go at the Bernabéu.
But all of Martino's calculations were within Gao Shen's expectations.
After losing 1-3 at home in the first leg, they needed to score at least three away in the second leg.
Time was not on Barcelona's side. From any angle, they had only one option, to attack relentlessly.
How should Real Madrid play against an attacking Barcelona?
Gao Shen neither chose to sit deep nor to press high throughout. He continued to concentrate his lines around the halfway line.
As always, they stopped pressing Barcelona's centre-backs, with Benzema locking onto Busquets, while Ronaldo and Di María focused on counterattacks.
The facts proved Gao Shen's judgment correct.
Barcelona came out attacking from the start, and Messi soon had the first attempt.
Real Madrid immediately responded, with Benzema unleashing a long-range effort to show intent.
In the 5th minute, Benzema dropped deep. After Real Madrid's midfield won the ball, the French centre forward threaded a superb pass. Di María drove into the right side of the box and shot, but it struck the post and came back.
Ronaldo followed up and smashed the rebound into the net from the edge of the area, giving Real Madrid the lead, 1-0.
After conceding, Barcelona continued to attack fiercely, but Real Madrid countered quickly whenever they had the chance.
In the 11th minute, Modrić delivered a precise diagonal pass, Ronaldo timed his run perfectly to beat the offside trap and went one-on-one. He broke into the box and finished again, 2-0.
A brace for Ronaldo.
After that, Barcelona also created chances, but they could not beat Courtois.
In the 19th minute, Marcelo crossed from the left. Benzema challenged for a header in the middle, Di María followed up at a tight angle and once again beat Pinto, making it 3-0.
In less than 20 minutes, three goals, all from quick counters.
This was a huge blow to Barcelona.
Amid the Bernabéu's cheers, Barcelona gradually slowed their attacks, while Real Madrid maintained their defensive shape.
Before halftime, Di María was brought down by Puyol as he broke into the area, but the referee did not award a penalty and simply waved play on.
After the break, Barcelona suddenly increased their tempo and launched a series of attacks, pinning Real Madrid back and creating good chances.
The most dangerous was when Xavi slid a pass through and Neymar went one-on-one, but Courtois came off his line decisively and smothered the ball.
Soon after, Neymar beat three defenders in succession, entered the box and squared it, but Messi's header did not trouble the goal.
Real Madrid quickly replied with sustained pressure of their own.
In the 60th minute, Benzema received with his back to goal near the penalty spot and laid it back to the edge of the box. Toni Kroos fired from distance, the ball crashed off the crossbar, and Barcelona escaped.
That long-range strike completely shattered Barcelona's belief.
At 6-1 on aggregate, scoring five was essentially impossible for Barcelona.
In the final half hour, Barcelona's play became flat, though after the substitutions, Sánchez was very active.
The Chilean winger had made it clear he would leave Barcelona this summer. He used this chance to showcase himself and created several good opportunities, but Neymar and Messi failed to convert Sánchez's service into goals.
In the end, Real Madrid beat Barcelona 3-0 at home and advanced to the semi-finals 6-1 on aggregate.
…
When the English referee Howard Webb blew for full time, the entire Bernabéu became a sea of celebration, with more than 80,000 Real Madrid fans roaring at the top of their lungs.
Gao Shen immediately walked to the visitors' technical area and shook hands with Barcelona coach Tata Martino, who looked helpless and downcast on the touchline.
It was easy to imagine Martino's mood. Although he had already decided to leave after the season, losing the Champions League like this still hurt.
But that is football.
"This Real Madrid team you have built is truly incredible," Martino praised sincerely. "Honestly, I have thought about it for a long time, but I really cannot find a way to restrain you. You are too complete."
Nothing satisfies Gao Shen more than getting respect from an opponent after a win.
This Real Madrid is his pride.
"Actually, we all know you really tried your best. Many things are not for a head coach to decide," Gao Shen consoled him. He could see Martino did have ability.
"You know, sometimes, coaching teams like Real Madrid and Barcelona requires more than just coaching ability."
"That is right," Martino agreed. "It is really difficult to change them."
At the start of the season, Martino's team led the way and performed very well, not inferior to a powerful Real Madrid at all. But even then, many people criticized Martino.
Why?
Because he did not play like Barcelona.
Later, after losing El Clásico, the criticism intensified, and even Xavi stood up to criticize Martino.
In that situation, the biggest issue for Martino was ball control.
Everyone actually knew where Barcelona's problem lay, but no one was willing to make changes.
"I have always felt your ideas were right, but the reforms were not executed well, there was a lack of unity within the team, and recruitment was not strong enough..."
Martino's expression eased slightly when he heard Gao Shen's words.
"You know what? I really envy you. You have centre forwards like Benzema and Džeko. We have super talents like Messi and Neymar, but we just cannot create synergy on the pitch."
"I tried various methods, but none of them worked," Martino said with a rueful sigh.
It was clear he really tried his best.
If Messi continued centrally, it would be the same old pattern and nothing would change. But if Messi played on the right, the distance between him and Neymar would be too great, and then no one in the central attacking zone could link play.
In Gao Shen's previous life, a key factor in the success of Barcelona's Dream Team 4 was Suárez.
Suárez was not only outstanding individually, he was also a centre forward very suited to Barcelona.
It was Suárez who filled the gap in Barcelona's attack, maximising Messi and Neymar, which led to the celebrated SN partnership.
But unfortunately, Suárez is now at Manchester City.
Barcelona also tried to buy Wandowski, but the Bosnian centre forward had already signed for Bayern Munich to join Guardiola. This meant Barcelona were destined to have headaches over the No 9 again this summer.
There were also issues in midfield and defence.
Many fans misunderstood Xavi as always being agreeable, but that was only when his interests were not affected.
When Martino tried to reform and that touched Xavi's interests, he immediately became a thorn, publicly criticising Martino, which pushed him further into trouble.
Xavi, Iniesta, Piqué, Busquets, Messi, Puyol.
These were the beneficiaries of Barcelona's possession system. Anyone who tried to reform it would clash with them, which required the head coach to have enough authority to push changes through.
But Martino lacked that authority.
This is also why many top teams often choose big-name coaches.
The reason is simple, only famous coaches or club legends can control the dressing room.
The same decision would not work from someone with little standing like Martino. But if it came from an insider like Luis Enrique, although there would still be conflicts, it could be pushed forward.
Therefore, when top clubs appoint coaches, ability is not necessarily the most important thing, but prestige must be strong enough.
Martino and Pellegrini are actually somewhat similar. Both have ability, but they cannot command a top club's dressing room.
The Chilean engineer has been at Manchester City for two years and has earned the management's trust and support, yet he still cannot control the dressing room.
It was like in Gao Shen's previous life, when Benítez coached Real Madrid, he did something interesting. He made a video of shooting techniques for Ronaldo and asked him to watch it and practice on his own.
Ronaldo immediately pushed back. I am Ronaldo, who are you?
From then on, the two became enemies.
But if Gao Shen made a video for Ronaldo and asked him to reflect, the Portuguese would probably take it back gladly, and maybe even hand in a deep self-review the next day and put it on Gao Shen's desk.
That is the difference.
Working in professional football is the same as in business.
Whether what you say or do is right or wrong is not the most important thing. What matters is who says it.
(To be continued.)