With Zidane and Carlos joining, Real Madrid's midfield possessed absolute control, overflowing creativity, and ample technical skill.
The backline also featured two seemingly impregnable walls, providing complete reassurance, with Carlos in particular showcasing top-tier defensive ability.
These two legends, having successfully been summoned back to peak form, naturally chose Real Madrid as their first option. After all, older players summoned back, aside from national honor, do it for club sentiment.
As for money, no one cared about that. Not a single one of them lacked funds, so money was utterly unimportant, completely unimportant.
The current Real Madrid, as fans watching live matches gradually noticed something special, began to resemble the Arsenal of Messi's early days.
Carlos's role differed from Cao Baming's, but both possessed top-tier defensive prowess and the ability to unleash super-heavy long shots. Zidane and the current Messi, however, were more akin to a blend of wisdom gained from years and experience, unparalleled physical talent, and the entire football world's most cutting-edge creativity.
Unfortunately, Zidane's absence dealt a severe blow to Real Madrid!
In their last two matches, they only scored four goals!!
To outsiders, four goals might seem like a lot, not insufficient at all!
However, these people likely hadn't watched Real Madrid when Zidane was on the field, when scoring felt as effortless as breathing, readily available when desired.
Arsenal faced precisely such a Real Madrid, a direct clash between the Spanish and English champions, which had already garnered extremely high attention.
And concerning this Real Madrid, Cao Baming felt no worry at all.
With Zidane on the field, there might have been a slight threat, requiring serious attention, but now that Zidane was hospitalized, Real Madrid was merely a crippled team. While the "midfield trio" remained, their advanced age and lack of squad depth were their fatal weaknesses.
Where there is a weakness, the strengths become irrelevant, as attacking the vulnerable spot can directly lead to the enemy's demise.
What was truly terrifying were some of the news reports that had surfaced.
Real Madrid was reportedly planning to acquire a host of superstars like Kante, Mbappé, and Hojlund. There were even rumors that Ronaldo had been in close contact with Real Madrid's top brass.
Furthermore, Real Madrid was also seeking potential future world-class defenders like Gvardiol and Gusto for their backline.
They intended to build a squad that would surpass the current Arsenal, and even any club team in any era of history – a Super Galácticos!
If this were to truly materialize, Real Madrid fans might be too ecstatic to sleep.
They had long lamented the departure of the former BBC trio and Real Madrid's decline after the old "Papa Perez" left, but looking at the future…
If these rumors were true, the future Real Madrid would be the nightmare of all teams, an opponent no one would wish to face.
The mere prospect of Mbappé and Ronaldo linking up in attack would be terrifying enough, let alone with Modric and Zidane providing them with passes. And the most frightening aspect was that everyone possessed top-tier long-range shooting ability!
Such a Real Madrid would likely be an insurmountable opponent even for the current Arsenal, a fact Cao Baming himself had to acknowledge.
After all, there was only so much one person could do, and it was extremely limited.
However, Cao Baming also observed a problem that the outside world had consistently overlooked: if a thirty-eight-year-old Modric were to be successfully summoned back to his peak, combining his current experience with the stamina and physical condition of his youth, his impact would be no less than Zidane's!
Additionally, this winter transfer window saw Arsenal and Real Madrid overlapping in their transfer targets, with both teams interested in Kante and the center-back Gvardiol.
If Kante couldn't be acquired, there were alternative options, such as signing a player like Gündogan. His defensive style was very similar to Kante's, and he was younger, possessing greater future potential and thus more room for growth.
As for the center-back position, Arsenal genuinely needed reinforcement. After Cao Baming's previous series of tactical plans, some players, including several center-backs, had been moved on.
But now, Cao Baming was increasingly pushing forward, and even the coaching staff predicted that one day, Cao Baming's position would no longer be in defense, as it was already becoming difficult to justify listing him as a defender on the squad list.
If a new football position called "Total Freedom Player" could be created, he would undoubtedly be the sole occupant.
What was terrifying was that if Van Dijk couldn't be signed for the center-back role, or Gvardiol for the full-back position, Ramos might be brought in.
He was no longer willing to endure mistreatment at PSG and was seeking a new transfer destination.
Although he was no longer young, his valuation remained outrageously high, and most importantly, that guy was unpredictable.
In this world, there were probably only two defenders who would frequently venture into the opponent's penalty area to contest headers: Cao Baming was one, and the other was Ramos.
"Water Brother" had aged over the years, but his mental attributes remained the same as in his youth, like a madman.
After training, Cao Baming drove alone through the city streets, observing the trees lining the roadside and the twinkling night lights, contemplating various matters.
The next day, training proceeded as usual. During a routine passing drill, something unexpected occurred.
Through sheer coincidence, a hidden mission was completed: ten consecutive headers were required to obtain it!
And at this very moment, the accumulated points successfully broke through the ten million mark. This was a historic milestone; ten million points were not easily amassed. If not for the unknown system reward, these points would have long been spent on various consumables.
During his training, Cao Baming also kept an eye on other information.
For instance, the latest inspection report from the technical team regarding the mobile phone, and any progress Mike had made in his search for Max.
Strangely, the phone still yielded no new discoveries, and Mike had still not found the person.
It was already clear who it was; he had even seen them in person and exchanged a few words, yet now they had seemingly vanished from this world.
Mike was a resourceful individual, and the fact that he still hadn't found the person indicated their considerable elusiveness.