New Season's Real Madrid Family Photo

"Time's about right!"

Perhaps with Shenhua fielding their starters, they could still rely on abundant stamina and aggressive, efficient pressing to contend with Real Madrid in the first half.

But that was because Real Madrid had not been taking things seriously!

Once the second half began, Shenhua's players quickly realized that their opponents had become different.

In the second half, Real Madrid's players approached the match with frightening seriousness. They truly treated this warm-up match like a Super Cup final, launching wave after wave of attacks at Shenhua's goal from the opening whistle and giving their opponents no chance to catch their breath.

Once Real Madrid got serious, Shenhua's players and the fans in the stands could clearly feel the enormous gap between the two teams!

The moment Real Madrid raised the tempo, Shenhua could no longer hold them off.

Just five minutes into the second half, Lin Feng assisted Raul and Benzema in scoring one after the other.

The pressing and man-marking that had still worked in the first half completely failed in the second.

Their opponents moved and passed the ball far too quickly, with astonishing accuracy. Shenhua's players simply could not keep up with the rhythm. Forget pressing—they could not even keep track of the men they were marking. Their entire defensive line was practically nonexistent, allowing Real Madrid's players to come and go as they pleased.

The Shenhua fans, who had been incredibly excited and passionately cheering for their team in the first half, all fell silent once the second half began.

Quite a few of them were utterly bewildered: Who am I? Where am I? What just happened?

Hadn't they been going toe-to-toe with Real Madrid in the first half?

How had they suddenly collapsed in the second half?

It was not just Real Madrid's