July 20, Houston, United States.
The International Champions Cup: Real Madrid faced Bayern Munich.
This was Real Madrid's first warm-up match of the new season, and also Yang Yang's first appearance as the club's head coach.
Although it was only a warm-up match in distant America, Yang Yang's debut still attracted the attention of media and fans around the world. Everyone wanted to see whether the Real Madrid under Yang Yang could continue Ajax's glory.
But the result was surprising.
Real Madrid's starting lineup was not much different from last season's. It was still Solari's lineup, and none of the players brought in during the summer had started.
The players' performances on the pitch had indeed changed greatly. Their enthusiasm had increased, but it was obvious that they were not yet in form.
Just fifteen minutes after kickoff, Bayern Munich broke through Real Madrid's defense and scored. Real Madrid then launched a counterattack, but to no avail. They had only four shots in the entire first half, though all four were on target. Neuer simply kept them out.
At halftime, Yang Yang replaced all eleven players on the pitch in one go, including goalkeeper Courtois.
But the second half showed little improvement. Bayern extended their lead in the sixty-seventh minute, then scored again two minutes later to make it 3–0. Real Madrid eventually pulled one back through youngster Rodrigo in the eighty-fourth minute.
Even so, Yang Yang's debut ended with Real Madrid losing 3–1 to Bayern Munich.
After the match, Yang Yang told the media that the team had not been in form.
"As for the defeat, neither the players nor I are surprised at all. Our summer training has been proceeding according to plan. We just finished ten days of fitness training, so we haven't reached the stage