Suker was driving home with Sukic in the passenger seat.
The little guy was excitedly fiddling with his first youth training contract.
The contract had just been signed; with his excellent performance, Real Madrid Football School had achieved two consecutive victories in today's matches.
And he had also won a youth training contract.
Compared to being directly offered a contract by the youth academy, getting a contract through this channel gave him a greater sense of accomplishment, and the smile on his face was uncontrollable.
Suker turned to glance at Sukic; this kid's smile was exactly like his own.
"Are you that happy?" Suker said, "Youth training is just the beginning. Each tier is a test for you, and to enter the first team, if you don't have the ability to play in higher-level tiers by skipping levels, then it will be very difficult to get a trial opportunity."
Sukic carefully placed the contract in his backpack, then turned to roll his eyes and said, "I know, don't treat me like a child."
Suker turned his head again, remained silent for a moment, and then said, "You played well today."
"Huh?"
Sukic turned his head in surprise. In the two years he had lived with his father, this was the first time Suker had praised him.
"However, there are also many problems. Your first touch when stopping the ball isn't stable enough. Although your turn was successful, it's very easy for someone to steal the ball. Once you get older and there's more physicality, this level of ball stopping will be immediately disrupted. Not to mention, some children develop earlier, so you still need to keep improving."
Sukic couldn't help but pout and say, "Can't you just praise me directly?"
Suker: "You're still far from making me praise you."
"Right, right, right~~"
Sukic held his head, his mouth slightly puffed out: "You are the five-time Ballon d'or Winner, you are the most amazing."
Suker glanced at Sukic again, his eyes darting down to his backside.
Sukic noticed this, and instantly caved!
"I was wrong!"
Hmph!
Suker snorted lightly before saying, "Did Luka teach you how to play football?"
"No!" Sukic shook his head; "I learned from videos."
"My physical development seems a bit slow. Even though I eat a lot and drink milk, compared to others my age, my body doesn't have much of an advantage, and even has some disadvantages." Sukic sighed, "It's probably a genetic issue."
"Nonsense!"
Suker raised his hand and slapped Sukic on the head.
Didn't you see, your dad is a tall guy, nearly 190 cm?
Sukic held his head and chuckled twice, then continued, "But precisely because of that, I thought about how to solve this problem. It just so happened that I heard Uncle Zorancic say that when you guys played in Bosnia and Herzegovina, your bodies didn't have an advantage, but you won the Bosnian League Championship at the time. So I went and watched those match videos."
Suker turned his head; "You can still find those videos?"
After all, it had been so long, and the Bosnian League wasn't particularly popular.
Sukic: "It's hard to find, but you two are big stars, so there are some early videos. The quality is a bit blurry, but it doesn't prevent me from learning."
Suker nodded; "Why don't you learn from me?"
Sukic: "I don't play as a forward, and besides, your playing style requires more speed and explosiveness."
He pouted and said, "In that regard, I think I take after my mom."
Suker: "So, you learned from Luka?"
Sukic nodded; "That's right, I even called Uncle Modrić, and he gave me a lot of advice. I promised him that when we get back, you'll treat him to a meal."
Suker turned his head; "Why should I repay a favor you owe?"
Sukic: "Because you're my dad!"
Suker couldn't help but smile, waving his hand and saying, "I know, I'll thank Luka."
After that, Suker continued, "Are you really planning to play football?"
Sukic nodded; "Of course, Enzo and I have already agreed that we'll both join Real Madrid in the future. I'll wear number 10, and he'll wear number 9!"
Suker raised an eyebrow: "Why don't you wear number 9?"
Sukic: "I like number 10. Besides, if I wear number 9, people will just think I'm a copy of you, and I hate that feeling."
Suker didn't speak, but instead reached out and patted Sukic's head.
"What's going on with those girls?"
"Huh?" Sukic's small face immediately flushed: "I have nothing to do with them."
Suker: "Do you have a girlfriend?"
Sukic quickly said, "Not yet!"
"Not yet?" Suker raised an eyebrow, so that meant he was interested.
Under Suker's gaze, Sukic confessed.
"There's a girl, I feel she's very good, but she's five years older than me!"
Suker: "…"
Suker believed he wasn't a rigid parent, but five years was too early, so he needed to instill a correct view of relationships in him.
At the very least, he had to wait a bit.
After returning home and eating, Sukic went to sleep.
Suker, on the other hand, watched match replays in the living room for a while, further studying the opponent, before returning to his room to sleep.
The next day, Suker went to the training base.
His teammates also arrived one after another, and they followed Ancelotti onto the bus, preparing to take a plane to Barcelona to start their first Spanish National Derby of the season.
Barcelona was still the same, extremely rejecting Real Madrid.
Of course, this rejection was more reflected in the team; in Barcelona, you could still see some Real Madrid cultural elements, such as their brand jersey stores.
This was just like how Madrid also had Barcelona's brand jersey stores.
Team rivalry didn't mean business couldn't be done; that would be too extreme.
However, in recent years, these things have also been impacted, and the reason is simple: Barcelona has struggled to win, which makes them want to compare many things with Real Madrid besides just the matches.
Real Madrid wins more, so they don't value these things as much, and their mentality is more relaxed.
But for Barcelona, if Real Madrid is not doing well, they will be very happy.
But it was another El Clásico, and Real Madrid was coming again.
This time, even though the team had undergone many changes, it still put immense pressure on them.
There was no other way!
Since 2009, they had lost too many matches.
Facing Real Madrid, they really hadn't won a single match and had long since developed a psychological complex.
They used to chant Champions League slogans, but now they are chanting for revival, starting with the League.
First, reclaim the League Championship, and then move towards the Champions League.
But in this process, Real Madrid will undoubtedly be their roadblock.
Many Real Madrid fan away teams arrived, parading through the streets of Barcelona.
Although the areas were restricted by the police, many Barcelona fans and Real Madrid fans still clashed.
They could not tolerate Real Madrid fans flaunting their power on their home turf.
Watching these guys look so smug, they gnashed their teeth in hatred.
Meanwhile, in the Barcelona Head Coach's office, Enrique rubbed his temples, feigning a headache, as he looked at the battle report in his hand.
He took over as Barcelona's Head Coach in June of this year.
He was a former Barcelona player, and after retiring, he came to coach Barcelona B team, then went to the Apennine Peninsula to coach Roma.
After his failure in Serie A, he was originally going to sign with Celta, a La Liga team.
But at that time, Barcelona found him and quickly signed him, completing the hijack.
The former Barcelona Head Coach, Vilanova, was dismissed at the beginning of the season, after that El CLasico.
Barcelona had originally wanted Vilanova to be Guardiola's successor and had given him enough time and patience.
However, Vilanova could not bear this heavy responsibility, constantly eroding the patience of Barcelona's high-ranking officials, and eventually this decision was made.
After Enrique joined Barcelona, he immediately began his transformation.
Of course, this was not smooth sailing!
When he entered Barcelona, he felt everything was terrible.
Many things were hard to sort out, especially after being repeatedly defeated by Real Madrid, the players' mental state also had some issues.
His relationship with Messi was also not great.
Currently, his only notable achievement was successfully activating Neymar.
Enrique believed that Neymar would be key to Barcelona's revival.
However, something was still missing.
He still lacked an excellent center-forward to build a highly efficient attacking combination like Real Madrid's.
Therefore, he searched the world, and now his target was Suarez, the Uruguayan center-forward playing for Liverpool.
But negotiations were still ongoing, and Suarez would not transfer in the winter window.
He would have to wait until at least next season to achieve his goal.
But this season was already a problem!
How were they to stop the crushing pressure of Real Madrid thundering towards them?
Barcelona was also preparing intensely, and compared to usual, the atmosphere was more somber.
Clearly, the arrival of Real Madrid had put a lot of pressure on them.
There wasn't much training content, so after the training ended, Enrique stood at the exit and high-fived the Barcelona players.
One by one, the players high-fived him and walked out, but when it was Messi's turn, he directly ignored Enrique and walked out.
Enrique did not make a fuss about this; his conflict with Messi stemmed from the right to speak in the locker room.
Messi hoped to regain his important status and sufficient right to speak, just as in the past.
However, Enrique wanted to implement an iron-fisted policy in the Barcelona locker room, and this was the starting point of the conflict.
This also led the two to gradually move in two different directions!
Guardiola could keep Messi in check because the latter rose to fame under the former, thus Guardiola had enough seniority and ability.
But Enrique was not, and Messi might not obey him!
This was like Real Madrid two years ago, when Mourinho was dismissed.
It was said to be a conflict with Casillas, but it was more about constantly challenging Suker's status.
Moreover, Mourinho stepped on a landmine, wanting to gain transfer rights.
If it were merely a power struggle with Suker and Casillas, it wouldn't have come to this.
As long as they kept winning, Suker could tolerate some things.
But Messi was different!
Messi was now very eager to catch up with Suker, especially with a strong desire for the Ballon d'Or.
In this situation, he wanted more playing time and a more important status.
But after Enrique took office, he did two things.
First: using rest as an excuse, he weakened Messi's right to speak and status in the locker room, implicitly telling the players that Messi could be benched if he wished.
Second: he heavily relied on Neymar, further depriving Messi of tactical resources.
Combining these two reasons, the conflict between Messi and Enrique naturally emerged.
Just like two rounds ago, when Messi was on the bench, Enrique let Messi play in the second half, to which the latter refused to play, leading to the publicization of their conflict.
And now, the two were like strangers at the training base.
This was also a test for Enrique, on how to improve or succumb to Messi.
And the only way he could think of was to win!
But this returned to the old problem; to defeat Real Madrid, he still needed to borrow Messi's strength.
Enrique walked into the locker room, and the originally lively locker room immediately became quiet.
Enrique looked at Messi, and the latter also looked at Enrique.
The others looked left and right, then immediately packed their bags and quickly left the locker room.
They knew these two had something to say.
And even if there were issues, they didn't want to get involved in the confrontation between the two big figures; it wouldn't benefit them.
Xavi did not leave; as captain, he was very worried about a conflict between Enrique and Messi.
To this, Enrique turned his head and said, "We're just going to have a simple chat, don't be so nervous."
Xavi glanced at Enrique, then nodded to Messi, and left.
Enrique sighed inwardly.
From these small gestures, it could be seen that Xavi supported Messi.
But it was to be expected, after all, he was new, while Messi had been his teammate for many years, so their relationship was naturally closer.
Enrique picked up a pair of shoes from the floor, threw them into the bucket for cleaning shoes, and then sat on the bench, looking at Messi opposite him, saying:
"I won't apologize!"
Messi: "I never thought about accepting an apology!"
Enrique: "But our interests are aligned, aren't they?"
Messi frowned slightly.
"With a formidable enemy ahead, it's not a good thing for the two of us to be at odds. I imagine you watched Real Madrid's Champions League match. Do you have the confidence to defeat them in this state?"
Messi did not speak.
Enrique continued, "We need to cooperate fully, and you also need to contribute some strength for your teammates, sacrificing some tactical resources. Only then can we achieve victory."
"I know you want to pursue more honors, such as the Golden Boot. Currently, your goals are four more than Suker, and he has been assisting more this season, so your pressure isn't great. And I don't ask you to play like this in all matches, only for this match!"
Enrique's words had a hidden meaning, and Messi understood.
Suker was actively giving up some tactical resources this season for the team, creating opportunities for his teammates.
If Suker could do that, why couldn't you?
Messi felt very awkward listening, but he couldn't refute it.
The situation was different!
Suker already had five Ballons d'Or. No matter how he played, the doubts about him were more about his form; no one would question his current status, let alone his historical status.
If he also had five Ballons d'Or, he could do the same!
But the problem was, he didn't!
So far, he only had one Ballon d'Or!
Suker was far ahead of him, and Messi was already doing his best to catch up with Suker.
He needed more statistics, better performance; only then would he not be further left behind by Suker, and might even be able to catch up vigorously.
"Leo, what I want to say is that our conflict is not good for either of us, and based on these issues, many people in the team now have different ideas, which is not conducive to the match."
"You want to contend for the Golden Boot, and we want to win the League Championship, so we must cooperate fully."
"This season, there's not only Real Madrid but also Atletico Madrid!"
Enrique said seriously, "We need to put aside those conflicts and cooperate."
Messi's expression was clearly struggling, but Enrique was not in a hurry.
After a long time, Messi finally spoke softly, "Can you guarantee victory?"
Enrique wanted to say he couldn't guarantee it.
But looking at Messi's expression, Enrique could only grit his teeth and endure.
"Yes!" Enrique emphasized, "As long as you listen to me!"
Messi then picked up his backpack and stood up.
"I will listen to you, but you also have to deliver on your promise: tomorrow's victory! My Golden Boot and our championship!"
Messi left.
But Enrique remained seated on the bench, his head starting to ache again.
Deliver?
How was he going to deliver?
Enrique sighed; for now, he could only take it one step at a time and focus on the current match.
At the very least, things were somewhat stable now.
As for the consequences of failure, Enrique dared not imagine, but there was no better solution at the moment.
Barcelona, inside Neymar's villa.
Kaka, Marcelo, and a host of other Brazil players were invited to attend the gathering.
It would have been more reasonable to come after the match, which was also logical.
However, after the match, Real Madrid had to leave Barcelona immediately, as this was standard practice—win and leave, staying might lead to unforeseen incidents.
Therefore, Neymar and these players gathered beforehand.
Of course, they wouldn't discuss match issues; they each served their own teams and weren't foolish.
However, they couldn't stop themselves from discussing rumors and gossip.
"So, the conflict between Messi and Enrique is real?" Marcelo blinked. "This is almost like what we had two seasons ago!"
Kaka turned his head and rolled his eyes.
Neymar: "It's complicated, but there definitely is a conflict!"
He didn't delve too deeply into the matter.
"Does it not affect you?" Kaka was still concerned about Neymar.
After all, this was the future of Brazil, and Neymar was being groomed as Kaka's successor.
Neymar shook his head: "Although I am also at the center of the conflict, even a part of it, neither of them has targeted me. Messi told me that these things have nothing to do with me, and I should play as I usually do."
"That's a bit contradictory, isn't it?" Marcelo wondered. "You're taking his tactical resources, he's protesting to the Head Coach, and then he tells you it has nothing to do with you?"
Neymar grinned: "That's why I said it's complicated. Besides these, there are other things, but I can't tell you."
Marcelo immediately became interested, wanting to hear the gossip.
But Kaka stopped him with a look.
"It's fine as long as you're not affected, and you must ensure your health." He paused, Kaka's expression a bit awkward, "Two defenders in our team make very strong tackles, so be careful."
Kaka was truly afraid that Neymar would get injured!
His playing style naturally invited animosity!
Moreover, Pepe and Ramos, both of them were ruthless; if you played tricks on them, they'd cripple your legs!