Three days before the Manchester Derby.
After Manchester United's tough away match against Beşiktaş in Istanbul, a rare scene unfolded at Manchester City's Carrington training ground, Gao Shen personally stepped onto the pitch.
As everyone knew, aside from playing a few school matches in middle school, Gao Shen had never truly played football.
So whether he was coaching at Real Madrid, later at Napoli, or now at Manchester City, he always remained on the sidelines during training. He rarely participated directly. At most, he would call out instructions when spotting problems in the team's sessions.
So for him to get personally involved like this was extremely rare.
Not only were Manchester City's players surprised, even the coaching staff were caught off guard. In three or four years of working together, none of them had ever seen Gao Shen step onto the field and demonstrate anything himself.
Many players watching from the sidelines couldn't help but worry: Is Gao Shen going to get embarrassed by Gareth Bale?
After all, Gao Shen really didn't know how to play football.
But the outcome stunned everyone, Bale didn't embarrass Gao Shen at all.
On the contrary, what happened next left everyone speechless.
Gao Shen asked technical coach Borrell to deliver a horizontal pass near the top of the arc. Gareth Bale was instructed to sprint from the left at full speed, cut diagonally into the left channel, latch onto Borrell's pass on the left side of the penalty area, and shoot with his left foot.
There were only two possible shooting angles: near post or far post, both tough for a keeper to deal with.
What shocked everyone was that Bale was insanely fast.
But even at such high speed, he could control his left-footed shots perfectly.
Whether shooting to the near post or far post, he hit the target with precision and nearly every shot struck the bottom of the post before finding the net.
What did that mean?
It required not only top-level technique and power, but also the ability to execute it all at maximum speed. Incredible!
Everyone was in awe.
He took ten shots in a row, every single one landed in the blind spot.
Gao Shen then changed the drill, asking the staff to set up mannequins on the left side of the penalty area. Bale would now dribble from the left, cut into the box, and shoot.
The Welshman charged forward again. This time, out of ten shots, nine flew into the top corner. The only one that didn't hit the dead zone still found the net, only slightly off-target.
And all of this was done while dribbling at full speed.
Everyone was dumbfounded!
Neuer, a bit skeptical, stepped in to defend the goal himself.
He soon gave up.
Because it really was almost impossible to stop.
If he guarded the near post, Bale went far. If he guarded the far post, Bale went near. And if he guessed neither, Bale had even more options.
More importantly, Bale's technique was identical every time, so stable. Each shot had precise placement, powerful force, and lightning speed, making it virtually impossible to react in time.
"Hey Gareth, how did I never realize you were this good at shooting from the left side of the box?" Neuer was dumbfounded.
Neuer was extremely confident in his ability.
If even he couldn't stop Bale, who could provided Bale was given the opportunity in that zone?
Soon, everyone realized—Bale himself was just as surprised.
He had always played as a left-back, and while he'd scored from that area before, it was usually from bursting runs out of defense.
But now, this advanced training session had shown him something new: in this specific zone, combining his speed with his shooting technique made him incredibly lethal.
The key was, he was in excellent physical condition. With his speed, he could truly become a nightmare for defenders when charging into the box.
In that moment, everyone's perception of Gao Shen changed.
Because they all knew, if this move worked, Bale could rise to become one of the best left-sided attackers in Europe, maybe even the world. At that point, would he still be a full-back?
And Gao Shen's ability to unlock this potential in Bale left everyone in awe.
Who wouldn't want such a devastating weapon?
But what shocked them even more was how Gao Shen evaluated Bale.
"Gareth, I need to correct a common misconception. Your greatest assets aren't your speed or explosiveness."
Everyone on the scene froze again.
Was that wrong?
Gareth Bale was clearly the fastest player on the team. Even Robben couldn't catch up with him anymore.
Even Bale himself was stunned. He had always thought that was his strength.
"In European football, especially the Premier League, there are plenty of players with elite speed and explosiveness. Arsenal's Walcott, United's Valencia, Tottenham's Aaron Lennon… they're all lightning fast. So relying solely on speed has its limits."
After hearing that, everyone nodded.
There's an old saying: "In all martial arts, speed cannot be defeated."
It sounded logical, but in reality, it wasn't entirely true.
Speed alone wasn't enough.
In fact, to some extent, speed wasn't even the decisive factor.
"You have enough stamina to sustain your top speed. At the same time, your solid fundamentals ensure your technique doesn't fall apart while sprinting at full pace."
Anyone who's sprinted knows, it's impossible to maintain top speed for long. It forms a parabola.
But in Gao Shen's past life, what made Gareth Bale so terrifying?
Was it just speed?
No.
It was that he could maintain top speed over long distances and even accelerate repeatedly during bursts. Over 90 minutes, he could sprint full-out multiple times even in the closing stages.
What enabled this?
Insane endurance!
Most people only noticed Bale's speed. But they forgot that even back in high school, in addition to football, he played rugby, hockey, and competed in long-distance running, all of which contributed to his incredible physical development and stamina.
Most players, after a full-speed sprint, need time to recover, catch their breath. Even someone like Cristiano Ronaldo didn't always track back, saving energy for forward bursts.
But Bale, thanks to his stamina, could sprint repeatedly without fading. Who could stop that?
How do you defend against a Gareth Bale who keeps sprinting and accelerating, and can finish with pinpoint shots while running at full speed?
Unless you park the bus or flood his area with numbers, there really isn't a better answer.
This was also the real reason Gareth Bale's career declined after joining Real Madrid in Gao Shen's past life.
When the injuries started piling up, when his endurance faded, and when he was moved to the right flank, where he couldn't make the most of his strengths, his performances declined.
Real Madrid isn't a charity, and Florentino Pérez isn't a fool. Spending that much money on Gareth Bale must've involved a comprehensive and calculated evaluation.
Back in 2013, the valuation of footballers in European football hadn't yet spiraled out of control the way it would in later years. The fact that such a high transfer fee was paid for Gareth Bale at that time shows that the Welshman already possessed outstanding qualities—very, very eye-catching qualities.
Now, Gao Shen's mission was to unearth those qualities ahead of time.
…
Manchester Derby.
As Gareth Bale crossed the halfway line from the back, raising his hand to signal for a pass from Javi Martinez, he noticed that the Spanish midfielder didn't play the ball to him directly. Instead, he passed it into the space ahead.
Robinho dragged O'Shea out of position, while Fletcher and Carrick were getting ready to double up on him.
In that split second, everything Gao Shen had drilled into Bale during training over the past few days, his role in the system, his positioning, flashed through his mind.
The Welshman didn't hesitate. As soon as Fletcher stepped up to press Robinho, Bale accelerated from the outside at full speed.
At that moment, all eyes were on Robinho, who had received the ball.
The Brazilian quickly laid it off to Suarez just outside the penalty area.
Seeing the Uruguayan drop deeper, Bale—sprinting at full pace down the left—let out a shout, alerting his teammates to his run. Suarez glanced left before controlling the ball, clearly aware of what was happening.
Then, with his left foot, Suarez stopped the ball and, using the outside of his right foot, played it into the right area of the box.
Gareth Bale, sprinting at full throttle like a bolt of lightning, sped past Fletcher and O'Shea, darted into the penalty area, and latched onto Suarez's pass.
The Uruguayan's delivery was perfect, neither too strong nor too soft, just like they'd practiced all week.
As Bale caught up with the ball, he felt that familiar rhythm from training. Without taking a touch, he struck it with his left foot.
The ball stayed low, skimming the turf as it rocketed toward the bottom left corner of United's goal.
Foster had already begun shifting his weight to the left, but before he could adjust, the ball slammed off the inside of the right post and flew into the net.
"Goallllllllllllllllllllllll!!!!!!"
"It's been less than two minutes since kick-off!"
"Oh my God! Less than two minutes into the match, Manchester City's first attack—Gareth Bale tears down the left and unleashes an incredible left-footed strike to open the scoring for City!"
"One–nil!"
After unleashing the shot, Bale lost his balance and fell to the ground, but he immediately popped back up and continued sprinting off the pitch without missing a beat.
"My God, what a start from Manchester City!"
"Less than two minutes in. The buildup was so calm, and then—suddenly—Gareth Bale!"
"We had no idea where he came from!"
"It was like a celetial being descended—appearing out of nowhere on the left side of United's box to meet Suarez's pass and hammer it home. Absolutely incredible!"
"Remember this name: Gareth Bale!"
"A 20-year-old Welshman!"
"Every match under Gao Shen brings a new surprise and tonight, it's Gareth Bale!"
(To be continued.)