February 23, Wanda Metropolitano Stadium.

The stadium is the new football stadium of Atletico Madrid, named after the team's president, Resezzo, and officially opened this season. In February 2015, China's Wanda Group bought a 20% stake in Atletico Madrid for 45 million euros, becoming the team's second largest shareholder. However, Wanda Group rarely asks about the team, and it can even be said that it basically does not participate in the specific operation of the team.

The first leg of the Champions League last-16 match between AC Milan and Atletico Madrid was played here, and the players from both teams had already arrived on the pitch and returned to the dressing room after the warm-up. Inzaghi didn't explain much in the locker room, just told the players to play as they usually train, not to be afraid of Atletico's high pressing, to combine defense and ball control, to open the distance, and not to let Atletico come around.

On Atletico Madrid's side, Simeone's core tactic is to form a small area of pressing against AC Milan under high pressure. It's their usual style, and some technical teams feel they play dirty. Atletico Madrid's play is indeed not very clean, but many of them are within the rules of the game, sports competition is to learn to use the rules of the game reasonably, as long as you can win, you will not hesitate to do whatever it takes, this is Simeone's coaching philosophy.

The game was about to start, and the players from both teams also walked out of the locker room. Most of the players of these two teams are relatively unfamiliar to each other, and they have never met each other in the competition, but there are a few exceptions, such as some teammates from the national team, like Tang Ling and Zhang Shujie.

Since this is Atletico Madrid's home stadium, when the players walked out of the locker room, Tang Ling was the first to walk out and stood at the door of the AC Milan locker room, he was waiting for Zhang Shujie and the three of them to appear.

The first person to walk out was Yan Tao, and Tang Ling shouted at him: "Yan Tao." ”

Yan Tao was stunned for a moment, turned his head to look, and then laughed: "Are you waiting for me here?"

"I'm waiting for you. ”

Yan Tao walked over, the two shook hands, and then Chen Zihua and Xu Ziyi walked out, and before Tang Ling could speak, the two saw him.

The two walked up with a smile, hugged and shook hands with Tang Ling respectively, and Chen Zihua said, "What are you doing standing here?"

Tang Ling said: "Greetings, why is this also our home field, we have to do our best to be a landlord." ”

Xu Ziyi jokingly said, "You shouldn't be asking us to let you a little, right?"

Tang Ling raised his eyebrows: "It's not certain who loses and who wins." ”

In the end, Zhang Shujie also walked out, and when he saw that his compatriots were all gathered together, he walked over and walked towards Tang Ling.

"Hi, Zhang Shujie. Seeing him coming, Tang Ling smiled and stretched out his hand.

Zhang Shujie also smiled and shook his palm: "What's the matter, your head coach sent you over to beg us for mercy?"

"How could it be? He told me to tell you that you might leave Wanda Stadium with a defeat. ”

"Really? Let's wait and see. ”

"Okay. ”

The two of them spoke, all the time with a smile on their faces, and they didn't see any malice, and in fact they didn't have any malice. It's just that when you get to the pitch later, it's hard to say.

Tang Ling patted the armband on Zhang Shujie's left arm and said, "Yes, now I have become the captain of AC Milan." ”

"It's a good thing, I don't really value that, it's also the restructuring of the team this year, and the club decided to make me the captain. ”

Tang Ling smiled, and Chen Zihua patted everyone: "Don't say it yet, let's stand over first, we're about to appear." ”

Zhang Shujie nodded and said, "Okay." Then he looked at Tang Ling and said, "Let's go, it's over." ”

Several people returned to their own queues, and Zhang Shujie stood at the front of the line, staring ahead with his eyes. Soon after, several referees on duty walked out of the aisle, and the team behind them also moved slowly. On the court, the players of the two teams shook hands, took a group photo, and then returned to their respective places. Zhang Shujie and Gabi picked the sides, Atletico Madrid chose the venue in the first half, and AC Milan chose the right to kick off.

The Atletico fans were very welcoming, of course, for Atletico Madrid, and they welcomed AC Milan to the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, and of course they were welcome to lose here.

Chen Hui and Sun Delong sat in the press box. In the past, Sun Delong was Chen Zihua's full-time reporter, but with Chen Zihua's joining Milan and the internal adjustment of "Sports Weekly", Sun Delong went to La Liga to repay Tang Ling's game.

Andre Silva stood in the middle waiting for the referee's whistle, the referee looked at the watch on his wrist, and five seconds later, he blew the whistle in his mouth, and Silva immediately passed the ball to Chen Zihua, and the game officially began.

Atletico Madrid lined up in a formation of 442 for this game, with goalkeeper Oblak, defenders Felipe, Godin, Savic and Tang Ling, midfielders Saul, Koke, Gabi and Carrasco, and Griezmann and Gameiro in strikers.

AC Milan is in a formation of 352, goalkeeper Donnarumma, defenders Musacchio, Yan Tao and Bonucci, midfielders Rodriguez, Xu Ziyi, Kessie, Chen Zihua and Conte, and forwards Zhang Shujie and Silva.

As soon as AC Milan kicked off, Atletico Madrid pressed up, probably taking advantage of the current physical strength, Milan could only pass the ball to the back for the time being, and this is exactly what Atletico Madrid wants to see.

Kessie conceded the ball under the siege of Cork and Gabi, who immediately handed the ball to Saul, who then passed the ball to Felipe on the wing, who returned the ball and passed it to the front of the box.

Griezmann got the ball, he denied Mousaccio with his right foot, and used his best left foot to kick the goal on the line of the penalty area, which was very powerful, but unfortunately the angle was on the right and the ball was confiscated by Donnarumma.

"Just three minutes into the game, Atletico Madrid had a chance to shoot. Griezmann, their number one striker, has a very high quality shot, but the angle is not tricky enough. ”

Simeone saw Atletico's attack on the sidelines very clearly, although he did not score, but he was satisfied, because his high pressing tactics had an effect, but he only had 60 minutes of time, he had to score before 60 minutes, otherwise the players behind would lose a lot of energy, and they would be unable to defend in the face of AC Milan's counter-attack.

Inzaghi knew what Simeone was up to, and he had already studied the Argentine coach thoroughly. Simeone wanted to go to work first, score another in the opening 10 to 15 minutes of the second half, and then move on to the defensive phase to ensure the win. Inzaghi doesn't eat this, Atletico Madrid's pressing at the beginning doesn't mean anything, AC Milan is just unstable, once they get into the state, the technical flow on the Rossoneri stadium will make the Atletico players run to death and can't get the ball.

(End of chapter)