Chapter Ninety-Four: Challenging Atletico Madrid
This is the end of Granada's first European journey to the group stage. This is undoubtedly very disappointing for Yan Feng and others. Just as the Chinese attach great importance to the AFC Champions League, the Europeans also attach great importance to the European arena. Achievable is already so, and there is nothing more that can be done. I can only look forward to fighting again next year.
In the Europa League, they failed to qualify for the group stage. But this is already a very good result for the Granada team in the first year of participation. Moreover, there are two sides to the failure to qualify.
In terms of the overall strength of the Granada team, it is actually unable to cope with the two-front battle, let alone the three-line battle. Now that it's like this, it's not necessarily a bad thing. They can put all their energy into the fight for third place in the league.
The third place in La Liga seems to be inadequate, but it represents the qualification for the Champions League next season. It was the Champions League, not the Europa League. It's the top league among European clubs.
Speaking of the third place in La Liga, it has to be said that Atletico Madrid, which is currently occupying this position.
Atletico Madrid remain strong this season. For most of the time so far, Atletico Madrid has been in third place, and there have even been times when they climbed to second place.
In this round, Atletico Madrid is only five points away from Real Madrid at the top of the table, and only three points away from Barcelona in second place. With this gap at this point, with five rounds of matches left in La Liga, it is still possible to get the title in mind.
Granada are currently just two points clear of Atletico Madrid. If Atletico Madrid can win this game, not only can they overtake the third place in one fell swoop, but also the competition for the championship is also possible.
For these reasons, this La Liga match between Granada and Atletico Madrid. It will be the most crucial battle that will determine the fate of both teams.
The importance of this game cannot be overstated. Given the importance of this game. Its attention is no less popular than the match between Granada and Real Madrid some time ago. Seriously, this match is definitely the most watched game of the round.
After returning from England, the Granada team did not have time to mourn the defeat in the Europa League, and went straight to intense preparations.
In order to prepare for this match, the Granada team directly conducted closed training. And the players are asked to try not to give interviews to the media before this, so as not to be disturbed by the outside world.
Because of these measures of the Granada team, the outside media cannot hype up this time like the Real Madrid game. Of course, the media also tried to provoke a war of words, but under the silence of the Granada team, nothing could be provoked.
Although there is no media hype, the level of attention that this game has received is still very high. Especially in China, it has become a must-talk topic among many fans.
It was in this situation that Yan Feng and his teammates silently completed the preparations.
The 34th round of La Liga officially kicked off at the Beatson Caldesche Stadium, the home of Atletico Madrid.
On the day of the match, more than 50,000 fans poured into the Beatson Caldesche Stadium, filling the entire stadium stands.
In order to be able to cheer for the Granada team in this crucial match, this time, nearly 1,000 Granada fans accompanied the team to the away stadium.
Fans dressed in the black jerseys of Granada's away team became a sight to behold in the stands. In a sea of red and white people, it is such a awakening star that is outstanding.
Yan Feng and his teammates found their fans at a glance. In this important away game, although there are only a handful of them compared to the opposing fans, it can bring them enough mental support.
'Come on, the fans are watching us up there, today we must not lose the chain. Yan Feng and his teammates carried out a pre-game mobilization.
"Come on!"
When all the pre-game preparations and ceremonies were completed, the game officially began.
At Atletico Madrid's home stadium, they still have the 442 that they use most often and play the best of their team's strengths. It's a flat formation.
With 'Grid' Griezmann and the old 'Golden Boy' Torres as the two forwards, coupled with the two wings unique to this formation, the firepower in attack and the threat to the penalty area are very strong.
For the Granada team, Pirlo still sacrificed the most commonly used formation of 4231.
Seeing this formation, many people may say that the Granada team lacks changes. In the face of a game that requires an all-out victory, there is no more attacking arrangement. This is a deficiency of the Granada team or Pirlo.
But actually. The 4231 array is more in line with the 442 array. Because the 4231 array itself evolved to target the 442 array. This is probably the most beneficial aspect for Granada in this game.
Despite the advantage in formation, the game ended up seeing players playing on the field. No matter how restrained the formation is, there are enough good players to execute.
As soon as the game began, Atletico Madrid played on both wings and began to attack the two wings of the Granada team.
Speaking of which, attacking Granada's flanks is the absolute right thing to do. Compared with the midfield composed of Yan Feng, Lin Fan and Costa, the two wings are relatively much weaker.
Attacking from two flanks and then playing in the middle of the box was a real test for Granada's defence. And Atletico Madrid's impact with No. 10 Carrasco and No. 6 Kokai respectively achieved good results.
Instead, once the ball is played into the box from the wing, Griezmann and Torres will test defenders such as Lomban. And defenders such as Lomban and Ingason will not be easy to face when facing Griezmann and Torres.
The aging Torres is still more defensive, while the young and strong Griezmann who is still on the rise will have a hard time. It often takes two people to see Griezmann, but they still can't lock him down.
With the advantage of home and the sharp attack of the forward, Atletico Madrid put a lot of pressure on the defense of the Granada team after the start of the game.
And Granada, after struggling to fend off the attacks of Atletico Madrid, also launched attacks from time to time.
Atletico Madrid didn't have the toughness of Manchester United's defense, but they defended well with the advantage of the field. Granada's attack, while threatening, was not easy enough to break through the goal.
In the first ten minutes of the game, Atletico Madrid had some advantage on the field, but it was not huge. After ten minutes, the Granada team, which had gradually adapted to it, was also getting better. Their attacks are much more forceful. This allowed them to gradually regain some of their disadvantages.
By the time the game was twenty minutes into the game, the two sides were already in a stalemate.
The evenly matched battle will be the most intense, and from this time on, the game has really entered the white-hot stage. The pace and intensity of the game was at a very high level.
The competition is fierce, and it often means that the confrontation is intense. This inevitably leads to an increase in the number of fouls.
The number of fouls on both sides rose rapidly, and after just 30 minutes, both sides received at least five or more fouls.
There were many fouls, although both sides were about the same, but for the Granada team playing away, it was a loss. Because there is something called a 'home whistle' in this world.
When the game came to the 33rd minute, possession was in the hands of Atletico Madrid, who attacked.
Yan Feng was concentrating on defense. Today his direct opponent is Sauer Nigus. The young Nigus may not be as famous as Griezmann, but he is no less powerful. Yan Feng didn't dare to take it lightly when defending him.
No, seeing Negus running into his defense zone, Yan Feng immediately approached the past.
Yan Feng kept a certain distance to follow Glass, not giving the opponent a gap to catch the ball. But just as Yan Feng turned his head to look at the location of the football, Negus suddenly approached and hugged Yan Feng's arm.
Yan Feng felt his opponent approaching and exerting pressure on his arm, and when he was using his strength to resist it, the force suddenly disappeared. Then a terrible scream rang out. "Ahh
Yan Feng turned his head when he heard this, and saw that Negus was lying on the ground in a very exaggerated form. "Eh~ I don't seem to have the ability of internal strength, which is only available in the martial arts world!"
"Beep!" followed by a whistle.
"I'm super!" Yan Feng realized that he seemed to have been hacked.
Soon, Yan Feng saw the referee running over quickly, and he was taking out the cards from his pocket as he ran.
I can't be super, isn't it! You can't be trying to give me cards, right? Yan Feng was shocked and angry in his heart. hurriedly greeted the referee and explained: "Referee, it's none of my business." I didn't even run into him. He ran over and stuck it on me, and then he collapsed. I dare say he dived. β
The referee ignored Yan Feng and went to check on the situation of Negus first.
Seeing a referee coming, Negus was lying on the ground and hurriedly wailed more vigorously, and even rolled over.
"Fake, it's all fake. Referee, don't let him fool you. Yan Feng saw that Neggs had a referee's face like this, and secretly said that it was broken, and explained anxiously.
"Red card!red card!red card!~~~" At this time, the fans around the stadium began to shout in unison.
When he heard the 'red card', Yan Feng's face turned pale for a while. Nema, this is a human life. "Referee, don't be fooled. β
After the referee checked Negus for a while, he stood up and faced Yan Feng, but his eyes were on the cards in his hand. The referee's gaze shifted back and forth between the red and yellow cards in his hand, and he seemed to be a little hesitant.
In the end, the referee took a yellow card and raised it to Yan Feng.
"Oh! how can this be?" Yan Feng was depressed for a while, but he was also a little relieved in his heart. When the referee just floated on the red card, it really scared him.
"Shhhhhh
Not satisfied? Lao Tzu was cheated with a yellow card, who to reason with? Yan Feng is really very hot. He was dissatisfied with the referee blindly showing him cards, and even more dissatisfied with Negus who pretended to be dead on the ground.
"Super, Nimade, how can Spain do some shameless actors!" Yan Feng was powerless to change the fact that he was warned by a yellow card in addition to scolding.
Yan Feng was very depressed, and his teammates were also very unhappy. Many people surrounded the referee and asked for an explanation. And Longban even stood in front of Negus, bowed his head and scolded: "Nimad, get up for me, you son of a bitch." β
Hearing Lomban's words, the other Atletico Madrid players beside Negus immediately became angry, and No. 14 Gabi directly pushed Lombana. Then the others came over and pointed at the lumban, pushing and scolding.
"What are you doing, do you want to fight?" Yan Feng, who was already angry, couldn't help it now, and directly stepped forward to resist Gabi.
βSHIT!ββ Hair Q"''''''
Players from both sides in the vicinity also gathered around and joined in the scolding and pushing. A conflict ensued.
There is a danger of escalation of the conflict. The referee, who had just given Yan Feng a yellow card, hurriedly rushed to the middle of the two sides.
It took a lot of effort for the referee to separate the players from both sides.
If it weren't for Yan Feng and the others not wanting to have a fight or something like that, this conflict would not be so easy to settle.
"Shhh~ Get out, Granada's ''''''" Although the conflict was stopped by the referee in time, the fans did not spare the Granada team.
Listening to the boos and scolding in the stands, the Granada team was furious. And Yan Feng, who was cheated with a yellow card, was naturally very angry. Yan Feng couldn't stop suppressing his anger in his heart. "Calm down. Don't be impulsive. That's not worth it. β
To be honest, Yan Feng really wanted to shout at the stands to shut up. Then there is the turn to pull Negus up and beat him up. Helplessly, these are all things that you can't do as a professional footballer.
As soon as he thought of the Negus, Yan Feng couldn't help but glare at him. But when he looked at Negus, Negus, who was rubbing his chest and standing up under the examination of the team doctor, gave Yan Feng a smug and hidden smile back.
"Super! Yan Feng scolded angrily again.
No matter how angry Yan Feng was in his heart, no matter how innocent he was in fact, an unchangeable fact was that he got a yellow card. Moreover, Matdeletico took advantage of this to get a free-kick opportunity.
The penalty was taken at a distance from the Granada goal, and it was a bit far away. However, a set-piece tactic can be played.
"Keep an eye on good people, you can't give them a chance. Yan Feng loudly reminded his teammates to defend the opponent's set-piece tactics.
The players on the field of Granada try to stand in good positions and keep an eye on the good guys. But people will be unlucky, and they will have to stuff their teeth when they drink cold water.
The Granada team marked the man very well, and he also defended the first shot. But they can't stop the luck of their opponents. The ball that was pushed out of the box by Granada was whipped straight up by Carrasco and then kicked into their own. But the football was changing direction and flew into the far corner of the Granada goal.
βGOAL!!!!!β
1:0. Granada is behind.