Dick should indeed be in high spirits - he still has a considerable grasp of Panathinaikos - not because he is overconfident, but because although Greek football has also made a lot of progress now, most of the top players in their country play abroad, and there are no top players who play at home.

It's just that the Greek team, their players are very physical, very good running, two years later they are under the command of Rehhagel with a beautiful defensive counterattack to defeat all kinds of giants, although Panathinaikos does not have a manager like Rehhagel, but they can enter the quarterfinals, in the group stage, relying on more solid tactics and more stable performance than the opponent.

Against such a consistent team, what Atletico have to do is not make any mistakes in the game and use the most solid way to win.

"Solid midfield, steady progress, don't give them a chance to counter-attack, use technique against their body, take the opportunity and make the final decision, understand?"

This was Dick's strategy before the game began.

Although an opponent like Panathinaikos doesn't seem to be exciting enough, playing in the knockout round of the Champions League makes all Atletico Madrid players extremely excited and serious!

In this state, the performance of the Atletico Madrid players on the field has also reached an extremely high level.

Dick didn't slack off this game, the last game where he rested all the main players was to let them concentrate on playing the Champions Cup, although he didn't use goal cards - because in the last group game, Dick smashed four goal cards in the game in order to take a breath, and while smashing Galatasaray to pieces, he also left only seven cards in his inventory, which needed to save a little use.

In this game, Atletico Madrid's players completely controlled the midfield, and then kept looking for opportunities, never rushing, and did not give Panathinaikos any chance to counterattack, Atletico Madrid attacked in the most traditional way, and in the 67th minute of the game, Belleron won the game with a beautiful direct free kick!

"Atletico showed their strong team style in this game! They didn't rush, they didn't rush, they just controlled the situation on the field and then kept going, forward, forward. In the end, they won the game by one chance, they completely controlled the midfield throughout the game, and did not give Panathinaikos any chance to play at home, in this case there is such a performance, it is enough to prove that Atletico Madrid also has a temperament that is not shocked in the Champions Cup, they will not be arrogant in the face of strong teams, and they will not be arrogant in the face of weak teams, only such a temperament can achieve good results in the Champions Cup! ”

In the first leg of the quarter-finals, Atletico Madrid were the only three La Liga teams to win - in other matches, Real Madrid swallowed the bitter fruit of defeat at the Olympic Stadium in Munich, they lost 2-1 to Bayern Munich, although the loss was not much, but for Real Madrid, such a defeat also put them in a very dangerous situation.

Deportivo La Coruna, on the other hand, lost to Manchester United by two goals at home, which made them almost lose hope of reaching the last four, and Atletico Madrid became the best La Liga team, plus their advantage in the league, it is enough to prove that Atletico Madrid is indeed the best team in Spain now!

After leading the team back from Greece, Dick and his disciples were warmly welcomed by the Atletico Madrid fans, in their opinion, Atletico Madrid equaled the best result in history, that is, there is no doubt about the results of reaching the Champions Cup final, winning away at Panathinaikos, entering the semi-finals will not have any problem, and the semi-final opponent is Bayern or Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid seems to have a psychological advantage - they beat Real Madrid in the league, Dick has maintained an unbeaten record against Real Madrid after taking office, And Bayern was also defeated by Atletico Madrid in the Super Cup, and there will be no problem in reaching the final!

Fans can be so optimistic, Dick naturally can't be optimistic like this, won before and can win now, that's two different things, far from it, in the Champions Cup last year, Bayern beat Real Madrid into scum in the second stage of the group stage, both were big wins with four goals, a 4-1 game 4-2, but when they met again in the semi-finals, they were reversed and eliminated by Real Madrid, and finally achieved Real Madrid's eighth Champions Cup championship, Atletico Madrid did have an advantage in the face of Real Madrid, but in the semi-finals, It's not certain that they won't be beaten by Real Madrid......

What's more, in the process of Atletico Madrid's victory in the UEFA Super Cup this season, Bayern had three big players unable to play, so that Atletico Madrid won the game, and now Bayern's state and morale have gradually reached the peak, and they will no longer be like the UEFA Super Cup in the semi-finals, and it will also be a tough battle!

Besides, Atletico Madrid haven't reached the semi-finals yet.

Dick was arrogant, but his arrogance was shown to others, and when faced with a strong enemy, he would be more cautious.

After returning from Greece, Dick sent all the substitutes in the home game against Zaragoza, allowing the main team to concentrate on preparing for the Champions Cup, and in the end the game Atletico Madrid's substitutes and opponents drew 1-1, Real Madrid and Valencia gritted their teeth and won a victory each, and the gap with Atletico Madrid was reduced to nine points.

Dick didn't care about this, because there were only five rounds left in the league, all they wanted was two wins, and now the focus was on the Champions Cup!

On April 10, Atletico welcomed Panathinaikos at home!

After a week's rest, Atletico Madrid's main players came on the pitch vigorously, and they continued to use the tactics of stabilizing the midfield and waiting for opportunities to attack, in the face of such tactics, Panathinaikos, who lacked top players, did not have a good solution, and they could only be passively entangled with Atletico Madrid in the midfield.

In such a confrontation, it is a matter of who can create chances and seize chances, which is obviously more beneficial to Atletico, although Panathinaikos seized the opportunity to equalize the aggregate score for a while, but then, goals from Jadel, Belleron and Camoranesi allowed Atletico to beat Panathinaikos 3-1 at home, killing their opponents with a total score of 4-1 over two legs and advancing to the semi-finals!

There are two games left to go until their all-time best Champions Cup result!

Although Atletico fans almost guessed that there would be no problem in reaching the semi-finals when they saw the opponents in the group, they were all thrilled when they actually saw the team reach the semi-finals and create their best Champions Cup result since the 1973-1974 season!

What makes them even more excited is that in the other game, Real Madrid defeated Bayern Munich 2-0 at home after a tough battle at home and entered the semi-finals, and they will be Atletico Madrid's opponents in the Champions Cup semi-finals!

To be honest, playing Bayern, Atletico Madrid fans still feel a little scared, Bayern's performance in the Champions Cup in recent years is not worse than Real Madrid at all, but the luck is a little worse than Real Madrid, plus Atletico Madrid has only been to Bayern once, not very familiar, really against Bayern, Atletico Madrid may not be able to win, but against Real Madrid - facing an opponent who has just been killed by them in the league, Atletico Madrid fans feel that entering the final is really not a trouble......

Compared to their excitement, the whole UEFA is celebrating - Atletico Madrid meets Real Madrid, this is the semi-final they want to see the most, the reason is simple, because this encounter is the first Madrid derby in the 50-year history of the Champions Cup!

Before the Champions Cup was revised, there would hardly be a local derby in the Champions Cup, because only the league winner and the Champions Cup winner would be able to participate in the Champions Cup! But after the expansion, this situation will happen many times, such as the Milan derby, the century derby...... It's just that before this time, there had not been even a single weighty derby in the Champions Cup! The Madrid derby will be the first time in the history of the Champions Cup!

Such a good gimmick! It is not in vain that they let Atletico Madrid take advantage, and met the weakest Panathinaikos in the quarterfinals in the knockout round, and now Atletico Madrid has successfully qualified, and Real Madrid is also a difficult comeback Bayern success, in the semi-finals, the two teams from Madrid City, will fight to the death, in order to enter the final of the Champions Cup!

Real Madrid is going to attack the ninth Champions Cup, while Atletico Madrid is trying to catch up with history and then try to surpass it!

Compared with the Madrid derby in this half, the game between Manchester United and Bayer Leverkusen in the other half seems to be less eye-catching, although Leverkusen is also the dark horse of this season's Champions Cup, but it does not seem to be as eye-catching as Atletico Madrid, even if the group they are in is higher, and the game will be more difficult, but Dick is a person who can naturally make all eyes look at himself!

What's more, the gimmick of the Madrid derby is indeed too big, especially the first weighty derby in the history of the Champions Cup.

"Real Madrid are a great team, I have never denied that, and they deserve the title of the best club of the twentieth century. It's just that Atletico are also doing well now, and the lack of experience in the Champions Cup that once plagued us has now been very good, and these two semi-finals may be the two most important games of the season, but I still hope that Atletico can reach the final and even win the Champions Cup. ”

Dick showed a strong sense of confidence in the interview after the matchup, while Bosque was a little more low-key: "Atletico have been doing well lately, and the league dominance has shown it, but no team has been able to maintain the top form all the time, and their advantage in the league has started to shrink. Now is a good opportunity and we will try to beat Atletico in the Champions Cup to gain a certain advantage. We started the season in a big problem and we were too far behind in the league. However, the Champions Cup is an opportunity to make amends, as there is no point gap and both sides are equal. We're going to try to get the win and comfort the fans, the Madrid derby is always sacred, and playing in the Champions League is the first time for us, so it's something we'd love to see two games against Atletico at such a level playing field. ”

"The two semi-finals between Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid attracted a lot of attention! Of course, there are two league games to play before that, which is a bit of a disadvantage for Real Madrid, unless they can give up the league to focus on the Champions League so that they can be in better shape to face Atletico, which is a difficult option for Bosque. ”