Chapter 337: Defeat the Bat Legion

After setting their targets, the confidence of Atletico Madrid's players has never been greater.

On 23 September, three days after the match against Barcelona, the team will travel to face Valencia.

Originally, the season had just begun, and the competition schedule did not need to be so dense, but due to the power struggle between La Liga and the Spanish Football Federation, the new season of La Liga was suspended for two weeks just after the first round, and when the schedule was rescheduled, the time for the game had to be compressed in September.

Valencia is Spain's third largest city, and Valencia FC is also a long-established powerhouse in Spain, finishing third in the league last season, and at the turn of the century, Valencia even reached the Champions League final for two consecutive seasons.

It's a pity that they failed in the Champions League final twice and failed to make a breakthrough in the European arena.

As they entered the new millennium, Valencia gradually fell behind Barcelona and Real Madrid in the competition, but apart from these two teams, Valencia still performed very well in the league, they can reach the Champions League almost every season, and maintain a consistent performance in the top four in the league.

Valencia finished third in the league last season, but this season, two of Valencia's key players have left.

Striker Villa was taken away by Barcelona for 40 million euros, while the core of the midfield Silva was taken by Premier League upstart Manchester City for 30 million euros!

Another main striker, Nikkic, was also taken away by Premier League side Birmingham City for seven million euros.

Last season, Valencia's main squad was suddenly missing three players.

However, since the start of the season, Valencia's form does not seem to be affected by the departure of the main team in the slightest.

In the three league games, Valencia won 3-1 away against Malaga, 1-0 at home to Racing Santander and 2-1 away to Hercus.

Three wins in three games, nine points and a goal difference behind Atletico Madrid.

Now in the standings, there are currently three teams with nine points, in addition to Atletico Madrid and Valencia, Sevilla also started the tournament with three consecutive wins.

It's just that Valencia and Sevilla haven't met strong opponents after the first three rounds, so public opinion generally believes that Atletico Madrid's three consecutive wins seem more valuable, because their victory also includes a game like the victory over Barcelona!

And after this game, it is destined that one team's winning streak will be ended.

Valencia naturally did not want to lose at home to Atletico Madrid, and in his pre-match press conference, Valencia manager Unai Emery was confident of Valencia's home win over Atletico Madrid.

"Atletico Madrid did show good form since the start of the league but this game is our home stadium and I don't think Valencia will be any weaker than Atletico Madrid. Valencia, playing at home, will be fighting for the win! ”

The local media in Valencia are also very confident.

The first is the results of the two sides.

Valencia are unbeaten in the last two decades at home to Atletico Madrid, with the exception of a one-goal defeat in 2002-2003!

Valencia put on a show of past results, this behavior is more like whistling to embolden themselves, after all, after Atletico Madrid's victory over Barcelona, Valencia's media dream is still very uncertain about the current strength of this Atletico Madrid team.

Valencia's midfielder Juan Mata also said in an interview that Valencia will go all out to win at home and maintain their winning streak.

When Gao Bo studied the current Valencia team, he found that there were still many players in their squad that Gao Bo was very familiar with.

Goalkeeper Cesar, of course he is not the same Cesar of the Brazilian national team, but this goalkeeper is also a famous player in Spain.

Of course, the story that most influenced the fans on the Cesar was undoubtedly in the 2001-2002 Champions League final. At that time, Cesar played as the main goalkeeper of Real Madrid, but in the 68th minute of the game, Cesar was unexpectedly injured, and Casillas was ordered to be in danger, and since then Casillas has been firmly in the position of Real Madrid's main goalkeeper.

If it's a story with Casillas as the main character, in this story, the unlucky ghost is Cesar, who lost his main position because of an injury.

Since then, Cesar has moved to various teams and also played briefly at Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League, but he has not made many appearances.

Cesar returned to Spain last season to join Valencia and quickly became the main goalkeeper for the Bats.

Although Cesar's experience seems unlucky, as the main goalkeeper of the first phase of the Galaxy Battleship at that time, Cesar's strength is beyond doubt.

In addition to Cesar, Valencia also includes Juan Mata!

The Chelsea-winning career Grand Slam player is now a promising star in Valencia's midfield, where he plays the Bats up front as a midfielder.

In addition to Mata, Valencia also has Joaquin, Mathieu, Soldado, Alba and other well-known stars in the team.

It can be said that Valencia's strength should definitely not be underestimated.

Gao Bo also emphasized this point with the players during the pre-match preparations.

The opponent is also a team that has won three consecutive matches, and if the players of Atletico Madrid do not know the strength of the opponent, it is not certain who will win and who will lose at the Mestali Stadium.

.......

On the evening of 23 September, the Mestali Stadium was packed, with more than 50,000 Valencia fans creating a huge noise of decibels at their home stadium.

Players from both sides enter in line.

Valencia's starting XI was not too much of a surprise, as all of their main players started the game.

"Valencia sent the main lineup for this game, goalkeeper Cesar, right-back Miguel, center-back combination Navarro and Maduro, left-back Mathieu, two midfielders Tino Costa and Albelda, right midfielder Joaquin, midfielder Mata, left wing-back Domingos, striker Aduris!"

After the commentator read Valencia's starting names on the commentary bench, another commentator, Matteo, continued.

"The main team is out, compared to Valencia, Atletico Madrid's starting lineup has changed a lot compared to their previous list. Goalkeeper De Gea, central defenders Godin and Boateng partnered, left-back Antonio López, right-back Barella, in midfield, Mario Suarez started in place of Modric, and Thiago Silva replaced Raul Garcia, two midfielders were rested, there were also two personnel changes in the forward line, Diego Costa replaced Aguero in the starting line, and Reyes was also on the bench for this game, and the starting player was 18-year-old Mane!! This match Atletico Madrid has six personnel changes! ”

This is because this match is only three days after Atletico Madrid's last game, and Gao Bo must give his players enough rest, while Valencia's last game was on September 19 and they have an extra day of rest than Atletico Madrid. Valencia plays at home and has an extra day of rest than Atletico Madrid, and it is really not easy for Atletico Madrid to win this game! ”

The two commentators sang and harmonized, and the players from both sides had already entered the pitch.

Gao Bo and Unai Emery shook hands with each other and exchanged pleasantries, before returning to the dugout.

For Emery, Gao Bo was quite familiar in his previous life, and Emery in his previous life later came to Sevilla and led Sevilla to three consecutive Europa League titles, during which time the Europa League was also ridiculed as the Sevilla Cup.

Unai Emery is undoubtedly a manager who is familiar with Spanish football and has a lot of ability.

.....

The opposing coach is quite capable and Valencia is also good.

So fifteen minutes into the game, Atletico Madrid conceded a goal!

Aduris!!!!!!!!! Pretty!!!!!!!! "The commentator Aduris is cheering for the player Aduris.

Valencia's No.11 striker Aduris beat Boateng in the box, leaping high and heading home!

And before that, Valencia's counterattack was quite fast!

Midfielder Albadar received a precise diagonal pass from Juan Mata on the right and sent it into the box.

Aduris' powerful header left De Gea helpless.

Valencia scored, and the score became 1-0!

At the Mestali Stadium, the Valencia players cheered and Aduris celebrated as they chased the Valencia players.

Gao Bo's face was very ugly.

At the beginning of the game, Atletico Madrid took the initiative, and they used the continuous passing cooperation in the front court to suppress Valencia after the game started.

However, Valencia's only one counterattack created a goal!

This made the Atletico Madrid players very helpless, and they had a few more shots on goal before Valencia counterattacked.

It's a pity that they were all turned away by Cesar!

"Fifteen minutes into the first half, Valencia took the lead, and now Atletico Madrid are in trouble, and they will next face Valencia, who are the best team to defend and counter-attack!!" Aduris sat back in his seat.

The Mestali Stadium is still cheering.

"That's right, especially since they have two fast wingers and a midfielder who can threaten the ball at any moment!" Mateo chimed in.

Mane's attacking side happened to be close to Gobo's side, so Gobo immediately called Mane over.

"Hey, listen! Sadio !! Gao Bo grabbed Mane, who looked thin and weak, and said, "You need to strengthen your breakthrough on the wings!" Use your speed and explosiveness to break through Miguel!!! Do you understand?! ”

Sadio Mane, who has just come out of the academy, doesn't look like much confidence.

"I...."Mane was a little hesitant, Valencia's main right-back Miguel, and he was just a small man from Senegal, could he really do it?

"Don't think so much, Sadio! I brought you to Madrid because of your strength!! Trust me, Sadio!! You can definitely get past him with ease!! Gao Bo patted Mane on the shoulder and said, "Go up!" Don't think so much! If you have the chance, you will surprise him!! ”

Before Mane could say anything, he was pushed back to the pitch by Gao Bo.

Gao Bo naturally has confidence in Mane, if you want to talk about speed, there is no player in the Atletico Madrid team who can match Mane's speed! And Mane shocked Gao Bo even more with his explosiveness!

Mane's ability to make a name for himself in the Premier League in the future also largely depends on his explosiveness.

Miguel is an experienced right-back, but if Mane relies on speed to break him, Miguel really doesn't have a good solution!

On the football field, speed and explosiveness are sometimes unreasonable.

It didn't take long for Mane to have the ball on the left!

Mane's fundamentals are very good, he stops the ball and then looks at Miguel who comes up to defend!

"What are you hesitating about!! Sadio !!! ”

Gao Bo put his hands to his mouth, forming a temporary megaphone, and then yelled at Mane in the distance!

Mane paused, then gritted his teeth!

It's not easy to get a start!!

Spelled !!

Sadio Mane immediately approached right-back Miguel with the ball.

Miguel was no exception, looking back and looking left and right, then staring at Mane.

Miguel doesn't care too much about Mane, the black guy who looks like a bamboo pole is too intimidating, and if he is facing a player like Reyes now, Miguel will not dare to look left and right, and will want to strengthen the defense in other positions.

And at the moment when Mane approached him, in Miguel seriously, the black guy opposite suddenly disappeared from his eyes!

Miguel hurriedly turned around, but Miguel, who reacted at this time, only saw Mane's back!

"Good startup speed!!!" Aduris exclaimed from the stands.

You can see it from the stands.

Mane went from almost static to moving, accelerating in an instant! And the careless Miguel simply didn't have time to react!!

After the speed increased, Mane turned into a black shadow, and he didn't use any special skills, pure speed was enough for him to pass Miguel!

Then Mane played the ball into the box near the baseline!

In the box, Diego Costa pressed the defender behind him and then blocked the ball with his thigh!!

“GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!!!!!!!”

"Diego Costa!!!!!!!!!"

"Atletico Madrid equalised shortly after conceding the goal, and the scorer was the starting striker of the game, Diego Costa! And 80% of the credit for this ball goes to the head of the 18-year-old Mane, and his sudden start was really too fast, so fast that Miguel couldn't react at all!!!! ”

After the goal, Diego Costa also knew who took the most credit for the goal, so after the goal, Diego pointed to Mane and motioned for him to come up and celebrate.

The other Atletico Madrid players surrounded the two in the middle, and many players put their hands on Mane's head, shredding the young man's hair.

Before this, Mane's presence in the team was not high, after all, in the eyes of the players in the first team, Mane is no different from other players in the academy, because in the training of the first team, Gao Bo often selects some young players from the academy to train with the players in the first team, and Mane has never started in the league, and it is normal that he cannot attract the attention of other players.

After all, in a professional team, there is a huge gap between the first-team players who have regular appearances and those young players who are teenagers, and that is the gap in strength.

And when Sadio Mane shows what he can do on the pitch, the players will naturally see him as part of the team and let him fit into the group.

And this breakthrough also gave Mane confidence.

In the next game, Miguel was broken by Mane enough, and the Valencia right-back is estimated to be Mane's whizzing in front of him after this game.

And Mane's breakthrough naturally caused him to attract the aggression of Valencia players, Mane frequently fell to the ground in the front, and Atletico Madrid also frequently got set-pieces in the front.

Set-pieces are a very important means of attack for Gao Bo, and after several attempts, Atletico Madrid finally gained through set-pieces in the 38th minute of the first half.

Sadio Mane broke down the left to create a set-piece, and then Griezmann came to take a free-kick, this time not to pass the ball into the box, but waited until the attacker in the Atletico Madrid box flattened the opposition defence, and then Griezmann suddenly crossed the ball near the top of the arc.

Thiago Cardoso meets the ball and shoots the ball into the goal from the left corner!

Before the first half was over, Atletico Madrid overtook the score!

And after Atletico Madrid took the lead, Valencia's defensive counterattack naturally couldn't be played.

In the 68th minute of the second half, Griezmann received a pass from Kante on the right side and dribbled into the penalty area.

Football is in the back of the net again!

Three to one, Atletico Madrid sealed the win!

In the games that followed, neither side scored again.

Atletico Madrid made it four wins in a row since the start of the tournament, while Valencia's winning streak was ended by Atletico Madrid.