Chapter 382: Stalemate

Barcelona are well prepared for this match!

In Pep Guardiola's team, almost every player has a defensive task, even including Messi!

Starting from striker Villa, as soon as Barcelona loses the ball, they will immediately start pressing on the spot!

Messi and Pedro are in the position of the two ribs, Xavi and Iniesta behind them are always close to the players of Atletico Madrid who may receive the ball, and behind them there is Mascherano!

And Barcelona's two full-backs have simply become two midfielders, they are flanked by Xavi and Iniesta!

Barcelona formed three dense encirclements in the front court! The aim was to jam Atletico Madrid's forward pass.

In fact, Barcelona's defense has always done that, and the only difference today is that they worked harder than the others!

However, after Atletico Madrid experienced the rush at the beginning of the game, Navas's high block helped Atletico Madrid keep the goal from conceding, and Atletico Madrid, who was playing at home, gradually woke up.

Barcelona's attack was slowly pushed out of the danger zone by Atletico Madrid, and Kante's role was evident during this time.

N'Golo Kante is not a very tall player who doesn't look too strong, but his running ability is very grabbing, and in front of the backline, Kante's presence protects the back line very well!

Barcelona are gradually losing the attacking advantage they had in the opening stages.

And Keylor Navas certainly didn't shine in the opening stages – maybe not a good thing for the media who want to see Navas perform, but it's just a good thing for Atletico Madrid.

If a team always sees a goalkeeper outstanding, it shows that the team's backline is very problematic!

Barcelona were still in possession, but they could only pass on the edge of the box.

Atletico Madrid steadied their ground.

The Atletico Madrid fans in the stands breathed a sigh of relief.

This also includes Cerezo, the president of Atletico Madrid.

Barcelona's opening phase was so fierce that Cerezo wondered if his team would be able to withstand the opposition's attack. However, Navas's wonderful performance, while trying to keep the goal intact, also left a deep impression on Cerezo.

"....... Navas" Cerezo mused the name of the Costa Rican man, he was a football man, but he was sure that a week before he had never heard of a footballer in Costa Rica who could make him think of it!

This is actually normal, Costa Rica is now ranked 73rd in the world, while Spain is ranked 1st.

Will the Chinese table tennis team pay attention to a table tennis team from a country at the bottom of the world rankings?

The answer is clearly no.

"He's doing really well!" Although the name Serezo has not heard much, it does not prevent him from admiring Navas.

Anyway, now this player belongs to Atletico Madrid.

"I don't know where Gao Bo got this player," Gilmarin shook his head.

Gao Bo seems to have a database in his head, and he can immediately find a player who stands out – and it's cheap.

Cerezo smiled, after handing over the transfer rights to Gao Bo, he really didn't know that it would work so well now.

If you keep the rhythm of buying low and selling high.... I'm afraid Atletico Madrid is about to become the number one black store in Europe.

But Cerezo came to his senses immediately.

Atletico Madrid is a team that wants to move to a higher level, and it must not covet the small profit of the current transfer fee.

If Atletico Madrid becomes a big team like Real Madrid, and its annual commercial income is one of the best in Europe, the transfer fee can only be a small amount.

However, if you want to reach the level of Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid may have a long way to go.

........

Pep Guardiola is very sorry.

If Atletico Madrid didn't score a goal while they weren't on a firm footing, the rest of the game wouldn't have been so easy.

Barcelona's attack was frustrated and now the game is slowly falling into a stalemate.

Barcelona couldn't even do a backward pass in front of the Atletico Madrid penalty area, and the Atletico Madrid players tried hard to push the line into the midfield, away from their own dangerous area, and at the same time let the two sides fight in the midfield!

In the 27th minute of the game, Xavi retreated to the back line to get the ball.

Barcelona's two central defenders pulled away to both sides, the two players in the midfield, Mascherano and Iniesta, responded on the left and right, and at the same time the full-backs pressed, Messi returned to the center circle, Pedro pressed to the middle, and Villa pulled to the right space.

It's a standard Barcelona-style attacking formation.

However, Atletico Madrid's response is obviously also very targeted!

Aguero went to interfere with Xavi, and the two strikers got stuck in the ribs, so Xavi's passing line to both sides was blocked, and in midfield, the Atletico Madrid players also targeted almost every Barcelona player one-on-one, as soon as Xavi passed, they immediately posted up.

Messi is a key figure because his ability to dribble forward can help Barcelona get out of the situation where they are now completely stared and unable to find a passing line.

Messi recovered all the way to his own half, then turned after receiving the ball.

Modric had posted it before Messi received the ball.

It's just that after Messi made a feint, he received Xavi's pass just before Modric reacted.

When Messi turns around, he will have to pay the price if he wants to stop Messi.

Modric wants to give Messi a physical touch, even if it is a foul.

Messi stumbled, but instead of falling to the ground, he continued to dribble forward.

Modric did at least have some effect, although he didn't keep Messi, but he managed to slow Messi's speed, and then gave Kante a chance!

Kante grabbed and broke the ball successfully when Messi's center of gravity was a little unstable by Modric!

After Kante snatched the ball, he was immediately surrounded by the Barcelona players.

Kante passes the ball to the other side, at the feet of Raul Garcia!

But before Raul Garcia could get the ball, Mascherano made a fierce tackle and shoveled the ball away!

The ball is changing hands again!

That's basically the rhythm of the second half of the first half.

The players on both sides are fighting very fiercely in the midfield, the ball is constantly exchanged, and it is difficult for both teams to calmly organize the attack in such a high-intensity pressing.

Gao Bo stood on the sidelines with his chest crossed, his face expressionless, no one knew what he was thinking.

His team is leading in aggregate, so this situation is not very pretty, but for Gao Bo, he can accept it!

Even if it's like this the whole game, it's not a big deal.

Atletico Madrid's goal is only to qualify for the quarter-finals, and if the game doesn't change much, even if it's 0-0, Atletico Madrid can qualify.

As for Barcelona, they can't accept 0-0 – because then they will be knocked out!

Pep Guardiola is in a hurry, but he wants to adjust. But it's not half time yet, and he needs at least one halftime break now!

Football is not like basketball or rugby, there can be a timeout, and the head coach can use the timeout to intervene in the game's tactics.

For football managers, when they want to make major tactical adjustments, they can only go through halftime, and even if they are substitutions, it is sometimes difficult to clearly explain the manager's tactical intentions.

Pep Guardiola touched his head and sat back in the dugout, which, in his opinion, was the case in the first half.

The situation of the game was indeed the same, and the first half of the game passed in a stalemate between the two sides.

As soon as a minute of first-half stoppage time passed, the referee blew the whistle for the end of the first half.