At 4 p.m. on October 30, in the first 11th round of La Liga, although Barcelona put Neymar, Iniesta, Xavi and other main players on the bench in order to cope with the Catalan derby three days later, with two goals from Cesc Fabregas and A. Sanchez, as well as an own goal from Celta, they still easily won three points away.

At the same time, Athletic Bilbao, who are provisionally fifth in the standings, will be challenged on their home turf in three days' time. Therefore, even though Feng Quan has fully recovered from his ankle injury, Diego Simeone only selected him in the team's 18-man squad and did not include him in the starting line-up against Granada.

Not only that, Alda Turan, who helped the team open the scoring in the last round of the league, and Gabi, the captain who scored the winning goal, also sat on the bench with Feng Quan.

Although judging from the comparison of the strength of the two sides, the Granada team, which was only ranked 14th in the first 10 rounds of La Liga, is obviously at a disadvantage. However, in front of the more than 20,000 home fans at the Carmenez Stadium, they played with a lot of backbone, not only did they not choose to shrink their defence like other weaker teams, but also fielded an aggressive 4-3-3 formation in the game.

Atletico Madrid, although significantly stronger overall than Granada, have not been in ideal fitness and condition for most of the players after having just experienced a match two days ago and arriving in Granada this afternoon.

At this time, the gap between Atletico Madrid and the top two in the Spanish Super League in terms of squad depth is vividly reflected.

The big-name Barcelona club, when the main players such as Neymar, Iniesta, Xavi are not fit or in poor form, there are also Fabregas, Pedro (Pedro), as well as strong players such as Ibrahim Afellay and Tello (Cristian Tello) to rotate.

And Atletico Madrid, which has gradually become the "third largest club in La Liga" in recent seasons, does not have such ability at all. It is precisely because of this that they will be at the end of last season's La Liga, because the main players are not in good physical condition, and the strength of the substitute players is not enough to replace the role of the main players, and the two top teams in the Spanish Super League gradually widen the points gap and finally can only settle down to them to get the third place in the league.

So, because of the lessons learned from last season, even though it is now at a critical moment when it is now competing with Barcelona for the top spot in the league, in the game against the underdog Granada, Diego Simeone still rotated the team's lineup, so that the team's core players can reserve as much energy as possible for the final stage of the league.

Not only that, but in the face of the menacing Granada, Diego Simeone did not choose to face the opponent head-on, but relied on his best defensive counter-attacking tactics to deal with it.

In the 21st minute of the first half, goalkeeper Courtois confiscated Granada striker Yacine Brahimi's long-range shot and drove the ball directly to the center circle of the opponent's half.

Diego Costa, who had been lying in ambush near the centre circle, beat the opposition centre-back Diego Mainz, headed the ball back to Koke near the right halfway, and then turned and ran towards the Granada penalty area.

Koke took a few steps forward after stopping the ball, and when the opposition midfielders Recio and Manuel Iturra were about to step forward to pinch the ball, Koke suddenly shifted the ball to the open space on the left side of the field.

Felipe Luiz, who was high forward, poked the ball forward before full-back Dimitri Foulquier, then immediately accelerated to catch up with the ball before sending a straight cross straight to the penalty spot.

The next moment, Diego Costa, who had just completed the "mission" of the battle, appeared near the penalty spot at the right time, and then met a powerful lion in the direction of the ball and shook his head and pushed the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal, 1-0.

Granada, playing at home, launched a more aggressive attack after conceding a goal, but in the face of Atletico Madrid's fierce and layered defence, they have always struggled to convert their possession advantage into substantial goals.

Therefore, until the end of the first half, Granada could not recover a single goal disadvantage.

After the change of sides, Atletico Madrid, who had a one-goal lead, continued to adhere to the strategic idea of defending, and with 23 minutes into the second half, they replaced Diego Costa, who was capable of playing all positions in the forward line.

The reason why Diego Simeone made such a substitution choice is partly to help Feng Quan, who has been out for nearly ten days, to get back to the game as soon as possible, and on the other hand, to give Diego Costa, who has started every game in recent weeks, a respite.

In addition, when the team is ahead of the score, Feng Quan's speed advantage can also be maximized.

Sure enough, after Feng Quan came off the bench, Atletico Madrid's attack had an immediate effect.

In the 25th minute of the second half, Feng Quan, who touched the ball for the first time after coming on, almost broke through the goal of the Granada team.

At that time, Mario Suarez, who was not known for his attack, sent a through ball directly to the middle of the front field after breaking the ball at the back.

The wind that had been ambushed near the halfway line was like lightning, and after getting the ball before the reflexive Granada defenders who were chasing back, they went straight to the heart of the opponent's penalty area.

Although the Granada defenders tried their best to chase back, they were never able to shorten the distance between themselves and Feng Quan.

Facing the goalkeeper Roberto (Roberto), who abandoned the goal, Feng Quan once again used his idol Ronaldo's signature move - after the pendulum dribble shook him out of his center of gravity, he easily pushed the ball into the unguarded goal, 2-0.

When the team was down by one goal, the Granada players still had hope of equalizing in their hearts, but when Feng Quan had just entered the game for less than two minutes, he used a sharp and quick counterattack to extend the gap to two goals, and the players basically lost hope of equalizing.

After seeing that the Granada players have basically no intention of fighting, Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone is ready to send a "good favor" on the opponent's home stadium.

Therefore, the Argentine coach ordered his team to control the pace of the game after winning the ball, and not to attack rashly.

In the end, after the away team Atletico Madrid successfully won the Granada team, it continued to dominate the league standings with the advantage of goal difference and Barcelona to occupy the top spot in the league standings.

…………

Looking at the huge electronic screen in the Sorilla Stadium, Griezmann, who was standing in the middle of the stadium, shook his head helplessly.

Although the French striker's two goals in the second half gave Real Sociedad a glimmer of victory, centre-back Mikel González gifted Valladolid a precious penalty in the final minute of injury time.

Looking at the backs of his teammates who were the first to leave the field, Griezmann couldn't help but sigh in his heart: "Perhaps, leaving this team is the most correct choice......