Chapter 33: The Lion Shakes His Head

Diego Simeone sat in the stands and the staff found a seat specifically for him, not far from the original coaching box.

But it may not be easy to communicate with his assistants through roaring, because his voice alone can hardly cover the noise of the audience

He sat in his chair, his face sinking like water.

He now regrets his impulsive behavior and puts his team in an extremely disadvantageous position.

Although he didn't show any emotion on the surface, he was already a little anxious inside.

He wanted the first half to be over now, and when it came half-time, he went into the dressing room to tell the team about his arrangements and adjustments, and he was encouraging the players and boosting their morale to get them through the 45 minutes of the second half.

He was already thinking about how he was going to adjust in the second half.

At the same time, in order to be well prepared, he had to take into account the possibility of Real Madrid equalising in those five minutes, although he was reluctant to do so...... But a professional coach should not think about tactics on the basis of his own personal wishes.

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After Atletico Madrid now gets the ball defensively, under the pressure of Real Madrid's frontcourt, it is basically difficult to calmly transition the football to the front through the midfield, in order not to add danger to their goal, they will choose a big kick to the front after getting the ball in the backfield.

Especially at this stage when there are only five minutes left in the first half, make sure that there will not be the slightest hint of your current half, even if you just return the ball to Real Madrid, but at least keep the football away from the goal, as long as the football is away from your own goal, the threat to the goal is lessened.

Everybody wants to get through the last five minutes this way.

Everyone has a belief in their hearts: as long as they get back to the dressing room, their head coach Simeone must have a way to solve the current predicament!

It is this trust in the manager that underpins the Atletico Madrid players as they come together.

When the football was once again cleared to the front by Atletico Madrid players, Gao Zheng appeared at the football landing point and put on a posture of fighting for the header.

After Ramos had the experience of conceding the opening goal, he didn't dare to slack off. He doesn't have time to think about whether Gao Zheng's header assist is blind or not, as a central defender, he doesn't dare or have the right to bet on this matter.

Anyway, as long as Gao Zheng wants a header, then compete with him.

Although there is a height gap between the two, Ramos believes that he is better than Gao Zheng in terms of heading ability and experience, and as long as he takes it seriously, he will definitely not suffer.

Even if the position of the landing point makes Gao Zheng stand in advance, he is not afraid.

So he jumped to Gao Zheng.

Gao Zheng's jumping posture was all set, but he didn't jump up, because Ramos jumped on him from behind with the posture of Mount Tai, and then pushed the football back at the same time, he also pushed Gao Zheng down.

This time, the referee's whistle sounded.

Immediately after, a huge boo rang out over Calderón.

During the boos, Ramos also made a gesture to referee Fernandez Borbarán that Gao Zheng was a fake fall, and the boos were even louder......

Ramos' arguments didn't work, and referee Borbarán thought he was jumping on his opponent and fighting for the top, so there was no problem with him being awarded a foul.

Seeing this, Ramos pursed his lips, spread his hands and ran backwards, and when he passed by Gao Zheng, he did not pat Gao Zheng in friendliness or shake hands with Gao Zheng.

“…… One thing I noticed was that Gao started to try to fight for the top in a game he hadn't done before. Honestly, I think the criticism from Daily Sports is right from a certain point of view, as a top striker, you can not be the best in some areas, but you can't have obvious shortcomings either. And the header is the short board of the high. If Gao can make up for this shortcoming, I think the true value of Atletico Madrid's 75 million dollars ......"

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Because of Ramos' foul on Gao Zheng, Atletico Madrid won a free kick on the left side of the field.

Atletico Madrid was not very active in this opportunity, with only one person from central defenders Godin and Miranda coming up for the header, and the two full-backs and midfielders Thiago and Gabi both retreated in the second half without pressing forward.

They are worried that Real Madrid will use this set-piece opportunity to play a counter-attack, and it is more important to keep the goal than to score.

So there are not many Atletico Madrid players who really rushed to the Real Madrid penalty area to compete for the top, Griezmann, Gao Zheng and Miranda, Raul Garcia four.

The person in charge of taking this free kick in front of the court is Koke, who has a very good footwork of 40 degrees and a 5-angle cross, and the pass is accurate, so he is naturally the number one person to take this free kick.

Everyone else stayed at the back, guarding against Real Madrid's quick counter-attack.

At the beginning, the players on both sides of the attack and defense were entangled with each other on the penalty line, with the Real Madrid players standing in a straight line, while the Atletico Madrid players stood behind the line, closer to the goal, in an offside position.

But before Cork gets the ball up, they'll be going to run back and reflexively get forward. This is also a fixed tactic for many teams from set-pieces.

Only Gao Zheng was an exception, he didn't go to meet his teammates, and he didn't squeeze to the front to join in the fun.

Instead, he stood in front of the Real Madrid defence, outside the box.

This is quite in line with his approach - in the past, whether it was a set-piece or a corner kick on both sides of the front, he rarely got into the box, but chose to wait for the second drop outside the box.

Ramos glanced at Gao Zheng and didn't post it, now the focus of defense is not on Gao Zheng, and he can't cause a gap in Real Madrid's backline because of him.

So he just glanced at Gao Zheng, and then quickly focused on football and the Atletico Madrid players around him.

Referee Fernandez Borbarán blew the whistle and Koke took a few steps before kicking the ball towards Real Madrid.

The players of both sides immediately became entangled and headed towards the goal, at which point the attention of all the Real Madrid defenders was focused on the flying football, their eyes fixed on the football, and their bodies followed towards the goal.

No one saw Gao Zheng at all.

But Gao Zheng, who no one noticed, suddenly accelerated to the back point of the goal at this time, and he did not stay outside the penalty area to wait for the second landing point!

Koke's ball flew high over the front post, and Raul Garcia, who was in front of him, didn't even take off and let the ball fly over his head, knowing it was certainly not for him.

Griezmann and Miranda in the middle are the focus!

They jumped one after another, and so did the Real Madrid players who defended them.

For a while, Casillas had four players in front of goal, but none of them touched the football.

The ball flew over their heads at high speed and swooped straight to the back post!

At the back was Real Madrid's left-back Coentrão, who was in place and ready to push the flying ball out.

But before he could jump, a figure suddenly passed in front of him, and his eyes went black.

Then he saw the figure jump up and grab the ball before him!

"High !! A lion shakes its head! Wow! Pretty!!! The ball flew into the goal! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!! José Maria roared.

“GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!” The boy on the roof also jumped up and raised his arms and shouted.