On February 9, at the Juan Royas Stadium, an hour and a half before the start of the game, Almeria coach Rodríguez got the starting line-up for Atletico Madrid.

A day ago, when the visiting team arrived in Almeria, many reporters waiting at the team's hotel, as well as the staff of the Almeria team, were surprised to find that the current "number one thigh" of the Atletico Madrid team was gone.

However, Rodriguez did not change the tactical arrangement of this game because of Feng Quan's "no-trace". In his opinion, this is just a smoke bomb deliberately set up by Atletico Madrid, trying to deliberately confuse their lineup before the game, and wait until the game really starts before sending Feng Quan out to catch him off guard.

As a result, Rodriguez still focused on the two wings in the training the day before the game, and was ready to send three midfielders in the game to limit the wide cut of the wind.

However, when Rodriguez actually got the starting list of Atletico Madrid, not only did he not see Feng Quan, but he was not even found on the substitute list.

Not only that, but the team's first center Diego Costa, the "top scorer in the midfield" Alda Turan, and the main players of the backline, Godin and Juanfran were all put on the bench by Diego Simeone.

After a brief moment of surprise, a flame called "rage" rose in Rodriguez's heart.

"Humph! Sending half of the bench to play, Simeone really didn't take my team seriously! Since you think my team is easy to deal with, I'll give you some color to see! ”

Rodriguez, who had made up his mind, immediately instructed his assistant to call the eleven starters who were still warming up on the pitch back to the locker room, and then announced the starting list of Atletico Madrid in front of them.

Without Rodriguez opening his mouth, the Almeria players who returned to the dressing room basically understood what the manager meant.

As a result, before the game really started, the fighting spirit of the Almeria players became very strong because of the "contempt" of the opponent.

However, a strong fighting spirit may improve the team's fighting power to a certain extent, but if the players do not correct their game mentality, not only will they not help the team win, but will have the opposite effect. The Almeria players in this match are a good example.

Because of the "contempt" of Atletico Madrid, the hearts of the Almeria players were filled with angry flames, so when the referee blew the whistle for the start of the game, they launched a fierce press on the field.

Less than five minutes into the game, three Atletico Madrid players were brought to the ground by the opponent's fierce pressing, and it was not until the eighth minute of the first half that the referee showed a yellow card to Dubabil, who had tackled Raul Garcia directly to the ground, that the fierce defense of the Almeria players was reined in.

However, the anger in the hearts of the Almeria players was not quelled by a yellow card from the referee. Since the use of fierce defensive moves is likely to incur severe punishment from the referee, it is also possible to use more runs to achieve the purpose of pressing.

Although the absence of Feng Quan and Diego Costa, the two "thighs" of the striker, is indeed an offensive ability for Atletico Madrid, Griezmann and David Villa, who started in place of them, also have good strength.

With a yellow card from the referee, the defensive movements of the Almeria players were clearly restrained, and the advantage of Atletico Madrid in terms of overall strength was gradually revealed.

In the absence of a strong fulcrum up front, Griezmann and David Villa, who were teaming up for the first time, tore apart Almeria's defence with their flexible movements.

In the 18th minute of the first half, after Diego, who replaced Alda Turan in the midfield position, won the ball in the middle of the field, Griezmann, who was originally cruising on the left side, immediately ran diagonally to the penalty area, and David Villa, who had been cruising near the top of the opponent's penalty area, was pulled to the right side in order to help his teammates in the middle open up space to attack.

Diego then made two changes in quick succession to break free of Soriano's entanglement, and then distributed the ball to Felipe Luiz, who had inserted an assist, before La Basco pounced.

As Felipe Luiz dribbled down the left flank into the 30-metre zone of Almeria, Griezmann, who had moved to the top of the box, moved closer to the left.

Seeing Griezmann leaning towards him, Felipe Luiz immediately made a wall-knocking combination with him, bypassing the entanglement of right wing-back Rafita and dribbling towards the baseline.

Meanwhile, Antoine Griezmann, who had just finished linking up with Felipe Luiz, was back on the edge of the box, while David Villa, who had been pulled to the right, was cut into the corner of the box.

With Diego Costa missing a strong fulcrum in front of goal, Felipe Luiz didn't cross directly in front of goal, but sent a low ball to the left of the edge of the box.

Griezmann, who had already been ambushed at the edge of the penalty area, first fired a long-range shot from the direction of the incoming ball, attracting two defenders to the ground to block the shooting line, and then passed the ball horizontally to Diego near the top of the penalty area, and then rushed to the penalty spot.

Diego conceded the ball to the front of the right and immediately used the outside of his right foot to rub the ball towards the unmarked David Villa on the right side of the box.

Before David Villa could stop the ball, Almeria centre-back Tocileri and midfielder Dubabier pounced on him.

However, just as the two were about to form a circle against David Villa, "Hulu Baby" cleverly passed the football from the gap between the two to the middle of the penalty area.

The next moment, Griezmann, who had been lying in ambush near the penalty spot, moved two steps sideways like a ghost and fell to the ground before Trujillo and swept the ball towards the bottom right corner of the goal.

…………

With Griezmann's goal, Atletico Madrid, which had been slightly inferior on the field due to the absence of many main players, immediately took over the initiative of the game from Almeria.

The Almeria team, which had been relying on the support of "anger" in their hearts, could barely occupy the initiative on the field, although they launched a fierce counterattack after the game restarted, but due to the difference in strength between the two sides and the psychological fluctuations of the players, it was not able to save the situation in the future.

Not only that, but Almeria, who were playing at home, were bent on equalising and focused more on attacking, and Griezmann and David Villa used two quick counter-attacks to make it 3-0.

At the same time, Barcelona and Real Madrid, who are in the second and third places in the standings, also defeated their respective opponents with their respective star goals, and continued to "follow" Atletico Madrid in points.