After Real Madrid took the lead, it was somewhat surprising that Zidane did not let his team chase after the victory, but quickly recovered and played a defensive counterattack.

This scene surprised many people, and they couldn't figure out why Zidane did this.

Because in their opinion, Real Madrid, who have just scored a goal, is full of morale and the players are in good shape, shouldn't they use the lead to strengthen their offensive and strive to score another goal in a short period of time?

Even if you can't score, it's not Real Madrid's style to shrink the defense after taking the lead......

But that's what Real Madrid did.

Not only did they shrink defensively, they also gave up possession.

It's just waiting for Atletico Madrid to attack.

Atletico Madrid, after conceding the goal, originally wanted to defend solidly first and withstand the impact from Real Madrid.

As a result, the game was played for a few more minutes, and they found out that Real Madrid really did not come up easily.

At first, they were worried that this was a trap for Real Madrid to lure them into the depths, luring them up to attack, and then slammed them off guard.

So he tentatively attacked a few times and found that Real Madrid really set up a bus......

Now Atletico Madrid is relieved to attack boldly.

It was only after attacking them that they realized that the situation was not as good as they had imagined.

Simeone's team has a habit of giving up possession and concentrating on counter-attacking when playing a strong team.

Against Barcelona and Bayern Munich, they largely had less than 40 per cent possession.

It was originally Atletico Madrid's practice to give up possession of the ball by playing a strong team, so when playing with Real Madrid, they also planned to give up possession and play defensive counterattacks.

Unexpectedly, the practice of giving up possession now has taught Real Madrid, and Real Madrid has also played defensive counter-attacks. This forced Atletico Madrid to play a positional battle.

But that's not what they're good at.

Because Atletico Madrid's player configuration and tactical habits are to defend solidly and then counterattack, their offense is more often forward, and they rarely fall back and forth in the midfield.

Atletico Madrid's two flanks are sharp in attack, which is exactly what happened. Two of their midfield quartet are full-time defensive midfielders, and the attack is dominated by a four-man duo of two wings and two forwards.

Gao Zheng sometimes makes an occasional cameo appearance as a passer to provide assists to his teammates. But after all, he is not a professional in doing this thing, his biggest threat is still shooting, if he is allowed to pull out to organize the attack, it is overkill, tyrannical.

And apart from him, neither Griezmann nor Koke nor Saul are good at organizing attacks.

So when they faced the iron wall put up by Real Madrid, they were inevitably a little constrained and didn't know what to do.

In many cases, their attacks couldn't even get the ball into Real Madrid's penalty area, and after a long day of sideways, they had to choose to shoot from distance.

But with the interference of the Real Madrid players, the accuracy of the long-range shot was very low.

Gao Zheng was closely guarded by Real Madrid in this game, and he basically couldn't catch the ball smoothly.

Even if he doesn't get the ball, he will have Real Madrid players with him, sometimes Ramos, sometimes Pepe, and if he drops back into midfield, then Casemiro and Kroos will be next to him.

There is only one purpose, that is, not to let him easily handle the ball.

Everyone knows that Gao Zheng is the most dangerous player in Atletico Madrid, as long as he can be contained, Atletico Madrid's attack will lose its threat.

In fact, it is also the case, when Gao Zheng is surrounded by layers of Real Madrid players, it is difficult for Atletico Madrid's attack to improve.

Antoine Griezmann was alone, and neither did Cork and Saul.

Gao Zheng scored twice in the penalty area of Real Madrid throughout the first half.

This is the lowest of his career.

How could Gao Zheng, who only won the ball twice in the penalty area, threaten the Real Madrid goal?

Atletico Madrid had empty possession but could not convert it into a threatening attack, and possession was nothing for them.

It's no wonder that Simeone is dismissive of Barcelona's set...... It's not a good fit for his team.

※※※

When referee Clattenburg blew the whistle for the end of the first half, the San Siro Stadium erupted in cheers from the Real Madrid fans.

Although they were only one goal ahead of Atletico Madrid in the first half, Real Madrid fans were still happy.

Especially after watching the game after taking the lead, everyone can see that Atletico Madrid has nothing to do with Real Madrid.

This gives Real Madrid fans confidence in the team.

Previously, they were still complaining in the stands whether Zidane was a little too timid, only leading by one goal and playing a shrinking defense, you must know that a one-goal lead is the most dangerous score in the world.

But now they are also convinced by Qi Xuanzong, and feel that although they can't understand it, the effect is really awesome.

Giving up possession of the ball and letting Atletico Madrid lay siege to their own goal, Atletico Madrid was helpless against Real Madrid's defense......

This is really the way of Atletico Madrid, so that Atletico Madrid has no way out.

Zidane is a genius!

※※※

In the dressing room at half-time, Simeone first comforted his players, telling them not to be frustrated by being behind, after all, they were only one goal behind and still had a chance.

Then he began to make tactical adjustments.

It was clear that his team was tactically targeted.

Zidane was able to make Real Madrid, a team that dissolves the attack in blood, a bus, which Simeone really did not expect before the game.

But fortunately, we can adjust our tactics at halftime.

He replaced midfielder Augusto Fernandez with striker Carrasco.

Cork withdrew to play in midfield and partner Gabi, while Carrasco took his original place.

It still looked like a 442 formation, but then Simeone asked his players to adjust their positions when attacking.

Koke stepped forward and came to the front waistline, Gao Zheng retreated to the middle, leaving Griezmann alone in the front.

In this way, Atletico Madrid's formation has become 4141, with Gabi as a single midfielder.

But with four Atletico Madrid players before the single midfielder, the midfield's control has not diminished.

Simeone's adjustment is naturally to deal with Zidane's bus tactics.

As I said before, Gao Zheng has a certain ability to organize attacks.

His drop-backs can help the team sort out the attack and organize a dangerous attack.

At the same time, a combination of four people behind Griezmann can also tear apart Real Madrid's offensive and constantly feed Griezmann cannonballs.

After all, in the first half, in the face of Real Madrid's defense, Atletico Madrid lacked manpower in the middle of the front, whether it was Koke or Saul were active on the side, if Gabi and Fernandes were pressed, then the space behind them was afraid that the BBC combination would take advantage of it. You must know that Real Madrid has midfield passing masters like Toni Kroos and Modric.

Now that the problem has been solved, Saul and Carrasco continue to attack Real Madrid's two flanks on the flanks, while Gao Zheng and Koke directly threaten the Real Madrid defence in the middle.

This equates to two more points of play, making it more difficult for Real Madrid to defend.

After arranging the tactics, Simeone finally encouraged the players: "You have to believe in yourself, we are younger than Real Madrid, we are younger than them, everyone can run one kilometer more than them, that adds up to ten kilometers more!" If there really is such a gap, then the victory can only belong to us. So as long as we can keep dragging Real Madrid like this, their physical strength will run out sooner or later, and then it will be our chance, so be patient, don't rush, don't panic! Remember, the victory belongs to which team can run better! ”

Running is something that Simeone has always emphasized. He believes that in modern football, running is the most important quality. A player can have rough skills, he can have average consciousness, but he can't run without being willing to run.

That's why the classical midfielders, who used to play standing and often deliver second-to-second passes, are becoming so rare in this era that they have largely disappeared altogether.

A team that can't run will be dragged down by a team that can run better.