Chapter 520: The Bitter Cold in Moscow

After the 22nd round of the league, Atletico Madrid ushered in a league away game!

They take on Racing Santander away from home.

With Atletico Madrid's draw for the last 16 of the Champions League CSKA Moscow, Atletico Madrid made a significant rotation for this game in preparation for the tough away game in Russia four days later.

Despite this, Atletico Madrid still managed a win on the road.

With Mario Suarez's header in the 78th minute of the second half, Atletico Madrid beat Racing Santander 1-0 to continue their unbeaten streak, and their unbeaten record has extended to 61 games!

Immediately after the match, Atletico Madrid flew to Moscow.

Russia's away game has always been a nightmare for Western European teams.

Especially for the team from the warm Iberian Peninsula, which is located at the southern tip of Europe, the minimum temperature does not fall below zero every year, and in Russia at this time, temperatures in the minus ten degrees are just the most common thing.

Ice and snow, severe cold, all this is a big test for the team in the south.

Historically, Russian teams have repeatedly relied on the cold weather at home to defeat giants from the west. It's like how many times in their history they have used the bitter cold of winter to repel foreign enemies.

Even Napoleon lost his troops in the bitter cold.

Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan, Manchester United and other well-known European giants, when they play away in Russia, they also lose more and win less, especially at a time like February, when Russia is cold and cold.

This was felt by the Atletico Madrid players as they stepped off the plane at Moscow airport.

Despite the fact that they wore thick cotton wool coats early, every player, including the coaches, wrapped themselves tightly.

But the moment they got off the plane, almost every player shivered.

Even Gao Bo couldn't stand the cold weather.

He's also a southerner – southern China, of course.

Guangdong is one of the southernmost provinces in China – of course, Hainan is further south, but since Hainan was also part of Guangdong Province in the past, the Cantonese traditionally have the notion that the masses in all provinces are from the north, except for the brother province of Guangxi.

Although the latitude of Guangdong is about the same as that of Spain, it is actually much colder than Spain compared to the temperature in winter.

Affected by the warm and humid Atlantic current, Spain is a place where you don't need to wear winter clothes all year round.

Gao Bo's nose was red from the cold, not to mention a group of Atletico Madrid players who lived in Spain all year round.

Some of them wrapped their coats tightly in their hands, some rubbed their hands, ignored the microphones and cameras of the reporters around them, and walked briskly onto the bus waiting outside the airport.

There is heating on the bus, and that's what the players need most.

Almost every player who boarded the bus breathed a sigh of relief.

.......

The Atletico Madrid players were shivering after they got off the plane, which was recorded by the Russians and then put on television.

"The Spaniards can't adapt to the climate we have here, and if you look at the performances of their players, we know that CSKA Moscow will once again win a battle at home against the big Western giants!! The weather forecast suggests that temperatures will be even cooler than today, which is a great opportunity for CSKA Moscow to score as many goals as possible and beat Atletico Madrid, which could knock out Atletico Madrid and reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League!! ”

On a local Moscow television station, a host said.

He was right, the cold climate was indeed a big challenge for Atletico Madrid.

On the second day of training, the players first jogged to warm up, and then took off their coats, almost all of them were bubbling white, as if they were drowning in smoke.

After a training session, the players' cheeks and noses were red from the cold, and Gao Bo had to urgently instruct the logistics staff to buy a large number of masks and warm hats in Moscow.

When the players were training, Gao Bo frowned the whole time.

In such weather, it is difficult for the players to show 100 per cent form - in fact, if they can be 50 per cent, Gao Bo is very satisfied.

In the afternoon, the team went to the home stadium of CSKA Moscow, and the CSKA Arena was trained on the field.

Here, Gao Bo's face was even more solemn.

He walked to the center of the court, crouched down and pressed the playing field with his hand!

"The pitch is hard, it's an artificial grass pitch!"

Moya walked up behind him, and he also frowned on his face.

Gao Bo grabbed a handful of rubber pellets from the court.

The grains were like sand, slipping between his fingers.

"With such a stadium environment and weather, I'm afraid it's easy to get injured...."Gao Bo shook his head, "In this game, we need to keep it and play, we can't make the game intense, even if it's a draw, or even a small loss to the opponent, it's not a big deal." Our goal in this game is that there can be no injuries and no losses! ”

Mo Xie stopped Gao Bo's words and nodded.

CSKA Moscow is not a strong team, they rely on the harsh environment of their home stadium.

Therefore, Atletico Madrid, who are playing away, cannot afford to play hard against their opponents in such an environment. Anyway, the Champions League knockout round is a two-legged match, and when it comes to the home stadium, Atletico Madrid will teach CSKA Moscow to behave.

.......

On the second day of the game, when the players of both sides were in the tunnel of the players, they could see the difference between the two teams.

The Atletico Madrid players are all wrapped in thick cotton coats, while on the other hand, CSKA Moscow players are just short-sleeved jerseys with a warm sports bra.

Even before the two teams entered the field, they were able to see the different levels of adaptation to such a cold climate.

Gao Bo and his coaching staff looked into the stands.

In the stands, the Russian fans were even more fierce, and many people took off their shirts directly, shirtless, waving the clothes in their hands and shouting.

Lin Sen was stunned, and he wrapped his coat tightly.

"This old hairy man is really not afraid of the cold...."

Gao Bo smiled.

"They can only get away with it for a while, and then we will teach them a lesson when we get to our home stadium!!"

With that, he sat back in the dugout.

.......

The game was very dull, with Atletico Madrid controlling the ball and slowing down the tempo as much as possible.

CSKA Moscow's players were very excited, and they pressed very the pitch to try to get the game up the ground.

In such a venue environment, Atletico Madrid's control has dropped significantly.

CSKA Moscow's offensive was wave after wave, and in this case, Atletico Madrid could only shrink half of the defense.

Gao Bo had already expected such a situation, and he put out a defensive formation on the starting list.

Diego Costa was alone up front, and next to him was Sergio Aguero.

In midfield, N'Golo Kante, Gabi, Mario Suarez and Luka Modric started.

As for Antoine Griezmann, the Frenchman is now sitting on the bench rubbing his hands.

His ears were red from the cold.

On the pitch, Atletico Madrid is even under siege.

However, until the end of the first half, CSKA Moscow failed to score.

In the second half of the game, Atletico Madrid also completely made a stubborn posture.

Koke came on to replace Sergio Aguero and Gao Bo continued to strengthen his midfield.

In the more than 80 minutes, the score on the field was still 0-0.

For this situation, Gao Bo is still acceptable.

0-0 away, back in Calderón, he will definitely not give CSKA Moscow any chance.

And CSKA Moscow obviously knows this, and they will have to win at least at home if they are to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Champions League!

Now the time and place are on their side, if they can't win this, the Champions League quarterfinals will definitely miss CSKA Moscow.

And in the 89th minute of the game, after high school striker Dombia grabbed the high point, he gave the ball to the Russian star Zagoev, known as the "new tsar"!

Zagoev's volley after stopping the ball on the line of the box found the net through the Atletico Madrid goal.

Atletico Madrid defended most of the game and were eventually scored by CSKA Moscow.

The goal changed the format of the two-legged game with some variability.

At least the Russian commentator was quite excited: "Zagoev's goal gave CSKA Moscow hope of advancing to the quarterfinals of the Champions League!! ”

At the CSKA Arena, the Russians are completely crazy!

As the Russian commentator said, the goal did give CSKA Moscow hope of qualifying.

Zagoev's goalscorer gave CSKA Moscow a 1-0 home win over Atletico Madrid.

CSKA Moscow won the first leg of the two-legged tie and did not allow Atletico Madrid to score away from home, so it looked like the score was in their favour.

Gao Bo shook his head slightly as the whistle blew at the end of the match.

In fact, he had already expected such a result.

The cold weather and the extremely unsuitable artificial turf field have created considerable difficulties for Atletico Madrid.

Just losing one goal, it's still acceptable for the team.

On their home turf, Atletico Madrid have absolute confidence.

CSKA Moscow is just able to rely on the Russian environment to commit murder on its home turf, and when it comes to Spain, their strength may not even be second-rate!