Chapter 604: Turn on the "Invincible" mode
If the Real Madrid players, who were three goals behind, had any hope of equalising, then Mandzukic scored his fourth goal for Atletico Madrid, which was undoubtedly the last straw that broke the camel's back.
However, even though Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti on the sidelines has no hope for this game, Ronaldo, as the star of the team, still does not give up, still frequently runs to receive passes from teammates, and then threatens the opponent's goal with everything he can do.
It's a pity that the Portuguese superstar's "never give up" has not been able to inspire other teammates, and Benzema, who has been "occupied" by Ronaldo many times in the first half of the game, complained to Ronaldo in his heart: "If you didn't often grab my position in the first half, I'm afraid the team wouldn't have lost so badly." ”
In the end, with a hat-trick, the united Atletico Madrid easily defeated the "thoughtful" Real Madrid at their home stadium, winning the third "derby" victory of the season and extending the advantage of the league standings to 9 points.
In terms of the league scorer list, Feng Quan, who scored 31 goals in only 17 appearances this season, once again left Cristiano Ronaldo behind to regain the top spot in the scorer list.
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After a comfortable victory over their city rivals, Atletico Madrid, which has been very busy in recent times, finally ended a consecutive week of double matches and gained a precious respite.
Although the physical fitness of the players has improved greatly since Diego Simeone coached Atletico Madrid, the consecutive week of double matches has not only caused great physical consumption on the players, but also put the players under a lot of psychological pressure due to the fierce battles.
So, in order to relieve the physical and psychological fatigue of the players, Diego Simeone gave the players two days off for the first time, even on the day of the team's regrouping, he only arranged a small amount of recovery training.
After a rare two-day holiday, coupled with a transition to a very low-intensity recovery session, the Atletico Madrid players have improved significantly in physical condition.
In the away game against Celta Vigo on 15 February, the starting Atletico Madrid players were aggressive up front from the start of the game and quickly broke the deadlock with a misplaced pass.
In the 11th minute of the first half of the game, Mandzukic and Feng all pressed under high pressure in the middle of the front court.
La Masia-born defender Fontas had no choice but to pass the ball back to the goalkeeper.
The next moment after Fontas' pass, Mandzukic, who was at the front, immediately pounced on the goalkeeper.
Goalkeeper Sergio Alvarez wanted to stop the ball and then hand it to the wing-backs on either side, but Mandzukic didn't want to give him time to adjust. In desperation, Sergio Alvarez had no choice but to choose to drive the ball forward with a big foot.
However, Sergio Alvarez, who was in a hurry, didn't eat the right part when he opened the big kick and kicked the ball directly towards Griezmann, who switched to the left wing.
Griezmann received the 'big gift' from the goalkeeper and first got past full-back Hugo Marlowe and then sent a swift cross towards the back post near the corner of the box on the left.
With nearly half of Mandzukic's goals this season coming from headers, two defenders were immediately posted by two defenders when Griezmann broke through on the left side of the pitch and made a cross.
Unfortunately, instead of passing the ball towards goal, as the Celta defenders had expected, Griezmann opted to play the ball into the space on the right side of the box.
The outflanked Feng Quan first stopped the ball with his chest in front of his right, and then completed an explosive volley before Fontas could make up for it.
Although Sergio Alvarez moved towards the far end of the net the moment Griezmann opted for a cross and made an accurate judgment the moment the wind shot at goal. However, Feng Quan's violent shot hit Sergio Alvarez's left hand and only slightly created a sideline, and finally hit the post on the right side of the goal and bounced into the net, 1-0.
Fifteen minutes later, Koke cleverly played the ball into the space on the right side of the pitch after smashing against Saul in the middle of the pitch to get away from the defence.
Griezmann, who was originally cruising in the middle, first rushed to the right side with all his strength to get the ball before the defender cleared the ball, and then forced the ball to the direction of the small penalty area when the opponent was pressing.
In the face of Griezmann's "gambling" pass, goalkeeper Sergio Alvarez decisively chose to abandon the goal, after all, he was easier to clear in the direction of attack than his teammates.
However, before Sergio Alvarez could rush out of the small penalty area, he saw that the wind, which was still lying in ambush near the top of the arc of the penalty area, hit the path of the football like a bolt of lightning, and before Sergio Alvarez could finish the action of falling to the ground, he completed a wonderful shot to rewrite the score to 2-0.
Although Celta did not give up the game after falling behind by two goals, they were never able to pose a real threat to Oblak's goal after Atletico Madrid focused on defence.
Not only that, but after the Celta team, which was unable to close the score gap, entered the second half of the game, the players' emotions became more and more impatient, followed by many unnecessary passing and receiving errors.
Atletico Madrid, who are good at counter-attacking scoring, certainly did not let go of such an opportunity, and in the 19th, 27th and 41st minutes of the second half, Griezmann, Saul and Mandzukic scored goals each to make the final score 5-0.
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Although there are still 15 rounds of La Liga games to be played, when Atletico Madrid defeated their rivals by 4 goals at their home stadium, and then became the winner of the "Madrid Derby" for the third time this season, and at the same time, after Feng Quan returned to the second game, he scored 8 goals on the bench in one game to help the team easily win three consecutive victories, even many media who have been pessimistic about the prospect of Atletico Madrid winning the championship have to admit that Atletico Madrid, which has the wind full, has taken a big lead in the competition for the La Liga title.
Even if the Barcelona team, which is temporarily 9 points behind in the standings, still has a direct competition with Atletico Madrid in the penultimate round of the league, they must ensure that they maintain a complete victory, hoping that Atletico Madrid will lose at least 6 points in the remaining leagues, and Barcelona must also win the direct battle between the two teams in order to win the La Liga crown by virtue of the advantage of the two sides.
However, judging by Atletico Madrid's strong performance in the "Madrid derby", it may be really difficult to expect them to make mistakes, not to mention that the wind that has just finished the Asian Cup journey is not at its best. Once after a period of adjustment, when Fengquan's state improves, I am afraid that Atletico Madrid, which has the best defense in La Liga and even the entire European football, will once again start the "invincible" mode like last season.
Therefore, even though this season's La Liga is just halfway through, as long as Atletico Madrid does not suffer a large number of injuries (the most important thing is to stay healthy), the league title is basically in their pocket.