"World Sports" thought that the Spaniards could take advantage of the absence of many of Atletico Madrid's main players to create some trouble for the La Liga leaders at their home stadium, but unfortunately the Espanyol team that they "gave high hopes" was killed by Atletico Madrid and lost their armor, so that the reporter who wrote the prediction article for this game was scolded by the editor-in-chief.

Fortunately, Barcelona and Real Madrid both won 2-0 and continued to keep up with the pace of Atletico Madrid, and their star Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo also scored goals for their respective teams, so as to continue to put pressure on the top scorer list in the league, and finally let "World Sports" find the target of "touting".

Atletico Madrid, who won eight consecutive victories in all competitions without conceding a goal after Feng Quan's return, comfortably defeated Espanyol three days later, and then faced the challenge of Bundesliga giants Bayer Leverkusen at their home stadium.

Although Bayer Leverkusen, who were two goals behind on aggregate, still had hopes of advancing to the next round, the three main players of the team, Spacic, Rolfes and Kiessling, who were in their thirties, did not come with the team.

Bayer Leverkusen boss Schmidt claimed in his pre-match press conference that the three were out of the game due to injury, but this was not the case.

Facing Atletico Madrid's steel defense, which is arguably the strongest in Europe and even the world, Schmidt believes that even if his team chooses to attack desperately, it may be difficult to recover the two-goal disadvantage.

At the same time, once the Leverkusen team chooses to attack the backfield, the space will inevitably increase greatly, so that the "psycho killer" Feng Quan, who perfectly combines physical, speed and personal skills, can easily tear apart the opponent's defense with his own strong strength, even without the support of his teammates.

In this way, instead of being able to reverse and advance to the quarterfinals of the Champions League, Bayer Leverkusen may end up with a heavy defeat, and the most important thing is that there is a strong dialogue with Schalke 04 at the weekend, which is the fundamental reason why Schmidt "abandoned" the second leg of the Champions League knockout round.

Schmidt knows very well that it is impossible to touch the "Big Ears Cup" with the strength of the Bayer Leverkusen team, so the only way to get a Champions League place next season is to ensure the top four in the Bundesliga. And after the last round of the Bundesliga, they just overtook Schalke 04 by two points to move into fourth place in the Bundesliga standings.

If Schalke 04 take advantage of home advantage and win in a head-to-head conversation at the weekend, they will overtake Bayer Leverkusen by one point and regain the initiative in the race for a Champions League spot, which is clearly the last thing Schmidt wants to see.

As a result, the Bayer Leverkusen team, which fell behind 0-2 on aggregate, did not attack aggressively, but deployed a large number of troops in the midfield, leaving only South Korean striker Son Heung-min alone to harass Atletico Madrid's defense in the front.

Although Diego Simeone vaguely guessed the opponent's intention to "give up" the game the moment he got the starting list for Bayer Leverkusen, he still asked his players to go all out to treat the game for the sake of safety, and there must not be the slightest slackness. After all, as long as the referee doesn't blow the whistle for the end of the game, "anything is possible" on the pitch.

With the leader still giving it all and the laggard giving up without a fight, the outcome of this game can be imagined.

Although the Leverkusen team has hoarded a large number of troops in the midfield, the decline in the team's defensive ability is still obvious in the absence of the two absolute main players in the midfield and backfield, and the morale of most starters is not high. Even though they have a clear numerical advantage in defense, they still struggle against an attacking line consisting of Feng Quan, Mandzukic and Griezmann.

If it weren't for goalkeeper Leno's excellent form in recent times, saving four dangerous shots from Atletico Madrid in the first 20 minutes, I am afraid that what awaits Bayer Leverkusen will be a slaughtering defeat.

It's a pity that Leno's brave performance only gave Leverkusen a "sentence" of "reprieve".

In the 28th minute of the first half, when Feng Quan got rid of two defenders in a row along the left wing and was about to shoot the goal, Papadopoulos was tackled to the ground by the supplementary defense, helping the team win a direct free kick about 267 meters from the goal.

After Feng Quan got up from the lawn, he first placed the football firmly at the place designated by the referee for the foul, and then activated his [Full Moon Scimitar] skill.

When the referee signaled that he could take the free throw, Feng Quan ran forward two steps and then picked up his right leg high, and then rubbed the inside of his right foot accurately into the middle and back of the ball.

Immediately afterwards, the ball was seen to draw a clear arc in mid-air, bypassing the wall of five Bayer Leverkusen players and flying to the top left corner of the goal.

Although Renault accurately judged the shooting line chosen by the opponent at the moment when the wind was full of feet, and pounced on the left side of the goal at the first time, but because the angle of the wind was too tricky, Leno, who was always locked on the football in mid-air, had to helplessly watch the football drill into the door he guarded, 1-0.

Although the German team has always been known for its tenacity, due to the fact that the coach had basically "given up" before the game, the Bayer Leverkusen team, which had lost one goal and had fallen behind by three goals in aggregate, lost the last trace of fighting spirit like a deflated ball.

After the restart, Feng Quan first set up Antoine Griezmann for his first goal in the knockout stage of the Champions League in the 35th minute, and then scored a brace in the 42nd minute after receiving Saul's exquisite through ball in the box.

At the start of the second half, Atletico Madrid, who led by five goals on aggregate, also played a "health" game, after all, such a score was enough to qualify for the next round of knockout rounds, and a total of eight games awaited them after entering April, including the league and the Champions League.

Not only that, but in the 15th minute of the second half, Diego Simeone replaced Feng Quan and Mandzukic with Raul Jimenez and Thiago at the same time, changing the formation to 4-4-2.

Although the departure of Feng Quan put a lot of pressure on the Leverkusen team, they were not able to take the opportunity to recover the deficit due to their low morale, but also took advantage of a mistake by Raul Jimenez to score his first Champions League goal.

In the end, Atletico Madrid, who won by four goals at home, easily entered the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

Two days later, the draw for the quarter-finals of the Champions League took place as scheduled. As a result, Real Madrid, who were hoping to meet Atletico Madrid at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin a few days ago, actually met their rivals in the quarterfinals......

The strongest athlete

The strongest athlete