If it were the team's rival Real Madrid, no matter what opponent they faced, they would probably not or "dare" to choose defensive counter-attacking tactics at the Bernabeu Stadium. With the pride of Real Madrid fans, the boos are bound to resound throughout the Bernabeu Stadium.

Therefore, even José Mourinho, a madman who is famous in world football for his "swinging bus" tactics, will rarely choose defensive counterattack tactics when facing super rivals such as Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and Manchester United at the Bernabeu Stadium. Otherwise, even if the team wins on its home turf, it will be labelled as "cowardly" by the opposing media.

However, for Diego Simeone, who is also known for his iron will, there are not too many concerns.

On the one hand, Atletico Madrid does have a certain gap with their rival Real Madrid in terms of overall strength. In this way, even if the team seems passive on the field, as long as the team can achieve the final victory, then the fans will never be nitpicky and demand that the team not only win, but also beautiful enough on the field.

On the other hand, based on the current composition of the team, it is indeed very suitable for choosing a tactical style of play of defense and counterattack. Especially after the "King of Speed" Feng Quan joined the team, he can give full play to the biggest essence of anti-counterattack tactics, that is, the speed advantage when counterattacking.

It is for the above reasons that even without the "reminder" of Feng Quan, Diego Simeone is ready to choose the strategic deployment of defensive counterattack in the second half of the game.

Despite this, some of the home team fans who came to watch the game may have a psychological gap because of the team's "disadvantage" in the second half of the game. However, as long as the team can ensure the victory of the game, the psychological gap between the fans will naturally close with the team's victory.

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Calderón Stadium Away Team Locker Room.

Although the away team Zenit St. Petersburg temporarily trailed by one goal after the end of the first half, which had the advantage of being at home. However, both coach Luciano Spalletti and the players in the dressing room believed their team could equalise or even overtake the score in the second half.

The reason why they made such a judgment was not blind optimism, but based on the first-half game data.

Although Zenit St. Petersburg temporarily fell behind in the first half, they had the advantage in terms of possession (home front: 45/55%), shots (10 shots, 6 on target/6 shots on target, 4 on target) and pass completion rate (72%/80%).

Therefore, the whole group at Zenit St. Petersburg is very confident that as long as they can continue to perform in the first 45 minutes of the second half, with a little help of luck, they can at least guarantee a complete exit from Calderón.

On the surface, there is some truth in the optimistic estimation of the outcome of the game based on the statistics of the first half of the game. However, if you re-examine the whole process of the first half of the game and take a closer look, you will find that Atletico Madrid's "disadvantage" in these statistics is not due to a lack of strength, but to the difference between the two teams' game strategy and the composition of the players on the field.

Since the three strikers in the starting line of the Zenit St. Petersburg team do not have any advantage in terms of height, they still rely more on ground passing and individual dribbling breakthroughs in attack.

Although Atletico Madrid's midfield is equipped with technical players such as Koke and Arda Turan, with a strong center forward Diego Costa and the "king of speed" Feng Quan, in order to maximize the advantages in attack, the choice of attack must be simpler and more direct.

As a result, Atletico Madrid has more long passes to the front court and through balls in attack. It is precisely because of this that they are at a disadvantage in terms of possession, pass success rate and other statistics when they are leading the score.

The optimism built up by Zenit St. Petersburg based on the first-half statistics gave them confidence in coming back from the scoreline. But at the same time, the "blind" optimism also makes them lack an accurate and calm analysis of the real situation of the game.

Therefore, the only thing that awaits them is failure.

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After the start of the second half, under the instruction of Diego Simeone, the Atletico Madrid team, whose overall formation was obviously recycled, obviously put on a posture of "keeping the win".

The Zenit St. Petersburg team, which was already "full of confidence" in recovering the disadvantage, immediately boosted its morale after seeing this scene, and continued to use tacit passing and cutting to launch a fierce attack on the Atletico Madrid team playing at home. For a time, in the home stadium of Atletico Madrid, there was a scene of rumors.

With Atletico Madrid's overall formation showing a trend of recycling, with defensive counterattacks as the main game strategy, even if the possession rate of Zenit St. Petersburg once exceeded 60%, it was difficult to really threaten the home team's goal.

Although the scene of being "pressed and beaten" by the opponent in front of his own house caused the dissatisfaction of some of the home team's fans, which in turn led to bursts of boos in the stands of Calderón Stadium. However, the Atletico Madrid players, who had expected such a situation, were not affected in the slightest by the boos from the fans.

At the same time, as the attacks returned again and again, the players of the Zenit St. Petersburg team gradually became impatient. Moreover, as the game time continues to decrease, the number of coordination errors in the offense gradually increases.

In the 15th minute of the second half, Zenit St. Petersburg midfielder Konstantin Zyryanov (Konstantin Zyryanov), when he distributed the ball to Hulk on the right side of the field, the power of the pass was a little too small, and the ball was directly cut off by Felipe Luis.

Felipe Luiz didn't hesitate to break the ball and sent a pass over the top straight into the unguarded area on the left side of the field.

Since the Zenit St. Petersburg team did not set up a "full-time" full-back in this game, responsible for marking the wind. As a result, Feng Quan received a through ball from Felipe Luiz with great ease, almost without any interference.

Feng Quan stopped the ball and dribbled directly into the opponent's penalty area, and until he entered the box and easily shook the goalkeeper Lodykin who abandoned the goal, the defenders of Zenit St. Petersburg did not interfere with him.

The next moment, the stands of the Calderón Stadium suddenly became a sea of joy. The home fans, who had previously been dissatisfied with Atletico Madrid's "conservative" tactics, immediately jumped up from their seats and gave their most sincere applause and cheers.