"The key to the outcome of this decisive battle will definitely come in the second half!"

The morning before the final, Real Madrid held a tactical preparation meeting at the Hongfu Hotel, and Carlo Ancelotti explained his views and strategies for the final straight to the point, and he was very sure of his judgment.

'Simeone won't give us any more chances, I can be sure that they will start the game with high pressing, pressing high to prevent us from controlling the game, cutting our local areas and breaking up our attack, which is what they do best and will be the key for them to beat us.

There is a saying in European football that the final is nameless.

What does that mean?

That said, when it comes to a crucial battle like the Champions League final, no manager can afford to take any chances.

Before the game, both sides will calculate all the problems that may arise on both sides, and then evaluate and measure, and finally formulate a game strategy, in this case, it is difficult to have accidents.

Unless it's an individual performance of a player.

The more it comes to this kind of crucial battle, the more it tests the player's personal ability and will to play.

That's why players who shine on stages such as the World Cup and the European Championship are often favored and become famous.

Because if you want to shine on this kind of stage, it is absolutely impossible just because of luck.

The same goes for the Champions League final.

In terms of individual ability, Real Madrid is ahead of Atletico Madrid, so what Ancelotti needs to do is to ensure that the team does not make mistakes in the overall strategy and tactics, contain Atletico Madrid's tactics, and create a foundation for the player's individual performance.

"What they do best is to press in the whole and in the local area, cut our attacking lines, and launch a counter-attack on the spot after a successful break, and turn the results of pressing into an attacking threat, but it requires a lot of movement, so it can only be executed in the first half, but in the second half, their fitness is greatly reduced."

"So, I'm sure Simeone will let go of his hands and feet in the first half to press, hoping to create unexpected chances, get one, or even two goals, and immediately adopt a defensive strategy when they take the lead, and even if they don't lead, or even fall behind, they will definitely change their tactics after the break, adopt a defensive strategy, and conserve their energy."

Large-scale pressing is very torturous, and with the quality of the players at the moment, it is simply impossible to support a high-intensity pressing for 90 minutes, because it requires too much running, especially sprint switchback.

Many media and fans often attach great importance to the running distance when they are statistical, but they never think that if it is a constant speed run, any player can run more than ten or twenty kilometers, but in a football game, this kind of uniform speed running cannot exist for a long time.

The reason why Xavi and Iniesta and others at the peak of Barcelona were able to run so much was because they controlled the ball, but if they encountered the pressure of the opponent, they had to take more sprints and switchbacks, and they couldn't run so much.

Therefore, Atletico Madrid used high pressing and pressing in the first half and contracted defense in the second half, all because of physical fitness.

Carlo Ancelotti's targeted tactics are very strong, and it can even be said that he is not inferior to Benitez, but it is important to note that he has studied his opponents very deeply and thoroughly.

"In the face of a team like Atletico Madrid, whether it is us, or Barcelona, or any other team, there is no better choice, we can only fight hard, we play Atletico Madrid, we just have to fight with the opponent, in the first half we have to defend and counterattack, let Atletico Madrid press out, we have to force the opponent to play a war of attrition."

When it comes to defensive counterattacks, Real Madrid can be said to be the best in the entire European football world, and other teams can't catch up.

And you know, the reason why football scores so few goals is very important is that it is easier to defend than to attack.

Why does a basketball game often score dozens of goals in a game?

Because it's easier for them to attack than to defend.

At the end of the day, it's a result of the difference in numbers.

"In the second half, when Atletico Madrid wants to shrink the defense, we press out and attack, speed up the game, break them down in one fell swoop, and then end the battle in the second half!" Ancelotti waved his hand and said loudly.

Everyone felt the confidence from the manager and the prospects he outlined were very probable.

After all, Real Madrid is too familiar with Atletico Madrid and knows very well how many pounds and taels this team has.

There were players on both sides of the game, with Xavi Alonso on Real Madrid's side missing the final with yellow cards and Atletico Madrid's Turan missing the final, with both sides suffering from personnel shortages.

However, Real Madrid's bench thickness is much higher than that of Atletico Madrid, and in this case, the more you get to the second half, the more you fight for consumption, the more beneficial it is for Real Madrid.

Of course, the premise is that Ancelotti's targeted tactics can't go wrong, and Real Madrid's players can't go wrong with their execution.

A 90-minute football game is always full of countless small accidents, and every detail has an element of chance and inevitability, which makes every game unpredictable, which is the fun and most fascinating part of the football game.

To put it simply, Atletico Madrid's style of play is very similar to that of Hornets Dortmund, which is to make up for the technical gap through more physical exertion, and against such a team, it is necessary to use the technical advantage to consume the opponent's physical strength, and then use the physical advantage to kill the opponent in the second half.

That's what Carlo Ancelotti started to say, the key was in the second half!

……

In addition to the overall strategy, Ancelotti focused on some targeted tactics.

The Real Madrid coaching staff is currently paying close attention to the injury of Atletico Madrid center forward Diego Costa, which is also of great concern to the media and fans around the world, whether the Brazilian center forward, who has become a naturalized Spain and is about to represent Spain in the World Cup, will be able to play, and how much form will he be able to play after playing?

This is a very suspenseful question.

Anyone who has played against Atletico knows that there is no Diego Costa, and those are two very different Atletico Madrid.

Diego Costa's presence is not only a solid point of contact on the counter-attack, maximising the threat of Atletico Madrid's counter-attack after breaking the ball, but also his movement and pressure on the central defenders are also an important part of Atletico's defensive system.

Apart from Diego Costa, Atletico cannot find a second player in their squad who can play that role.

This shows how important Diego Costa is to Atletico Madrid.

"Last weekend, in the last round of La Liga, Atletico Madrid played Barcelona, Diego Costa started, but only played 16 minutes, we can't tell now whether he is really injured and can't play? Or is Simeone deliberately unleashing smoke bombs? ”

Ancelotti frowned, obviously also extremely distressed by the question.

Real Madrid have dedicated scouts digging up information about their opponents, but Atletico Madrid has also done a lot of work in this regard, and they simply go straight to the town where no one cares about it to train secretly, and no one knows what their situation is.

Obviously, Simeone also wants to hide the suspense to the end.

'Since there is no way to tell, then we have to be all prepared, we need to have two different plans in place to deal with whether Diego Costa will play or not, and at the same time we have to plan to prevent accidents in the game and concede the first goal.

Anything can happen, and it takes all the preparation of the manager and the players before the game so that they don't end up in an awkward situation.

"Another point, that is, set-piece defense, Atletico Madrid's set-pieces have always been strong, in the last round of the league, it was Godin's corner header to score, Atletico drew with Barcelona, won the second in the league, squeezed Barcelona to the third in the league, which needs to be paid attention to."

Set-piece defence has always been a stubborn problem for Real Madrid, from Benitez's time at Liverpool, and after coming to Real Madrid, it took several years to adjust.

A very important reason is that Real Madrid attaches great importance to technique, and the height of the players in the team is generally not dominant.

Set-piece defence is a weakness, though, but set-piece attack has been a bright spot over the past year, especially with Sergio Ramos.

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The whole tactical meeting lasted an hour and a half, which is rare during Carlo Ancelotti's tenure, and it shows how much he and the coaching staff attach to Atletico Madrid and this game.

It has been reiterated that all previous victories against Atletico have nothing to do with this final, and everyone must gather their emotions and start again.

In the afternoon, when the team went to the Stadium of Light in Lisbon for a pre-match familiarization session, Ancelotti also rehearsed set-pieces and penalties, also just in case, because he felt that if the team could not open the game, the game would likely go to extra time or even a penalty shoot-out.

Yang Yang also rehearsed a direct free kick on his own, with a high hit rate, which won warm applause from the media and fans who came to watch the training, which was also part of the arrangement of the Real Madrid coaching staff.

Yang Yang's direct free kick is a deterrent to Atletico Madrid, reminding Atletico Madrid players at all times that when committing a foul, especially a foul within 30 meters of their own half, they must be considered carefully before moving.

After the training, Raul, Hierro, Guti and other Real Madrid players came to the training ground one after another, and these old-timers all came to cheer for Real Madrid, and they also gave high praise to the team's performance this season and encouraged the team to continue to work hard.

"Win this last battle, and you will all become great legends!" Former captain Hierro encouraged passionately.

They all talked to Yang Yang individually, but basically they didn't say anything about experience, because when it comes to the experience of the Champions League final, Yang Yang has more experience than all players in the world, and his Champions League final winning rate is 100%.

Raul and Hierro and others still encouraged Yang Yang to work harder, hoping that he could lead Real Madrid to win the St. Bride Cup from the Stadium of Light, and Yang Yang also promised that he would go all out.