Although it did not reach the final, the Chinese team still had to play one more game like the team that reached the final, the third or fourth place final.

This also means that Gao Zheng can't return to the club just because the Chinese team stopped in the semi-finals.

The third and fourth place finals of the Asian Cup were played on the evening of January 30, which was only one day longer than the final.

In this regard, Simeone was asked this question in an interview, and half-jokingly said: "I'm not happy about the high fight, since I have to play six games, then why don't I play the final, but the third or fourth final?" It's okay, just wait one more day, we've been waiting more often than not......"

The reporters in the room laughed, and so did Simeone.

The atmosphere looks relaxed.

In fact, considering the lack of Gao Zheng, Atletico Madrid's performance during this period was not bad. Although they have lost two league games, they have not dropped down the table and are still in third place, clinging to Barcelona – they are level on points with Barcelona and four points behind first-placed Real Madrid.

In the Copa del Rey final, they also eliminated their rival Real Madrid with an aggregate score of 4:2 without Gao Zheng 2:0 at home and 2:2 away.

Of course, in the first leg of the Copa del Rey quarterfinals the other day, they lost 0-1 away to Barcelona.

But isn't there a second round?

This press conference is the pre-match press conference for Atletico Madrid's home game against Barcelona.

On the evening of January 28, the second leg was played at the Calderón Stadium, and Atletico Madrid played at home, only one goal behind Barcelona, and they could still turn the tables around.

It's no wonder that Simeone seems very relaxed when it comes to answering this question. The premise of Simeone's answer is that someone asked him if he would miss Gao Zheng if he would miss Gao Zheng if he had already lost to Barcelona in the league this season, and lost the first leg of the Copa del Rey quarterfinals again.

So Simeone made the above answer, half-jokingly avoiding the topic - he wanted to say that he wanted Gao Zheng, what did the other Atletico Madrid players in the team think? Oh, it's Gao Zheng's credit to win, and losing is without Gao Zheng, what do you think of us?

If he wants to say that he doesn't want Gao Zheng, I'm afraid that the media will spread his words to the next day, provoking the relationship between him and Gao Zheng - he doesn't want to stiffen the relationship with Gao Zheng by the media.

Gao Zheng is certainly the core of Simeone's team, but Atletico Madrid is not a one-man team. In addition to Gao Zheng, Atletico Madrid has other good players.

That's what makes his team completely different from Sampdoria. If Sampdoria had lost Gao Zheng, it would have collapsed - the fact is that Sampdoria without Gao Zheng this season is only ranked thirteenth, which is far worse than the two seasons with Gao Zheng.

Berardi performed very well, but he alone can't lead Sampdoria, after all, he is not Gao Zheng, and there is still a big gap between him and Gao Zheng.

“…… This time it's our home stadium and we're confident we can win against Barcelona. ”

Finally, Simeone said.

In the previous two games, Atletico Madrid challenged Barcelona away, so they lost. This time Atletico Madrid is at home, and Atletico Madrid's home stadium has always been very scary - Real Madrid, who have performed well in the league, have faced Atletico Madrid away in the first leg of the quarterfinals, and the result is a 0-2 defeat.

With only a narrow 1-0 defeat to Barcelona away, Simeone is certainly confident of coming back at home.

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In this second leg of the game, Atletico Madrid, who is fighting at home, is indeed full of momentum, and it rushes and fights as soon as it comes up.

And in the first minute, Fernando Torres scored the first goal, making the aggregate score 1:1 and sounding the horn of Atletico Madrid's counterattack.

Torres, Atletico Madrid's "golden boy" that year, was loaned from AC Milan in January this year, which is also to make up for the vacancy in Atletico Madrid's forward line after Gao Zheng left the team to play in the Asian Cup.

At the same time, the return of the "golden boy" who has been adrift for many years and is now unsatisfactory can also reflect the human touch of Atletico Madrid.

Fernando Torres has been doing well since returning from loan on 6 January, scoring two league goals and now a Copa del Rey winner.

However, Barcelona soon equalised – in the ninth minute, Neymar levelled Barcelona to a 1-1 draw and 2-1 on aggregate.

In the 30th minute, Atletico Madrid broke the deadlock again when Juanfran burst into the box and caused a foul by Barcelona centre-back Javier Mascherano, and the referee awarded Atletico Madrid a penalty.

Raul Garcia scored the penalty to level the aggregate score at 2-2, but it was still a disadvantage for Atletico Madrid because the aggregate score was the same, and Barcelona had an away goal, and the away goal advantage allowed them to overtake Atletico Madrid and take the lead in the race to the last four.

If they want to turn the tables around, they have to keep scoring goals.

But in the 38th minute, Barcelona came back quickly, this time with Sergio Busquets' header being touched into his own goal by Atletico Madrid's centre-back Miranda.

This own goal is too demoralizing.

But to add insult to injury, Barcelona scored again just three minutes later when Neymar scored twice after receiving a pass from Alba.

Barcelona led 3:2 in a single game, and the aggregate score was 4:2.

If Atletico Madrid want to turn around, they won't be able to score two more goals, they will have to score three goals while counting on Barcelona not to score again.

They have been cornered!

In the second half, Simeone deployed his troops and replaced Griezmann, who had a poor performance in the first half, with Saul as soon as he came up.

And at the age of 63 minutes, all three substitutions were used up.

However, Atletico Madrid's offensive has not improved as a result.

On the contrary, the team's captain Gabi was also sent off the game in the 78th minute for a foul.

"With the score behind and one person missing, Simeone's home comeback plan looks like it's going to come to naught......" commentator Jose Maria joked, "I wonder if Simeone misses Gao at this time?" Atletico Madrid had forty-five minutes to settle the problem after falling behind, but now it seems that they have no way to break the Barcelona goal......"

The televised broadcast seemed to have a clear understanding with the narrator, Maria, and gave Simeone a close-up.

Diego Simeone appears anxious in the close-up, whistling from the sidelines and motioning for his players to press.

However, he has quickly used up the three substitutions, and after making adjustments, he now has no better way than to watch the play off the field.

"By the way, Gao has scored seven goals in the Asian Cup, and he is the top scorer in the Asian Cup, far ahead of his opponents." Maria did not forget to mend the knife and introduced it to the audience in front of the TV who did not know and pay attention to the Asian Cup.

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In the end, Atletico Madrid's best efforts failed to score even a single goal in the second half.

They lost 2-3 to Barcelona at their home stadium and were beaten home and away in the Copa del Rey.

Also eliminated from the Copa del Rey.

At the end of the game, José Maria quipped: "Whether Diego Simeone misses Gao or not, I think Atletico Madrid fans must miss Gao very much......"

And Gao Zheng will not be able to come back until January 31 at the earliest, after playing the third or fourth finals with the United Arab Emirates.

He will definitely miss the 21st round of the league against Eibar.

But it doesn't matter, this game doesn't matter at all.

The important thing is that in the 22nd round of the league on February 7, Atletico Madrid will host Real Madrid.

Yes, the second leg of this season's league Madrid derby is just around the corner.