Chapter 426: Almost
After Atletico Madrid celebrated the goal, they received the latest instructions from the coach's bench - take advantage of the opportunity to hit the ball and continue to attack the Sampdoria goal, and try to score another goal before the end of the game, come back and win the game!
The Atletico Madrid players, who had just scored the goal, were in the mood for a felt, and they would not be happy if they were asked to shrink their defence at this time.
This latest arrangement of the head coach is in line with their appetite.
So after the game resumed, the Atletico Madrid players ran tirelessly like a pack of mad dogs, strangling the Atletico Madrid defence, shattering their defense, looking for opportunities to score.
"Diego Costa! It's dangerous! His shot just slid out of the door! β
"Cork's breakthrough! He went in...... Be careful! Mustafi! He made a crucial tackle! No fouls, clean tackles! However, this tackle requires a very high level of mental quality, and if you are not careful, you can give away a penalty to the opponent......"
ββ¦β¦ During this time, Sampdoria was very passive, they were stunned by a series of blows, and they didn't come back to their senses, Atletico Madrid was very morale-boosting, and it would be dangerous for Sampdoria to play like this! He Ping said worriedly.
Simeone is no longer sitting in the dugout as he did in the first half, he stands on the sidelines, and the whole person makes various movements according to the situation on the field, yelling from time to time.
"This is the Simeone we know, this is the Atletico Madrid we are familiar with, from the coach to the players, they are full of passion!" The Spanish commentators were excited and full of praise for it. "Against a team like Sampdoria, how do you just get a draw away from home? To qualify for the quarter-finals, of course, you have to win away from Sampdoria! β
The commentator's thoughts also represent those of many Atletico Madrid fans.
In their opinion, Sampdoria's strength is certainly not as good as Atletico Madrid, and it stands to reason that even if it is away, Atletico Madrid should be able to win Sampdoria. As a result, the first half was played cautiously, and it was not until the second half that the second player of the opposing team was injured, and Atletico Madrid broke the deadlock. How can a draw satisfy them?
The Argentine TV commentator and the Spanish commentator are the same thing, and he even directly asserted that Atletico Madrid will win away from home and that Sampdoria has collapsed.
"That's right, Dad. That's your football, how can you be intimidated by a mere Sampdoria? Giovanni in front of the TV breathed a sigh of relief that he finally didn't have to put up with his teammates' teasing of his father.
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Clarian Moretti and his companions were silent as they stood in the south stand of the Marassi Stadium and watched the dangerous Sampdoria goal.
Sampdoria showed their courage in the first half and they were hopeful of beating Atletico Madrid at home.
As a result, they were beaten back to reality in the second half.
The difference in strength between the two sides is still very large, just holding on to this draw, Sampdoria has already done their best, and Atletico Madrid is obviously playing before, and there is still room for power.
After all, this is a team that can beat Real Madrid 1-0 at the Bernabeu......
Atletico Madrid won a corner, and after the corner was taken, their centre-back Godin leaped high and headed the ball towards goal, only to fly just slightly over the crossbar.
Moretti's companions exclaimed, "It's dangerous! What the! Why was the opposing centre-back able to shoot so recklessly in front of our goal?! β
Moretti didn't answer him, isn't it normal for the centre-backs to come up and fight for the header? But more crucially, we haven't counter-attacked for a while, so their centre-backs don't need to think about defending back and can be confident and bold enough to go up and fight for the top.
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Di Francesco glanced at the time on the big screen, the game was already in the 89th minute, and the fourth official was setting up injury time on the sidelines.
Because Palombo was injured in the second half, the stoppage time will be a little longer.
But he really can't say right now whether it's a good thing for Sampdoria or a bad thing.
After all, the game is now in the hands of Atletico Madrid, and the longer the injury time, the more attacking opportunities Atletico Madrid can get, and the greater the chance that Sampdoria will concede another goal.
From this point of view, Di Francesco instead wants to avoid injury time and finish the game after 90 minutes, and his mental expectation has now been lowered from beating Atletico Madrid at home to a draw at home.
When the 90 minutes were over, the fourth official held up a sign on the sidelines for five minutes of injury time.
As soon as this time came out, it caused dissatisfaction among the Sampdoria fans in the stands, and there were days of boos.
This fully shows that the Sampdoria fans and the Sampdoria manager are in the same mind, and when their goal is at stake, they do not want to play a few more minutes of the game, for fear that Atletico Madrid will use the opportunity to score again.
Atletico Madrid took advantage of the last five minutes to launch a more aggressive attack on Sampdoria's goal, hoping to take advantage of the opportunity to score another goal.
But just when Atletico Madrid fans fantasized about the team's last-minute defeat against Sampdoria, inadvertently, Sampdoria launched a counterattack.
Sampdoria's left-back Costa dribbled past half-time when the Atletico Madrid midfielder crossed the ball from a 45-degree angle on the left flank and the ball was intercepted by Gabi and full-back JuanfrΓ‘n.
He didn't have the confidence to dribble the ball past the interception of the two of them, and glanced at Gao Zheng, who had already rushed to the front, so he simply made a long pass with a big foot and passed the football high to the Atletico Madrid penalty area.
Gao Zheng ran to the landing point of the football and received the ball at the top of the penalty arc in the penalty area.
Using his precise judgment of the landing point, he used his chest to unload the ball from Costa.
"Nice Stop......
Before Caressa's admiration was finished, he saw Gao Zheng not waiting for the football to land, so he picked up his left foot and pulled the football out directly!
The ball flies to the top left corner of the goal!
"Volley!" He Ping exclaimed excitedly, as if waiting for the moment when the football flew into the goal, and then he vented all the emotions and words that had been held in his heart for a long time.
But just as He Ping and the Sampdoria fans in the stands were about to cheer, a large gloved hand reached over and quickly approached the ball, and then the tip of his finger touched the ball.
The ball jumped slightly diagonally and flew out of the outside of the goal post!
"Courtois!!" The Spanish TV commentator hissed, "Courtois! Wow!!! Terrific great save! He saved the team! β
Seeing that the football was pounced, even Gao Zheng couldn't help but hold his head in his hands, and then swung his fist down, looking quite shocked - he really didn't expect Courtois to be able to pounce the football like this......
"Ahh Yes!!!! Careza screamed. High shot saved by Courtois! Oh, my God! This was supposed to be a kick in the world! But Courtois cruelly rejected it all! When Atletico Madrid desperately wanted to reverse and beat Sampdoria, they were almost killed by Sampdoria! What a pity...... What a shame! Sampdoria are just a fingertip away from winning this game at home! β
He Ping almost coughed when he saw this scene...... His words and emotions were forcibly swallowed back like saliva, and it took a long time to relieve: "It's a pity! What a pity! Gao Zheng could have beaten Atletico Madrid! To be honest, this is not a good counterattack opportunity for Sampdoria, it is completely a chance created by Gao Zheng by his personal ability, but such a wonderful shot was saved...... Of course, Courtois's save was just as good......"
He Ping couldn't go on, the disappointment in his heart had already been expressed through his tone, he could only shut up and slow down his emotions first, and he couldn't affect his work.
After all, in China, there are also a large number of Atletico Madrid fans.
He can't completely offend this group, although he has been scolded on Weibo a lot, and the fan camp he belongs to has also changed many times......
But there's still no need to make trouble for yourself.
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The TV broadcast repeatedly broadcast Gao Zheng's shot, from stopping the ball to shooting, but in the end it was stopped by Courtois's wonderful performance.
The close-up camera switches back and forth between Gao Zheng and Courtois.
Gao Zheng held his head in his hands and waved his fist in annoyance.
Courtois rolled off the ground several times before getting up, also waving his fists, but the feeling was completely different from Gao Zheng's.
One by one, the Atletico Madrid players came up to him and hugged him, causing the Sampdoria players to complain to the referee that Atletico Madrid was using this opportunity to stall for time - which is really funny, before the Sampdoria players moved a little slowly, and the Atletico Madrid players thought that Sampdoria was stalling for time, but now it is Atletico Madrid's turn to stall for time......
But it's no wonder they're so exaggerated, because they were really scared just now.
"It's dangerous, if it weren't for Courtois, we would have lost......," muttered assistant coach Boggs as he watched the pitch dumbfounded in the Atletico Madrid dugout.
"It's not a great opportunity...... "Strength and conditioning coach Ortega is also a little scared.
Simeone's face is also not good-looking, although he is not surprised that Gao Zheng will have such a performance, but it really happened to him, it is still too exciting...... Just now he felt like his heart was stopping.
Atletico Madrid then made an adjustment, no longer continuing to bombard Sampdoria's goal, but took it back.
For them, the 1-1 result is actually very good, and they can't afford to lose the game for it.
On the contrary, Sampdoria was stimulated by Gao Zheng's shot, and was a little unwilling to accept this result, and tried to force the Atletico Madrid goal in the last two minutes.
But they couldn't get it down, and when the referee blew the whistle at the end of the game, the score was still fixed at 1:1.