Atletico Madrid is the third-best team in Spanish football history in terms of titles, season ticket holders and total earnings, behind city rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona.

But in the first decade of the 21st century, Atletico Madrid lost its glory, not only fighting for a place in the League Cup, but even relegated to La Liga. It wasn't until late 2011 that Simeone officially took over the reins of Atletico Madrid, when Atletico Madrid finished 10th in La Liga with a poor record and was still struggling to stay in Spain's top flight.

Now, almost five years later, the Arena de Madrid has a completely new look on and off the field.

The biggest impression of the team coached by Simeone today is its fierce and rigorous defense. The intensity of the full-court pressing was suffocating, while the defensive line remained intact and stretched, and it felt like the soul of the Italian defence was attached to the emerging midfield pressing. In addition, the counterattack is not bad, anyway, under the defense of Atletico Madrid, as long as one or two can be scored, it will basically be won.

With such a successful tactical system, Atletico Madrid won a UEFA Cup, a La Liga title, a UEFA Super Cup, a Spanish Copa del Rey and a Spanish Super Cup, and reached the final of the Champions League. This good result has ensured that Atletico Madrid has received a huge income in terms of tournament prize money and television broadcasts, which has also laid the foundation for the revival of Atletico Madrid.

After beating Getafe 1-0 away in the last round, Atletico Madrid have won their last two rounds. However, thanks to Barca's strong performance, they also beat Gijon away in midweek to take all three points, and the gap between the Sheets and Villarreal has now reached six points.

Atletico Madrid will return to the Calderón Stadium to face Villarreal, with Simeone's side hoping to win three consecutive league games to continue their pursuit of Barcelona.

It will be a tough challenge for Villarreal, who have just played Napoli in the Europa League in midweek, with main player Dos Santos still injured and a lot of losses on the players.

However, it is not without good news for Villarreal, with Atletico Madrid having Thiago, Carrasco and Augusto Fernandez sidelined for this game.

Torres continues to partner Antoine Griezmann up front, scoring for Atletico Madrid in the last two games.

Atletico Madrid line-up: Oblak; Juanfrán, Savic, Godin, Felipe Luiz; Kok, Gabi, Sauer-Niguez, Correa; Griezmann, Torres

Villarreal line-up: Areola; Gaspar, Bonella, Ruiz, Bailly; Rucavina, Bruno, Pina, Castillojo; Bakambu, Dai Zhiwei

"Finally, I met someone who could fight!" After joining Villarreal, Dai Zhiwei has encountered all the mid-tier teams in La Liga, even in the Europa League knockout match with Napoli, the opponent is listless, so he has always had the illusion that "there is no one who can play".

And this Atletico Madrid is definitely the top power in today's football!

Soon, Atletico Madrid told Dai Zhiwei about the gap between the top teams and the average strong team.

Atletico Madrid forced a series of corners early on and almost took the lead in the second minute of the game, when Gaspar cleared the ball and bounced back into the box, Sauer Niguez adjusted too much near the penalty spot, and the subsequent shot was blocked by the returning Bonella.

After that, the home team Atletico Madrid had a number of good chances to score, completely beating Villarreal from afar.

Just five minutes after the last shot, the Yellow Submarine was in constant danger in front of goal, first Ruiz's header in the box was not far away, and Griezmann's left-footed volley from 18 meters on the left edge of the box went over the crossbar in the near corner.

Fortunately, Atletico Madrid has never been a top attacking team, so although it seems to be playing hot, the actual effect is not as good as when they play defensive counterattacks, so most of the dangers in front of the yellow submarine goal are thunder and rain.

Compared with their attack, Atletico Madrid's defense is definitely one of the best in world football, especially in front of Godin, Dai Zhiwei is difficult to have a bright performance.

However, it is difficult to freeze Dai Zhiwei for the entire game, but it is an almost impossible task.

After all, not everyone is Ethan Hunt, played by Tom Cruise, who is capable of the impossible.

Towards the end of the first half, Dai Zhiwei once again received a long pass from the backcourt, and tried his best to protect the football at his feet under Godin's interference.

"Right-angled dummy?" Dai Zhiwei had used Godin twice before, once successful and once unsuccessful, so he was not completely sure to break through his opponent.

But who said that Dai Zhiwei's breakthrough would only be a right-angle prosthetic?

Since skill may not be able to confuse the opponent, then he is ready to be strong - that is, to fight for speed!

The top speed of 96 points and the acceleration of 94 points make Dai Zhiwei a leader in Asian football, and it is difficult to meet opponents after reaching La Liga.

As soon as Dai Zhiwei smoothed the ball, he started to burst strongly, and Godin was a little slow and already fell diagonally behind.

However, Godin is very experienced, and gently tugged on Dai Zhiwei's jersey, and then quickly let go, but Dai Zhiwei was running at high speed, and this pull made him stumble and slide to the ground.

Villarreal won a free-kick from the left side of the pitch.

The free-kick was a little far from the goal, about 40 meters away, Pina hoisted the ball into the penalty area, and Ruiz fought for the first point on the left side of the penalty area, but chose to head the ball because of the poor angle of the goal.

Bakambu, who was ambushed on the road, headed over the top of the box in the six-yard box, but the ball smashed on the post and the Yellow Submarine missed a great opportunity to break the deadlock.

Unfortunately, Dai Zhiwei's flashes in the first half were intermittent, which reflected Villarreal's weakness on the field, and more often than not, Atletico Madrid controlled the situation on the field.

Another attack from Atletico Madrid, Griezmann broke through the wing and passed the ball forward from the edge of the box, and Felipe Luiz's low left-footed shot from 26 meters to the left tried to hit the near corner of the goal, but unfortunately the ball went wide and after rounding Areola's ten fingers, it also went wide of the post.

Atletico Madrid's attacking strength caused Villarreal to struggle and pay the price for a foul, and in the 32nd minute, when Griezmann broke through with the ball again, Rukavina chose to fall to the ground and tackle the dangerous move of shining the spikes.

Rukavina was booked for a foul on Antoine Griezmann, while Atletico Madrid were awarded a free-kick that was slightly wide.

Griezmann's free-kick from the left was met by Koke who struggled to find the first spot under the watchful eye of Pina and nodded smartly forward to Godin's header from just eight yards out.

Areola, who had been focusing most of his attention on the front point, was helpless in the face of Godin's header, but unfortunately Godin's powerful header from 6 meters at the back post was slightly wide of the far post, and Villarreal was lucky to escape.

Five minutes later, Griezmann broke down the right and won another free-kick, but Koke's free-kick went high again.

In the ensuing game, both teams attacked and defended each other, but neither team was able to get any good chances, and neither could put more attacking threats on the other side, and the game came to a stalemate.

As stoppage time heading into the first half, Villarreal made a fatal mistake in a less threatening attack by Atletico Madrid – Ruiz's header from inside the box was not far away, and Atletico right-back Juanfran found an opportunity in the right corner of the box and fired a left-footed volley straight into the top left corner.

"Bang!" Another goalpost, after blocking Bakambu's shot, the goal of this game once again steals the show!

"Alas!" When he walked into the players' tunnel at halftime, Dai Zhiwei shook his head slightly, obviously very dissatisfied with his performance in the first half.

Even in the dressing room, his brow is still furrowed, although Godin's pressure is no better than Mascherano's, and Savic's defensive strength is far inferior to Pique's, but the Atletico Madrid backline in the first half is the strongest he has faced so far!

He didn't feel the powerlessness that he was completely frozen by the other party, but he felt twisted, unpleasant, and incoherent, even the feeling that he couldn't use power.

"What should I do?" Dai Zhiwei gently pinched his forehead with his right hand, thinking about how to crack the opponent's defense.

It's a pity that 15 minutes is too short, and he can only come up with a way to see the move in the end.

After the start of the second half, the two sides changed places and the two sides still struggled to open up the situation, but Villarreal fell behind on the field.

During this time, the situation on the pitch repeated the scene after the start of the first half, Villarreal was always suppressed in their own half, and the scene was quite passive.

Although Dai Zhiwei frequently called the names of his teammates on the field in the front court, he still couldn't get the pass, and could only play the role of pulling the opponent's backline.