Mustafi finally withstood Atletico Madrid's attack, and after coming on the pitch, he quickly found his form and rhythm of the game, partnering Alberto Massi to re-establish the defence in front of Romero.

This is thanks to Di Francesco's multiple rotations this season, which has allowed Mustafi to get more opportunities to play, and he and Alberto Massi have also partnered many times to find the feeling and understanding of the combination so quickly.

In addition, Di Francisco also made quick adjustments to strengthen the team's defense as a whole.

Simeone saw that the goal was not washed in a short period of time, and he was worried that Gao Zheng would score another one in front of him before the end of the first half, which would be worth the loss - he had carefully watched Sampdoria play Napoli's Coppa Italia semi-final second leg match, Gao Zheng scored two goals without the support of his teammates, relying only on two long pass counterattack opportunities, ending Napoli's hope of advancing to the Coppa Italia final.

Other people may not care much about the Coppa Italia, but Simeone has been paying attention to Sampdoria since he started to let the main players participate in the Coppa Italia, and he has watched every performance of Gao Zheng.

Not to match the league, the Italian Cup and the Champions League are both knockout rounds, and he believes that Gao Zheng's performance in this kind of event may be more valuable than in the league. Because once you lose, you will be eliminated, and the players have to give it their all.

Worried that Gao Zheng would suddenly go crazy in this game, Simeone took the formation back and signaled the team to slow down the pace and slowly maneuver with Sampdoria again.

The commentator of Argentine TV saw that Atletico Madrid had taken it back, and said with some doubts: "It's surprising that Atletico Madrid recovered so quickly, as if Sampdoria had created a great threat to them." But since Gastadro's injury, Sampdoria has focused on defense, and there is no chance to even have a decent counterattack, so how can it threaten Atletico Madrid's goal? Simeone's move was more like a stupid move – if he let his team keep attacking, maybe he would have equalised? ”

Listening to what the narrator said, Giovanni did not express the same puzzlement about his father's actions this time, because he knew why his father would make such a move - he was worried about Gao Zheng.

Although he knew why his father did this, it did not mean that Giovanni was in favor of it, and he also felt that it was a stupid trick.

Dad was a little too afraid of Gao Zheng.

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The first half ended with this wonderful balance of Sampdoria and Atletico Madrid at the end.

After the loss of Gastadro, Sampdoria's morale and form have suffered, and they are not as sharp as before.

And Atletico Madrid is also playing cautiously, which is a bit different from the usual Atletico Madrid style.

"Before Gastadro's injury, the game was pretty good...... "Careza said as he looked at the players from both sides. Hopefully something will change in the second half. ”

※※※

After all the Atletico Madrid players had returned to the dressing room, manager Simeone was the last to come in and then turned and slammed the door shut.

He slapped it hard again and said to his players with satisfaction: "Guys, you guys did a good job!" Although there is a goal conceded, then it is not a big deal. The important thing is that there was only one goal conceded and no more goals conceded. ”

Every Atletico Madrid player can see that their manager is really in a good mood and not pretending to encourage them.

Simeone rubbed his hands together and said to his players expectantly: "All right. The task of the first half was a complete success. Then it was the second half. Remember what I said before the game? They have some fitness issues, so they will definitely be looking for a lunge at the start of the game in the hope of scoring as soon as possible and extending their lead. They did score a goal but couldn't extend their lead and their main centre-back was injured. It's all good news for us. All we have to do in the second half is change the way we played in the first half and use the way we play best to bring them down! ”

The players were not surprised by this change, but the head coach had laid out all his tactics before the game.

They all knew what to do in the second half and it was that that they were able to faithfully execute the manager's tactics in the first half.

To be honest, they played awkwardly in the first half because it wasn't the way they usually played.

But in order to win, to be able to qualify for the quarter-finals, they have to listen to the manager.

Simeone only took over at the end of 2011, and it has only been more than two years since he took over, but he has already established himself as an authority in the minds of Atletico Madrid players.

In addition to the fact that part of this authority comes from Diego Simeone's personal charisma, a large part of it comes from his achievements.

Professional football is a very realistic world, and it is a good place to win or lose. No matter how successful you are as a professional footballer, you may not always be successful as a coach. If you can't lead your team to victory, the prestige you've built up as a player will be depleted.

Simeone's success lies in the fact that after he took over Atletico Madrid, he won nine consecutive Europa League games that year, and finally won the Europa League, and then defeated Champions League winners Chelsea in the UEFA Super Cup to become the king of Europe.

This result laid the foundation for his coaching in this team.

After having two heavyweight championships, Simeone has a lot of confidence to speak, and the players are naturally willing to listen to him, because listening to him can bring championships!

You must know that when Simeone first took over Atletico Madrid, the team was ranked tenth in the league, but after that season, the team won the Europa League, the league ranking also rose to fourth, and qualified for the Champions League play-offs.

Last season was Simeone's second season in charge of Atletico Madrid and his first in full.

In the end, Atletico Madrid defeated city rival Real Madrid 2:1 in the Copa del Rey final and lifted the Copa del Rey title. After a season and a half in charge of the team, he led the team to three important titles, only the league title and the Champions League title.

Such a performance is naturally worthy of the trust of the players.

Even if they privately feel that the head coach seems to be making a big fuss this time, they will still strictly follow the instructions of the head coach when they get on the field, and they will definitely not go against the rules.

Simeone's eyebrows fluttering in the locker room to arrange the tactical arrangement, if this scene is seen by outsiders, it will definitely be a big surprise, because when he left the game just now, Simeone was still frowning, looking preoccupied and not very satisfied with the team's performance.

As a result, after closing the door, he changed his face.

It seems that the tail is finally going to be unable to hide.

※※※

In the home team's dressing room, Di Francesco frowned at the current state of his team.

It stands to reason that only one goal ahead on your home turf is not enough if you want to advance, and it can even be said to be dangerous.

But the current situation is that if you want to continue to play with the offensive momentum of the first half, it is not good that before the game is finished, Sampdoria itself will collapse first.

Because the team is not physically fit. Gasadero's injury is also a reminder that physical weakness can not only lead to problems such as not being able to run, but also lead to injuries to players.

In the long run, we can't fight like this anymore.

At the same time, Atletico Madrid played a bit abnormally in the first half, which made Di Francisco a little worried, this is not the usual style of Atletico Madrid, and they can't really choose this style of play because they are afraid of Sampdoria, after all, Sampdoria is not Barcelona, Di Francisco still has this self-knowledge.

So Atletico Madrid must have some kind of conspiracy to play like this. If Sampdoria continues to play at the pace of the first half, they will play into the hands of Atletico Madrid.

After much consideration, despite his reluctance, Di Francisco made a choice.

He told the team to shrink in the second half and play counter-attack, and slowly wrestle with Atletico Madrid. With not conceding a goal as the primary goal, if you counterattack, you still leave it to Gao Zheng alone, just like in the semi-finals of the Italian Cup.

As long as you don't concede a goal, even if you beat Atletico Madrid 1-0, it will be a victory and the aggregate score will be ahead.

The problem of the second leg will be considered in the second round, if you can't win the first round, the second leg is meaningless at all.