Chapter 465: A Different Script

After Kanneman tackles the ball, he stands up at great speed, just in time to block Saul, who has just recovered and is ready to counterattack. The Argentine centre-back was in front of him in an open field, as all the Atletico attacking players and their own team-mates were on his flanks or behind, but he didn't flaunt his not-so-great dribbling skills, but instead passed the ball directly to Benasi, who had just started to return to the counter-attacking position after trying to contain Griezmann and force his pass.

In today's opening period, when the team was in possession, Benassi was more likely to drop back and stay relatively close to the other two central midfielders, in order to increase the number of points on the ball and avoid being forced by Atletico's high post. However, when the team entered the defensive stage, the manager gave him the task of returning to the defense is not heavy, basically the same as Belotti, and it is all about annoying Atletico's home stadium in the right situation. But most of the time, Lee Mudi asked him to be ready to play quick counter-attacks with the two strikers.

Therefore, after seeing that his teammates were a little nervous about the opponent's key players to mark one-on-one, Benassi chose to retreat to help defend, and immediately returned to the area where he should be, that is, near the center circle of his own half, and it was Atletico captain Gabi who was facing him across the line (midfield line).

After receiving Canneman's pass, Benassi did not choose to adjust, but sent the ball directly to his right front, because he knew very well that Gabi had accelerated towards him at this time, and if he was entangled by the opponent, this counterattack would be stopped at the moment of initiation. Because experienced opponents know very well how dangerous the situation is, they will not let themselves go even if they pay the price of a foul.

According to Li Mudi's arrangement, Red Beibei did not raise his position too high, because in the face of Atletico Madrid's left-back Lucas Hernandez (the brother of Real Madrid's left-sided star Te'o), his speed is at a disadvantage, so in the counterattack, the role of Torino No. 9 is to be a contact point in addition to drawing the attention of some defenders.

So when he got the ball, Lucas, who had just come up to intercept him, was at least three metres away, and this space helped Belotti adjust slightly without pressure. It's just that Benasi's pass was too fast, and there were some small problems with accuracy, which made Red Beibei almost make a mistake in stopping the ball.

However, it was also a mistake, and when Gabi failed to intercept the Torino midfielder in his first attempt, he was ready to follow Benasi who was moving forward at high speed, after all, Belotti was only a good finisher, and the threat posed by winning the ball in the midfield position was not much. It's just that the opponent's stop was not smooth, the ball was touched to the area between the two people, and before he had time to think about it, the captain of Atletico Madrid instinctively changed the direction of running and went straight to the landing point.

It's just that he made a mistake in judgment, even if he doesn't consider that his speed ability is far inferior to the young man who is ten years younger than him on the other side, but judging from the distance from the ball, the ball will inevitably be regained by the opponent in the end. But there was no regret pill left to take at this point, and the Atletico captain had to rush to the ball with all his strength and throw his body out after a full kick, hoping to block the next move of the opposing striker with this seemingly vicious flying tackle. Even if you can only delay the opponent for a few moments, at least you can buy some time for your teammates to defend back.

However, he clearly underestimated Belotti's bravery and composure at crucial moments, who, despite the risk of injury, stabbed the ball back into the middle before Gabi's right foot arrived. There, Benassi was already running in place, and immediately after receiving the ball, he could accelerate to the front of the opponent's penalty area, and the two men just completed a one-two. Of course, after the pass, Red Babe was inevitably taken by Gabi's tackle action and fell the field, causing huge boos from the Torino fans at the scene.

However, the game was not interrupted, and in the spirit of offensive advantage, referee Kujpels did not make any indications, and the Red Bulls' counterattack continued. In the area of 35 meters in the half, Atletico Madrid formed a two-on-four situation, but the four defenders who were once considered to be the steel defense line are facing a bit of difficulty at the moment.

At this time, Benasi, who controlled the ball, was in the middle of the arc of the Atletico Madrid penalty area, about six or seven meters away, because Mobile began to run from the original center to the right front at the moment of Belotti's pass, taking away Godin's defense. However, the 22-year-old Lucas lost his original defensive position because he wanted to intercept Belotti just now, and is now struggling to chase back, ready to cooperate with his teammates to finch Immobile.

As for the two defenders on the right, Fosarico and Jimenez, they not only had to keep an eye on the actions of the ball carrier, but also to watch out for Barreca, who had already cut forward on the flank, who left Correa behind after Canneman's successful break and ran forward at a high speed, and at this time appeared less than 10 meters behind Benassi on the left, which was unavoidable.

In this way, it seems to be a four-on-two situation, but Atletico's defense is already in absolute passivity, because the opponent can choose more than one offensive means, and the defender is likely to lose sight of one or the other in this situation, and the opponent will seize the opportunity to successfully break through, exposing his own goal to the direct impact of the opponent.

And Benassi did not make the same mistake as Saul before him, he did not hesitate too much, but made his choice firmly. A small step forward drew the centre of gravity of centre-back Jimenez, and then he quickly lifted his right foot and delivered a through ball with great precision.

The ball slipped in front of Godin and appeared in front of Immobile's running path, and the Torino 10 had made a sudden stop-and-go move, not only to prevent himself from falling into an offside trap, but also to trick the highly defensive, Uruguay international centre-back into stopping and following his run. You must know that although the 32-year-old Godin's absolute speed is still acceptable, his explosiveness is no longer the courage of the past, and it is difficult to start again in a short period of time, which gives Immobile a great opportunity to use the advantage of physical fitness to throw off the opponent.

Although his brief pause also caused Lucas, who was chasing back, to come behind him, Immobile, who was always stuck in position, still took the lead in receiving the pass in a step inside the line of the big penalty area, led it forward, and directly hit the goal with his right foot, and the action was extremely consistent and fast.

It was a powerful volley into the top corner of the near post, and it was all about its suddenness, which was one of the suggestions that Li Mudi gave to his players before the game.

Atletico Madrid goalkeeper and Slovenia international Oblak is a goalkeeper with very similar technical characteristics to Casillas, with super goal-line ability and can be ranked in the top five in world football today, with impeccable positioning, hand-holding, one-on-one, reaction and even many mental attributes. It's just that there are still various small problems in air defense, which is that in the evaluation of the outside world, it has always ranked behind the four top goalkeepers Neuer, De Gea, Courtois and Buffon, but it is also a rare goalkeeper in front of the goal, which is one of the key factors for Atletico Madrid to achieve excellent results for many years.

In terms of attacking weaknesses, the most effective attacking tactics for the Bandoners should be wide crosses and free-kicks, but the centre-back combination of Godin and Jimenez, the two Uruguay internationals, made up for the goalkeeper's shortcomings perfectly. Both of them are about 1.85 or 86 meters tall, but the former's heading ability is as high as 18, combined with super prediction, bravery and good bounce, he is a veritable header finisher; The latter has studied with Big Brother for many years, and his ability to compete for high-altitude balls is no less than that of any top player, although his body is a little thinner, but his agility is far superior to that of his peers, which just complements Godin.

So unless extreme circumstances occur, it will not be too effective to insist on using high-altitude balls to kill Atletico's goal. Without a super striker like Drogba, Toney or Jan Kohler, Li Mudi doesn't think that Belotti alone can shake the opponent's super air defense combination, so the Torino team's offensive arrangement in this game will be dominated by fast ground coordination.

It was only through careful study that the Torino coach discovered another small flaw in the Atletico goalkeeper, which was the small range of control. Although his attacking ability in the FM system is rated as 15, which is a very good number, in actual combat, the Slovenian international has also repeatedly abandoned the goal in times of crisis, and has defused countless attacks by opponents. However, according to Lee's careful statistics, Oblak's range is at best limited to the vicinity of the penalty spot, and unless it is the kind of ball that is very clearly controllable, he rarely plays the role of a scavenger like Neuer, let alone rushes out of the box.

From the point of view of physical condition, the goalkeeper's speed is not slow, and he can completely increase his range of movement, but this may be a personal habit developed since childhood, he still trusts his goal-line skills more, and rarely riskes being passed by opponents to attack with all his might. Just like the former Brazil international and AC Milan goalkeeper Dida, it is very interesting to hold the goal-line area and not move, as if you don't know that you can attack.

Li Mudi naturally did not let go of this weakness, and focused on explaining it to the players before the game, hoping that they could try not to have too much power when passing through the ball, and it was best to put Oblak in a semi-attacking state to increase the difficulty of his defense.

Benasi's pass met the manager's requirements perfectly, and when Immobile stopped the ball, the Atletico goalkeeper hesitated on the line of the six-yard box for a moment, until the Torino striker adjusted his pace and was ready to kick the goal, and then quickly pressed forward to try to expand his defensive area.

However, it was the brief delay that allowed Oblak to miss a good opportunity to close the distance between him and the ball, which was hit by Immobile's right foot like a cannonball through the protective area formed by his raised left hand, and crashed into the net behind him after 0.3 seconds.

1-0, Torino knocked on the opponent's goal just four minutes into the final and took a fantastic lead.

In the cheers and celebrations of the Red Bulls fans at the scene, the broadcast commentators from all over the world used the word "incredible" to describe the state of the game, and no one expected that the underdog Torino team would break the deadlock on the field so quickly. Although some people guessed that they might be the first to score, after all, the attacking combination led by the two current internationals of the Italian national team is still very powerful, and they are not afraid to face the powerful Juventus, and it will not be unthinkable for Atletico Madrid, whose defensive ability is similar to that of the old lady, to concede a goal.

It's just that the goal came too early, and the whole process seemed so relaxed, which was completely different from everyone's prediction before the game.

But after careful analysis, everyone has to admire how almost all the players of the Torino team made the most effective response in that short minute, from defense to attack, to the final shot processing, it was so wonderful that the whole Atletico team had no temper.

And Simeone, who had been watching the game calmly in the stands before, was like being poured a basin of cold water on Sanjiutian at this time, and he was cold to numb from head to toe. In any case, he never imagined that this powerful army under his command would be so easily found by his opponent to find many flaws, and the city gate would be declared a failure after three passes and two falls, as if this was only a script that appeared in a dream.

No one knows the strengths and weaknesses of this team better than he does, Godin's explosiveness, Lucas's penchant for attacking that leads to openings in his back, Fosarico's recklessness, Correa's sticky balls and defensive black holes...... But under the arrangement of his own tactical system, these small problems should have been weakened to the extreme. In the overall operation of the team, everyone should show what they are good at, and it is with this strong collective strength that Atletico can never fall behind against the top two teams in the Spanish Super League and other top European teams, although for various reasons there is little chance of becoming the ultimate winner, but in general it is still a strong opponent that all teams do not want to face.

Before this final, although everyone knew that Torino was a very good team, with a strong attacking force and super luck. But in Simeone's eyes, the opponent happens to be the type that his team is better at dealing with.

In the past two or three years, Atletico Madrid has not been at a disadvantage in the face of Real Madrid, which has developed its rapid offensive tactics to the extreme, but the opponent has a quasi-ball king who always explodes in key games, which makes the Sheets lose at the feet of the opponent in European competitions for many years.

The Red Bulls, whose tactical style is very similar to that of the Galacticos, but without superstars, should not pose much of a threat to Atletico. According to Simeone's pre-match script, it is difficult for the opponent's average defense line to block the impact of Griezmann and Costa, as long as the midfielder can choke the launch point of the Torino team's counterattack, he can firmly control the situation of the game in his own hands, and winning is naturally not a problem.

It's just that the development of the plot seems to have taken a 180-degree turn from the beginning, what the hell is this?!