Atletico Madrid still used their most regular 4-4-2 formation of the season today, with goalkeeper Oblak; The back four, from right to left, is Fosarico, Jimenez, Godin and Lucas Hernandez; In midfield, Correa, Gabi, Saul and Koke appear to be lined up, but the two wing-backs will be very high up in the attack, acting as wingers; Partnering in front of Antoine Griezmann and Diego Costa.

This lineup is the strongest starting team that Simeone can come up with at the moment, and judging from the strength on paper alone, even if he encounters the world's top teams such as Barcelona and Real Madrid, he will not give up too much.

The Torino team is still in a 3-5-2 position, there are no main players injured, Li Mudi naturally cannot retain his strength on such an important occasion, Casillas, Diego Llorente, Ranocchia, Canneman, Silvestri, Baseli, Vukovecic, Benasi, Barreca, Belotti and Immobile, this set of the strongest team after a season of testing, it is not surprising that it has become a starting lineup. From this point of view, both managers chose the safest way to play, and did not make any surprises as some media expected before the game.

And it can also be seen from the tactical choices of the two sides in the first few minutes after the opening that they generally continue their own habitual routines, which are all pragmatic for the purpose, and do not pursue how gorgeous and beautiful the game is, but make a big fuss about the rhythm of offensive and defensive conversion.

Since neither team is good at it, or their tactical style of play does not require players to control a lot of possession, so in the previous games of the season, except for facing opponents who are very different from their own, the rest of the games will not have a clear advantage in possession, and there are many times when they are still behind in this regard. In this direct confrontation between the two sides, there is a lot of speculation about who will be the dominant side when the score has not changed.

And at least in the opening stages, the answer to that question is Torino. Li Mudi asked his players to increase the time of possession in the central midfield, so as to attract Atletico's midfielders to press, so as to reduce the number of opponents in the backfield and create more space for Immobile and Belotti.

As mentioned earlier, why Atletico Madrid, who appear to be so strong on the surface, cannot become a recognized top team, even though they have always played a close face against the top two giants of the Spanish Super League and other countries in recent seasons, no one thinks that the Sheets can join the ranks of the Spanish Super League. The answer is simple, Atletico Madrid's squad has a big instability, and that is their seemingly luxurious midfield line.

Not counting Correa, who is more inclined to play as a winger, the remaining three Spanish players are undoubtedly exemplary figures of all-round midfielders in world football today, and each person's passing, dribbling and tackles, and defensive positioning, which represent the level of attack and defense respectively, are rated no less than 13 in the FM system, and most of the other related abilities are also around 15 or even higher. It is already very lucky to have a player of this type, and it is really admirable that Atletico Madrid has found or cultivated three in one go.

What's even more terrifying is that the tacit understanding between the three midfielders is also extremely rare, which has a lot to do with their perennial partnership.

Captain Gabi, who was born five months older than Li Mudi, came through the Atletico Madrid academy and although he briefly played for Getafe and Zaragoza in his nearly 20-year playing career, he spent most of his time charging for the Sheets. In the summer of 2011, Gabi returned to his old club and immediately became an absolute mainstay of the team, and together with Simeone, who later took over the reins of the team, they built Atletico into an iron-clad team in a very short period of time, and were the spiritual leaders and one of the key factors in the team's ability to maintain its status as one of the leading teams in European football in recent years.

Although he will turn 35 in less than two months, Gabi's competitive state has been maintained at the level of a first-class midfielder, and in the FM system, the current ability is 151, which is not much different from his potential value of 159. The advantage of the Atletico captain is his incomparably luxurious mental attributes, except for the imagination of 12 is not too outstanding, the rest of the abilities are impeccable, whether it is willpower, concentration, stability, or teamwork and work commitment, they are all over 16, which can be called an excellent template for professional players.

In terms of technology, Gabi's passing and receiving skills are also good, as well as a long-range shot and set-pieces, and his penalty ability is as high as 16. With a 15-marker and a 13-tackle that can also make a big contribution on the defensive end, can you imagine that Real Madrid's Casemiro is not so strong in terms of technique?

It was also from the 2011-12 season that Koke, who is fully Atletico Madrid, began to get more playing time in the first team, and after Simeone took over, he jumped from the original rotation player to the main team, and took the opportunity to develop into a world-class star almost instantly, and replaced the retired Xavi and began to take on important responsibilities in the national team. Compared with the old captain Gabi, even if his mental attributes are slightly inferior, they are not much different, and they can still be regarded as the world's top level. But in terms of technology, Cork's ability is much more than that, and it can be said that it is a strengthened version of Gabi at both offensive and defensive ends, which is terrifying!

As for Saul, who was born at the end of 1994, the popular fried chicken in Spain, you can know how versatile he is from his multi-faceted rating of 20 in the FM system. In addition to goalkeepers and centre-forwards, the lads can play many roles in the middle of the pitch, and they can all play well. From this point, it can be seen that his various ability attributes must be very balanced, and he can be said to be a super all-round warrior without flaws.

Coming out of Real Madrid's academy, Saul took a life path that was the exact opposite of Raul's, and in 2008, with no way out at Valdebebas, he chose to switch to the embrace of his neighbors, just after Simeone became the team's manager, and began to show his role in the development team. In the 2013-14 season, when he was loaned to Rayo Vallecano, also in Madrid, he proved that he has the ability to succeed in La Liga, so he quickly established himself after returning to his parent club, and after one season, he squeezed out Mario Suarez, who is now playing for Tianchao Qiangui Hengfeng, and settled in the main position.

In other words, the trio have been a regular at Atletico for at least three seasons, and their consistency has made them one of the most frustrating pairings in football today.

It's just that in Li Mudi's eyes, the three of them are indeed very strong as a whole, but if they are separated, they all have their own different shortcomings, and this is the other party that the Torino team can use.

First of all, Gabi, the captain of Atletico Madrid, who is two months older than Tulalang, also has to accept an objective reality, that is, the decline in physical fitness year by year. Normally, 27 to 31 years old is the peak of a professional footballer, but this is a combination of various factors, including experience, mentality, etc. According to the study of biology, human physical fitness is basically at the peak of 25 to 28 years old, and 29 to 33 years old has entered a slow decline period.

Some people may use Ronaldo as an example to slap the author in the face, but don't ignore how hard the president has worked to maintain his current physical condition, and the first two years were better, and this season can easily see that his explosiveness and flexibility have decreased compared with before, and for the first time, it makes people feel that the president will also be old!

And there are many people who can still train a body of tendons in their forties, but they only have the advantage of strength, and their speed, agility, and injury recovery cannot be compared with young people, so time is the ultimate killer that destroys everything.

Through the FM system, it can be clearly seen that among Gabi's physical attributes, only stamina is still maintained at a good 15, and the rest such as speed, explosiveness, agility and strength have been reduced to 10, not to mention only 7 bounces. With his height of 1.79 meters and the ability to head the ball at 9, it seems that the Torino team can focus on attacking when passing through the midfield, and Belotti and Benassi have been specially arranged by the manager before the game to use Gabi's defensive area as the main breakthrough.

Below is Saul, who is very well-rounded, his one-on-one defensive ability is still good, but he is seriously lacking in aggression, and he has some poor emotional control, and is easily irritated by his opponent's small movements, which leads to excessive behavior. Torino's attacking players are also required to play "dirty" when they have a physical confrontation with them, and they are naturally informalized in order to win.

In the end, Koke was the most difficult to deal with, but in Simeone's tactical system, he is more often on the left wing, and one-on-one marking is not a strong point, and Silvestri can fully achieve the effect of matching with his teammates.

As for Atletico's left wing-back Correa, he is a man whose defensive ability is much lower than the average level of his position, so Barreca's left side has become a potential target for Torino. It's just that the Argentine's attacking ability is also a big problem, and Li Mudi must ensure that he can completely suppress the opponent, otherwise once his wingback presses up, he will leave a large amount of space, which is likely to suffer a fatal blow if he is caught by the opponent.

Therefore, the tactical strategy of the Red Bulls in the opening stage was to control the ball in the middle and back, attract Atletico players to scramble, and focus on the area defended by Gabi, Immobile and Belotti repeatedly retreated to attract the attention of Saul and the occasional Koke who regained the middle, creating a one-on-one opportunity for Benassi to face the Atletico captain.

It's just that after the spicy sheet army found out the other party's intentions, they didn't use the coach's reminder on the sidelines, and immediately adjusted themselves. Antoine Griezmann dropped back to the left winger, allowing Koke to return to the central midfield to help the defence, and Atletico's formation temporarily changed from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 after less than two minutes, and the aggressive movement of the two wide players quickly cracked the killer move that Li Muddy had laid out before the game.

The Spanish side did not blindly cede possession, and when they launched their own attack, it became more and more evident that they had multiple playmaking points. Gabi, who has accurate long passes, Koke and Saul, who have good passing belts, Griezmann and Correa, who dribble with the ball, and super center Costa, at least a single round of offensive strength, this lineup is worthy of any top giant.

In the third minute, Atletico Madrid, who had won the ball again after kick-off, launched a positional attack, and except for the four defenders and Gabi, the other five midfielders all pressed past 15 meters in front of the halfway line. Diego Costa pulled down the left and helped his team-mate contain Silvestri, before Koke then dribbled forward from the area between Torino's right wing-back and Baseli, attracting Diego Llorente.

Koke's dribbling ability and pace didn't have any advantage in a situation where there was a block in front and the latter in pursuit, so he naturally opted for passing. Griezmann, who retreated from the front line in the middle, saw that Benassi and Vukocevic had come up from his flank and front, respectively, ready to form a siege, so he did not stop the ball and passed it to Saul in front of the right. The latter was less than fifteen metres away from Torino's penalty area when he won the ball, and Canneman was the only defender in front of him, with Ranocchia dragging his feet to prevent his team-mate from being passed and then filling in.

Barreca, on the wing, was unable to play an inside-in assist, because Correa was in a state where he could accelerate at any moment, and this point could not be missed.

The local two-on-three, but the attacking side did not fall behind, because Griezmann and the rest of the Atletico Madrid players have begun to run towards the danger area, taking away the rest of the defenders, and there will be no Torino players to interfere in a short time. Considering the position of Saul who took the ball at this time, he had too many options, either he could wipe the ball past Caneman to the penalty area, or he could shake off the angle and shoot directly from the feet, or he could pass directly to the front of the right side of his side. In addition, he can also stabilize and see if the three teammates on the left will have a chance.

It's just that sometimes, too many choices aren't necessarily a good thing. Saul is excellent in all technical aspects, but in fact, as long as he is determined, no matter which plan is implemented, the result should not be too bad. It's just that he is suspected of making a choice at this time, and in an instant there is a short circuit in his brain, and his movements are also stagnant, and Canneman, who has been in a high state of tension, seized the opportunity and intercepted the ball with a risky tackle.

After defusing the crisis, the Torino team immediately played a classic quick counterattack, so that the final ushered in a high level at the beginning of the year. Tide.