Section 516 Choices
After the weekend's game, the media's predictions for the Champions League semi-finals are also further fermenting. -79- Whether it's the classic match that Bayern Munich is likely to play against Real Madrid, or the desperate entanglement that Atletico Madrid may come against Wolfsburg, at this time, it is just as provocative. With the Champions League final just around the corner, there are different predictions about who will be able to 'advance' to the final victory.
Among the many comments, Atletico Madrid is still the most questioned one. Whether it was the ethic of the game that was exposed by the red card or the physical strength of the defensive mistakes in the final stages, they were under a lot of pressure in the days leading up to the game.
However, this kind of pressure may be a heavy burden for other teams, but for Atletico Madrid, they are used to being called violent maniacs, and they have long been completely unconcerned about it. Until the game really arrived, the moment they stood on the pitch, the players of Atletico Madrid did not have any psychological pressure because they were accused too much by the media. In their opinion, being blamed by the media is nothing more than a fairly normal thing, as long as they can win, it doesn't matter what the blame is.
Back then, Real Madrid's Pepe was also known as a martial artist, but as long as Real Madrid's strength was enough, who could say that he wasn't?
In the eyes of Atletico's players, a card foul is not a big deal. In contrast, it seems that their team has a problem with physical strength, which seems to be a more troublesome matter. They are not physically strong in two-front battles, and it is really helpless to meet Magath's team at this time. However, in the first leg, it was Atletico who had the upper hand. With the advantage in hand, who can have the upper hand in the second round of the battle is still a matter of two words.
It is true that Wolfsburg has the physical advantage, but Atletico has the advantage in the score. And in this game, Atletico only needs a draw, so they can choose to defend and counterattack. And if they do kick, their physical exertion should not be very large. At least in the face of Wolfsburg's weak and astonishing attack, it didn't seem difficult to survive 90 minutes at all.
Atletico Madrid's players think so. However, no one expected that in the second game against Wolfsburg, as soon as the game began, the Wolfsburg players gave them a dismissal.
In the last game. The Wolfsburg players seemed to be defensive for 90 minutes. And their performance at that time also made the Atletico players think that the offensive ability of this team is quite poor. However, when they returned to their home stadium, Wolfsburg played at a completely different level.
To everyone's surprise, Atletico did not wait for the final arrival of the game, and in less than five minutes, they were already attacking. After getting the ball at the back, Shaheen played the ball to Rodriguez. Wolfsburg's counterattack began immediately.
Since the last game, Wolfsburg has seen Atletico's crazy counter-attack. In the face of their counter-attacking ability, Shaheen has little ability to organize the attack, which is also an important reason why Wolfsburg has never been able to launch a smooth ground attack. And in this game, Shaheen obviously learned a lesson, after getting the ball, he no longer sticks to the ball, and no longer seeks to attack in the middle, but immediately passes the ball, which is the best proof.
Football to the feet of Rodriguez. Rodriguez was on the flanks and immediately attacked. Along the flanks, he crossed the halfway line with great speed. However, Atletico's defence is not a joke after all. When Rodriguez attacked, the Atletico players had already run over, and just past the penalty area, Rodriguez had already drilled into their defensive encirclement.
Atletico Madrid's defense is definitely quite 'outstanding', especially in this game, they want to focus on defense. This is what makes them invest a lot in this area. However, even so, Atletico still miscalculated: when Rodriguez crossed the halfway line, Perisic had already retreated to near the halfway line, where he picked up his team-mates.
Rodriguez, who rushed up, slowed down with the ball at his feet and seemed ready to give the ball to Perisic, but when Atletico's defence moved, he smashed the ball again and dodged Juanfrán's defence. However, Atletico's players have yet to make up for it and Rodriguez has already made his choice again, passing the ball to Perisic before the arrival of the replacement player.
In the last game, Wolfsburg's attack did not have much of a wide drop-back. Perisic has always been very good at 'plugging' on the edge of the box, and no one expected him to drop so deep. Wolfsburg's attack has made more adjustments in this game, and such adjustments have brought a threat to Atletico from the beginning of the game.
Perisic, who got the ball, kicked the ball in front of him. ←→x79 novel net received the ball at this time, Tulan, who had already run to the middle, and directly sent the ball with his backheel to the feet of Gao Shunyao in front of the penalty area. Standing at the front of the penalty area, Gao Shunyao did not hesitate at all, and shot at the ball 'goal' with a long shot!
Compared to the previous game, Wolfsburg dropped back more, coordinated more on the ground, and their attack was more decisive.
Gao Shunyao's 'shot' and 'goal' flew towards the bottom left corner of the ball 'goal', but Courtois in front of the ball 'goal' also stretched out his arm at this time, trying to stop his attack.
I have to say that Courtois is indeed a very "outstanding" "goalkeeper", Gao Shunyao kicked out the football ball at a very fast speed, and the angle was also very tricky, and even the football was kicked out, and Godin in front of him did not react. However, Courtois, who was in front of the goal, did not relax at this time because of Godin's defense, and when Gao Shunyao's football flew out, he had already jumped up, whether it was the speed of reaction or the prediction of the 'shot' and 'goal', he did quite 'outstanding'.
It is precisely because of the serious attitude of the game, although the ball is fast, Courtois still stretched out his right hand very well and blocked the football route. His outstretched hand blocked the ball rushing towards the ball 'goal' in time, and blocked the ball out of the bottom line at once.
The long-awaited 'shooting' and 'goal' still failed in the end. This 'shot' and 'goal' were intercepted, which also caused the whole stadium to erupt in a sigh. Listening to the sighs of the football fans around him, Courtois's lips turned into a proud smile. Being able to intercept the opponent's 'shot' and 'goal' is also the proudest thing for a goalkeeper.
However, after smiling and seeing the Wolfsburg players running towards the corner, Courtois's smile faded and his brow furrowed. The Wolfsburg players ran quite quickly, without any negotiation or hesitation, which also made Courtois see that the opponent's attack did not seem to be a momentary momentum, but had been fully prepared and planned.
In this situation, it has to be said that some words are unexpected: at least before the game, Atletico did not think that Wolfsburg's attack would come at the beginning of the game. Before this game, Atletico Madrid had already 'exposed' their physical problems in the match against Valencia. And this game, Atletico Madrid is playing away again, and the physical strength will be even more consumed. In Atletico's mind, Wolfsburg's possible approach should also be to continue to defend steadily at the beginning of the game, and try not to lose in the half.
And after halftime, when Atletico's physical strength declined, they began to launch a counterattack, using the most ferocious offensive to break through Atletico's defense that was no longer solid, which is the smartest and most in line with the idea of Wolfsburg's conservative concept in the last game.
However, in this game, Wolfsburg played clearly differently than the last one. And this difference also makes Courtois a little puzzled: what does Wolfsburg want to do when he has a clear advantage but does not take advantage of it? Why did Wolfsburg do this if he didn't wait to use his physical advantage to gain the upper hand in the final stage of the game, and had to rush out now?
Aren't they afraid of Atletico Madrid's quick counterattack? They are now 1-0 down, and if they are beaten back by Atletico Madrid, the hope of victory is extremely slim. If Atletico can take a 2-0 lead and score away goals, Wolfsburg will have to score three goals to win, and that is simply impossible.
Wolfsburg's choice seems a little too stupid, and Atletico Madrid will suffer a big loss as long as they choose to attack now - Courtois has such an idea right away. His opponent's brain seemed to be broken, which also made him feel that Atletico Madrid's victory was close at hand.
However, with this in mind, Courtois also immediately thought of another thing: launch a counterattack now, and Atletico Madrid could indeed score a goal and end the game early. However, if Atletico don't score goals, then perhaps they will be exhausted too soon, making it possible for them to run out of energy in the middle of the game sooner, which seems to be in trouble.
Attacking is not Atletico's tactical first choice, not only because of the advantage in points, but also because of their weaknesses, and what Wolfsburg is going to do now seems to be deliberately trying to guide Atletico to 'expose' their weaknesses. Wolfsburg are not a bunch of fools, otherwise they would not have made it to the semi-finals of the Champions League. So, in this game, did they deliberately want to guide Atletico Madrid to attack, so that Atletico Madrid wasted physical strength, so that in the game, they finally ushered in a rout?
Perhaps, such a trickery trap is the real intention of Wolfsburg - so, as the more dominant side, should Atletico attack or continue to defend?
It also seems to be a difficult choice.