Chapter 241: Full of Faith
"Let's revisit those two goals at Atletico Madrid. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ο½ο½ο½ο½ο½ο½ γ ο½ο½ο½ο½β
A group of team members suddenly blackened their faces. Is it interesting to always watch the scene of being humiliated by your opponent?
Blanco found it interesting. "Atletico Madrid's full-backs are used to finding strikers as soon as they receive the ball, the first is Costa, the second is Villa or Raul. Garcia, sometimes the other way around, Costa grabs the back point, Villa or Raul. Garcia grabs the lead. It's a standard back-and-back point-grabbing set-up, and then Cork and Turan decide whether to rush into the box and try to pick up a second chance based on the situation. β
Looking at the first ball, Costa grabbed it and nodded the ball. In the second goal, Villa grabbed the front post, and Costa ambushed at the back post and scooped the goal. β
"It's also a common tactic used by Atletico Madrid to suddenly move forward to create depth, to take away some defenders and not let the opposition full-backs get involved in assisting the central defenders, because we know that the dominant formation is 4231 or 4321 like ours. Two centre-backs are undoubtedly advantageous against one attacking player, but two centre-backs against two attacking players, giving the striker a 1v1 environment, at this time is actually very dangerous for the defensive side," Blanco said. And this ball. Felipe and Juanfran stepped in with determination, firstly, to take away our defenders, and secondly, to create a local numerical advantage, with the midfielders dropping back and the wing-backs forming a linkage, Turan being able to cut inside with his dominant foot, and Koke's side being comfortable with the ball to find the striker. In the game the day after tomorrow, everyone must pay attention to this. β
"Let's talk about Cork. He's about the same age as Hao, right? Of course, his fame is not as great, but his strength should definitely not be underestimated. β
"Do you think he's mighty?" Cavani, who now has a good relationship with Shi Hao, interjected and asked.
"The type is different," Blanco said, "his passing footwork is very good and he is very accurate; But the speed, dribbling, and shooting are all worse than Hao. You must not let him get on his feet easily. Their first goal came from Koke's cross, and let's not forget that. β
"It should be noted that although Koke's position on the field is right midfield, he often performs the task of central midfielder, pay attention to this video, he is full of physical strength, the running range is very large, he will pull to the middle or even the other side at any time to respond and organize, so that Atletico Madrid has a numerical advantage in the local area, compressing the opponent to the middle, which makes their full-backs have enough space to move, at this time Gabi can make a long pass to the full-back or Koke straight behind him, and then cross."
'That was their second goal, Cork ran down the middle and then went straight to Juanfran who went down and Juan Fran crossed.
Blanco paused to allow the players to digest what he had said before continuing, "With all that said, let's take a look at their shortcomings. β
'They don't have players who are very strong individually, a lot of the time they rely on the whole thing, and in a crisis or when there is a stalemate, they don't have the players who can change the trend of the game and step up. This is their biggest weakness. β
Speaking of which, Blanco played a video of Shi Hao single-handedly challenging the entire back line of Atletico Madrid, and a short burst of laughter broke out in the conference room, and Shi Hao also had a smug face.
"Unlike us, we have the sharpest knives in all of Europe." Blanco said, and successively played short videos of the highlight moments of Ibrahimovic, Cavani, Ravitch and others.
"So once we can defend against their overall attacking pattern, the balance of victory will be tilted in our favor."
"So, boys, do you have the confidence to win them at home!"
"Have faith!" The voices of the PSG players were uneven, but they were all extremely loud and full of energy, showing great confidence.
Yes, Ibrahimovic is back, Cavani is back, and Shi Hao can return to his best winger position. Verratti is back, captain Thiago. Silva was not seriously injured and was able to return to the pitch in time. Van der Wiel is back, as is teenager Marquinhos. Although it is a pity that Motta is suspended for accumulating yellow cards, they will indeed be twice as strong as they were in the first leg!
On May 1, the Paris Saint-Germain players walked into the Parc des Princes with this strong confidence.
In this battle, Atletico Madrid's lineup was slightly fine-tuned. Their experienced midfielder Gabi is suspended for accumulating yellow cards.
The goalkeeper is still No. 13 Courtois, and the defenders are still No. 20 JuanfrΓ‘n, No. 23 Miranda, No. 2 Godin, and No. 3 Felipe. Luiz, No. 5 Thiago, No. 4 Mario. Suarez partnered at the back. Midfielder No. 10 Alda. Turan is fully recovered from injury and started this one; No. 6 Cork continued to start, and No. 7 Adrian unexpectedly replaced Raul. Garcia starts, and the striker is still No. 19 Diego. Costa.
Paris Saint-Germain, on the other hand, have regained their strongest squad, with the exception of Cabaye replacing the suspended Motta.
As soon as the whistle blew, Paris Saint-Germain, who were playing at home, began to attack, playing actively and confidently. After Ibrahimovic's return, the front court of the Paris team has indeed been sharper with the ball, and Shi Hao also feels that his burden is much lighter, and he can focus more on breaking and shooting, rather than being responsible for organization. Within the opening three minutes, he and Ibrahimovic each had a shot on goal.
As a result, it was Atletico Madrid who almost scored first.
In the 4th minute, Koke's cross was blocked by the chasing Shi Hao, and Atletico Madrid won a corner kick opportunity. After Koke's corner, Van der Wiel grabbed the first spot, but his header was not cleared.
Turan got the second point, stopped the ball on his chest and passed it to Koke, who had already run back to the field, and Koke saw that Sirigu was standing very forward, and suddenly got up and shot at a small angle, Sirigu tried his best to jump but still didn't touch the football.
Under the terrified gaze of the Paris Saint-Germain players, the ball bounced off the crossbar and bounced back into the field, and Marquinhos quickly broke the ball with a big foot. Paris Saint-Germain escaped.
Blanco was so scared that he almost had a heart attack, the team was already one goal down, and if he let Atletico Madrid score first at home, he really didn't know how to continue playing.
Simeone may have felt sorry too, but there was no clue on his calm face. Everyone must be speculating, what new gadgets he prepared for Blanco in this game? If Simeone has used this season's coaching to make people recognize his status as a "master tactician", then Blanco has yet to show convincing coaching results.
With Paris Saint-Germain's squad, it is a matter of course to be far ahead in Ligue 1, while the bumps in the Champions League have clearly exposed Blanco's weakness of not being good at commanding on the spot.