Chapter 31: The Crucial Battle

Simon? While Grayson was hell-bent on beating Atletico Madrid, Pep Guardiola was also leading his side in preparation, and the last time the two sides met at the Camp Nou, Barcelona beat Atletico Madrid 2-0 thanks to two goals from Shaq, but now ...... Everything is already different!

First of all, the situation in the La Liga standings is now, Barcelona has 8 points more than Atletico Madrid, but Atletico Madrid is not without a chance, at least if the two Madrid giants win in the second leg of the meeting between the two sides, then Barcelona's lead will definitely shrink, this possibility is not impossible, Real Madrid also drew 2:2 with Barcelona at the Camp Nou!

If Barcelona make some mistakes themselves, it is very likely that Barcelona will fall in the standings.

Then Guardiola is quite confident in the current situation of his team, and the "Son of Poseidon" completed two big deals in the winter transfer, 25 million euros to buy Neymar from Barcelona, and they also bought Stephen, who has excellent defensive ability, from Bayer Leverkusen? Lenatz, the 30-year-old German midfielder, is indeed a bit older, but for German players, it is a golden period when their bodies, skills and experience are at their best.

Heading into the New Year, Atletico Madrid have won four and drawn one of their five La Liga games, and would still be second in the table if it weren't for the draw away to Sevilla.

It can also be seen from this that the "son of Poseidon", who has surpassed Barcelona by 106 million euros and has a net expenditure of 112 million euros in the transfer market, does have the strength and courage to compete for the championship, and because of the successive arrival of Messi and Neymar, the morale and confidence of this team have been greatly improved.

Beat Barcelona at home...... This has become the goal of all Atletico Madrid players and fans now!

In the long term...... Naturally, Atletico Madrid is still hoping to win the league title this season!

February 16 at 22 p.m. Vicente? In the Calderón stadium, the highlight of this round of La Liga, which will directly affect the ownership of this season's La Liga championship, is finally about to start......

In this game, Simon? Grayson still discharged the midfield combination of Alaba, Ganso, and Fabregas, and he didn't want his team's midfielder to have to control the ball, after all, Guardiola's study of "ball control" has gone too far. It's not at all comparable to him.

Simon? Grayson hopes to give full play to the assist ability of Barcelona's midfield, with Alaba, Ganso, Fabregas, plus left and right wingers Vasquiz and Shaarawy, as long as there is a flash of brilliance on these five stars with aura, they can spark with Shaq in front of them, and the result of this game can be decided.

This, is Simon? Grayson's true thoughts!

Jean Simon? Grayson was a little surprised that Pep Guardiola's Atletico Madrid also had an exact same formation as Barcelona, and even the positioning was exactly the same.

On the forward line. "Little Pea" Hernandez is at the forefront alone, since the transfer to Atletico Madrid four years ago, the Mexican striker has grown rapidly, and can contribute more than 20 goals to Atletico Madrid every season, this season seems to be because of Messi's stimulation, but also scored 26 goals in 28 games, and his career has officially entered its peak.

Behind Hernandes are Neymar on the left and Messi on the right, two former Barcelona stars. Selling the two of them in exchange for €60 million for Barcelona, Simon? Grayson still thinks it's a good deal. Not to mention the recovery of a large amount of transfer fees, Vasquith's rise is worth it, not to mention the performance of Messi and Neymar in Atletico Madrid...... It's also very average!

So far, Messi has made 30 appearances for Atletico Madrid this season, scoring 14 goals and providing seven assists, which is very good for other attacking players. But for Messi...... It's really going downhill, after all, they're all thirty-one years old, and it's really not good for people to be old!

Neymar has been a starter since his move to Atletico Madrid and has now played four games, but with the exception of one assist. There was no goal at all, and if it weren't for his 85% pass success rate, he would have been hated as a "parallel import" by Atletico Madrid fans early in the morning.

But no matter what others say, Guardiola is still very satisfied with his team's ability to have Messi, Neymar, and Hernandez at the same time, and is more confident that he will give Barcelona a painful journey at home.

In terms of midfield, Guardiola arranges veterans who are more comprehensive and better at defense, 33-year-old French veteran Cabaye, 30-year-old German Lenatz, and 29-year-old Spanish midfielder Perez, these three have strong defensive ability, and the technical aspect is not as good as the combination of Alaba, Ganso, and Fabregas, but Guardiola obviously has his own ideas to arrange it like this.

At the back, Atletico Madrid's squad is also very luxurious, with 25-year-old left-back Robinson from England from the "Reds". Parker's suppression of him, the player will soon become the main left-back of the "Three Lions".

Argentine right-back Dario? Schmidt is a talented player who can attack and defend, and at the age of 25, he has already played 31 games for the Argentine national team, which is enough to prove how good a talented right-back is from Boca Juniors.

25-year-old Jack centre-back Thomas? Callas, 29-year-old Spanish centre-back Alvaro? The Dominguez duo are both very physical and in good shape.

Despite the goalkeeper position on Sergio? Assenjo's strength is slightly insufficient, but the "son of the sea god" still has a star-studded all-star lineup, although it is still more than Barcelona, but Guardiola has invested 210 million euros in the transfer market in the past two years, with a net investment of 180 million, and the money is still not spent in vain, Atletico Madrid does have the strength to wrestle with Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Atletico Madrid proved their mettle and determination when Barcelona kicked off the first kick-off before hitting the ball up the right flank. was cut off by left-back Robinson, and then Atletico Madrid began to constantly show their ball control skills and strong midfield defensive ability, every attempt of Barcelona will be defended by Atletico Madrid's midfield, but Atletico Madrid's possession of the ball, so that Barcelona is a little unable to parry. Frequently broken by opponents to create opportunities, watching Simon off the field? Grayson frowned.

"Brutal Simon" is just a tough attitude towards transfers, but he is not arrogant, and even very humble, he has carefully studied Guardiola's "ball control", from Barcelona to Bayern Munich, and then to the Spanish national team, Simon? Grayson has studied Pep Guardiola in both.

But now...... Pep Guardiola's tactics have changed again!

Atletico Madrid are also playing possession, trying to keep the ball at their feet without giving the opposition a chance. But their possession is very different from Pep Guardiola's previous teams.

Cabaye, Perez, and Lenatz don't control the ball at all, the three of them just run and respond, and they will pass the ball out immediately after getting the ball, and the same is true for the two full-backs Robinson and Schmidt, and there are only two people who actually hold the ball...... Messi, Neymar.

Messi and Neymar don't have to take the ball when they receive the ball, they will definitely take it and break through, they will also dribble the ball when they have space and opportunity, and most of them are carried out horizontally, even if they can't create opportunities, they can pass the ball to other teammates. And more often than not, they pass the ball after they get it, and they don't give Barcelona a chance to steal at all.

Simon? Grayson discovered. Now Guardiola's "ball control" is based on the passing of the whole team, and the result of Guardiola doing so is obviously to make Atletico Madrid more difficult to guard.

In the 4th minute, Neymar took the ball on the left side of the midfield and dribbled horizontally, and suddenly sent a long pass to Messi on the right side!

"Little flea" Messi faces Ben, who is younger than himself? Parker. He didn't do anything rashly, but changed the direction of the ball very safely, ran sideways to the middle after a few steps, and suddenly knocked the ball to his left back......

"Boom!"

Perez, who came up, picked up his right leg and kicked it!

"Whoosh!"

The ball arcs from right to left. The final spin was too big and deflected off the left side of the Barcelona goal.

After the first shot, Atletico Madrid seemed to be more and more confident, they defended Barcelona's attack by compressing the space in the midfield and back, even Shaq could not threaten the opponent's goal when it was difficult to receive the ball.

When attacking, Atletico Madrid patiently looked for opportunities to attack through possession, possession, and possession, and they really created a lot of chances......

At 7 minutes, the "little pea" pulled the side and made a two-to-two cooperation with Neymar, dodged Montoya and rushed to the bottom line of the small penalty area on the left side of Barcelona, and suddenly passed back to Neymar behind him, fortunately Rivero's timely defense stabbed the ball away, otherwise Neymar really had a chance to score.

In the 11th minute, it was Hernandez and Neymar who made a challenge on the left side, plus a central Perez to help him, "Little Pea" got a chance to volley outside the left side of Barcelona's small penalty area, and the ball was blocked by Rivero out of the bottom line.

In the 15th minute, Lenac suddenly cut in from behind, received Robinson's pass and sent a through ball to Hernandez in front, and the angry shot of "Little Pea" was kicked back by the timely retreating Batista.

Barcelona's first shot on goal didn't appear until the 23rd minute of the game, but it was Shaq who seized the opportunity to complete the shot, and it was his good brother Ben who sent him the pass? Parker, England left-back stepped in with an assist for a high-quality cross that allowed Shaq to grab a little and flick his head at goal, but unfortunately the top was too right, and the ball was saved by Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Asenjo.

At this time, Simon? Grayson only realized that this game was really difficult to play, but he didn't expect that the melody of the entire first half of the game was dominated by Atletico Madrid taking the initiative and constantly threatening Barcelona's goal.

Barcelona's second shot came from Shaq, but when Shaq used a spinning shot at the top of the box to avoid the opposing centre-back, he was blocked by Czech centre-back Kalas and the baby goalkeeper saved.

And this time...... The first half of the game has been played for 42 minutes!

Although Atletico Madrid had 64 per cent possession in the first half, had more attacking chances and had five shots on goal, they were just as impressive as Pep Guardiola's previous teams, lacking a punchy dominance and failing to score on five attempts.

It's just Simon? Grayson knows very well that Guardiola's team often only needs a small mistake by the opponent to kill the opponent, and this kind of "softness" in attack is just a façade.

However, in the face of Atletico Madrid's whopping 64% possession and a 5:2 shot ratio in the first half, Simon? Grayson still feels very scratched, his team is indeed in very big trouble, how to make adjustments at halftime to change the unfavorable situation on the field will be the key, otherwise this is very likely to be related to the final La Liga title of the key battle, Barcelona will be more than lucky. (To be continued......)