Chapter Thirty-Four: The Fuse of Victory!

Barcelona scored, Atletico Madrid was in a hurry, they almost controlled the game in the first half, but in the second half they conceded first, which really made them depressed.

"Guys! Back to defense! Back to defense! ”

Haven't waited for Simon yet? Grayson made tactical instructions, and Fabregas, the vice-captain on the field, had already begun to remind his teammates, which made "Brutal Simon" smile and nod with satisfaction, and at the same time there was a sense of self-satisfaction in his heart, his own arrangement was really seamless!

At the beginning of the season, Shaq was forcibly promoted to the position of captain, which can be said to be a high-altitude building without any foundation, but fortunately, this kid can lead the team to win with one goal after another, and this prestige has been cultivated over time.

But as Shaq's mentor, Simon? Grayson really knows his love too well, this kid is fierce, but the head is obviously not very useful, compared with Fabregas, Ganso and other think-tank midfielders, when playing more brute force than brains.

So Simon? Grayson entrusted Fabregas with the position of vice-captain, just like a famous Chinese novel "Three Kingdoms" he had read, in which the masters were not good at brains, but everyone had a think tank around them.

Now it looks ...... It's a good result!

Shaq is in charge of leading the team in charge, and Cesc Fabregas is in charge of the team's scheduling, and that is a combination...... It's perfect!

In the Barcelona team, Shaq is indeed a well-deserved standard-bearer now, but Cesc Fabregas's status is also very high, and the players listen to his words, and which of these seasoned "veterans" does not know that the goal will usher in the opponent's counterattack!?

After celebrating the goal, Barcelona set up the formation, and Barcelona ushered in Atletico Madrid's crazy counterattack. It's a pity...... Barcelona have conceded just five goals in the league this season, and their defensive system is very different from Simon? Grayson's careful construction has taken shape, coupled with the support of the midfield, after the space of their own half was strongly compressed, Atletico Madrid's counterattack did not play a role at all, but Barcelona's two counterattacks were quite threatening. Vasquith's two quick sneak attacks came close to success and easily squeezed Atletico Madrid's counter-attack.

In the next game, it seemed that it was calm, and after leading Barcelona, they always controlled as much as possible to consume the time of the game, and Atletico Madrid ...... They can't get up at all!

Atletico Madrid, who have long been familiar with Guardiola's control of play, is prone to mistakes as long as they are fast, and they can only send the ball to the front court through slow control to find opportunities, but the pace is slow. It is precisely the current situation that is fatal.

"Di---Di--――――――――"

Three long whistles blew and the game was over, the Calderón Stadium was completely silent, and the fans of Atletico Madrid had sadness in their eyes, they knew too well what it meant for their team to lose this game.

Now Barcelona has 67 points in the La Liga standings with 22 wins and 1 draw, and Real Madrid previously drew 1:1 with Levante away from home, which led to Barcelona's lead in the standings extended to as many as 9 points, which is already a very huge advantage.

As for Atletico Madrid...... Because they lost this crucial game. They currently have only 18 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses with 56 points, and the gap behind Barcelona has been extended to 11 points. There is almost no hope of competing for the championship again, and the two legs were killed by Barcelona 2:0 and 1:0, but they can't break through the opponent's goal, so what's the use of the team spending a lot of money to buy Messi and Neymar!?

That night, the whole city of Madrid was in a state of depression, and Atletico Madrid lost the game. And Real Madrid's side is also angry, Atletico Madrid lost to Barcelona at home, which directly led to the failure of Madrid's plan to snipe Barcelona, this season's La Liga championship has 99.99% of Barcelona's, Real Madrid's home and Barcelona's confrontation will not wait until the 33rd round of the league. By that time...... I'm afraid the overall situation has been decided!

In his post-match press conference, Guardiola praised Barcelona and Shaq: "Barcelona's tactical play was more efficient than ours, we didn't get the first goal today when we didn't take the initiative in the first half, it was our own mistake, otherwise the result of the game might have been different. Shaq took advantage of their best chance in 90 minutes and scored the winning goal directly from a free-kick, which was a perfect play of Shaq's all-round individual ability, and we did everything we could to limit his play, but the result was not ideal...... Well, we're out of contention now. The next step is to try to qualify for next season's Champions League. ”

Guardiola is sour, Simon? Grayson, on the other hand, was praising Shaq as the fuse for the team's victory, and he was so happy today, his team was at a disadvantage on the field, but still able to win the game with difficulty, which is enough to prove how strong the team is at the moment.

Indeed, this game is not easy for Barcelona to win!

In the statistics of both sides, the number of shots on goal is 10:7, the number of shots on target is 5:5, the final possession rate is 54:46, the pass completion rate is 78%:75%, except for the number of free kicks is 9:18, Barcelona do not have the advantage in all statistics, but the result of the game is ...... Or Barcelona won!

Simon? As the coach of the team, Grayson naturally no one understands better than him what it means to win direct dialogue with competitors, and after winning this match with Atletico Madrid, Barcelona's prospects for winning the championship have become very flat, not to mention that it doesn't matter if you encounter a difficult hard bone...... And Shaq!

Simon? Grayson's trust in Shaq is absolutely blind, Leeds United, Manchester United, England, Simon? Grayson's trust in Shaq has paid off tremendously, and now Barca is no exception.

After playing the crucial battle with Atletico Madrid, Barcelona breathed a sigh of relief, but in the next 24th round of La Liga, Barcelona was beaten by the away team Valencia in the first 8 minutes.

Barcelona, which was behind in the score, although it did not send all the main players, but under the leadership of Shaq, it still launched a counterattack, first Shaq equalized with a header in the 20th minute, and then Rivero used a corner kick to head the score in the 32nd minute, and Shaq scored two goals in the second half in the 71st and 77th minutes respectively to complete the hat trick, and finally Barcelona defeated Valencia with a score of 4:1.

Despite a nine-point gap between them and second-placed Real Madrid in the table, Barcelona's title prospects are bright and they can finally refocus their attention on the Champions League.

Barcelona, who qualified as Group F winners in the Champions League group stage, also drew a good draw in the first round of the knockout round, and they met Ligue 1 side Lyon.

The level of the French league has improved a lot in recent years, and the league as a whole has improved a lot under the stimulation of Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco's golden dollar policy, but the Lyon team is not a galaxy battleship, and the number and quality of stars in this team are not as good as Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco, and the fate of their encounter with Barcelona has long been doomed.

Indeed, in the face of Barcelona's attack, Lyon's fragile backline collapsed in the first half, and was blown up by Shaq alone, even though they were playing at home.

Shaq scored a hat-trick in the nineth, 27th, and 42nd minutes of the first half, and another hat in the 56th, 61st, and 85th minutes of the second half, when Rinaldi, who replaced Vasquiz as a left winger, added the icing on the cake in the 89th minute to seal the score...... 7:0！

With six goals, Shaq's Champions League tally this season has soared to 18, 10 more than second-placed Sergio Aguero, and he has almost settled in the Champions League top scorer for the sixth consecutive time this season.

Previously, Shaq scored 16 Champions League goals in his final year with Leeds United, and then scored 33, 28, 18 and 22 goals in four years for Manchester United, and has been the top scorer in the Champions League for five consecutive years, and also holds a number of records such as total goals, single-season goals, and single-game goals.

It can be said that the whole of European football has been under the rule of Shaq in recent years, although he has not won the Champions League trophy every year, and last season's Champions League trophy fell to Leeds United, but the era of Shaq's dominance of European football is obviously far from over, he has scored an astonishing 115 goals in 39 games for Barcelona this season, with an average goal efficiency of 2.94 goals per game, and considering Shaq's age of 26, it is clear that he can do better.

After the 7-0 away win over Lyon in the first leg, Barcelona fans were ecstatic, they predicted early on that the team would not be stopped by a team like Lyon, but they were able to kill the suspense after the first leg of the away game, and the team's performance still surprised all Catalans, especially Shaq's hot goal frenzy has not stopped at all, what kind of performance will such a Barcelona with Shaq have indeed been worth looking forward to!

Maybe...... The day is not far off to recreate the glory of the "Six Crowns", right!?

At the beginning, Pep Guardiola led the team to achieve the miracle of "six crowns", which was once considered irreproducible, but now look at the Barcelona team under the rule of "Brutal Simon", they obviously have absolute strength, although it is impossible to surpass the "six crowns" in the number of championships, but their record can obviously be better.

So far this season, Barcelona are unbeaten in all 39 games and have drawn just one, so what opponents can stop them now!? (To be continued......)