At seven o'clock in the evening of the 12th, Madrid was lit up and the Calderón Stadium was bustling.

The battle for the top spot will take place here tonight, and it will also be the final game of the first half of the season.

Atletico Madrid and Barcelona are the only two teams unbeaten.

Tonight they will be at the Estadio Calderón.

In the past, at such moments, it should be another team in Madrid - Real Madrid that will compete with Barcelona for the top spot.

But this year's results are different, with two points separating Real Madrid from Atletico Madrid and one point separating them from Barcelona.

If Atletico can beat Barcelona at home tonight and Real Madrid can win again, Real Madrid will surpass Barcelona in points!

At Calderón Stadium, fans are entering the stadium in an orderly manner, and players from both sides are warming up on the field.

Barcelona finally saw Messi in the team, and the Argentine superstar returned from injury, adding a lot of excitement to tonight's game.

Atletico had a good atmosphere and the players laughed as they warmed up.

Atletico are unbeaten on all fronts this season, which is a great surprise to the fans and a great boost to the team's self-confidence.

Simeone stood on the sidelines and watched the Barcelona players' warm-up alone, more precisely, he was observing Messi's condition.

After returning from injury, how far has Messi recovered?

That's what he needs to know.

Messi was in good shape during the warm-up, which made Simeone's brow furrow.

Fellow Argentine, Simeone knows how capable he is and how scary he is on the pitch.

However, when he turned his head to look at his team, he let out a sigh of relief, and his frown was relieved.

It's an invincible team, Barcelona has Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, I have Lee, Costa, Godin!

Last season, with Málaga's strength, Pellegrini was able to lead Malaga to defeat Real Madrid and Barcelona twice, and finally won the La Liga title.

If Pellegrini can do it, can't I?

Thinking of this, Simeone's self-confidence increased a few points.

"Let Lee defend Messi?"

Simeone complained in his heart again: "Only you can think of such a strange tactic!" ”

However, considering Malaga's "weak" backline, Simeone understands why Pellegrini did that.

How bad was Malaga's backline last season?

In the case of leading Barcelona by seven points, he was chased back by Barcelona and even overtaken.

If it weren't for the Champions League, Barcelona would certainly not have given Malaga a chance to achieve a miracle in the last round and lock up the title early.

Atletico's defence is second to none in La Liga, conceding by far the fewest goals of any of the twenty teams in La Liga.

With such a strong defensive ability, does Li Chuanqi need to be too involved in defense?

At half past seven, the players of both sides finished their warm-up and returned to their respective locker rooms to make final preparations for the upcoming summit showdown.

In the VIP box, Atletico Madrid President Serre Zuo accompanied FIFA President Blatter, and the two talked and laughed.

They were flanked by Atletico's top brass and FIFA officials.

Blatter certainly couldn't have come to Atletico alone.

Not far away, in another VIP box, Spain coach Bosque led his team of assistants to greet the fans.

Bosque has every reason to watch this game.

The last time Spain gathered for the last two matches of the World Cup European qualifiers, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid had a total of 11 players selected, and many of them were the main players of the team.

In other words, half of the Spanish players will play in tonight's game, and more than half of the main players will play!

Such a game, of course, it is worth Bosque to watch the game and observe the state of the players.

Away team locker room.

Barcelona coach Martino is giving his players a pre-match encouragement: "It's not an ordinary game, I think this game will affect whether we can win the championship in the end!" ”

This remark caused dissatisfaction among many players, Pique said: "Coach, we have to have confidence in Barcelona. ”

Messi nodded and said: "We haven't lost this season so far, we've won too many times in this stadium. ”

The words of the two made Maltino very uncomfortable, and he felt isolated in the dressing room.

Martino is Argentine, and the reason why Barcelona asked him to coach Barcelona is because of his Argentine identity, hoping to live in harmony with Messi and generate sparks.

After his successful tenure in the Americas, Martino was also very eager to succeed in Europe, so when Barcelona offered him an olive branch, he did not hesitate to agree.

Under his leadership, Barcelona has a good record this season, whether it is in La Liga or the Champions League, it has achieved good results, La Liga remains unbeaten, four wins, one draw and one loss in the Champions League group stage, and advanced to the knockout stage with the top spot in the group.

The only defeat in the group stage was away to Ajax, and at that time Barcelona had already locked up the group spot, which was considered a careless loss for Jingzhou.

If you put this kind of result in other clubs, it is a super performance, but in Barcelona, it is a very ordinary result.

In the words of the World Sport newspaper, "Martino's coaching, until now, can only be described as passing. ”

Martino thought that Messi would see his face as a fellow countryman and give him support in the locker room, but what he didn't expect was that Messi didn't seem to buy it and didn't give him much support.

Perhaps in Messi's heart, Barcelona is his hometown, and Argentina is in his heart, and the only thing he wants to play for this country is.

'I know you've won a lot of honours on the pitch, but I also know why Barcelona asked me to coach here.

Martino said with a cold face: "If it weren't for the bad results in the last two years, maybe I wouldn't have had the opportunity to come to Barcelona at all." Since I'm the coach of Barça, you should respect me.

But I don't see any respect from you! ”

This was a serious remark, and Pique wanted to retort a few words, but Harvey stopped him with a stern look.

"Coach, we're definitely rooting for you," Iniesta said. ”

Martino gave Messi a deep look and said: "I know that if you call the chairman, I will be fired." You don't have to show me that every day, I already know that. ”

The atmosphere in the locker room was tense.

Messi looked up at Martino, who looked at him without showing weakness.

Xavi stood between them, pulled Messi with one hand, looked at Martino and said: "Coach, now is not the time to say this, we are about to play." ”

Other players also dissuaded Martino.

……

Unlike the chaos in the Barcelona dressing room, the Atletico dressing room was in full swing, with Simeone spitting at the tactical board, making tactical demands on the players.

"Barcelona have the ball at the back, we have to counter-attack right away! Never give them any chance to pass the ball forward quickly! Including fouls to stop them! ”

Simeone exclaimed, "We're going to make the scene chaotic!" Only then will we have a chance! ”

"Two seconds!"

Simeone yelled at his players: "After conceding the ball for two seconds, we have to complete the counter-attack, and we must not give them any chance to handle the ball easily!" "Please keep in mind: Lily, website mobile version computer version, lily free fastest update no anti-theft no anti-theft.