"CCTV, CCTV!"

"Audience friends, welcome to watch the live broadcast of the 2013-2014 Champions League final between Manchester City and Atletico Madrid, I am the commentator He Wei!"

"I'm Xu Yang!"

"Before we get started, let's take a look at the starting line-ups of both sides!"

"Both teams seem to have put a lot of effort into this game, and there have been some unexpected adjustments to the starting list!"

"That's right, Diego Costa, who was injured at the Camp Nou last time, was unexpectedly put into the starting line-up by Simeone this time."

"This makes one wonder if the news of Diego Costa's injury is a smoke bomb to confuse Manchester City?"

There are many people who have similar thoughts to the two CCTV commentators, and after seeing Diego Costa's name appear in the starting list, people can't help but wonder if this is a conspiracy on the part of Atletico Madrid?

However, Manchester City on the opposite side are also playing very new things.

Fernandinho, who had been banned for several months, not only played, but also entered the starting line-up, replacing the team's main defender Kroos.

This makes people curious about Pellegrini's employment, what exactly is his plan for this arrangement?

Giving up the playmaking midfielder and going on with a defensive midfielder, is this a hand-to-hand fight with Atletico in midfield?

With the referee's whistle, the game officially began.

Manchester City, dressed in blue, attacked from the left side of the pitch to the right, while Atletico Madrid, wearing a red and white striped jersey and blue shorts, attacked from the right to the left.

After the start of the game, both sides played cautiously at first.

Instead of attacking immediately after kick-off, Atletico passed the ball one after another, attracting Manchester City's strikers to press them through the half, and then handed them over to the wing, allowing the players to organize the attack from the wing.

However, City's defence was solid and did not give Atletico too many chances.

Contrary to everyone's expectations before the game, the first place for the two sides to engage in fierce battles was not in the midfield, but on the wings.

Both teams are decisive defensively, kicking their feet when they should be and fouling when they should be fouled, without dragging their feet in the slightest.

This results in intermittent matches, which are not very good to watch in terms of spectacle.

However, after seeing the situation of the game on the field, the coaches of both sides felt that things were not simple.

"It's strange that Manchester City have never been a defence-oriented team, so why is the focus on defense in this game?"

In the Atletico Madrid dugout, Simeone couldn't help but be a little puzzled after seeing Manchester City's defensive options after the opening.

Manchester City's attacking group in the midfield is very luxurious, but in this game, including Lin Quan, their four people in the front court did not invest much in attack, but put a lot of energy into defense.

What's going on?

Do you play up your weaknesses and avoid your strengths?

It's weird, I can't understand it!

Simeone couldn't help but look at Atletico's coaching box, not knowing what the hell Pellegrini was up to.

Pellegrini was also apprehensive, and his intention to bring on Fernandinho was to stabilize the midfield defence, and then attack based on the defense.

The aggressive pressing of the frontcourt players is to drain the physical energy of the opposing defenders.

This trick was used in the previous match against Barcelona, and it also had good results.

It's just that Atletico Madrid has always been known for being able to run, and whether this move can work against Atletico Madrid, Pellegrini himself is not very clear.

However, after glancing at his bench, he was relieved.

Manchester City were very well staffed in central midfield, with two wingers and a striker on the bench, and if that didn't work, it would have been a second-half substitution.

In the eyes of the audience, this game seems to be not about football, but about running, and players on both sides are running very actively on the field.

Any player with the ball who does not pass the ball within three seconds of receiving it is bound to be forced to steal.

And the closer you get to midfield, the harder you are pressed and the faster you are.

This made the game fast-paced, but both sides couldn't get the ball, and it was difficult for the attack to threaten.

The game played for 5 minutes, and neither side could complete the first shot on goal, let alone shoot, and could not even enter the opponent's 30-meter danger zone.

In the 7th minute, Manchester City finally hit the first shot on goal.

David Silva was pressed by full-back Juan to pass the ball back to Kevin De Bruyne.

De Bruyne kept the ball and stuffed it straight to Lin Quan, who seemed to open the perspective of God, did not look at the defenders behind him, retreated in advance, received the ball before the opponent's central defender, and knocked the ball with his heel.

The ball slipped through the wicket of Atletico defender Miranda, and Lin Quan turned around to catch the ball.

Unfortunately, the opponent pulled him down, and the referee awarded a free kick.

Lin Quan took the free kick himself, but the ball was not suppressed, and it was directly given to the fans in the stands!

Although the free kick was high, Atletico Madrid was still shocked into a cold sweat.

The real danger is not Lin Quan's free kick, but the previous man who knocked the ball with his heel.

If he really gets Miranda out of the way, then he can face the goalkeeper head-on, and then he has too many shooting options!

"Pay attention to the help defense, the midfield retreats to compress the space for the opponent to receive and handle the ball."

Simeone was unhappy with the defence this time around, and the responsibility for the goal came with the second, as Escudero failed to put enough pressure on De Bruyne for him to send the through ball.

If it weren't for this pass, Lin Quan wouldn't have had the opportunity to perform like this!

The audience at the scene didn't care about this, and after the big screen played back the slow motion of Lin Quan's handling of the ball just now, they gave Lin Quan applause.

Since the match was held at a neutral stadium, there were a large number of neutral fans in addition to the respective fans of both sides.

These fans come with an attitude of appreciating football, they don't deliberately favor which team they support, and they give applause to whoever performs well on the field.

Lin Quan's fame is the biggest of the two, and Portuguese fans have long heard of his name.

However, many people have doubts about his strength, thinking that he is too young and may not be as powerful as rumored.

This is not surprising, after all, Lin Quan has not been prominent in football for a long time, and he has not received too high honors.

If he can win several Ballon d'Or awards like Messi and Ronaldo, I believe that the outside world will question him by more than half.

However, after seeing his details this time, these fans who know the ball can't help but feel bright.

Although they are a little younger, this technical detail and spiritual processing make them feel that the other party is indeed a material that can be made.

Hardly worse than the eighteen-year-old Ronaldo!

Because Ronaldo is Portuguese, Portuguese fans have a strong filter for him.

It's not easy for them to give such an evaluation.

If the two sides continue to play at this pace, the number of goals in this game will probably be very small, and it will come very late.

However, in the ninth minute, there was a big change on the field.

While battling with Manchester City defender Vincent Kompany, Diego Costa was running and suddenly fell to the ground in pain holding his leg.

On the sidelines, Simeone, who saw this scene, felt his head buzz and explode.

It's over, Costa's old injury has returned!

He couldn't help but look up at the game time, which had only been 9 minutes into the game!

Is it necessary to make a passive substitution so early?

But it doesn't work without substitutions, Atletico's strikers have a heavy defensive task.

If Diego Costa were to play with an injury, it would not only further aggravate his injury, but also affect Atletico's overall defensive intensity.

Thinking of this, he decisively called Adrian López up and asked him to come out to replace Diego Costa.

It was a very hasty substitution, and López didn't even have time to warm up.

After all, who would have thought that after only 9 minutes of play, a substitution would be made?

Diego Costa's injury has dealt a certain blow to Atletico Madrid's morale.

Manchester City took advantage of this opportunity and decisively stepped up their attack.

In the 11th minute, Fernandinho wanted to hand it to De Bruyne after breaking the ball and let De Bruyne organize the attack, but before De Bruyne could receive the ball, the football was intercepted by Koke in advance on the passing line.

Atletico's counterattack!

Koke handed the ball to Gabi and immediately chose to cut forward.

However, Gabi was forced by Yaya Toure and De Bruyne at the first time, and could not pass the ball out, so he could only reluctantly hand the ball to central defender Godin.

As soon as Godin got the ball, Lin Quan and Sergio Aguero immediately pounced on him to snatch the ball from his feet.

Godin didn't dare to take it too much and quickly handed the ball to another defender, Miranda.

Aguero rushed towards Miranda again.

Miranda handed it to Juan, who barely managed to pass the ball to Thiago under pressure from David Silva.

However, the goal was prejudged by Yaya Toure and he was the first to intercept the ball in the passing line.

Seeing that the ball was lost, the three nearby Atletico players all rushed towards Yaya Toure.

Yaya Toure was taken aback, and he shifted the ball to the right wing with a big foot and handed it to Lin Quan.

Atletico's attack was concentrated on the left flank, and the right side of the pitch was a little empty at this time, and if Lin could receive his pass, then maybe there would be a chance to play a dangerous attack.

However, when Yaya Toure passed the ball, Atletico's overall defensive formation quickly pressed towards the right side of the pitch.

Looking down on the pitch from the camera position in the air, you can see that in the process of this movement, Atletico's overall defense line remains very intact, and the three lines of defense are closely connected and there is no disconnection.

This means that their players almost all made the same choice at the same time!

In the stands near the pitch, Guardiola frowned.

A suffocating feeling!

When Bayern played Atletico Madrid before, they encountered this kind of defense on the pitch.

How did Simeone train the 11 players on the field into a disciplined army?

On the field, Lin Quan, as the person concerned, felt more deeply than the audience.

Atletico were open on the left side of the game a moment ago, but when the ball flew towards him, the nearby players were already rushing towards him.

After he lifted his foot to stop the ball, Atletico full-back Philippe, centre-back Godin and midfielder Gabi were all within five metres of him.

Lin Quan only had time to turn around, and before he could handle the ball, he was tackled by Gabi.

Gabi was the furthest away, disrupting Lin Quan's rhythm with his tackles, forcing him to make changes that would create opportunities for the other two teammates to disrupt.

Obviously, Atletico Madrid has a very clear tactical arrangement in the defense of local areas.

Lin Quan dunked the ball and dodged Gabi's tackle.

But he was also hit by Godin, and his body staggered a little, and Philip took the opportunity to reach out and try to break the ball.

Lin Quan reluctantly protected the ball, but at this time he had neither room for movement nor speed blessing, so it was obviously impossible to rush out under the bag of the other three people.

As a result, he was forced to pass the ball back to full-back Zabaleta.

As soon as the ball was passed, two of the three defenders around him immediately abandoned him, either returning to their positions or continuing to push the defender with the ball.

In the face of Atletico's cutting of space, Manchester City's attack could not find a good way.

Where the ball is passed, the opponent's defenders can always be in place at the first time, often forming a situation of playing more and playing less.

As a result, it is often the case that Manchester City's players have just got the ball and look around, surrounded by enemies.

In this case, their breakthrough routes, passing routes, and even the space for dribbling the ball are cut off and greatly compressed.

As a result, the ball was lost immediately.

Not to mention other players, even Lin Quan, who has strong dribbling ability, was robbed a little unable to hold the ball in this situation.

He is not afraid of one-on-one defense, but Atletico Madrid does not talk about martial arts and does not give you one-on-one opportunities, they are habitually two-on-one or even three-on-one.

And the Atletico Madrid players were very rough in their defensive movements and extremely decisive in their fouls.

If you can't get it, you will be fouled, and in any case it will not give you any chance to break through their defense.

He had just received the ball, and before he could even pick up his speed or even turn around, the opponent had already blocked all his options, as if he had designed a script for him, forcing him to do what Atletico had envisioned.

Lin Quan can be regarded as knowing why the top teams such as Real Madrid, Bayern and Barcelona played so hard when they played against Atletico Madrid!

The opponent's high pressing is very targeted, which not only restricts your midfield, so that the midfielder can't pass a good ball, but also restricts your frontcourt, making it difficult for your frontcourt to make effective breakthroughs and attacks.

It seems that Atletico's defensive strategy is aggressive, and their defence is almost overpowering half time.

There is a lot of space in the backfield, but it is very difficult to break through this defensive line.

It's no wonder that so many pundits say that Atletico's defense is the best of the top five leagues, and judging by their overall performance in the final, this is really well deserved.

However, Lin Quan is not in a hurry, just kick slowly.

At this time, you are running so aggressively, and the intensity of the defense is so great, I don't believe that in the second half, you can still run so fast and press so fiercely?

When you're almost exhausted, it's City's turn.

Before that happens, though, City will need to make sure they don't concede the ball first.

Once you lose your request, the situation will become very dangerous!

Real Madrid's header in the third minute of stoppage time is not something that can be encountered at any time!

(End of chapter)