De Bruyne's goal was so unexpected!

If it weren't for a series of actions such as him and Lin Quan's 'loud conspiracy' and Lin Quan's deliberate run to the top of the penalty area to confuse everyone, the Atletico Madrid people might not have been so surprised by De Bruyne's direct shot.

After all, although this position is not particularly good, it is not impossible to hit the door directly.

It's just that after seeing the conspiracy between him and Lin Quan, Atletico Madrid naturally thought that they would play tactical free kicks, and after expecting to be led away by the two, they would feel uncomfortable when they saw that the other party made a normal choice.

Courtois reacted very quickly, and the focus of his defense was also Lin Quan, but after seeing De Bruyne's shot, he immediately adjusted and pounced in the direction of De Bruyne's shot.

Courtois's body stretched out completely in the air and pounced in the direction the ball was flying from, like a trapeze.

The eyes of the fans of both teams were drawn to Courtois in the air, and his save could well determine the outcome of the game, so it was crucial for both teams.

Courtois may not be very old, but he can be said to have made a name for himself in the Champions League.

In the last game against Bayern, he saved three must-score goals from Arjen Robben and Ribery in succession, making a huge contribution to Atletico Madrid's clean sheet against Bayern.

In La Liga, he has also been very consistent this season, helping Atletico Madrid to clean sheets on many occasions, even against top teams such as Real Madrid and Barcelona, he has not dragged down the team, but has often contributed great saves to help the team turn the tide.

This time, Courtois has once again made a contribution.

The tip of his outstretched right finger touched the ball, changing the direction of the ball slightly, causing it to fly off the line by grazing the post!

The Manchester City fans in attendance let out a sigh as they were probably just a finger's finger away from scoring.

And Atletico Madrid's fans are clutching their chests, and they are almost scared out of heart disease.

It's a good thing we have Courtois, otherwise, the goal would have been scored!

Seeing Courtois save his own shot, De Bruyne shook his head, and the angle of the ball could have been a little more tricky.

"It's a beautiful fight, and the other party's luck is better!"

Lin Quan ran over, rubbed De Bruyne's head, and said to him.

De Bruyne nodded, leaving behind the regret and chagrin in his heart.

Then, he reacted.

Lin Quan, this guy is a few years younger than me, and he actually put on a senior posture and tone!

He immediately reached out to grab Lin Quan, intending to take revenge for doubling his head rubbing just now.

However, Lin Quan had expected it, took advantage of it and ran, and avoided De Bruyne's capture with a smile.

Courtois, who had just completed his pounce, was being hugged and kissed by his teammates at this time.

Compared to his excited teammates, Courtois felt a little uneasy in his heart.

This shot was not much of a threat in the first place, but it was because the opponent played such a psychological tactic that they were deceived, which led to such an ordinary shot producing such a huge threat!

I don't know who this tactic came from?

Is it his own national team teammate Kevin De Bruyne?

Or that Manchester City's number 10?

On the sidelines, Simeone held his chin and frowned as he pondered the situation of the game.

Manchester City's set-piece just now did pose a threat, and he couldn't help but worry:

Manchester City's trick against Atletico Madrid shouldn't be set-pieces, right?

A few minutes later, a Manchester City corner reinforces his thoughts.

This time the corner kick Lin Quan discussed with De Bruyne as usual, and continued to sacrifice the trick of 'loud plotting'.

However, the Atletico player on the opposite side put on a posture: I will quietly watch you perform.

Things turned out again in a way that they had not expected, and this time, City did play a tactical corner.

De Bruyne did not send the ball directly into the box, but kicked the ball to Lin Quan on the left side of the box.

After receiving the ball, Lin Quan picked up the penalty area again and accurately found the captain Kompany.

Kompany flicks his head with a lion and heads the ball towards goal.

Unfortunately, the ball was too straight and Courtois couldn't get the ball, but Kompany's header bounced off his nose.

Atletico defender Godin took the lead and kicked the ball off the sideline with a big kick to clear the ball.

Kompany scratched his big bald head, feeling his luck a little back.

How could such a large range of the door frame be on the goalkeeper's face?

Courtois also feels that his idea is very back!

With such a big goal frame, how did the ball hit his nose impartially?

He smelled a smell of blood, and when he reached out and touched it, his fingers were immediately stained with blood.

Come on, the nosebleeds are all smashed out.

Due to an injury to Atletico's goalkeeper, the game had to be temporarily suspended.

The team doctors rushed to help Courtois with his injuries and gave him a shirt to replace the one that had been stained with a nosebleed.

By the time Courtois dealt with his injury, time was running out of time for the first half.

The referee soon blew the whistle for the end of the first half.

Throughout the first half, both sides had a total of 11 shots on goal, including seven for Manchester City and four for Atletico Madrid.

In terms of shots on goal, Manchester City have the advantage.

However, apart from the last two set-pieces, which were a threat, the other shots failed to threaten.

Atletico were in a similar situation, with only one of their four shots hitting the woodwork, and the remaining three were ridiculously deflected.

On the pitch, the two sides had similar possession, with Manchester City leading Atletico Madrid's 45% with 55 per cent.

From this data, it can be seen that Atletico Madrid is not the kind of team to concede the ball and then play defensive counter-attack.

Overall, throughout the first half, with both teams on the defensive foot, it was difficult for either side to get great attacking chances.

However, as the game time gradually shortens, the tactics of both sides will definitely be adjusted in the second half.

It's just that I don't know who was the first to break the deadlock!

……

"Brother, this way, this way!"

At halftime, Lin Quan had just walked to the sidelines and was about to enter the players' tunnel.

But suddenly I heard a familiar voice coming from the stands!

He looked up and found that Guardiola and others were sitting in the stands near the players' tunnel, and at this time, his sister Maria was waving her arms and trying to greet Lin Quan.

The reason why it is said that it is trying to say hello is because the fans in the seats near the players' tunnel are almost all doing this at this time.

Some of them stretched out their arms and tried to shake hands or give the players a high-five.

Others applauded the players loudly and said something motivating to them.

Others simply took out paper and pens and asked the players for autographs.

As the biggest player in the Manchester City team, Lin Quan naturally has the largest number of fans.

Originally, he would not stay here, but after hearing Maria's voice, Lin Quan stopped and walked up to the stands.

The fans in the stands were all excited when they saw Lin Quan coming up.

Not only did the fans sitting around frantically rush towards him, but even the melon-eating crowd behind who didn't know the truth rushed over excitedly when they saw their team's number one star suddenly appear in the stands.

Seeing that something was about to happen if he stayed any longer, Lin Quan only had time to hug each other with his family, and then under the escort of the on-site security personnel, he fled and left.

Lin Quan is gone, and Guardiola will be miserable.

He is also a celebrity anyway, fans can't get Lin Quan's autograph, and it would be good if he could get Guardiola's autograph!

As a result, the object of the siege changed from Lin Quan to Guardiola.

Maria and the others on the side were frightened by this huge battle, and when they saw a large number of people rushing towards them, they were all a little nervous and even frightened.

But when the fear dissipated, they began to be amazed:

It turns out that my brother's influence has reached this level?

I feel like even my dad can't compare to him!

……

In Manchester City's dressing room, Manuel Pellegrini told his players to take time to rest as he began to plan for the second half.

"At the beginning of the second half, we kept the tactics of the first half and waited until the 75th minute, if the score was still 0-0, we started to make substitutions.

He named Nasri and Keylor Navas and said, "You two warm up every five minutes after the start of the second half and be ready to play whenever you want." ”

Nasri and Keylor Navas were thrilled to be a key surprise player on such an occasion and they felt valued and trusted by their coach.

"Lin, when Keylor Navas came on, we played without a striker."

Lin Quan nodded, Atletico Madrid's defenders are difficult to entangle, and if the position is too forward, it is easy to be targeted, but it can't be a threat.

And if he retreats, he can increase the number of midfielders and help the team control the situation in the midfield.

Once City have the upper hand in the midfield strangulation, they have the opportunity to organise a dangerous attack.

Manuel Pellegrini left a substitution and was ready to deal with the unexpected.

Had it not been for Diego Costa's injury in the first half, he probably wouldn't have kept a substitution, as three substitutions at the same time would have worked best in a short period of time.

Not only is it the biggest increase in Manchester City's fighting power, but it is also a greater threat to Atletico Madrid.

Of course, this kind of substitution adjustment is very radical, and it almost leaves no way back for yourself.

In the event of an injury to a player on the game, he has no one to replace.

On the other side, in the dressing room of Atletico Madrid.

Simeone also explained his tactics, and like Manchester City, Atletico Madrid will attack in the second half.

It's not a way to drag it out like this, and with the physical exertion of their high-level pressing, once they are dragged into extra time by Manchester City, they may be more than lucky.

And Manchester City's defensive strategy in this game made him feel that the opponent's intention seemed to be to drag the game into extra time.

So, Simeone can't let his opponent get his wish.

It's just that how to break the deadlock is a big difficulty for Atletico Madrid without Diego Costa.

"Manchester City's defensive ability is not so strong, their defense has many flaws, in the second half we have to play more resolutely, the speed has to play, don't be afraid when passing, boldly pass forward, lose the ball and then grab it back!"

It is better to concede a goal in the opponent's half than to concede a goal in your own half, as long as you can contain the opponent's exit point in time and interrupt the opponent's counterattack, then even if you lose the ball, it will not pose too much threat to your own goal.

"If the positional battle is not good, you can try to use more set-pieces, Manchester City played well from a few set-pieces in the first half, and we can learn from it!"

Atletico are not the kind of team with very strong attacking firepower, and they have only scored more than 70 goals in La Liga this season, which is a big gap compared to Real Madrid and Barcelona, two teams that have scored more than 100 goals.

Defence can be compensated for by discipline and tactics, attacking is a bit of a talent, and the individual ability of a striker is directly related to the number of goals scored by the team.

In the case of Atletico Madrid, their top scorer Diego Costa has scored a total of 27 goals in the league this season, accounting for more than 35% of the team's total goals!

This proportion is much higher than the proportion of goals scored by Messi and Ronaldo in Barcelona and Real Madrid!

Without Diego Costa, Atletico's attacking firepower is equivalent to abolishing at least a third.

Villa's goal efficiency is less than half that of Costa, and none of the remaining players have scored a double-double, so expect them to finish the final goal, so it's better to die early!

Therefore, there is no way to solve the problem of attack with set-pieces!

Hearing Simeone's arrangement, Villa was a little sad.

He felt like he was getting old, and he didn't have the ability to step up when the team needed him the most.

Atletico actually created a couple of good chances in the first half, but neither Villa nor substitute Lopes could take their chances.

If they had seized the chance, the game would not have been so anxious, and Atletico might have taken the lead.

Thinking of this, Villa secretly made up his mind.

After this World Cup is over, I will not renew my contract with Atletico Madrid, leave the five major leagues, and go to the lower leagues to pan for gold!

Anyway, he basically got all the honors he should have won, the Grand Slam at the national team level, the six crowns at the club level, except for the unattainable things like the Golden Ball, he has other honors.

There are no regrets anymore!

However, before leaving, Villa decided to do his best with his teammates to try to win the Big Ears Cup!

……

At the start of the second half, the two teams changed sides and fought again.

After kick-off, the tactical play of both sides continued the first half, and there was no obvious change in sight.

However, City's players soon noticed the difference between Atletico and they became more aggressive in attack than in the first half.

Atletico's players have made more forward passes and fewer return and cross passes.

As a result, Atletico's pass success rate began to decline, and City got more counter-attacking opportunities when defending.

In the 47th minute, Zabaleta successfully broke the ball and passed the ball to his teammates before the opponent counter-attacked.

Fernandinho had just picked up the ball when the Atletico players rushed up like mad dogs.

He quickly passed the ball to De Bruyne.

The ball was not passed well, and before De Bruyne could hold the ball, Gabi was fouled from behind, stopping City's counter-attack.

Although he missed the opportunity to counter-attack, Pellegrini on the sidelines was eye-catching.

He saw an opportunity to score!

If Atletico continue to make mistakes and give them a chance, Manchester City may be able to score goals soon!

(End of chapter)