Although Atletico Madrid was expected to use the tactic of pressing high positions, the area where the opponent pressed surprised Guardiola.

It seems that due to the influence of the previous game, Atletico felt that they could not take advantage of the midfield struggle, so they selectively advanced the pressing area.

Atletico's players have increased their pressing for Manchester City's midfield, especially the two centre-backs, making it more difficult for them to play the ball and forcing them to make long passes forward under pressure from their opponents.

Although long passes may seem to be able to send the ball out of danger areas, it is not so easy to control the landing point of long passes compared to short passes on the ground.

Opponents have more chances to compete for the ball, so a lot of times, long passes mean mistakes and lost possession.

For Atletico, the first thing to do to get the ball is to counter-attack.

That's what Simeone arranged, and so did Atletico!

Taking advantage of the huge gap between the 4231 formation and the defenders, especially in the area in front of the arc, Atletico's counter-attack threat was great.

As long as the ball can be passed, Atletico can easily form a 4-on-4 or even 4-3 situation in the frontcourt.

After 15 minutes of the first half, Atletico had managed to hit two such dangerous counter-attacks.

Had it not been for the excellent performances of Virgil van Dijk and Keylor Navas, who each defused a counter-attack, Manchester City would have conceded most of the goals by this time.

"Simeone, it looks like he's got something new for us!"

Pep Guardiola has studied the defensive strategy of Atletico Madrid under Simeone and knows that the opponent likes to press high, so he has also made some special arrangements.

However, Atletico's choice came as a surprise to him.

Simeone made adjustments to his options for pressing, pressing areas and recovering the ball, giving up on strangling with City in midfield and instead launching counter-attacks directly from the edge of the penalty area.

Clearly, Simeone wants Atletico to put City under direct pressure at the very front of the pitch, rather than in midfield.

The benefits of this are many, as the pressing is so close to the goal that Atletico threaten the goal once they succeed in making a tackle, and there is little chance for City to regroup, and even the goalkeeper has little time to react.

The suddenness of the attack, the greater the hope of success.

Moreover, the pressing close to the penalty area also reduced the running distance of Atletico Madrid players on the field, reduced the consumption of physical energy, and did not appear again like the last game, and the players in the next ten minutes suffered a significant decline in state due to lack of physical fitness.

Just as Guardiola was thinking, on the pitch, the referee blew the whistle again.

Kroos was dropped to the ground by an Atletico player, clutching his leg in pain.

Although Guardiola did not see the whole process of the opponent's foul clearly, he saw Kroos fall to the ground injured.

His anger immediately jumped up, and he ran to the fourth official in a rage to protest and put pressure on him.

During this time, Atletico Madrid committed a very high number of fouls in the Manchester City half.

In order to get the ball from the feet of the Manchester City backfielders, they can be described as doing everything they can.

This annoys Pep Guardiola, as Manchester City have just experienced a wave of injuries and many of the team's key players have been sidelined.

This made Guardiola a little noisy, and now he is most afraid of seeing the main players of the team injured.

Seeing that the Champions League final is just around the corner, if you get injured at this time, you won't be lucky enough to make it to the final in a few weeks.

Even if the injuries were a little more serious, these players would not even be able to make it in time for this summer's European Championship in France.

Whether it's for the sake of the team's results or the players' own career prospects, Pep Guardiola doesn't want to see them injured.

However, Atletico's style of play is infinitely magnifying their risk of injury.

Especially in the midfield, De Bruyne and Kroos, two players with more balls, were also the most violated.

However, their role in the team's tactics is irreplaceable, and if they are injured, then Manchester City's combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced!

Thinking of this, Guardiola immediately made adjustments.

He took advantage of the opportunity of a dead ball to tell Lin Quan on the sidelines.

After the restart, Atletico boss Simeone soon noticed that City's style of play had changed.

City didn't make much of a difference elsewhere, with Pep Guardiola making some changes to the attacking play at the wing-backs, but not by much.

What makes Simeone even more concerned is Manchester City's adjustment of the players up front.

Lin Quan and De Bruyne swapped positions, and Lin Quan changed from a wide player to the middle, and became a forward midfielder?

As for De Bruyne, he took Lin's place and became a wing-back.

How will this change the situation on the field?

Simone's heart is full of curiosity!

The change in the positions of De Bruyne and Lin Quan is very obvious.

Lin Quan's possession of the ball is stronger than De Bruyne's, and it is much more difficult to steal the ball from his feet.

Based on the fear of Lin Quan, Atletico Madrid's players subconsciously focused on Lin Quan's defense, and De Bruyne, who moved to the side, was immediately targeted.

After the opposition's pressing dropped, De Bruyne's performance began to come alive.

Although he does not have Lin Quan's strong offensive ability and will not cut inside on the side, his crosses from the side are extremely threatening, and he often does not need to dribble the ball to the bottom, only needs to shake a little space to deliver a very penetrating cross.

In the 22nd minute of the first half, De Bruyne picked up the ball on the wing, and a second before receiving the ball, he observed the positions of the players on both sides in the front court, and then decisively sent a 30-meter long pass.

Long passes at this distance are usually long balls over the top, and the defenders have more time to judge where the ball will land, and then get stuck and intercepted.

However, De Bruyne's choice was to pass the ball on the ground and cross from the wing with a great arc.

This kind of passing is often seen in the Premier League, and can often assist teammates to score pleasing goals!

Atletico's players clearly didn't know much about this, and when De Bruyne was ready to pass the ball, he didn't intervene in time, allowing him to deliver a high-quality cross.

Sergio Aguero was on par with the opposing defenders, but when he saw De Bruyne getting the ball on the wing, he immediately accelerated, and almost at the moment of De Bruyne's pass, he overtook Atletico's backline.

De Bruyne's pass found Aguero with precision, who stopped the ball with little effort.

Atletico's players raised their hands to signal Aguero for offside, but the linesman did not raise the flag.

Aguero ignored the opposition's protests, took the ball and rushed into the Atletico penalty area.

Oblak immediately chose to attack, pounced viciously on Aguero like a hungry wolf.

Aguero didn't expect the opponent to attack so quickly, and he was worried that he would lose the angle of his shot if he went forward, so he decisively chose to shoot.

Oblak reacted extremely quickly, judged the right direction at the moment of the opponent's shot, and quickly stretched out his palm to shoot the ball out.

Aguero was annoyed when he saw his opponent save his own shot, holding his head in his hands.

He felt a little sorry for De Bruyne, such a good opportunity was wasted.

De Bruyne couldn't help but shake his head, feeling regretful in his heart.

However, he did not blame Aguero, he knew Aguero's strength, but the opponent's goalkeeper reacted too quickly, and Aguero's handling of this ball was not too problematic.

Of course, if the person who just received the ball was Lin Quan, the result would probably be different.

With De Bruyne's understanding of Lin Quan, in the face of the attacking goalkeeper, his usual approach is either to pass the opponent, or to use the volley to complete the goal in a way that the opponent can't save.

Pep Guardiola saw that Aguero's shot was missing and did the same thing as Aguero.

Such a great opportunity, what a pity!

Simeone, who was not far away, broke out in a cold sweat, the ball was so dangerous just now.

If it is scored by Manchester City, then Atletico's coffin board will really be completely nailed.

Oblak has done a great job!

At the time of Courtois's departure, Simeone was worried about the team's goalkeeper position.

Fortunately, Oblak's timely addition made him have no worries at all.

However, the highlight of the goalkeeper often means that the team is passive, especially at the back.

That kind of ball just now is too dangerous, if you do it again, you will go in.

Therefore, this kind of attack by Manchester City must be put an end to, and they must not be allowed to do it again.

Through the attack just now, Simeone is fully aware of De Bruyne's threat.

It's no wonder that Pep Guardiola would rather abandon the three-man system in the last game and arrange him to play in this game.

With him on the pitch, City's attacking threat has been raised a notch.

In this game, Atletico Madrid's defensive pressure was much higher than in the previous game.

However, it is not difficult to restrain him, just send someone to keep an eye on him.

De Bruyne's inaction in the first 20 minutes was because Atletico's restrictions were too harsh, leaving him with no room to play.

Now that this trick has proven to work, it's better to continue using it.

Simeone's choice was not unexpected by Guardiola, on the contrary, after seeing the other party do so, Guardiola breathed a sigh of relief.

Atletico Madrid have been fooled!

Thinking of this, he walked to the sidelines, made gestures, and asked the players to execute the second set of tactics.

After seeing the manager's gestures, the players understood and immediately adjusted their style of play, starting to focus on the left side.

After Lin Quan got the ball, he no longer passed to De Bruyne, but went to David Silva on the left side and played with him to hit the wall.

David Silva's style is completely different from De Bruyne's, who is adept at passing, especially delivering lethal long balls down the flanks.

David Silva, on the other hand, is good at making short passes, especially with his teammates in tight areas.

Don't look at David Silva's figure is not as tall and burly as De Bruyne, but his physical confrontation ability is actually stronger than De Bruyne.

David Silva can dribble and possess the ball up front, hold the ball firmly under the pressure of opposing defenders and physical confrontation, and can also complete turns, breakthroughs and passes.

These are completely different from the 'midfield masters' who can only pass the ball!

So, when Manchester City's attacking focus shifted to the left, the fans watching the game at Calderón Stadium and in front of the TV seemed to be back in the World Cup and saw the shadow of the Spanish national team.

Lin Quan and David Silva staged a two-on-one, two-over-two or even two-over-three collision style in a narrow area of the frontcourt, and the backcourt of Atletico Madrid turned on their backs, and it was a mess.

David Silva can run, pass and control, Lin Quan is the same, and even has more explosiveness than him, the two combine to play the role of 1+1>2.

It was not easy for Atletico's players to defend one of these two alone, and now that the two have formed a bond and played together, it is even more difficult to defend against them.

Atletico's players were in pain, but the fans were fascinated by it.

What a gorgeous pass-and-cut match!

Sure enough, only a Spanish player can pull off such a brilliant combination.

Many people think of the Barcelona team four or five years ago, when in Barcelona games, they could often see Messi and Xiaobai and others completing such passing and cutting cooperation on the field.

After a succession of stunning passes, City's attack had unwittingly hit Atletico's penalty area.

The most terrible thing is that it is none other than Manchester City's No. 10 Lin Quan who is holding the ball now!

Thinking of this, Atletico Madrid's defenders had a numb scalp, and subconsciously focused their defense on Lin Quan.

With so little space in the box and so many people, there's no way these guys from Manchester City can continue their passing and cutting here, right?

However, to their surprise, Lin Quan still chose to cooperate with his teammates.

Facing the targeting of the opposing defenders, Lin Quan did not act brutally, but chose to pass the ball to Aguero in the middle of the penalty area.

Sergio Aguero kept the ball on his back and smashed the ball across to David Silva, who had just entered the box.

David Silva also kept the ball and kicked it straight and sent the ball to Lin Quan's feet again.

At this time, Lin Quan had already thrown off the opponent's defender and got the opportunity to face the goalkeeper.

Oblak's heart was in his throat!

It's coming, he's finally here!

He sank down, squatted slightly, and was ready to save.

Left or right?

At this time, it was too late to attack, and Oblak could only judge the direction of the opponent's shot as much as possible and choose to gamble!

Although Oblak is not well-known now, his strength should definitely not be underestimated.

His footwork, reaction speed and saving ability are even in the top three among active goalkeepers!

In those two games, he has made several difficult saves, including the shots of Sergio Aguero and even Lin Quan.

Therefore, Lin Quan did not underestimate him at all in his heart, but attached great importance to him.

Seeing Oblak's movements, Lin Quan's movements suddenly paused, as if he was about to shoot.

Oblak was shaken, and although his body didn't move much, his center of gravity had changed!

And Lin Quan is waiting for such an opportunity!

He immediately aimed at the right side of the goal to complete the shot, in order to prevent the opponent from using the extreme reaction speed to save his shot, Lin Quan used a lot of power when shooting, the speed of the ball was very fast, like a cannonball out of the chamber!

Oblak really did it, although he was shaken, but when Lin Quan shot the goal, he still made the first save, and even his fingers had already touched the ball.

However, the ball was too fast and too powerful, and the strength of his fingers was not enough to change the direction of the ball.

With a swipe, the ball flew into the net!

Manchester City 1:0 Atletico Madrid, the aggregate score also came to 5:1!

(End of chapter)