Chapter 279: Unlucky Courtois!
De Bruyne's shot was so unexpected!
If he and Lin Quan hadn't "conspired loudly" and Lin Quan hadn't deliberately run to the top of the penalty area and other actions to confuse everyone, Atletico Madrid's players 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 shoot directly.
However, after seeing the conspiracy between him and Lin Quan, Atletico Madrid naturally thought that they would play a tactical free kick. After their expectations were misled by the two, they felt uncomfortable when they saw the other side made a normal choice.
Courtois' reaction speed was extremely fast. Originally, his focus of defense was Lin Quan, but after seeing De Bruyne's shot, he immediately made adjustments and rushed towards the direction of De Bruyne's shot.
Courtois' body was fully stretched in the air and he rushed towards the direction where the football was coming from, like a flying man.
The attention of the fans of both teams was firmly attracted by Courtois in the air. His save might determine the trend of the game, so it was crucial for both teams.
Although Courtois is not very old, he is already famous in the Champions League.
In the last game against Bayern, he saved three sure goals from Robben and Ribery, making a huge contribution to Atletico's shutout of Bayern.
In the La Liga, his performance this season has been very stable, helping Atletico Madrid to keep opponents scoreless many times. Even when facing top teams like Real Madrid and Barcelona, he did not drag the team down. Instead, he often made amazing saves to help the team out of danger.
This time, Courtois made another contribution.
The fingertips of his outstretched right hand touched the ball, slightly changing the direction of the football, causing it to brush against the post and fly out of the bottom line! The Manchester City fans at the scene sighed, they were probably only one finger away from scoring a goal.
Atletico Madrid fans were holding their chests and almost having a heart attack.
Fortunately, we have Courtois, otherwise, the ball would have gone in! Seeing Courtois save his shot, De Bruyne shook his head, hoping that the angle of the ball would be a little more tricky.
"It was a beautiful fight, but the opponent had better luck!"
Lin Quan ran over, rubbed De Bruyne's head and said to him.
De Bruyne nodded, throwing away the regret and annoyance in his heart.
Then he reacted.
Lin Quan is several years younger than me, but he actually acts like a senior and speaks in a tone!
He immediately reached out to grab Lin Quan, intending to retaliate double for the head rubbing he had just done.
However, Lin Quan had anticipated this and took advantage and ran, smiling as he evaded De Bruyne’s capture.
Courtois, who had just made a great save, was now being hugged and kissed by his teammates.
Compared to his excited teammates, Courtois felt a little scared.
This shot was not threatening at first, but because the opponent used such a psychological tactic to deceive them, such an ordinary shot became such a huge threat! I wonder who came up with this tactic just now?
Was it his national teammate De Bruyne? Or the No. 10 player of Manchester City? On the sidelines, Simeone held his chin and frowned, thinking about the situation of the game.
Manchester City's set-piece just now was indeed threatening, and he couldn't help but worry: Could it be that Manchester City's ultimate weapon against Atletico Madrid is the set-piece?
A few minutes later, a corner kick from Manchester City reinforced his thoughts.
As usual, Lin Quan discussed this corner kick with De Bruyne and continued to use the tactic of "plotting loudly".
However, the Atletico Madrid players on the opposite side acted as if: I will just watch your performance quietly.
The development of things was beyond their expectations again. This time, Manchester City really took a tactical corner kick.
De Bruyne did not pass the ball directly into the penalty area, but kicked the ball to Lin Quan on the left side outside the penalty area.
After receiving the ball, Lin Quan made another lob pass into the penalty area, accurately finding captain Kompany.
Kompany shook his head like a lion and headed the ball towards the goal.
Unfortunately, the ball was headed too straight. Although Courtois failed to catch the ball, Kompany's header hit his nose and bounced back.
Atletico Madrid defender Godin took the lead and kicked the ball out of the sideline with a big foot, completing the clearance.
Kompany scratched his big bald head, feeling that his luck was a bit bad.
How did the goalkeeper's face hit the goal frame? Courtois felt that his idea was very unlucky!
The goal frame is so big, how come the ball hit his nose exactly?
He smelled a bloody smell, reached out to touch it, and his fingers were immediately covered in blood.
Okay, my nose is bleeding.
The game had to be temporarily stopped due to an injury to Atletico's goalkeeper.
The team doctors rushed over to help Courtois treat his injury and gave him a new jersey to replace the one stained with nosebleed.
By the time Courtois had treated his injury, there was little time left in the first half.
The referee quickly blew the whistle to end the first half.
Throughout the first half, both sides completed a total of 11 shots, including 7 by Manchester City and 4 by Atletico Madrid.
In terms of the number of shots, Manchester City has the advantage.
However, apart from the last two set-pieces that created threats, the other shots failed to pose a threat.
The situation was similar for Atletico Madrid. Only one of their four shots hit the goal frame, and the remaining three were far off target.
On the field, both sides had similar ball possession rates, with Manchester City leading Atletico Madrid with 55% to 45%.
It can be seen from this data that Atletico Madrid is not the kind of team that gives up the ball and then plays a defensive counterattack.
In general, throughout the first half, with both teams focusing on defense, it was difficult for both sides to get great offensive opportunities.
However, as the game time gradually shortens, the tactics of both sides will definitely be adjusted in the second half.
I just don’t know who will be the first to lose patience and break the deadlock!
…
"Brother, over here, over here!"
During the half-time break, Lin Quan had just walked to the sidelines and was about to enter the player 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 player tunnel. At this time, his sister Maria was waving her arms and trying to greet Lin Quan.
The reason why I say they are trying hard to say hello is that almost all the fans sitting near the player's tunnel are doing this at this time.
Some of them stretched out their arms, trying to shake hands or high-five the players.
Some applauded the players loudly and said something encouraging to them.
Others simply took out paper and pen and tried to ask the players for autographs.
As the most famous player in Manchester City, Lin Quan naturally encountered the most fans.
Originally he would not stay here, but after hearing Maria's voice, Lin Quan stopped and walked onto the stands.
When the fans in the stands saw Lin Quan coming up, they were all very excited.
Not only did the fans sitting around him rush towards him crazily, but even the spectators in the back who were unaware of the truth rushed over excitedly when they saw their team's top star suddenly appear in the stands.
Seeing that something bad would happen if he stayed any longer, Lin Quan only had time to hug his family members, and then fled away under the escort of the security personnel on the scene.
Now that Lin Quan is gone, Guardiola will be in trouble.
He is a celebrity after all. If fans can't get Lin Quan's autograph, it would be nice if they could get Guardiola's autograph!
As a result, the target of the siege changed from Lin Quan to Guardiola.
Maria and others on the side were frightened by the huge scene. When they saw a large group of people rushing towards them, they felt nervous and even scared.
But after the fear dissipated, they all began to be surprised: Has their brother's influence become so great?
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I feel like even my dad can’t compare to him! …
In Manchester City's locker room, Pellegrini asked the players to take time to rest while beginning to arrange tactics for the second half.
"At the beginning of the second half, we still maintained the tactics of the first half. In the 75th minute, if the score was still 0:0, we started to make substitutions.
He called out Nasri and Navas' names and said, "After the start of the second half, you two should warm up every five minutes and be ready to play at any time."
Nasri and Navas were both very excited to be able to play as key players on such occasions. They felt the coach's attention and trust.
"Lin, after Navas comes on, we will play without a striker."
Lin Quan nodded. Atletico Madrid's defenders are very difficult to deal with. If they are too far forward, they will be easily marked and will not be able to pose a threat.
If he retreats, he can increase the number of people in the midfield and help the team control the situation in the midfield more easily.
Once Manchester City gain the upper hand in the midfield, they will have the opportunity to organize and launch threatening attacks.
Pellegrini left one substitution available to deal with emergencies.
If Diego Costa had not been injured in the first half, he might not have kept a substitution quota, because substituting three players at the same time would have the best tactical effect in a short period of time.
Not only does it greatly improve Manchester City's combat effectiveness, it also poses a greater threat to Atletico Madrid.
Of course, this kind of substitution is very radical and leaves almost no way out for themselves.
If a player on the field is injured, he will have no one to replace him.
On the other side, in Atletico Madrid's locker room.
Simeone also explained his tactics. Like Manchester City, Atletico Madrid will launch an attack in the second half.
It is not a solution to drag the game on like this. Given the physical exhaustion from their high-pressure pressing, they would be in great danger if they were dragged into overtime by Manchester City.
Manchester City's defensive strategy in this game made him feel that the opponent's intention seemed to be to drag the game into overtime.
Therefore, Simeone cannot let his opponents get what they want.
However, how to break the deadlock is a big challenge for Atletico Madrid without Diego Costa.
"Manchester City's defensive ability is not that strong. Their defense has many flaws. In the second half, we need to be more resolute in our attack and play at a faster pace. Don't be timid when passing the ball. Pass it forward boldly. If we lose the ball, we can just get it back!"
It is better to lose the ball in the opponent's half than in your own half. As long as you can stop the opponent's passing point in time and interrupt their counterattack, even if you lose the ball, it will not pose too much threat to your own goal.
"If positional warfare doesn't work, you can try to use more set pieces. Manchester City played some good set pieces in the first half. We can learn from them!"
Atletico Madrid is not a team with very strong offensive firepower. They have only scored more than 70 goals in the La Liga this season. Compared with Real Madrid and Barcelona, two teams that have scored more than 100 goals, there is a big gap.
Defense can be made up for by discipline and tactics, but offense really requires some talent. The personal ability of the striker is directly related to the number of goals the team scores.
Take Atletico Madrid for example. Their top scorer Diego Costa has helped the team score 27 goals in the league this season, accounting for more than 35% of the team's total goals!
This ratio is much higher than the goal share of Messi and Ronaldo in Barcelona and Real Madrid!
Without Diego Costa, Atletico Madrid's offensive firepower is equivalent to being destroyed by at least one third.
Villa's goal efficiency is less than half of Costa's, and none of the remaining players has scored more than 10 goals. If you want to count on them to make the finishing touch, you'd better give up as soon as possible!
Therefore, using set pieces to solve offensive problems is the only solution!
Villa was a little sad when he heard Simeone's arrangement.
He felt that he was indeed old, and when the team needed him to step up and help the team the most, he was unable to do so.
Atletico actually created several good chances in the first half, but Villa and Lopez, who came on as a substitute, failed to seize the opportunities.
If they had seized one chance, the game wouldn't have been so tense and Atletico might have taken the lead long ago.
Thinking of this, Villa secretly made up his mind.
After this World Cup, he will not renew his contract with Atletico Madrid, leave the top five leagues, and go to the lower leagues to seek gold! Anyway, he has basically won all the honors he deserves, the Grand Slam at the national team level, the six championships at the club level, and except for the unattainable Golden Ball, he has all the other honors.
There are no regrets! However, before leaving, Villa decided to work hard with his teammates to win this big ear cup! …
The second half of the game began with the two teams changing sides.
After the kick-off, the tactical play of both sides continued from the first half, with no obvious changes.
However, Manchester City players soon noticed the difference in Atletico Madrid, and they became more aggressive in attack than in the first half.
Atletico Madrid players passed the ball forward more often and passed it back and sideways less often.
The result of this was that Atletico's pass success rate began to decline, and Manchester City got more counterattack opportunities when defending.
In the 47th minute, Zabaleta successfully intercepted the ball and passed it to his teammate before the opponent could counterattack.
As soon as Fernandinho got the ball, Atletico players rushed up like mad dogs.
He quickly passed the ball to De Bruyne.
The pass was not good. Before De Bruyne could get the ball, he was fouled by Gabi from behind, which stopped Manchester City's counterattack.
Although they missed the chance to counterattack, Pellegrini on the sidelines was enlightened.
He saw a chance to score! If Atletico Madrid continues to make mistakes and give Manchester City opportunities, they might be able to score soon! (End of this chapter)