Chapter 499: Manchester City defeated Atletico Madrid 41 points and aimed at winning the Champions League for the third consecutive time!

Simeone, like the fans in the stands, was also confused by Guardiola's arrangement.

He had never seen this kind of fighting style before.

However, the more he had never seen something, the more worried he became.

So, after Fernando came on the court, he stared at the opponent, wanting to see what Guardiola was up to.

Fernando is tall and strong. Although it is a bit unbelievable to use a defensive midfielder as a forward, with his physique, maybe it can be done.

Just based on his height, he is more threatening than the players in Manchester City's frontcourt when competing for headers in the penalty area.

Manchester City lacks a center forward. Aguero, Lin Quan, David Silva, De Bruyne, Kante, Son Heung-min and others are not tall, and are even a little short.

Due to the height disadvantage, Manchester City rarely plays overhead kicks when attacking in the frontcourt, and will not let the forwards compete for headers in the penalty area.

But with Fernando's height, he does have a chance to compete.

Could it be that Guardiola sees that Atletico Madrid's defense is impregnable and plans to change his strategy?

Although he was not sure whether this was true, he had to be on guard.

So Simeone called Juanfran over, whispered some words in his ear, and asked him to convey the message to his teammates after he came on the court, asking them to be careful of Manchester City's headers.

However, to Simeone's disappointment, although Fernando was in the striker position, he did not fulfill the duties of a striker at all.

On the contrary, he still performed his duties as a defensive midfielder, which was to clear and intercept large areas.

The only difference is that he seemed to be mixing up the wrong areas for his sweep and interception.

Fernando did not show his prowess in Manchester City's half, but instead ran to Atletico's half and went crazy.

Whoever has the ball on the Atletico Madrid side, he will rush to grab it, regardless of whether he can get it or not, just like a mad dog chasing the ball around.

Under normal circumstances, Atletico Madrid's players would have passed the ball non-stop and walked him around like a dog until he vomited blood.

However, the game time is now close to eighty minutes, and after fighting for the entire game, their physical strength has reached a bottleneck.

What's more, Fernando was not fighting alone. While he was pressing his opponent frantically, other Manchester City players also joined in.

Before they knew it, Atletico Madrid was trapped in their own half and couldn't get out.

As for Manchester City's players, almost all of them entered Atletico's half, and even the goalkeeper appeared near the center circle, and his role had changed from goalkeeper to sweeper.

If the opponent only has a few players in the frontcourt who are pressing frantically, Atletico's players can still cope with it.

But when the entire opposing team rushed up and pressed frantically, they really couldn't cope with it.

Theoretically, when the opponent presses forward, it is a great opportunity for Atletico to launch a counterattack.

However, at this time, Atletico Madrid's players could not attack at all.

Firstly, I didn't have the strength to run, and secondly, I was numb from being robbed by the other party.

They have always been the ones who pressed others from high positions, but now they are being pressed even more aggressively from high positions, and Atletico's players seem very uncomfortable.

This is how our opponents feel when facing our high-pressure defense! It is really unpleasant!

Atletico Madrid's players were exhausted and could not withstand Manchester City's crazy pressing. Since all Manchester City's players were in the opponent's half, they could immediately threaten Atletico Madrid's goal after stealing the ball.

For a while, there was a panic in front of Atletico's goal, and Oblak had made several thrilling saves in a row.

But even so, the danger in front of Atletico's goal has not been resolved, but has instead tended to intensify.

On the sidelines, Simeone was stunned!

He felt that Guardiola had learned from him. Wasn't the tactic he was good at using? It would have been fine if he had used this tactic against him, but he had also upgraded it, making it even crazier and more terrifying! Guardiola was indeed so terrifying.

"We didn't understand Guardiola's substitutions, but Manchester City seemed to be completely dominant on the field. Atletico's goal was in danger of being breached at any time!"

After the game entered the 80th minute, Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Oblak became the busiest person on the field.

Despite his excellent form, he made high tackles and blocked Manchester City's attack after attack.

But if you defend for too long, you will lose. What is coming will eventually come.

In the 85th minute, Son Heung-min made a cross from the wing, and Atletico's defender in the penalty area got the first point and headed the ball out.

But unfortunately, the players on the periphery were all Manchester City players, and the ball fell into the hands of Kroos.

Kroos took a look at the goal and took a long shot.

Oblak made another god-level save, tipping the ball over the crossbar with one hand.

The shocked Atletico Madrid defenders rushed forward to hug their goalkeeper and praised him for his wonderful save that averted danger.

However, Manchester City's attack was not over yet, and Lin Quan took the corner kick himself.

He took a look at the positions of the players from both sides in the penalty area and made a gesture to pass the ball forward.

Son Heung-min, standing on the edge of the penalty area, understood the intention and took advantage of the fact that the opposing players' attention was focused on the tall players of Manchester City in the penalty area. He suddenly moved forward and ran to the left side of the penalty area.

As he was running, Lin Quan's ball arrived as expected, and the ball was passed in the air. Then Son Heung-min gently touched it, changing the flight trajectory of the ball, and it bounced into the net along the lower right corner of the goal. (See the second goal of the Chinese national football team VS South Korea)

Oblak had no way to deal with this header, he was standing at the near end, but the opponent was aiming for the far corner, so no matter how brave he was, he could not reach it.

The score became 3:1, and Manchester City's lead was expanded to two goals again.

However, compared with the score of 2:0, the advantage of 3:1 is relatively small, and the opponent's away goal is very crucial.

Therefore, after expanding their lead again, Manchester City was not satisfied.

Instead, after tasting the sweetness, they continued and even strengthened their previous tactics, pressing Atletico Madrid even more fiercely.

And tens of thousands of Blue Moon fans at the Etihad Stadium also made deafening cheers to build momentum for their team!

Facing Manchester City's crazy attack, in the final moments of the game, Atletico Madrid players felt like they were living a year in a day.

They felt as if time had been stretched infinitely, and the last five minutes seemed as long as several hours! Finally, they made it through the last five minutes of regular time. However, when the fourth official raised the injury time card, announcing that the game would continue for five minutes, the spirits of the Atletico players were about to collapse!

Why did the five minutes of extra time take so long? If it was only two or three minutes, they could have gritted their teeth and held on a little longer.

But how could they hold on for five minutes? The home whistle, this must be the home whistle that Manchester City bribed the referee to give!

However, this is not the case. The reason why the referee gave so much injury time was mainly because both teams committed too many fouls and wasted too much time.

In this game, both teams received a total of 7 yellow cards. In the first half, Atletico Madrid committed more fouls, while in the second half, Manchester City committed more fouls.

With so many yellow cards and so many fouls, it was reasonable to give five minutes of injury time. He even felt it was too little!

It is well known that Atletico Madrid has a strong defense.

But another thing that is often overlooked is that Atletico's strong defense is based on running at all costs.

However, what you sow, you reap.

The result of pressing high up the pitch at all costs is physical problems at the end of the game.

And the longer it takes, the more serious the problem will be.

Obviously, the physical fitness of Atletico Madrid players is on the verge of collapse at this time.

Starting from the 75th minute of the second half, Atletico Madrid players began to lie on the grass due to cramps.

After eighty minutes, this situation became more frequent.

Firstly, they were really tired to the point of having cramps, and secondly, they were using the tactic of lying on the grass to delay time.

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But no matter what, anyone with a discerning eye can see that Atletico Madrid's players can no longer run.

Compared with them, Manchester City, which only started to exert its strength in the second half and was well prepared, was in a much better situation.

Their defensive players were also very tired, but most of the offensive players were substituted in the second half, and they were full of energy and high morale.

Therefore, they took advantage of the fact that Atletico's players were unable to run and the quality of their defense had dropped drastically.

Manchester City frantically attacked the opponent's goal in injury time. Finally, De Bruyne, who came on as a substitute, scored again in the 3rd minute of injury time, using a world wave to help the team freeze the score at 4:1!

This score basically announced that Manchester City has entered the final!

In the history of the Champions League, there has only been one case where a team was able to reverse the situation and advance in the second leg after falling behind by three goals in the first leg. That was in the Super Laco - La Rugonia in the 2003-2004 Champions League quarter-finals. After losing 1:4 in the first leg, they returned to their home court in the second leg and won a clean 4:0 against AC Milan, completing an epic reversal!

Other teams have also encountered this score, but without exception, they all failed! The most recent example is Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​both of whom lost more than three goals in the first leg of the away game in the 2012-2013 Champions League semi-finals.

As a result, Real Madrid almost turned the tables in the second round, while Barcelona was humiliated by Bayern 7:0!

Even strong teams like Real Madrid and Barcelona have failed to create a miracle, which shows how difficult it is to break this curse!

What's more, for a team like Atletico Madrid that is better at defense than offense, it is simply difficult for them to score more than three goals in a game! The players of Atletico Madrid obviously knew what this score meant. When the referee blew the whistle to end the game, Atletico Madrid's No. 7 Griezmann's eyes were red involuntarily.

The taste of failure was so bitter that he could hardly control his tears.

He did not play well in this game, although he contributed a very threatening long shot in the first half.

But when Manchester City used Kante to target him, his performance was greatly restricted and he rarely had any outstanding performances.

This is obviously not worthy of his value and his core position in the team! Everything is afraid of comparison. As the core of the team, Lin Quan's performance in this game can be said to be far better than him.

Moreover, as an Atletico Madrid player, he knew very well how many targeted deployments Atletico Madrid had made to limit Lin Quan's performance.

But even with such severe restrictions, Lin Quan still put in an outstanding performance with one shot and two assists.

This is what hit Griezmann the most!

Just as Griezmann lowered his head to wipe his tears, he felt a hand fall on his shoulder.

When he turned around, he was shocked to find that the person behind him was Lin Quan.

Lin Quan smiled and said, "Want to exchange jerseys?"

Griezmann was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect that the other party would take the initiative to exchange jerseys with him.

But he quickly realized that opportunity is rare and will never come back.

I don’t know when I will fight Lin Quan again.

"Yeah, okay!"

Griezmann quickly took off his jersey and handed it to Lin Quan.

"You performed well. Keep working hard. I look forward to our next fight!"

"I will. I will never lose to you next time!"

Griezmann clenched his fists. He would not show weakness in front of his idol! After the two finished the exchange, Lin Quan nodded to Griezmann and was about to leave, but suddenly thought of something, turned back, and said solemnly:

"If Barcelona wants to buy you, think carefully!"

After saying that, Lin Quan turned and left.

These reminders are enough. He and Griezmann don’t have a close relationship, so I won’t go into it in depth.

I believe Griezmann is also a smart man. He knows that his position and role on the court overlap with players like Messi. In this case, it is definitely not a good thing for him to rashly join Barcelona.

After all, as long as Messi himself does not retire or leave Barcelona, ​​it will be difficult for anyone to replace his tactical position in Barcelona.

In this way, Griezmann, who is in the same position, can only sacrifice himself.

…

After Manchester City's big win over Atletico Madrid at home, major media outlets rushed to report on the game, while fans were also discussing it enthusiastically on forums and social media.

"I thought Manchester City would win, but I never expected it to be by this score!"

"Yes, that's Atletico Madrid, the best defensive team in La Liga and even in the top five leagues. Bayern Munich didn't score a single goal against them before, but in this game, Manchester City scored four goals. What kind of monsters are these Manchester City players?"

"If you only look at the first 75 minutes, it was actually okay, but at the end of the game, Manchester City took advantage of the Atletico team's declining physical strength and struck hard, knocking Atletico out directly!"

"Alas, Guardiola still holds a grudge. The last time he led Bayern, they were shut out by Atletico Madrid. This time, not only did he get his revenge successfully, but he also beat Atletico Madrid so badly. In the last ten minutes of the game, Manchester City simply pinned Atletico Madrid to the ground. The scene was so brutal that I feel sorry for Atletico Madrid!"

"Poor Griezmann, he was beaten to tears by Manchester City!"

"I feel sorry for Grid for a second!"

"With this score, Atletico's next game will be difficult!"

As soon as the 4:1 result came out, the outside world naturally looked pessimistic on Atletico Madrid.

Some optimistic Manchester City fans have even opened the champagne in advance: "Haha, I declare that the semi-finals are over, and Manchester City is about to win the Champions League for the third consecutive time!"

(End of this chapter)