Chapter 502: Guardiola's Adventure as a Guest at Calderón Stadium

In fact, those who came to watch Manchester City's training included not only Real Madrid's young players and female football players, but also Real Madrid's club staff. Many of them came to watch out of curiosity.

Manchester City in this era is really shining in European football! In terms of lineup, they have a number of top stars such as Lin Quan, De Bruyne, Aguero, Kroos, etc.

In terms of performance, they are two-time Champions League winners and the first team to successfully defend the title since the Champions League was reformed.

Moreover, in the unprecedentedly competitive Premier League, they have just completed three consecutive championships and created the Manchester City dynasty!

Such a team that is at the top in all aspects will naturally easily attract interest from the outside world.

Real Madrid is naturally no exception, not to mention that Real Madrid is likely to meet Barcelona in the final, so coming over to watch at this time can not only appreciate the charm of Manchester City stars, but also spy on military intelligence, which is simply killing two birds with one stone.

Guardiola was a little speechless about Real Madrid's behavior. If he had known this would happen, he would have rather rented Getafe's training ground.

But compared with Real Madrid, Getafe and Rayo Vallecano are both civilian teams. Their training bases are much worse than that of Real Madrid, and the training effect may be worse.

As a player from Barcelona, ​​Guardiola naturally doesn't like Real Madrid.

Real Madrid will not be happy with him, will they? Well, let's wait and see. Guardiola is not going to reveal anything new in this match against Atletico Madrid. He will just play according to their usual tactics in the Premier League and the Champions League.

The three defensive midfielder tactics used in the last game are not going to be used in this game, because this time Manchester City will play a defensive counterattack.

Contrary to what Guardiola thought, Real Madrid's attitude towards him was still very friendly.

Florentino even thought of recruiting him and Lin Quan together, but unfortunately, due to various reasons, the plan was ultimately not carried out.

Now, after seeing the combination of Guardiola and Lin Quan shine in the Premier League and the Champions League, there is no club in the world that can resist being tempted.

Real Madrid not only lacks good players now, but also lacks an excellent coach.

Although Zidane has done a good job, he is still far from meeting Real Madrid's requirements.

After all, what Real Madrid wants is the tenth Champions League trophy.

Judging from Zidane's current team management situation, it is very difficult to achieve this goal.

Therefore, even if Guardiola has a strong Barcelona label, as long as he can help Real Madrid win the championship, Real Madrid will still hire him with a high salary! However, even if Real Madrid has this intention, Guardiola himself may not agree.

There are so many good teams in the top five leagues, there is no need for him to go to Real Madrid to be scolded!

Guardiola has personally experienced how much criticism Figo received when he transferred from Barcelona to Real Madrid.

When Figo returned to Camp Nou, he was attacked by Barcelona fans who threw pig heads at him.

This is just the defection of Figo, a player who only joined Barcelona but was not a product of Barcelona's own youth training system.

Guardiola is a Barcelona player who came from the La Masia youth training camp. He also served as captain at Camp Nou for four years and is one of the greatest midfielders in the team's history.

If he went to Real Madrid to coach, it is hard to imagine how Barcelona fans would treat him! Even if the fans' attitude is put aside, Guardiola himself does not have a good impression of Real Madrid.

The president of Real Madrid is too strong and interferes with the work of the head coach. Firing the coach is as common as eating and drinking.

Not only that, Real Madrid's requirements are very high. Not only must you have good results, but you must also play well and conform to Real Madrid's aristocratic temperament.

Guardiola usually stays away from this kind of team.

…

While Manchester City was preparing seriously for the game, Simeone at Atletico Madrid was also racking his brains on how to defeat Manchester City at home.

The 1:4 away score is indeed a despairing number for Atletico Madrid, but they still don't want to give up easily.

Even though the hope of a comeback is very slim, everyone in Atletico Madrid still wants to give it a try.

After all, at this moment, they are only two wins away from lifting the Champions League!

If I miss this opportunity, I don’t know if there will be another such opportunity in the future!

After all, Atletico Madrid is not a real giant. Their main lineup may not be able to withstand the financial offensive of the top giants.

Therefore, Simeone cherishes this opportunity very much!

"In the last game, Manchester City's central defense was very strong. The three defensive midfielders allowed them to build an insurmountable barrier in front of the back line. The two sweeping defensive midfielders covered the entire midfield, making it difficult for our ground passes to be effective!"

Simeone called a meeting with assistant coaches and others, and marked the offensive and defensive positions of both teams in the previous game on the tactical board.

According to the post-match heat map statistics and game data such as ball possession rate, Manchester City did not use traditional tactics in the last game.

They seemed to have given up possession of the ball and actively retreated their formation a bit to reduce the gaps in the midfield and backcourt and prevent Atletico from launching a quick counterattack.

This trick is very effective because Atletico Madrid's positional warfare ability is not strong. With just these three tricks, as long as they can hold on, Atletico Madrid will be in trouble.

Atletico's real strength lies in their quick counterattacks after stealing the ball in the frontcourt. However, such opportunities were very rare in the last game and Manchester City curbed this very well.

This made Simeone a little worried. Will Manchester City repeat the same trick in this game?

Since the previous tactics worked so well and they still had a 3-goal lead, based on the rule that the winner does not need to make any changes, he tended to believe that Manchester City would continue with the formation and tactics from the previous game.

If this is true, then Atletico Madrid needs to study carefully how to break through the opponent's three-midfielder system.

It is definitely not going to work to continue using the old tactics. Relying entirely on taking advantage of the opponent's mistakes to launch counterattacks is too passive for a team like Manchester City that rarely makes mistakes.

Therefore, they must strengthen their positional warfare capabilities, actively create opportunities, and enrich their offensive tactics in order to open up the situation.

However, how to strengthen the team's offense is a bit difficult for a defensive master like Simeone.

After thinking about it, Simeone felt that he still had to make some efforts in defense and use defense to attack! As for how to do it, he already had a preliminary idea in his mind.

…

May 4th, Calderon Stadium.

At 17:45 in the afternoon, with the referee's whistle, the much-anticipated second leg of the Champions League semi-final between Atletico Madrid and Manchester City officially kicked off.

Contrary to the expectations of the Atletico Madrid coach and many people outside, Guardiola did not use the tactics he had used before in this game, but switched back to conventional tactics.

Manchester City's formation in this game was 4231, with Aguero as the starting striker, Lin Quan and David Silva as the wingers on both sides, and De Bruyne as the attacking midfielder.

The two defensive midfielders are the classic combination of Kante and Kroos, and the back line is led by Zabaleta, Kompany, Van Dijk and Clichy.

Manchester City's lineup has stronger offensive capabilities and weaker defensive capabilities than the previous lineup.

Without a defensive midfielder, the strength of the midfield has dropped significantly.

However, De Bruyne's appearance increased Manchester City's offensiveness and made Manchester City's offensive threat soar.

Moreover, Zabaleta and Clichy are both full-backs who can play both up and down, and can attack and defend.

Both of them have strong assist capabilities and can play a big role in offense.

Seeing Guardiola field such a lineup on the road, the outside world's first reaction was that Guardiola was a bit too arrogant.

Although Manchester City has a big lead, this is Atletico Madrid's home ground after all. Playing in the opponent's home ground, Manchester City should be more cautious.

The 4231 formation is not a defensive formation. It is a formation that combines both offense and defense, and even focuses more on offense.

Since the attack of this formation is mostly initiated by the defensive midfielder, the full-backs also have to join in the attack, which causes the defense to be unusually empty, especially when switching from offense to defense.

Because the midfielder had just participated in the attack, he was far away from the two central defenders, and the large space in between could be used by the opponent.

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If the full-back also participates in the attack and does not have time to withdraw, the unguarded area on the flank is also fatal. The opponent's wing players can either cross the ball from the bottom or cut inside and shoot directly.

To prevent the opponent from threatening the goal, midfielders need to have strong running ability and excellent positioning sense so as not to lose their position when defending.

Most of the midfielders who meet this requirement are tall B2B players, such as Yaya Toure who has already transferred away. He is a representative figure in this regard.

The former Tottenham player who was poached by Evergrande last summer is also this type of player!

However, there seems to be no such player in Manchester City's current lineup. Kante does not belong to B2B, and his physique alone does not meet the requirements.

Kroos has excellent ball control skills, but his physical confrontation is a bit weak and he is not an all-around midfielder.

In other words, Guardiola forced the use of this tactic when the team lacked such players.

Isn't this nonsense?

After realizing this, Atletico Madrid fans, including Simeone, seemed to see hope of winning.

Isn't it courting death to use such a style with obvious loopholes against a team like Atletico Madrid that places extreme emphasis on high-pressure defense?

Simeone tried hard to control his facial expression so as not to appear too excited and happy, which would allow Guardiola to notice the clues.

If he finds something wrong and readjusts Manchester City's style of play, then Atletico Madrid won't have such a good chance! "Coach Gong, you have also played as a midfielder. Based on your experience, why do you think Guardiola arranged his troops like this in the away game?"

In the CCTV studio, in addition to the old partners He Wei and Xu Yang, there was also a guest on the commentary stand today. He is coach Gong Lei, who once played in the Tahiti League and won the best player award.

Gong Lei had coached in the Chinese Super League a few years ago, but was fired by the Guizhou team due to poor performance.

In response to the questions raised by He Wei, Coach Gong spoke freely:

"I think Guardiola's lineup today is to prepare for the final."

"Well, what Coach Gong said makes sense. With such a huge lead in hand, trying out other tactical plays, testing the team's combat effectiveness under other tactical plays, and accumulating experience for the finals is indeed the most likely reason!"

As a qualified supporting actor, Xu Yang spoke at the right time and continued with a few words after Gong Lei's words.

"But wouldn't it be too risky to do so? After all, Atletico Madrid is strong and has an excellent record at home. Manchester City has not yet completely confirmed their qualification. If they lose because of this, wouldn't it be self-defeating?"

He Wei took the opportunity to raise his own questions, which were also asked on behalf of the fans and audience in front of the screen.

Many fans were nervous when they saw Guardiola was so bold to use such a formation in the away game, fearing that Manchester City would mess up and become clowns.

"There is indeed a big risk, but I don't think there is any need to worry too much. After all, Manchester City has top stars like Lin Quan, and Guardiola is not the kind of person who won't turn back until he hits a wall.

Once the situation on the field is unfavorable, he will definitely make timely adjustments."

Gong Lei seems to be very optimistic about Guardiola, even admiring him.

As a midfielder himself and also having experience in coaching a team, he knows too well how difficult it is to do both jobs well.

But Guardiola was a leader in the industry both when he was a player and when he took up coaching after retirement.

Not only did he perform his job brilliantly, he also pioneered the TIKI TAKA passing and controlling football tactic.

Moreover, in recent years, he has been constantly improving his passing and controlling tactics, tapping its potential bit by bit, and constantly pursuing perfection! This spirit and ability are very admirable.

Moreover, Manchester City still has a 3-goal lead, and it is not easy for Atletico Madrid to catch up.

After all, although the 4231 formation has some loopholes in defense, it is very strong in offense and it is easy to launch a layered attack.

As long as Manchester City scores more goals than the opponent, it doesn’t matter if they lose a few goals, they will still advance in the end.

After the game started, Atletico Madrid players launched a fierce attack on Manchester City amid the cheers of tens of thousands of fans at the Calderon Stadium.

Torres completed a shot shortly after the game started.

Although the ball was hit high and flew directly into the stands, it still received applause from the fans.

"Atletico's morale seems very high!"

In the coaching booth, Guardiola looked very relaxed, and he was even able to comment on Atletico's attack.

Torres' condition has indeed declined a lot, but his sense of smell in front of the goal is still online.

Although the ball was hit high, it was indeed the best choice. If it was a second later, there might not even be a chance to shoot.

However, if Atletico's attack is limited to this extent, it will still be difficult to break through Manchester City's defense.

Because Atletico played very aggressively in the opening stage and Manchester City's overall formation was relatively backward, the problems on the defensive end were not exposed.

But when it was Manchester City's turn to attack, this problem immediately became apparent! (End of this chapter)