Chapter 393 The Terrible Falcao

Diego Simeone looked at the green field in front of him with his fists clenched.

At the exit of the player tunnel, players from both teams lined up in a row, sandwiching the referee team in the middle.

There is not much surprise in Atletico Madrid's starting lineup.

The goalkeeper is Asenjo, the defense line is Felipe, Miranda, Godin and Juanfran, and the double defensive midfielders are Gabi and Suarez. In order to deal with Southampton's strong midfield, Simeone didn't even play Thiago.

The front attack combination is Turan, Diego and Adrian, and the single striker is Falcao.

This is also Atletico Madrid's strongest combination this season.

With this lineup, Atletico Madrid made it all the way to the Europa League final.

Compared with Atletico Madrid's starting lineup, which was neither surprising nor surprising, Southampton's lineup had major adjustments and changes compared to the FA Cup final against Liverpool.

The goalkeeper is Neuer, the defense is David and Raba, Javi Martinez, Varane and Carvajal, the midfield is a combination of Stroman, Toni Kroos and Vidal, and the front trident is Neymar, Ibrahimovic and James Rodriguez.

Among them, the most surprising thing was Toni Kroos's starting lineup.

When the commentator at the National Stadium read out Toni Kroos' name during the stadium broadcast, the entire stadium was in an uproar and everyone was shocked.

Didn't they say that Toni Kroos's injury ended the season early?

Why are you on stage again now?

Could it be that all the previous rumors were smoke screens deliberately released by Southampton?

But no matter what, the game is about to begin, and all thoughts become redundant.

Simeone withdrew his gaze from the court, lowered his head, and walked back to the coaching seat.

Along the way, he lowered his head and muttered to himself, as if he was praying, praying that his team would have better luck tonight.

"Dear audience, this is the scene of the Europa League final from the 2011 to 2012 season"

"The National Stadium in Bucharest, Romania. My name is Charlene Lahiri."

"I'm Gary Lineker"

"The game is about to start, Gary, what do you think of this game?"

Gary Lineker's voice soon came up.

"This will be a battle between spear and shield, but Simeone is a coach who is often good at surprising people, and Bielsa is also very bold. Before the game, no one expected that Toni Kroos would start."

Charlene Lahiri quickly chimed in, "This is indeed quite unexpected."

In fact, she had known for a long time that this was a smokescreen from Southampton, and she even knew more inside information.

But before the game, she couldn't say any of this.

"Atletico Madrid is a very tenacious team with a tough style, just like when their head coach Simeone played, so I guess Bielsa used Toni Kroos because he wanted to control the game."

"But this will also bring some problems, because Atletico Madrid is a La Liga team after all, and their skills are not too bad. Although Southampton's control is good, they may not be able to control the situation."

"Another point is that Toni Kroos's defense has always been a problem. Facing the tenacious Atletico Madrid, whether he can hold the field is also a suspense."

Charlene Lahri laughed, "I believe Bielsa must have thought about our doubts, but he still chose Toni Kroos. There must be a reason for that."

“Yes, so it depends on whether it can achieve the desired effect.”

As the camera turned, Charlene Lahiri immediately changed the subject.

"We can see that both sides have finished guessing the edge, and Southampton has the first right to serve."

From the live TV footage, we can see that Southampton, wearing the visiting team's jerseys, are ready to go.

The most important decisive battle of this season is about to begin.

When the camera focused on the referee, Charlene Lahri immediately gave her explanation.

"This is the international referee from Germany, Wolfgang Tucker."

"Yes, Neuer and Toni Kroos were chatting with him just now, it's obvious that they know him," Lineker said with a smile.

"If Simeone was replaced by Mourinho, I'm afraid there would be another dispute after the game."

Charlene Lahiri also smiled and said, "Who says it's not true?"

Just as they were talking, the referee blew the whistle to start the game.

When Ibrahimovic kicked the ball to Neymar, Atletico Madrid players immediately pounced on him like wolves and tigers.

Wow, that momentum immediately made Neymar turn around quickly and kick the ball behind him.

When the ball fell to Javi Martinez's feet, Atletico Madrid's Falcao and Adrian had already rushed to the defensive midfielder area and rushed directly towards Javi Martinez.

There was no choice, Javi Martinez immediately passed the ball to the right to Varane.

As soon as the French center back stopped the ball, Atletico Madrid immediately turned around and rushed towards the French.

Varane passed the ball to the right again and gave it to Carvajal.

The Spanish right back moved forward and passed the ball to James Rodriguez.

The Colombian tried to pass the ball to Ibrahimovic, but Godin was prepared and cleared the ball with a header.

But the ball didn't fall far, Vidal rushed forward and headed the ball back again.

But Miranda quickly headed the ball away.

This time, the ball fell far away.

Varane rushed up quickly, stopped the ball and passed it to Toni Kroos.

But when Toni Kroos wanted to pass the ball to Stroman again, the ball was intercepted.

"The pace of the game was very fast and both sides got straight to the point from the beginning."

"It can be seen that Atletico Madrid was not willing to be outdone and pressed forward aggressively right after the start of the game"

"Let's take a look at Atletico Madrid's attack this time. The ball went to the left and was passed to Turan, who crossed it into the penalty area."

"Neuer rushed out of the small penalty area and snatched the ball from mid-air before Falcao"

"So beautiful, Neuer"

Lineker also laughed out loud, "It can be seen that Neuer is in very good condition"

"Yes, he was very active and brave from the beginning."

Lineker hummed.

Southampton took the goal kick, but during this period, Atletico Madrid fought hard for the ball and it soon fell into their hands.

"Look, that's it." Lineker had a headache.

"Atletico Madrid don't play tricks with you, they don't play any other tricks with you, they just fight with you, fight desperately, this is a very troublesome tactic, and the same is true for Klopp of Dortmund."

"However, unlike Klopp, Simeone has played in Serie A for many years and is familiar with Italy's defensive system, so his football is more rigorous and his defense is more layered."

"Bielsa also advocates this kind of high defense and pressing, this game will be very intense"

The game also seemed to prove Lineker's judgment.

The two sides fought very fiercely from the beginning. Both Atletico Madrid and Southampton refused to give in and launched a crazy pressing campaign. The ball was changed very quickly and the pace was also very fast.

The entire center circle almost became a gladiatorial arena between the two sides, with people and horses fighting each other.

But just when everyone thought the situation would become stalemate, suddenly, an Atletico Madrid player successfully intercepted the ball near the center circle, and the ball fell at Diego's feet.

At this moment, Diego was unguarded and facing the direction of attack.

The Brazilian midfielder didn't hesitate at all. As soon as he saw Falcao running, he directly made a long-distance pass.

Diego's kick was very comfortable, almost just right.

Before rushing into Southampton's penalty area, Falcao received the ball, moved forward and entered the penalty area.

Javi Martinez followed Falcao step by step and did not dare to relax at all.

As soon as they reached the penalty area, Javi Martinez stood between Falcao and the goal. Varane also returned to the penalty area, but did not move forward to block the ball. Instead, he assisted in defense behind Javi Martinez.

But then Falcao dribbled the ball skillfully, and suddenly he dunked the ball behind him and adjusted his body quickly.

The ball rolled to the left, and Javi Martinez immediately realized the danger and shouted, "Oops!"

Falcao had successfully created a gap, and met the ball with his left foot. Without even adjusting, he shot it directly with his left foot. The ball was fast and fierce, and it drew an unobvious arc and went straight to the left side of the goal.

The entire National Stadium was stunned

No one expected that the first shot of the game was from Atletico Madrid.

The fans of the Bed Sheet Army cheered excitedly, as if they had seen the goal.

But just as the ball was spinning violently and was trying to hit the goal line, a pair of hands suddenly stretched out, and a big palm blocked the ball and the goal.

The ball hit my hand, turned in another direction, and went out of the baseline.

There were obvious shouts of relief coming from the National Stadium, and many people breathed a sigh of relief.

The angle of this shot is too tricky, the shot is too clever

Neuer got up from the ground, still looking at the ball that went out of the baseline with lingering fear.

Fortunately, he was well prepared, otherwise, the ball would have been a sure win.

Who would have thought that Falcao could shoot with such a tricky angle and so accurately in such a situation?

It's terrible

It's really terrible.

Falcao looked at Neuer with a wry smile.

He originally thought that he had it, but unexpectedly, the goalkeeper actually reacted. It was not simple.

"Sorry." Javi Martinez turned around and looked at Neuer apologetically.

"Be careful, he can complete this kind of high-quality shot with both feet." Neuer raised his hand with an indifferent expression, but did not forget to remind him.

These feet will be the most troublesome.

Toni Kroos just ran to the front of the penalty area at this time, feeling mixed emotions.

Just now, he didn't block Diego in the first place, which gave the Brazilian the opportunity to pass the ball calmly.

If this ball really goes into the goal, he will be the team's number one culprit.

Thinking of this, Tony Kroos felt very unhappy.

If it was Matic, the ball would not be passed so easily.

Toni Kroos felt a sense of pressure when he thought of Matic.

Pressure from competitors

So, he quickly regained his morale and began to prepare for Atletico Madrid's corner kick.

Bielsa on the sidelines shouted.

He signaled Toni Kroos to be careful and not miss Diego again, and also asked Stroman and Vidal to pay more attention to protecting Toni Kroos.

The German has a heavy task in this game. Whether he can beat Atletico Madrid depends on him.

After being yelled at by the head coach, Toni Kroos calmed down.

At this time, don't be anxious, be calm

Only by staying calm can you defeat your opponent, being anxious will lead to failure.

As the core of the team's midfield, if he gets anxious, the team will be in chaos.

I have to say that Toni Kroos's psychological quality is really outstanding.

He quickly got over his mistake and looked at Diego, his eyes seemed to say, come on.

At this time, the corner kick came