Starting from playing as a defensive midfielder for Real Madrid - Chapter 393

c386 These days, being a reckless team also requires some wisdom.

Of course, there is a reason why Li Ang is so confident that the team will defeat Atletico Madrid next.

As the best-performing La Liga team in the Champions League in recent seasons, Atletico Madrid, which has reached two Champions League finals, has naturally aroused the vigilance of many European powers.

Chelsea regards Bayern as their biggest competitor in the Champions League this season, and their second priority is Atletico Madrid, who caused them a lot of trouble in the Champions League final last year.

Facts have proved that Mourinho and his coaching team were right to study and pay attention to Atletico Madrid in advance.

Now leading the team to face Atletico Madrid again, Chelsea’s coaching staff at least has multiple plans in terms of tactical reserves and tactical targeting.

Mourinho dare not say that he is the coach in Europe who knows Atletico Madrid’s tactics best except Simeone, but when it comes to studying Atletico Madrid’s tactics, he thinks that there is no problem in ranking among the top three.

Without him, Atletico Madrid is a big enough threat to Chelsea in the Champions League, and he himself is very interested in Atletico Madrid’s technical and tactical play.

After all, it is a tough team that is also based on defense and has very sharp counterattacks. Nowadays, Atletico Madrid’s tough style is too much for Mourinho’s appetite.

He can see many familiar styles in Simeone’s tactics, including his, Capello’s, and the styles of many well-known coaches in Serie A football.

There is no doubt that Simeone is a master of learning, and his rich experience in Serie A has also laid a solid foundation for his current coaching style.

Mourinho likes this junior in the coaching world very much. In addition to recognizing his strength, he also has a great interest in deciphering Simeone’s tactical play.

It is precisely because the Chelsea coaching staff’s full preparation gave Li Ang and other Chelsea main players great confidence.

Regardless of whether Atletico Madrid expected in advance that they would continue to meet Chelsea this season, they began to make targeted preparations in advance.

Anyway, on Chelsea’s side, Mourinho has used Atletico Madrid as his imaginary enemy at least two months ago, and has made sufficient tactical responses and game-breaking plans in coaching meetings.

Therefore, as soon as the draw ceremony for the Champions League semi-finals ended, Chelsea’s preparations for the match against Atletico Madrid quickly evolved from the tactical theory stage to actual drills.

It is also easier for the Chelsea team to imitate Atletico Madrid’s current style of play.

Who makes them have too many similarities between the two teams?

Full of aggressive defensive pressure, heavy defensive forces in the middle of the midfield, rapid counterattacks from both wings, and timely and decisive tactical foul strategies…

It is not difficult for Chelsea’s substitute players to achieve such a tactical effect. The only troublesome thing is that they need to form a 4-4-2 formation many times when playing against the main players.

This formation is indeed a bit “outdated” for today’s powerful teams in mainstream European leagues.

Breaking down the teams that have made it to the top 16 of the Champions League this season, only one Atletico Madrid is still playing their specialty 442, and the rest of the teams are basically playing 433 or 4231.

But that’s just the trend of the times, and Atletico still uses their excellent results in recent seasons to justify their tactical play.

Their “reverse version” of 442 still made it to the top four of this season’s Champions League, which in itself is a symbol of success.

Chelsea’s coaching staff can only overcome some difficulties and try to replicate Atletico Madrid’s formation on the training ground.

Due to the tight schedule of the Premier League and limited time, Chelsea’s preparation training for Atletico Madrid ended up missing a few training games to review the effect.

But compared to the quality of preparations for the Champions League semi-finals in the previous two seasons, Chelsea’s preparations this year are already very, very complete.

The whole team has understood Atletico Madrid’s playing logic and has basically been exposed to Atletico Madrid’s tactical system. They have empathy and practice on the training ground.

To be able to achieve this, Chelsea’s coaching staff has performed extremely well. Anyway, Li Ang does not believe that Simeone can lead the team to prepare for this stage.

The tactical drills are in place, morale is high, and the team has no injury problems. In addition, Chelsea will play at home in the first round.

No matter how you look at it, Li Ang feels that I have the advantage in this match against Atletico Madrid!

He successfully completed the final preparations with his teammates with full confidence.

On April 26, the day before the battle between Chelsea and Atletico Madrid, the Champions League semi-finals also officially kicked off, with Real Madrid and Juventus taking the lead!

Real Madrid, who challenged Juventus in an away game, took the initiative and changed their strategy of playing pig and eating tiger in the last knockout round against Manchester City, and became very proactive in their tactics.

Juventus also rarely showed weakness at home and decisively handed over control of the midfield. The team first concentrated on shrinking the defense.

Li Ang and his teammates gathered at the training base restaurant that night to watch the match between the two teams. When he saw this scene, he expressed emotion. If Pirlo was still at Juventus, Uncle James would definitely fight for control of the midfield with Real Madrid today.

In fact, Master Pi can still play high-intensity games, but he quit in the summer window last year and went directly to the American League to enjoy football for retirement, regardless of the wishes of Juventus management and Uncle Jon.

Now that Juventus has been poached by Barcelona to take away Vidal and without Pirlo, the control of the midfield and the intensity of confrontation have dropped a lot.

Fortunately, Khedira, the young man they introduced from Paris last summer, has had a second career. Together with Marchisio, the double midfielder combination once again supported Juventus’ midfield system.

With Pogba playing a career-high performance on the left side of the midfield, Juventus has now played the squatting counterattack to its full potential.

Allegri is also a master in tactical response. After two core players left the midfield, he changed the formation to create another midfield system.

This year, he led the team to the Champions League semi-finals again. The European media that had previously questioned his coaching ability were speechless. Who dares to say that he was unsuccessful now?

Facing the proactive Real Madrid today, Uncle Jon very decisively and practically adopted the wretched squatting tactics, which is very consistent with his tactical play and also very suitable for Juventus’ current starting configuration.

Originally, other Chelsea players thought that Li Ang would continue to decisively support Real Madrid.

As a result, only in the 20th minute of the first half, Li Ang shook his head and asserted that Real Madrid would be very uncomfortable in the second half.

Other Chelsea players were skeptical. After all, on TV, Real Madrid still controlled the initiative of the game, played well on the offensive end, and frequently created dangers.

This doesn’t look like a posture of being hit hard, right?

As a result, Juventus relied on the team’s united defense to withstand Real Madrid’s fierce attack in the first half, dragging the score of 0-0 into the halftime break.

At the beginning of the second half, the uncle replaced Mandzukic, one of the starting double center forwards, with Dybala, who had just returned from injury in the last Serie A game, and let Dybala partner with another starting center forward Morata.

Juventus’ starting lineup did not change at first glance, and it was still the 442 that the uncle unexpectedly arranged today.

But with Dybala’s appearance, Juventus’ counterattack strategy was no longer the simple and direct long pass to Mandzukic in the first half.

Pogba’s position followed the premise, and the passing connection between him and Dybala was more delicate and frequent.

The physical energy saved by the Juventus team in the first half played a huge role in the second half.

The pressing force in the midfield and backcourt made Juventus push the front line back to the vicinity of the center line.

If Real Madrid still wants to invade Juventus’s defensive hinterland and create offensive threats like in the first half, then they must further press forward.

Ancelotti did not hesitate much. Real Madrid had already played an offensive feeling in the first half, and he could not give up halfway at this time.

As Real Madrid got on the ball, more and more defensive gaps were exposed in the backcourt. Juventus directly launched a fatal quick counterattack in the 63rd minute of the second half!

Khedira used his physical advantage to intercept the ball in front of his former teammate Modric, and then he quickly transferred the ball to Pogba. Pogba’s oblique mid-range pass also accurately found Morata who was speeding forward!

The former Real Madrid striker fully utilized his speed advantage and footwork at this moment.

After using speed to force Casemiro, facing the bold Ramos, Morata burst out again to speed up, and successfully passed the former big brother with just a simple dunk and change of direction!

Finally, facing Pepe who was pressing forward with great momentum, Morata selflessly passed the ball to Dybala who raised his hand and advanced on the other side before the opponent fell to the ground to tackle.

In order to avoid Pepe’s tackle, Morata jumped a little embarrassedly and fell on the grass.

But his eyes were fixed on Dybala who had already taken the ball and faced Navas!

The Argentine striker dribbled into the left side of the Real Madrid penalty area at this moment. Generally speaking, strikers who get such an opportunity will choose to shoot at the far corner of the goal.

But Dybala was very confident and shot a near-angle shot!

This was greatly beyond Navas’s expectations. Dybala also used his foot to make a wonderful shot and successfully sent the ball into the Real Madrid goal!

Watching this goal, the Chelsea players in the training base were really convinced by Li Ang.

However, Li Ang did not show a proud or happy expression at this moment. On the contrary, his eyes were a little helpless.

Compared with Juventus, he certainly hopes that Real Madrid can gain the upper hand in this round of competition and finally successfully enter the Champions League final.

But now it seems that Real Madrid, who took the lead, is destined to fall at Juventus’ home court and lose the initiative to advance to the final…

As expected, after the team took the lead, Uncle Jon once again commanded the Juventus players on the field to retreat with all their strength.

The 1-0-ism of the Serie A old lady reappeared in the arena. Juventus, who played defensive football in the squatting pit, not only tortured their own fans, but also tortured countless neutral fans who watched this battle tonight.

In the end, Juventus also won a small victory and won the first battle against Real Madrid.

In the second round, they only need to score one goal at the Bernabeu, and Real Madrid must score three goals to eliminate them.

Juventus can be said to have taken a great advantage in advancing!

This is naturally a cause for celebration for Juventus fans, but for more neutral fans, watching such a Champions League semi-final can be called a disaster.

They are more worried about whether the match between Chelsea and Atletico Madrid tomorrow will be another iron-blooded defensive battle.

With 30% expectation and 70% anxiety, fans all over the world finally waited for another match of this season’s Champions League on April 27 or 28.

Chelsea, with all its main players, also welcomed the challenge of Atletico Madrid at Stamford Bridge!

Compared with the losses before the Champions League final last season, Atletico Madrid’s lineup this season is much healthier.

Before the game, Li Ang also saw Griezmann, who was once familiar but now a little unfamiliar, in the player tunnel.

The two had not been in touch for a long time, so a polite smile and nod at each other was their way of greeting.

It was true that the two were familiar with each other in the past, and it was also true that they were not familiar with each other now. After all, not all friendly relationships can be maintained forever.

For Li Ang, this was not a regrettable thing. It was a good result to meet Griezmann as an opponent on the court now.

Of course, he would continue to “teach Griezmann a lesson” on the court, just as he had done to Griezmann in La Liga.

Griezmann has evolved a lot and is very strong now, but there is only one winner today, and that is him, Li Ang!

…

After the pre-match ceremony, Li Ang, wearing the captain’s armband, greeted his teammates to make the final pre-war mobilization in their own half.

And as the referee’s whistle sounded, the Stamford Bridge scene also erupted in strong cheers!

The game started on time, and Chelsea, who kicked off first, also launched a long pass directly from the backcourt to make an offensive test.

Suarez ran to the receiving position in advance, but his national team teammate behind him, who is now Atletico Madrid’s central defender Jimenez, unceremoniously headed the ball back to the midfield before him.

Gabi ran to the first landing point of the ball, but this time it was Li Ang’s turn to jump and head the ball to the side.

Chelsea and Atletico Madrid completed the first round of offensive and defensive testing in the first minute of the opening.

De Bruyne, who regained control of the ball on the Chelsea side, simply passed the ball back, and Kroos directed his teammates around him to distance themselves after getting the ball.

Seeing that Chelsea wanted to calmly organize the ball and organize the attack, Atletico Madrid also quickly launched their high-position pressure.

But Chelsea seemed to have anticipated that Atletico Madrid would play the tactic of high-pressure pressing in the opening stage, and decisively adopted the tactical plan of controlling the ball in the backcourt.

And watching Hazard and De Bruyne retreat together to participate in the ball transfer, Simeone’s mouth twitched subconsciously on the sidelines.

Mourinho sat firmly in the coaching seat, looking at the game scene that was not out of control and feeling relieved.

The media who predicted before the game that Chelsea and Atletico would fight each other on the defensive end today are destined to be disappointed.

Chelsea and Atletico are indeed very typical “reckless” teams in this era of football.

They pay more attention to running, pressure, pressing and counterattack efficiency, and often do not pursue gorgeous and beautiful attacks on the game scene.

Even if they are actually capable of playing smooth and beautiful offensive football, fans still habitually label them as a defensive team.

However, no matter how these fans who have a stereotype of Chelsea view today’s game.

Chelsea has responded to them with the delicate tactical variations at the beginning:

These days, if you want to be the strongest “reckless” team, you must also have some wisdom!