Starting from playing as a defensive midfielder for Real Madrid - Chapter 442

c431 This may be the most boring Champions League semi-final in history

Real Madrid, which easily passed Bayern, has set its sights on the final Champions League final.

And fans are increasingly convinced that UEFA’s script arrangement this year is to let Real Madrid and Chelsea play the final battle.

Look at the teams that finally made it to the Champions League semi-finals with these two teams, Atletico Madrid and Monaco, which are more like stepping stones for the protagonists of the final.

Even though their fans have never given up the hope of advancing and expect the team to explode and perform miracles, it is an indisputable fact that they are underestimated.

On April 21, the draw ceremony for the 2016-2017 Champions League semi-finals was held in Nyon, Switzerland.

And under the witness of countless fans and media, UEFA also separated the two hot teams, Real Madrid and Chelsea, in the semi-finals without any suspense.

Real Madrid once again drew Atletico Madrid, and the Champions League semi-finals will once again stage the Madrid derby, while the super dark horse Monaco will meet Chelsea.

Atletico Madrid supporters are already powerless to complain about the draw result. They really want to say to their city rivals Real Madrid:

Why are you here again!

Monaco fans are in a much better mood. After all, the team’s entry into the Champions League semi-finals this season has greatly exceeded their expectations.

When Monaco entered the Champions League knockout stage, every step forward was a surprise for them.

At this stage, unless they draw Atletico Madrid, it doesn’t matter if they draw Chelsea or Real Madrid. The probability of them advancing against these two teams is too low.

Real Madrid and Chelsea supporters have no opinion on the draw result. Next, it depends on their own ability to see who can beat the opponent with less team loss and enter the final…

Because the league has already won the championship in advance, Real Madrid will basically let the “second team” play to play most of the remaining La Liga games.

Real Madrid’s main players will only use the league to “warm up” before the Champions League starts.

On April 23, the Real Madrid coaching staff sent out a rotation lineup for the national derby against Barcelona.

Ancelotti was very generous and directly revealed the starting 11 players at the pre-match press conference.

There was nothing much to say about Barcelona. Their hope of winning the championship was shattered, and the second and third place in the league made no difference to them.

Moreover, Real Madrid had already made it clear that they would send out substitutes, and they were not thick-skinned enough to send all the main players to the Bernabeu.

So the national derby on that day seemed a bit boring.

Real Madrid and Barcelona sent out their respective rotation lineups to fight at the Bernabeu, and in the end the two teams only drew 1-1.

Of course, whether before or after the game, Barcelona did not line up to salute Real Madrid.

This of course gave many local media in Madrid a reason to attack Barcelona.

On April 26, Real Madrid went to the Riazor Stadium to challenge Deportivo La Coruna. The Real Madrid coaching staff directly regarded this league as a warm-up match before the start of the Champions League semi-finals.

All the main players of Real Madrid played, but they did not practice offensive tactics, but defense + control.

After the whole game, Real Madrid only won 2-0 against Deportivo La Coruna, and they did not look very excited.

Ancelotti’s tactical arrangement made the outside media a little confused.

Many pro-Atletico media even boldly speculated that Real Madrid was throwing tactical smoke bombs.

Simeone was somewhat confused at this time, but in the end he decided to use static braking. No matter how Real Madrid changes, he will lead Atletico to rely on defense and try to drag Real Madrid into the final overtime quagmire!

This is also a more favorable tactical policy for Atletico.

And this year’s Atletico players are more physically fit, and Simeone is not worried about the situation in the past seasons when they were dragged to exhaustion by Real Madrid and then slaughtered.

In the end, if they can successfully drag the game into overtime, or even a penalty shootout, it will be really good news for Atletico.

In this way, they can greatly play to their strengths and avoid being worn out by Real Madrid’s technical advantages on the field.

Simeone, who had made all the preparations, looked confident in the interview.

Real Madrid also successfully completed the tactical preparations before the big game.

On the afternoon of April 29, the 35th round of La Liga kicked off. Both Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid chose to send out a pure substitute lineup in this round of the league.

On the evening of May 2, the first round of the much-anticipated Champions League semi-final battle officially started!

Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid took the lead in the Bernabeu. Atletico Madrid did indeed, as most media predicted before the game, put on a very pragmatic defensive counterattack posture.

But Real Madrid unexpectedly did not directly play an active offensive rhythm.

Atletico Madrid is very stable, but Real Madrid, who is at home, looks even more stable. The one-handed control of the game directly confused the players on the field of Atletico Madrid, and even made Simeone, who was sitting on the sidelines, full of doubts.

If other teams played like this, Simeone might have to change tactics now and strive to score an away goal first.

But facing Real Madrid, which had “trapped” him the most, Simeone became hesitant, causing Atletico Madrid players to stay in the half court, watching Real Madrid’s ball-control show, and not daring to press high.

As time passed quickly, the first half of the game ended in a very strange 0-0 draw, and the quality of the game could only be described as average, which certainly did not satisfy neutral fans.

Many fans in front of the TV originally thought that Real Madrid would definitely take the initiative to attack in the second half of the game.

After all, Real Madrid has used this style of play many times before, confusing the opponent in the first half and then working hard in the second half.

As a result, when the second half of the game really started, Real Madrid still looked calm and had no intention of taking the initiative to attack!

What was even more unexpected to neutral fans was that Simeone really held back!

Real Madrid did not attack throughout the game, and he did not command the players to take the initiative to attack. He played a “tacit game” with Real Madrid for the whole game.

So when the game finally ended with a score of 0-0, I don’t know how many fans made fun of and booed Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid on the Internet.

According to the comments of these fans on this game:

Not to mention compared with the classic Champions League semi-finals in the past, even the quality of the normal Champions League 1/8 knockout rounds is not up to par!

It was dull and ugly, just like two mid-level Serie A teams competing for endurance.

Fortunately, the next day, Monaco and Chelsea contributed a 2-4 offensive battle to the majority of neutral fans, which made them exclaim that it was exciting.

The chain reaction caused by such a comparison is naturally that the estimated ratings of the second leg of the Champions League semi-final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid have been falling all the way.

Even with the vast overseas ratings to support the lower limit, it is ultimately no match for the exciting battle between Monaco and Chelsea.

On May 10, Chelsea played against Monaco at home in the second leg of the semi-final.

Monaco took the lead, with Falca taking the lead with a header after receiving Moutinho’s pass!

The total score of the two teams in the two rounds was also tied to 3-4. Seeing the hope of equalizing the score, Monaco’s morale soared and wanted to continue to work hard to score the next goal.

But at the critical moment, Suarez used a push shot after passing two people during a counterattack to directly extinguish the ambitions of the Monegasques!

Six minutes later, Hazard used a wonderful inside shot to further expand the score between the two teams.

Monaco, who was suppressed, seemed to have lost the will to resist. After Kroos scored a direct free kick in the second half, this season’s Champions League journey ended.

Chelsea scored seven goals against Monaco in two rounds of games, and the offensive firepower was unobstructed. Mourinho also showed his means of training the offense again.

The Melodies will certainly feel pressured by such a result.

But in the second round of the Champions League semi-final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, which started the next day, Real Madrid was still unaffected and continued to play a defensive battle with Atletico Madrid.

The main theme of this game is still dull and fragmented.

There is almost no offensive rhythm. Atletico Madrid dare not give Real Madrid even an away goal, and they are determined to drag it to overtime. Real Madrid is also not in a hurry, as if they have tacitly agreed to play overtime with Atletico Madrid.

In the first half, the two teams still played a 0-0 draw, but in the 64th minute of the second half, Ancelotti replaced Bale with Isco.

Such a substitution adjustment immediately made Simeone alert.

After Isco came on the field, the tactics of the entire Real Madrid team really changed, and they began to take the ball and attack the Atletico defense more!

The Atletico players, who were already familiar with the defensive rhythm of both teams, suddenly became nervous.

This nervousness was in sharp contrast to the calmness shown by the Real Madrid players on the field.

The Real Madrid offensive players who had the ball were not in a hurry to make a threatening pass or shoot, and seemed to want to break into the Atletico penalty area through passing and cutting!

In the 79th minute of the second half, Isco received a lob pass from Li Ang outside the penalty area and passed Gabi who was defending, and directly broke into the Atletico penalty area!

The next moment, his quick change of direction almost allowed him to pass Savic who was retreating.

At the last moment, Savic, who didn’t want Isco to face Courtois directly, could only make a risky tackle!

In the end, Isco fell to the ground, and Savic received a yellow card from the referee while he quickly got up to appeal!

Penalty!

Real Madrid ushered in the most suitable threatening opportunity in the two-round match!

Atletico Madrid is about to face the final judgment!

Ronaldo held the ball and discussed with Li Ang outside the penalty area for a while. Finally, Ronaldo patted Li Ang on the back of his head and stuffed the ball into his arms.

Li Ang did not give in anymore, and walked to the penalty spot with the ball firmly.

The Wanda Metropolitan Stadium was silent at this moment, and tens of thousands of Atletico Madrid fans were praying devoutly at this moment, asking God to bless their team.

Simeone even knelt directly on the sidelines and looked at Courtois in prayer.

The Belgian goalkeeper gritted his teeth and glared at Li Ang fiercely.

He knew it long ago that it was because of Li Ang’s opposition that he had stayed in Atletico Madrid for the past few years and had no chance to return to Chelsea.

The man in front of him made him lose the possibility of winning the Grand Slam honor in the club, and also made him miss the role of a winner in life.

He didn’t hate it, after all, it was natural for Li Ang to stand with the more familiar De Bruyne.

But at this moment, he also wanted to prove to Li Ang in person that his strength was worthy of all the honors that Oblak had won, and he was the strongest among the new generation of goalkeepers!

With a deep breath, Courtois moved his long legs and arms, trying to put psychological pressure on Li Ang.

But Li Ang never even looked at him from the beginning, and after placing the football, he looked at the referee.

Finally, the whistle sounded!

Leon looked ahead, took a run-up without hesitation, and finished the shot!

In the past, Leon’s iconic violent volley did not appear at this moment, but was replaced by an accurate and fast push shot!

And Courtois, who was in the air, was also mentally broken at this moment!

Ground ball!

It was a ground ball again!

He couldn’t remember how many times Leon had used his grounding defect to mess with his mentality.

After desperately watching the football dive into the net in the lower left corner of the goal, Courtois landed and slapped the grass angrily!

At this moment, with his despair as the background, the Real Madrid players cheered and rushed towards Leon who ended the game!

Simeone’s figure kneeling on the sidelines was extremely lonely, and this scene was destined to become a classic moment in the history of the Champions League.

But being remembered by history and fans in this way was too cruel for Simeone.

Unable to accept the reality, the Atletico fans at the scene broke down emotionally, and many even cried sadly.

But in the end, the game came to an end, and the miracle they prayed for did not happen.

1-0 in two rounds!

Relying on Isco’s penalty at the critical moment and Li Ang’s big-hearted penalty, Real Madrid eliminated Atletico Madrid and finally met Chelsea in this season’s Champions League final!

The picture of Ancelotti and Zidane smiling and high-fiving on the sidelines became the cover of many Western media and sports newspapers the next day.

Real Madrid eliminated Atletico Madrid and entered the Champions League final, which was well deserved. Ancelotti’s tactics in these two rounds were actually not bad.

At least the stability was full, and Atletico Madrid did not have the slightest chance to stir up the game.

But sports media and fans in European countries still couldn’t help but want to complain.

Real Madrid’s tactical selection in these two rounds was too conservative!

These two Madrid derbies were simply torture for the fans.

They were also very willing to call these two games the most boring Champions League semi-finals in history.