Football’s First Defender

In this game, for Liverpool, there is another good news before the game. Although Atletico Madrid will play with all their main players today, it is actually uncertain whether they can play their full strength.

This weekend's league game had to be postponed because Liverpool's opponent Everton had to play a Carabao Cup game, so Liverpool had no game tasks on the weekend.

But Atletico Madrid is different. Not only does he still have the league to play, but also the crucial Madrid derby.

For Atletico Madrid, since the rise of the past few seasons, they are naturally looking for opportunities. In the Madrid derby, they can teach the noble Real Madrid a lesson and see which team Madrid belongs to.

A lot of good news also makes Liverpool seek to play better in the game to beat their opponents.

However, at the beginning of the game, Liverpool found that the offensive tactics they were going to play were not so easy to complete.

Atletico Madrid is no ordinary team.

The first league among the five major European leagues has always had a lot of controversy.

Both the Premier League and La Liga advertise themselves as the first league when they advertise.

In terms of ratings, in terms of the number of people watching the game, and in terms of how good the game is, the Premier League is definitely the most well-deserved number one.

This point can be seen from the copyright fee.

After all, as the first league in China to fully implement a charging system to watch live broadcasts, this is confidence. It is true that watching Premier League games is a kind of enjoyment for fans.

Even if the chickens peck at each other, or the relegation battle, it is very exciting.

But in terms of UEFA's league points, La Liga is the only one.

In the UEFA Champions League, Real Madrid and Barcelona have made heavy blows year after year, especially Real Madrid. Before Mourinho's period, the consecutive "Shiro" can be said to be full of points.

Afterwards, Atletico Madrid, Valencia and other teams, as long as they are in the Champions League, can generally qualify for the group stage.

La Liga teams are still full of fighting spirit and passion for the European competition.

Not only in the Champions League, he performed well.

Several other La Liga teams have also invested heavily in the performance of the Europa League. For example, the Europa League champions in the past two years have all been taken by Sevilla.

And this season's Europa League, Sevilla has reached the knockout round again, and it seems that there is quite a posture for three consecutive championships.

Some fans even jokingly said that if Sevilla can really win three consecutive championships, then it would be better to directly change the name of the Europa League to "Sevilla Cup".

In terms of points in the European competition and the strength of the top teams, La Liga does have the strength of the first league.

This match between Liverpool and Atletico Madrid can also be regarded as a competition between the two leagues.

Atletico Madrid, as a team that has regained its glory under the leadership of the bandit Simeone in recent years, relies on an excellent defensive counterattack and a very efficient offensive option. In La Liga, it is not good to face the two giants. frightened.

It can be said that the rivals in the same city, Real Madrid, have achieved good results in the Champions League in recent years. It is because they have a strong room to display their strength under this knockout system.

The main tactical play of the two teams is to rely on defensive counterattack tactics. This style of play can maximize the team's better performance in a strong confrontation.

Compared with Real Madrid's defense is fake, the main thing is that after leading the snake out of the hole, it is more convenient to display the team's super offensive ability.

Atletico Madrid really put defense first, and try to choose simple and efficient methods when counterattacking.

After a game, there may not be a few shots, and there are fewer real threats, but for Atletico Madrid, sometimes, scoring one or two goals in two rounds can be counted as a goal. It is to complete the task perfectly, and then contain the opponent's attack on the defensive end.

Before the game, everyone's predictions were that Atletico Madrid was away, and they had to put on a low profile. In the game, they should give priority to defense and then seek counterattacks.

But what I didn't expect was that Atletico Madrid directly sought the initiative at the beginning of the game, giving priority to possession of the ball and launching an attack in the game.

This wave of opening three tricks directly defeated Klopp's plan. Liverpool was caught off guard in the opening stage.

The Atlético Madrid team had the ball in control from the very beginning.

They did not launch a quick attack after taking the ball as in the past. Today's Atletico Madrid played quite patiently, and some even played a lot of "meaningless" balls in the backcourt to force Liverpool to make a wide range of forward moves. field press.

From the beginning stage, Atletico Madrid showed a mentality that I want to do things on the road.

The team's possession and passing of the ball in the backcourt is very secure.

The continuous conduction of the ball between the back line and the goalkeeper forced Liverpool's defense to increase its strength in the frontcourt.

After all, Atletico Madrid just passed the ball in the midfield for a minute and a half in the opening stage, without any intention of attacking forward, leaving Liverpool with nothing to do.

After all, there is no 8-second rule and 24-second violation on the football field like on the basketball field. If you want to complete the transfer of the ball, you can only rely on the defender. Defensive pressure.

But Atletico Madrid is a team from Spain. Although the team has always been known for its iron-blooded defense, just like Italians are born with chain defense, Atletico Madrid's players naturally have a certain ability at their feet .

With the subtle changes of the environment, coupled with the influence of Spanish football culture, and the pass control of Atletico Madrid players in the backcourt, it seems that Liverpool really can't solve it for a while.

Under the "seduction" of Atletico Madrid's constant pass control in the backcourt, Liverpool players had to try their best to press forward during the game to break Atletico Madrid's annoying backcourt pass control.

If Liverpool is leading 1-0 now, then Liverpool may let their opponents pass and control for a long time, and they will not care about them.

However, the current score is 0 to 0. For Liverpool, in this home game, they still want to win, so they can only release more defensive players in the midfield to seek the conversion of the ball. .

However, as Liverpool have more defensive players up front, Liverpool have far fewer defensive players in their own half, and this is the opportunity that Atletico Madrid are waiting for.

Cork in the backcourt, directly before Henderson's press came, suddenly drove forward with a big foot and hit Liverpool's penalty area.

Griezmann got rid of the defender and moved forward directly against offside. He was about to catch the ball and directly hit Liverpool's penalty area.

Fortunately, Yang Feng's defensive speed was quite fast. He rushed over from the side, and with a sliding tackle, Griezmann, who had just escaped Emre Can's defense, could not retreat. It was shoveled out.

Fortunately, Yang Feng's supplementary defense was in place. Otherwise, without Yang Feng's defensive interference, Griezmann could have formed a single-handed chance to counter offside...

Atletico Madrid's first attack at the beginning almost created a threat.

If it weren't for Yang Feng's excellent supplementary defense, Atletico Madrid might have completed the goal of scoring an away goal in the opening 2 minutes.

After that, Liverpool wanted to organize their own offensive at home, but facing Atletico Madrid's defense, they really couldn't find where they could use it as the main attack point to make a breakthrough.

Atletico Madrid's defense is definitely the pinnacle of European football leagues today. Whether it is the siege of the frontcourt, the defensive coverage of the midfield, the ability of the defensive players to handle the ball, and even the excellent goalkeeper Oblak. The play makes Atletico Madrid's defense an all-round, extremely three-dimensional offensive method.

Liverpool's offense, at this time, wants to play its penetration ability in the midfield, but there is no good way.

Atletico Madrid's iron barrel formation, when it is fully laid out, is really impossible to break through easily.

After all, facing Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​two galactic battleships, Atletico Madrid's iron-blooded defense can keep it from losing too much in the game.

Now put on a defensive posture to deal with the offense on the field. Liverpool's frontcourt players are naturally not as big as Real Madrid and Barcelona. When facing Atletico Madrid's defense, they naturally cannot quickly complete the breakthrough.

In fact, for Liverpool, it is essentially still in the game, relying on the steals of the frontcourt players to complete the attack quickly.

If you really want to break Atletico Madrid's defense in the offensive position, Liverpool really needs players who can perform their personal abilities well to break Atletico Madrid's iron barrel formation.

Sometimes, if you want to break the iron barrel formation, you need some luck and the spirit of daring to try.

Players need to pass the ball in a small range, simply and accurately to complete the attack.

Liverpool's first threatening attack came in the eighth minute.

Yang Feng was in the midfield position, organizing the team's offense, and suddenly chose a long pass, hoisting the football directly into Atletico Madrid's penalty area.

The strength and placement of Yang Feng's handling of this ball are excellent.

The football just passed over the heads of the defenders, making it impossible for Atletico Madrid's defense to clear the siege immediately, and the landing point of the football happened to be near the penalty area line of Atletico Madrid, making it impossible for Oblak to come out to defend.

Such an excellent landing position, as well as the strength of the pass, is very firm. Firmino's anti-offside forward rush has a great chance of directly causing a threatening kick when he wins the football landing.

It's just that Atletico Madrid's defensive line defense, in this time, is still set to start.

Godin was directly in the process of Firmino's forward rush, and pulled all kinds of small movements to prevent Firmino's full acceleration, while Savage quickly ran to the landing position, although he did not control the first landing. point, but he came in front of Firmino, forming a front and rear pincer attack on Firmino.

Under the attack of Atletico Madrid's double central defenders, Firmino's small body was knocked down directly.

Fell in the restricted area.

Is there a foul on this ball?

If we simply look at the rules of football, whether it is Godin's small movements of pulling people, or Savage's conscious blocking and collision, this attack, Atletico Madrid's defensive end is suspected of fouling.

But for such a physical confrontation, a penalty kick was called directly. The referee thought about it and let the game continue without directly calling a penalty kick.

After all, a penalty kick is very likely to determine the victory of this series.

But when Liverpool's attack failed, Atletico Madrid's counterattack was quite targeted.

Koke's through pass from the backcourt penetrated Liverpool's defense line composed of many people, and it was about to pass directly into the open area of ​​Liverpool's backcourt. Griezmann had already started running, and was frantically moving forward Accelerate forward.

If Griezmann gets this goal, it will definitely be another excellent one-handed opportunity.

This time, Yang Feng shot out from the slanting stab again. Although Yang Feng's own speed could not catch up with Griezmann who had already increased his speed, Yang Feng was directly behind Griezmann and judged The precise route of the pass this time, and the ball was snatched first.

Yang Feng has always been the pinnacle of Liverpool's defense and has a very strong defensive ability.

The defense of both sides has achieved the ultimate in this game.

Atletico Madrid relies on their excellent collective defense, while Liverpool's side is Yang Feng's personal defensive performance.

The offensive players of the two teams have very good personal performances, but when the two teams also play excellent defensive performances, they are unable to achieve the desired effect on the offensive end.

In the 12th minute of the game, Liverpool's offensive made a comeback.

After a fierce press from both sides of the midfield, Liverpool players picked the ball out of the midfield and attacked directly on the right wing.

After Milner received the ball, he made a straight pass and passed the ball to Klein who quickly inserted from the side.

Klein did not choose to pass the ball directly, but also made a through pass similar to a through pass, directly finding Atletico Madrid's small penalty area.

Firmino was well prepared for Klein's pass and rushed directly to the front point.

This ball, in the case of close range, as long as Firmino completes the goal, it will inevitably pose an excellent goal threat.

It's just that Godin didn't give Firmino a chance at all.

When Firmino had already finished hitting the goal, Godin, who was on the side and rear, had already slid over and used his body to completely block the goal as soon as Firmino hit the goal.

The ball hit Godin's body and went directly out of bounds. Liverpool took the first corner kick of the game.

Atlético are very good at defending from set pieces.

On the one hand, the ability of Godin and others to compete for the top is extremely good. On the other hand, the scope of goalkeeper Oblak's control of the penalty area is too large.

Coutinho's corner kick was intended to find Yang Feng in front of the goal, but the angle of the pass was good, and Yang Feng also occupied a good position, but before the ball was hit by Yang Feng, Oblak directly attacked it. Picked the ball off.

In today's game, the two teams played very well on the defensive end. It can only be said that the game has progressed so far. For both teams, the defensive tone of this game has been determined from the very beginning of the game... …