Football’s First Defender

After replacing high center forward Benteke, Liverpool is at the forefront of the offensive end. With a high center forward acting as the fulcrum of the team, it has indeed played a strong offensive suppression effect.

It's just that Liverpool's continuous attack in the frontcourt is always a little bit short of scoring a goal.

Just when Klopp wanted to continue to strengthen the team's offense and continue to increase the team's offensive threat in the midfield by making another substitution adjustment of offensive players.

However, an accident happened on the field, which completely disrupted Klopp's already conceived idea of ​​substitutions, and completely made this game, a home game, and Liverpool, which wanted to win the victory, lose the initiative.

In the 73rd minute of the game, just as Liverpool continued to launch a suppressive attack in the frontcourt.

Continuous offense, but it is inevitable that there will sometimes be offensive mistakes.

Midfielder Henderson's threatening pass was directly cut off, giving Atletico players a chance to counterattack.

Atletico Madrid's defense, at this time, relied on Godin's anticipation to attack, and suddenly exerted force. After completing the steal, Atletico Madrid suddenly chose to play a very threatening counterattack after suffering a lot of defensive pressure recently.

In the process of counterattack this time, they did not simply drive forward with their big feet. Atletico Madrid's counterattack this time was quite methodical.

The ball was passed by the Atletico Madrid players in a small range continuously in the backcourt to avoid the on-the-spot counter-robbing by the Liverpool players in the frontcourt.

Finally, after multiple consecutive passes between multiple people, the ball was transferred to the feet of Felipe, who had already run out of the offensive space on the left.

Through the cooperation of continuous short passes, when Felipe receives the pass, he has already got rid of the defensive players around him, and there is a space for him to accelerate forward on the wing.

Felipe accelerated forward, accelerated from the backcourt with strides, and after crossing the half-court area, attracted Liverpool's defensive players and had to come over to defend, so as to limit Felipe from continuing to attack forward advance.

However, in Felipe's original inner plan, he didn't plan to go straight to the hinterland of Liverpool's penalty area.

After all, as the core of the left side of Atletico Madrid, Felipe also participated deeply in the offensive and defensive ends of this game. At this point in the game, his physical fitness is no longer enough for him to exert his full strength. He rushed to the core area of ​​​​Liverpool at full speed.

When successfully following the original plan to force Liverpool's defense line and draw out a special person to defend himself, Felipe was already consciously slowing down, and then chose to send a through ball and pass the ball directly forward.

In terms of the tacit understanding between the team players, Atletico Madrid still has to leave Liverpool a lot behind.

The tacit understanding of the Atletico Madrid players can allow Saul and Felipe, who quickly advanced in the midfield, between the two without explicit gestures or words to reveal tactics.

Saul first made the illusion of going straight into the center on the counterattack end, then suddenly stopped and changed direction during the march, returned to the left, and caught Emre Can, who was following him defending him, by surprise.

While Saul suddenly changed his direction and went straight to the left, Felipe had already sent this through ball.

Although Saul also consumed a lot of physical energy today, but at this time he used all his strength to catch up with the football.

Saul runs extremely fast and should be able to catch the football before the ball goes out of the baseline. Even for Saul, he feels that after he unloads the ball, there is even space to break through along the baseline and create a greater offensive threat.

Instead of being close to the bottom line on the left, after stopping the ball, simply complete the ball from the side, allowing the two sides to compete within the penalty area.

After all, for Atletico Madrid's staffing, Atletico Madrid players are still small and fast.

A simple cross from the side, facing the combination of Yang Feng and Skrtel in the Liverpool team, the header will not take too much advantage, but if the ball is passed from the ground, Liverpool still occupy the penalty area on the defensive end. With more players.

Moreover, the long-distance pass gave the defensive players too much reaction time, and the defensive players reacted, which was not good for the offensive side.

Saul's counter-attack this time is to catch the ball, and then stop and make a sudden stop, and break through the penalty area of ​​Liverpool from the bottom line.

And Emre Can lost his defensive position after being swung by Saul in a change of direction.

And Saul's speed is faster than Emre Can's, which also makes Emre Can look at Saul running in front of the left, knowing that he wants to catch up with Saul's speed , It is not easy to complete the task of man-to-man defense that he should have done well.

"I can't catch up with Saul, I can only choose to let him pass the ball on the wing!"

"If he wants to make progress and complete a horizontal breakthrough with the ball, then he can just put a shovel to block his breakthrough route."

Emre Can quickly planned the defensive methods he can do at present.

He chose not to chase Saul as his goal, and no longer consider how to defend Saul to catch the ball. Instead, he chose to keep his defensive position in the game, and he must not let Saul catch the ball. Complete a more threatening breakthrough towards the penalty area.

As for Saul, when he ran to Felipe to pass the ball, Emre Can, who was behind him and defended from the corner of his eyes, let Saul handle the ball this time. , even bolder.

When Saul directly caught up with the football, he did not choose to stop the ball. Instead, he directly stopped the buckle with his left foot and buckled the ball to the bottom line to ensure that his running speed did not drop. Before, directly is to quickly change the running direction without slowing down, and go straight to the Liverpool penalty area.

"It's really an inch!"

Emre Can fully recognized his defensive choice at this time. This time, he chose to run in a straight line and directly block the bottom line, which did not give Saul more room to attack.

Going straight out with a sliding shovel, Emre Can's defense this time directly exerted his full strength.

Due to his own speed, although Emre Can has already tried his best to get to the position in the game, it is still too difficult to run to the position to block Saul's breakthrough route.

Emre Can can only guarantee his straight-line speed to rush forward. In the game, he can use a sliding tackle with greater confidence to intercept Saul's breakthrough to the penalty area.

There is only this way that Emre Can can complete the defense.

Otherwise, Saul really broke through the penalty area along the bottom line, which may cause chaos in Liverpool's penalty area. Don't let Atletico seize the opportunity and complete the goal.

With the inertia of running at full speed, Emre Can directly threw himself out to complete this sliding tackle defense.

However, Emre Can still underestimated Saul's breakthrough speed, or underestimated Saul's ability to combine the ball so strong, Emre Can's sliding tackle came quickly, but Saul's breakthrough The speed is not slow.

There is even room for a slight jump to avoid Emre Can's sliding shovel.

There was no turning back when the bow was opened, and Emre Can could barely jump up with his right foot and stretched back as much as possible.

The ball went out of bounds, but Saul also fell.

"Beep beep—"

The whistle blew and the referee stopped the game.

Is this a good defense, just a corner kick, or a foul, should I give a card?

Because there is still a short distance from the penalty area, this ball is definitely not a penalty kick. No matter how blind the referee is, it is impossible to extend the penalty area line 2 or 3 meters outward.

But if a foul is whistled, whether to give a card is the most important thing.

Emre Can had already received a yellow card in the game before. If he gets a card for a foul this time, he will be sent off.

"Free kick! The referee called Emre Can for a foul!"

"Let's see what the referee does."

"Draw out the cards!"

"The referee has drawn the cards!"

"Yellow card!"

"The referee thought that Emre Can's foul action this time was suspected of hurting people, so he directly showed a yellow card, and two yellows turned into one red. The red card sent Emre Can directly off the field."

"Liverpool, in the first leg of the home game, suffered a heavy blow at the last moment. They will fight with 10 men."

"And Atletico Madrid got a surprise. In the final stage of the game, Atletico Madrid, who played one more man, no longer defended the 0-0 draw, and even had the opportunity to beat Liverpool away and win the game! "

The Liverpool players, when the referee showed a yellow card, were defending around the referee. They believed that the foul this time did not reach the level of a card, and it was even a question of whether it was a foul.

However, it is impossible for the referee to change his judgment. He is already urging Emre Can to get off the field quickly and not delay the game.

The young Emre Can, with the blessing of his recent good form, did not expect that he would be sent off in the Champions League knockout match.

"Perhaps this is one of the reasons why some Premier League teams have lost their dominance in the Champions League in recent years."

"You know, from our league broadcast about Liverpool, everyone has seen the fierce competition in the Premier League, as well as the hot progress of the two sides in the game."

"In order to encourage fast-paced offense and defense, the Premier League referees will not whistle for some small fouls."

"And for the program effect of the game, for some large-scale fouls, whether to play cards or not depends on the ball, whether the foul player can have the opportunity to exert pressure on the ball."

"Just now, Emre Can's foul actually put pressure on the ball. At least Emre Can touched the ball out of the baseline by himself."

Under such circumstances, in fact, in the Premier League, Emre Can is whistled for a foul at most, and even a foul may not be whistled. After all, there is not much difference between a corner kick and a free kick from the bottom line .

But in the UEFA Champions League, adapting to the penalty standards of other leagues, this ball is a yellow card action.

It can be said that in recent years, the whistle has become tighter in the Champions League, which is very good news for technical teams.

At least the Premier League teams, in the familiar "reckless" style of the league, have no good way to maintain their defensive strength in the Champions League.

When it comes to strength, it is a foul, and some actions are directly whistled for a yellow card, without any discussion.

As a result, the Premier League teams often have a great sense of tearing in the Champions League, which is very different from the way they play in the league.

And after Emre Can was sent off, Liverpool lost the capital to take the initiative to attack again.

Klopp hurriedly made substitution adjustments.

Lucas and Lovren played together, replacing Lallana and Firmino.

Klopp's idea is very simple, that is, to put up a formation of 5 defenders. In the case of one player less, we must defend the tie in this game, and we must not allow Atletico Madrid to score an away goal. Otherwise, Liverpool will go to Madrid may really have no capital to turn the tables.

Contrary to Liverpool's quick defensive arrangement, Simeone naturally dispatched troops quickly and sent offensive players to play the main offense when playing one more player.

Of course, taking into account that Liverpool is on the field, there are still offensive players like Benteke and Coutinho, and Yang Feng also has the ability to deliver long-distance passes.

Simeone only made targeted substitutions of personnel, and did not replace defensive players with offensive players.

However, after completely liberating the offensive capabilities of the two full-backs, Atletico Madrid's offensive supplement will still be at least one level higher.

The veteran Torres replaced Vietto, who performed well today, to continue to strengthen the offensive ability of the striker.

And Correa replaced Saul who had previously made Emre Can's second yellow card.

Saul performed very well on both ends of the offense and defense today, but in such a fast-paced up and down running situation, his physical fitness is also at the limit. At this time, being replaced by Correa is also for the betterment of the team Landing on the wing guarantees a speed advantage.

Atletico Madrid is preparing to play a wave of offensive around Liverpool in the last ten minutes of regular time, trying to break through Liverpool's iron barrel and score an away goal.

Liverpool was sent off one person, which can be said to be a godsend opportunity for Simeone.

If you can really seize this opportunity and successfully score a goal in the away game, then Atletico Madrid will have a great advantage when they return to home in the next round, and have a great probability of advancing to the next round .

11 against 10 in the frontcourt. For Atletico Madrid, such a "rich battle" is really easy to fight.

After replacing Correa, it set the tone of Atletico Madrid's offense.

At the last moment, Simeone still chose to continue to attack from the wing, using his advantage on the wing to continuously compress Liverpool's defense, and then pass to the center, looking for opportunities to score goals.

And Liverpool's five-back system, of course, still uses Yang Feng as the defensive core.

Each of the five defenders has their own position and area of ​​responsibility. For Yang Feng, after assigning the defensive position to four teammates according to the tactics, Yang Feng's defensive ability was completely liberated.

With teammates guarding the last line of defense at the side and rear, Yang Feng can be used as a maneuvering force. During the game, he can make up for where he needs to, and give full play to his defensive ability to create trouble for Atletico Madrid's offense.