Football: Starting from the Ronaldinho template

Chapter 264 Atletico Madrid's Strong Blockade! League Countdown Begins!
"The game is over! The game is over!"

"In the 2015-16 Champions League semi-final, Arsenal and Atletico Madrid played to a 0-0 draw at Arsenal's home ground!"

"Look at the data provided by OPTA: Arsenal has a possession rate of 61%, but they don't have many effective attacks. The passing heatmap shows that they are mostly outside the penalty area!"

"Atletico Madrid covered 8km more ground than Arsenal and made 1.5 times more tackles."

Looking at the post-match statistics, Zhan Jun felt that Atletico Madrid should be considered Arsenal's strongest opponent this season, without exception.

Even Barcelona.

Barcelona's pride and joy, Messi, is in poor form, and other players are also suffering from fatigue, failing to perform at their usual level.

And what about Atlético Madrid?

Atletico Madrid doesn't have the overnight success of Leicester City; everyone knows they are very strong.

I had no idea it was this strong.

Arsenal, a team that eliminated Barcelona, ​​boasts two Ballon d'Or winners in the top ten and has broken football transfer records; their fierce attacking firepower was contained.

Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal fans were actually prepared, as they knew Atletico Madrid's technical characteristics were the most effective counter to them.

But disappointment was still inevitable.

Fortunately, it was a draw, so they can only be said to be temporarily at a disadvantage.

still have a chance.

On the court, Qin Ming rubbed his sore thighs, lifted his jersey and looked down; bruises were everywhere.

Which two clubs play the dirtiest football in the world?
Atletico Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur.

Coincidentally, their head coaches, Simeone and Pochettino, are both Argentinians.

Today, on my side, Juanfran, Saul, and Jimenez each have a yellow card, while on the other side, Felipe has a yellow card.

4 yellow cards, 13 fouls.

They've truly ingrained the concept of fouling into their very being.

It's fortunate that it was a reshuffle in the semifinals; otherwise, if it were the quarterfinals, Juanfran and others would have been suspended in the next round.

Even if it ends in a draw in this round, they will still have a significant advantage.

"What bad luck," Qin Ming said, looking up at the sky with a hint of helplessness.

Of course, he wasn't making excuses for the draw; if they were strong enough, no matter how dirty Atletico Madrid played, they couldn't prevent the goal from happening.

The fact is that Atletico Madrid played really well.

They have kept a clean sheet for 519 consecutive minutes at home in the Champions League and have achieved 33 clean sheets in 52 official matches this season, ranking first among teams in the top five European leagues.

This marks the fourth time that a team has kept a clean sheet in five consecutive official matches.

When people mention these things, they always think of Atlético Madrid's iron-clad defense, how Godín made the defense barren, and how Jimenez sacrificed himself, but they always habitually overlook one person: Oblak.

The Slovenian goalkeeper, whose market value has reached 4000 million euros, made almost no mistakes in today's game. He was able to catch the ball accurately with both hands in the face of his own shots, not giving Giroud and others the opportunity to score on the rebound.

This also makes Oblak surpass Reina in the 1973-74 season to become Atletico Madrid's goalkeeper with the most clean sheets in a single Champions League match.

the other side.

Juanfran took off his sweat-soaked jersey, looked at Saul, and gave a helpless smile.

"This is the toughest game I've played this season."

Qin Ming felt the pressure, and so did they.

Even more so, Juanfran and Saul had made ample preparations before the match, but they still didn't expect Qin Ming to break into such a deep area. Fortunately, their overall performance was stable and they corrected their individual mistakes.

And then there's that unconventional way he handles the ball.

It’s hard to guard against.

It took two yellow cards to stop him.

Saul has had several attacking opportunities in previous matches.

But today he was forced to stay in the midfield and backfield.

Torres was forced to fight alone and was unable to threaten Arsenal's goal.

"This kid is pretty ruthless."

Juanfran lifted his jersey, revealing a small bruise on his ribs, as if he had been hit by an iron elbow.

"He elbowed me too!"

Saul gently pressed on his ribs and immediately gasped.

In the past, when they used dirty tricks to mess with other players, the opponents basically had no energy to retaliate.

why?
Because the pace is too fast.

Qin Ming can find opportunities to subtly extend his elbow while controlling the ball.

They all doubted whether this was Chinese Kung Fu.

"That chip shot almost went in." Oblak breathed a sigh of relief.

He has to be on his toes when playing against Arsenal, because Qin Ming has so many weapons: finesse shots, volley shots, poking shots, and so on, and he often comes up with unexpected attacks.

"It'll be better when we get back to our home ground!"

Savage laughed.

A draw in the away game was their pre-match objective.

It is now complete.

Simeone and Wenger shook hands, but didn't exchange many words.

Last year, amid a media storm stirred up by Arsenal's ultras, Wenger's position as manager looked precarious.

At that time, a piece of news came out.

Simeone rejected Abramovich's offer, only wanting to be Wenger's successor.

Simeone is the perfect fit for Arsenal. He can unlock Arsenal's potential and bring more aggression, making the Gunners tougher.

This is a commentary from The Secret Footballer column in The Guardian.

In fact, Simeone does admire Wenger, but has never contacted Arsenal.

What he wants to do is become the head of Atlético Madrid.

Wenger patted the players on the shoulder, "You guys go back to the locker room first, I'm going to the post-match press conference."

Are he satisfied with today's draw?
They are definitely dissatisfied.

This isn't directed at the players, but rather at the overall strength and tactical style of the team.

Being completely outmaneuvered by Atletico Madrid is something that can't be helped.

We can only try to find a way to secure a ticket to the finals in the next round.

Moreover, if they can score an away goal, it will be a huge advantage for them.

"My first thought is admiration. Wenger is a fantastic coach and a great footballer."

"To be able to manage a team like Arsenal for so long! That's amazing. I'm sure he'll need to constantly reinvent himself along the way."

“I still consider myself a young coach, and I want to observe him and learn from him.”

"I think the best word is admiration. When you look at Wenger's career, it's very difficult to maintain this level because you have to face competition all the time."

Simeone said this when talking about Wenger. And regarding today's match, he gave this assessment.

"We achieved our pre-match goals, and this is a team victory for us."

"Look at the lineups of the Champions League quarter-finalists: Barcelona and Real Madrid are both €6.9 million, Bayern Munich is €5.7 million, Arsenal is €4.2 million, and what about us?"

"Only 3.6 million."

"Apart from Griezmann and Koke, no other player is valued at more than 2500 million."

"This is also why I believe that the team is more important than the individual."

Simeone's philosophy, in other words, is that he believes the head coach is the soul of a team and its true core.

the other side.

"Atletico Madrid relies not only on a strong defense, but also on a simple tactical approach."

“They played very well, but we were not bad either, and we had many threatening attacks. Now that the first leg is over, we need to shift our focus to the upcoming league matches.”

Wenger certainly doesn't want this draw to affect the league.

The home team's locker room at this moment.

"Guys, April is almost over, don't let a bad mood lead you into May."

Arteta tapped on the table.

He knew that compared to a draw, they were targeted by Atletico Madrid throughout the game, and there was even a gap in their positions, which was the reason for the players' frustration.

"that is!"

Qin Ming threw his dirty jersey into the laundry basket. "We didn't lose the game. Let's work harder again in a week and try to score the first goal away from home!"

After being emotional for about ten minutes, he regained his fighting spirit.

To explain the specific reasons...

He couldn't explain it either. Just like when he was sunbathing before, he would first feel weak and listless for a while, and then he would feel energetic all over.

"Keep it up!" Sanchez added.

"That's it!"

Qin Ming grinned.

As the old saying goes, don't worry about the future; face it with a positive attitude.

Even if the result is not satisfactory.

So, saying "no regrets" is a way to comfort myself.

After the other match on April 29th ends.

Manchester City also drew 0-0 with Real Madrid at the Etihad Stadium, indicating that the two teams were evenly matched, with similar statistics in possession, corner kicks, and shots on target.

But Zidane's thoughts are similar to Simeone's.

Hold on in the away game, then attack at home.

In late April, these two matches caused a huge uproar and were widely reported by media around the world.

Diario Sport: Young, experienced, and hungry! This is a wonderful combination: young, yet experienced, and incredibly hungry for the game and for glory, which is why they can play Atlético Madrid style football for 90 or even 120 minutes!
The Guardian: Guardiola has led his team to the semi-finals for three consecutive seasons, but in the first two seasons, he faced La Liga teams, losing 0-1 to Real Madrid and 0-3 to Barcelona, ​​ultimately failing to advance! Can he lead Manchester City to victory at the Bernabéu this time?

The Mirror: Is Arsenal's Champions League journey over? Facing Atletico Madrid's high press, their short passes were cut off, preventing them from organizing fluid attacks! The £90 million man was shut down by Juanfran and Saul!
Dongqiudi: A boring first leg of the Champions League semi-final – none of the four teams managed to score! Do you find watching the game late at night tedious?
Atletico Madrid's tackling is terrifying; their 47% tackling rate is the highest in the top five leagues, even higher than Juventus by 2 percentage points.
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Indeed, against possession-based teams like Barcelona and Arsenal, a high interception rate is undoubtedly the sharpest weapon.
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Atletico Madrid's tactics are similar to Leicester City's, but the latter are not as aggressive, which is why Arsenal have been able to win frequently.
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[What tactics? Atletico Madrid's tactics are all about defenders sliding tackles, midfielders sliding tackles, and forwards sliding tackles too!]
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Qin Ming drew two yellow cards and had several threatening shots; I think that's pretty good.
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Unfortunately, his two lower back muscles couldn't provide enough support. Just like the human body structure, when your lower back and core are weak, your punches will be weak.
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[Atletico Madrid was just unlucky; otherwise, those quick counter-attacks would have changed the score much earlier.]
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[Simone is also a remarkable figure. Since taking over at the end of 2011, he has led Atletico Madrid in 256 matches, achieving 162 wins, 52 draws, and 42 losses, with 135 clean sheets. His clean sheet record is over half the games, and his 63.3% win rate is equally impressive.]
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Today is also his birthday.
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[De Bruyne next door also had a tough time, being marked and contained by Modric, with Casemiro providing support. Ramos and Pepe, with their experience, allowed Aguero to receive the lowest rating of the entire match.]
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The main reason for Real Madrid's draw was that Ronaldo's medical examination failed; it's said to be a muscle strain. Otherwise, Real Madrid would definitely have won.
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【.】

Two matches with the same score keep the Champions League semi-finals suspenseful.

People are looking forward to the second round next week.

On the last day of April, London was still a bit chilly, and the weather turned gloomy and rainy.

Qin Ming and Delevingne stood on the banks of the Thames, listening to the slightly muffled chimes of Big Ben.

"Would you like to go for afternoon tea?"

DeVayi came back from the United States specifically because she felt that Qin Ming was in a bad mood.

Who knew she was overthinking things?

"Let's go."

Qin Ming felt the gentle breeze on his face, and his mood relaxed considerably.

You have no idea, that film crew...

During the conversation, Delevingne chattered on and on about her experiences in Hollywood.

After making a name for herself in the modeling world, she chose to switch careers without looking back.

I must say, that takes real guts.

Qin Ming liked this kind of spirit, which was very similar to his own.

"I watched your game. That number 20 was so dirty. He was always pulling or dragging you, and he was always trying to step on your ankle!"

DeVai, filled with righteous indignation, mistook the plum muffin for Juanfran and destroyed it beyond recognition with his knife and fork.

"It's alright, actually I didn't suffer much loss. He should still be in pain." Qin Ming took a sip of black tea.

The two spent a uneventful afternoon.

Then they separate again.

There's nothing we can do; both of them are career-oriented and are usually so busy they barely have time to rest.

5 month 1 day.

The 36th round of the Premier League is here.

This is the penultimate round, Arsenal vs. Norwich.

The Emirates Stadium, which had just secured a draw, was still packed with people.

With the league season coming to an end, the Gunners are looking forward not only to the Champions League, but also to the Premier League.

They even care more about the latter.

Because of their peak period, they won the league title undefeated, which left a deep impression on people.

I thought it was the beginning of a rise.

Who knew that more than ten years would pass and they would never win the Premier League title again.

"With one game in hand, Norwich currently sits 18th in the Premier League table with 31 points, behind Sunderland, who are outside the relegation zone, on goal difference."

"Norwich has recently suffered two consecutive defeats, first losing 0-1 away to Crystal Palace and then 0-3 at home to relegation rivals Sunderland, thus dragging the team into the relegation zone."

"If Norwich wants to avoid relegation, they need to fight for points in the remaining four league matches."

"However, in the previous three games, Norwich won two and drew one against Newcastle, West Bromwich Albion and Manchester City, and got a good result of 7 points."

"The performance in the 0-0 draw against Manchester City at home was particularly impressive. If we can put on a similar performance against Arsenal, we would be very satisfied with just one point."

"However, the absence of key defender Klose in this match may affect the team's performance in defense."

"It should be noted that Norwich has never beaten Arsenal in the Premier League, and has lost 3 of their last 4 away games against the Gunners, conceding 14 goals in the process, making their defense extremely vulnerable."

Before the match, Zhan Jun gave a detailed account of Norwich's situation.

If it were February, he wouldn't care so much.

But relegation-threatened teams always seem to perform at a level far beyond what is expected at the end of the season.

(End of this chapter)