Chapter 186: The Champions League that rekindles the flames of war

When the game ended, the confusion on the faces of Ronaldo, Bale, Benzema and others was enough to prove what Real Madrid had experienced in this game.

Li Qingshan, who has just returned to the team, has run over Real Madrid, who has been in great form recently, with a crushing attitude, and the most shining star in this game is undoubtedly Li Qingshan, even if it is a star-studded Real Madrid, there is no star who can compare with Li Qingshan's shine in this game.

"It's unbelievable, Li Qingshan's performance is impeccable! Just finished participating in the Asian Cup of the national team, and led the national team that is not strong as a whole to win the Asian Cup, and he also won a number of individual generals. And back in the league, he immediately led the team to a victory over a tough opponent like Real Madrid, which is really amazing, and his performance can deserve all the praise! The Madrid narrator lamented.

The next day, all the Spanish sports media focused on Li Qingshan. Madrid's two local newspapers are no exception, with the relatively neutral Marca newspaper praising Li Qingshan as one of the best stars in La Liga, and even in time, his status in La Liga can catch up with Messi and Ronaldo. And the "As" newspaper, known as Real Madrid's loyal dog, said sourly, how long can Atletico Madrid keep a player like Li Qingshan?

This is indeed something that Atletico Madrid fans are worried about. Atletico Madrid has always had a tradition of being a striker, Torres, Aguero, Falcao, Diego Costa, but every time these people make a name for themselves, they are bought by other richer clubs.

Although Atletico Madrid is one of the top three poles of La Liga, their status in European football is more of a "seller's club", and it is always difficult for them to retain their star players.

In fact, during the winter transfer window in January, various transfer rumors were related to Li Qingshan. Manchester United, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, Arsenal............ The names of these big clubs are all related to Li Qingshan.

It's just that at that time, Li Qingshan was concentrating on playing the Asian Cup and turned a deaf ear to the voices of the outside world. His agent, Raiola, rarely doesn't have a big mouth - in fact, this is also what Li Qingshan requested, and he doesn't want to be too much associated with transfer news.

But now there are indeed more and more teams interested in Li Qingshan. With Li Qingshan's performance in Atletico Madrid, compared to a year ago, his progress is obvious to all, especially in the Asian Cup, Li Qingshan, who almost carried the Chinese team forward, showed his more comprehensive ability.

He is now more than just a high striker who used to rely entirely on headers, his long-range shooting skills have matured, and his tactical role in the central striker position has become more and more perfect. Even his ability to attack the opposition defence with the ball head-on is quite evident now.

Two years of training in the top league quickly made this hairy boy mature, and more importantly, he is not yet twenty-two years old!

This is a player who can support a team's forward line for the next ten years, and for those big teams, such a player is definitely not to be missed!

It is estimated that the managers and head coaches of major teams have already placed Li Qingshan's detailed information on their desks. Although the winter transfer window has closed, the transfer rumors surrounding Li Qingshan have not been interrupted.

Li Qingshan himself would not pay attention to these rumors, and he would leave all the matters in this regard to Raiola. In this regard, Raiola's character is quite strong.

And Li Qingshan is a professional athlete. The so-called profession is to do his job well, and playing football is his job, his work contract is signed with Atletico Madrid, his salary is paid by Atletico Madrid, as long as he is still in Atletico Madrid, he will work hard for this team, and will never do anything unprofessional, such as going behind the back of the club and other teams during the contract period or something.

Regardless of where he goes in the future, he is still a player for Atletico Madrid, so he has to play well for Atletico Madrid.

After the match against Real Madrid, the gap between Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid has narrowed to one point, and Real Madrid has also fallen from the top position of the league they have maintained for almost 20 rounds, and was overtaken by Barcelona, while Atletico Madrid is still in third place in the league, but the gap between the top three in the league is only two points, and after one game, the form at the top of the table can change drastically.

Therefore, Atletico Madrid did not dare to relax in the league.

On February 14, in the 23rd round of the league, Atletico Madrid defeated Celta Vigo 1-0 away with Li Qingshan's goal, and continued to maintain pressure on the previous two teams in the league.

On February 22, in the 24th round of the league, Atletico Madrid, who returned to their home stadium, swept the visiting Almeria with a score of 4-0. In the first half of the game, Mandzukic and Li Qingshan each scored a goal, 2-0 lead the opponent, in the second half, Torres substituted Mandzukic on the field, Li Qingshan and the former golden boy formed the latest forward partner, it seems that this combination effect is not enough, Torres passed a good ball to Li Qingshan on the side, so that Li Qingshan easily headed the ball in, and then Li Qingshan returned the favor, swept in front of the goal near the bottom line, and assisted Torres to scoop the goal.

After this round of league games, the table format changed again - Barcelona lost 0-1 at home to Malaga and handed over their top spot and fell to third place, while Real Madrid climbed back to the top of the league with a 2-0 win at Elche.

While the La Liga troika is in the midst of a scorching battle for the league, the Champions League is also back in flames.

Atletico Madrid's opponent in the quarterfinals of the Champions League is Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen. Bundesliga teams have always been quite a headache for La Liga teams. Even Barcelona Real Madrid don't win many times in Germany.

For Atletico Madrid, this is not too bad an opponent – Bayer Leverkusen are still relatively better than some of the giants who finished second in the group stage.

And Atletico Madrid's ambitions in the Champions League this season are not small, although after the Champions League restructuring, no team can successfully defend the Champions League, but Simeone's team still put all their energy into the Champions League.

The most realistic consideration is that the Champions League is a strong financial supplement for Atletico Madrid.

Winning the Champions League last season, the European bonus plus the broadcast share brought Atletico Madrid more than 60 million euros in additional income, which is a lot of money for some big clubs, let alone Atletico Madrid.

Therefore, if they can continue to be strong in the Champions League this season, Atletico Madrid will be more confident to defend themselves financially against poaching by other clubs. 10