Chapter 208 League Sprint and One-to-Zero Doctrine

Li Qingshan said very firmly, but the media in Madrid didn't see it that way.

Now Atletico Madrid is under pressure in the league, they have been biting Barcelona tightly, not daring to relax in the slightest. In the eyes of the Madrid media, it is better for Atletico Madrid to draw Barcelona in the same league, because this opponent is not only familiar, but also saves the hard work of traveling long distances.

And now it is drawn to Bayern Munich, and it is still played away first. Generally speaking, the away and home schedule is still somewhat advantageous for Atletico Madrid, but before the semi-finals, Atletico Madrid still have three league games.

Before the Champions League starts, everyone has a league to do. It's just that Atletico Madrid's schedule is particularly tight, these three league opponents are at home against Elche on April 26, away against Villarreal on April 30, and at home against Athletic Bilbao on May 3, these three opponents are nothing special, after all, Atletico Madrid is no longer what it used to be, except for Real Madrid and Barcelona, other teams Atletico Madrid have an absolute strength advantage.

The problem is the schedule, the match against Athletic Bilbao is on May 3, three days later, on May 6, the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals will begin, and Atletico Madrid will rush to Munich immediately after a league game, including away to Villarreal, in just eight days of three tough games, which is undoubtedly a serious test for the team's fitness.

Therefore, many Madrid media believe that Atletico Madrid will not be much weaker than Bayern Munich in terms of strength, but in terms of schedule, Atletico Madrid is too much of a loss, although Bayern Munich also has league games to play, but Bayern Munich, which is sitting at home, must be recovering better than Atletico Madrid.

Therefore, the most realistic consideration for Atletico Madrid's away game in Germany is to secure a draw first, preferably an away goal, and then play Bayern Munich when they return home.

And in the league, now that it has reached the final sprint, Simeone will not relax in the league at this time. If they can't continue to bite Barcelona in the league, then the chances of winning the league become a little slim.

On April 26, in the 32nd round of the league, Atletico Madrid welcomed Elche at home.

Since this game, Simeone has begun to rotate his play, and some of the main players in the last Champions League have been rested, such as Griezmann, Raul Garcia, and Koke......... Wait, replaced half of the starting lineup.

But Li Qingshan was not rotated, he still started and played the whole game. Li Qingshan is the attendance leader of Atletico Madrid this season, and although he has missed a few games in the Asian Cup, he is still the player with the most games in the Atletico Madrid team.

Although his partners in the game have changed, his performance has not changed. He is the fulcrum of Atletico Madrid's frontcourt attack, the core of the team's tactics, in the usual training, whether it is the main player or the substitute player, it is necessary to carry out the offensive tactics through Li Qingshan. Therefore, most of the players in Atletico Madrid are very accustomed to the way Li Qingshan plays when he is on the field.

At the Calderón Stadium, although Atletico Madrid did not go out of the main team, with Li Qingshan's two goals and Mandzukic icing on the cake in the second half, Atletico Madrid still defeated the visiting Elche 3-0.

Barcelona, on the other hand, won the Catalan derby with a 2-0 away win over Espanyol and continued to hold the top spot in the table.

Next up is April 30, when Atletico Madrid travels to Villarreal.

The Yellow Submarine have suffered a lot of injuries recently, and the team has just been eliminated from the League Cup and the Copa del Rey, which has taken a bit of a blow to the team's confidence and their results have plummeted. In the first half of the season, Villarreal's strikers were very impressive, but in the second half of the season, their strikers were collectively dumbfounded, and no matter how much the manager sent out a combination of strikers, they could not find the feeling of a sharp combination between two or three people in the middle.

In this game, Simeone continued to make rotations, and the team still played in a set of semi-main players and half-team substitutes.

Perhaps it was the impact of the continuous rotation on the team, but at the Love Song Stadium, Atletico Madrid was in very big trouble at one point, and the score was still 0-0 until the 89th minute.

Because Barcelona has beaten Getafe 6-0 before, if Atletico Madrid can't get all three points in this game, Barcelona will immediately open up a three-point gap in the standings, and because Barcelona currently has a goal difference of seven more than Atletico Madrid, therefore, if it is a three-point difference, it will be too difficult for Atletico Madrid to reverse the game.

Simeone stood on the sidelines with some anxiety, and even Simeone's face showed an anxious look when there were only a few minutes left in the game.

Needless to say, Villarrealal, who were playing at home, looked very content with a draw, and they were all back in the box in the final stages of the game, leaving Atletico Madrid feeling a little overwhelmed.

However, in the ninetieth minute of the game, when Li Qingshan scored the ball into the goal through a corner kick, Simeone's pressure was fully released. At the Love Song Stadium, Simeone came to a crazy celebration of running more than 40 meters.

This season, whenever Atletico Madrid's attack is in trouble, they have always been able to change the score with set-pieces, and Atletico Madrid's high-flying bombardment from set-pieces has scared almost all teams in La Liga.

This time was the same, Villarrealral, who held on for 90 minutes, finally fell short, they lost a corner kick defense, Li Qingshan shook off the defender, jumped behind the Villarreal central defender, and then leaned over, threw the ball into the goal, strong bounce ability and waist strength at this moment is undoubtedly displayed.

In the end, Atletico Madrid defeated Villarreal 1-0 from the Love Song Stadium with a goal in the final stage of the game, taking away the three points and avoiding the end of being opened up by Barcelona.

On May 3, the home team ushered in the challenge of Athletic Bilbao, this game Simeone's rotation was larger, and the home game gave Simeone the confidence to rotate, of course, the most important thing is to have Li Qingshan on the field, which made him more at ease.

Sure enough, Li Qingshan came out with a substitute lineup to make Atletico Madrid lackluster in positional attack, but Atletico Madrid's set-piece attack was still sharp, before the end of the first half, Li Qingshan seized a free kick opportunity in front, received a pass from his teammates and hit the ball into the goal.

1-0, which was also the score at the end of the game, two consecutive affordable 1-0s allowed Atletico Madrid to maintain the pressure on Barcelona.