Chapter Fifty-Nine: Second Round

Atletico's players who returned to the dressing room were a little silent. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Li Qingshan just silently made it in front of his cabinet, he took off the shin guards, sneakers, and socks one by one, and put them next to the cabinet. The team's equipment manager is responsible for recycling, organizing, and cleaning the players' playing equipment.

Simeone walked into the dressing room and immediately felt the somewhat oppressive atmosphere in the team.

In fact, the 1-1 score is still in Atletico Madrid's favor, but because it was equalized before the end, the taste of being killed is definitely not comfortable.

Simeone clapped his hands and asked the players to look up at him.

"Alright guys, I'm sorry to concede the goal at the last minute, but anyway, we did what we were aiming for! Since we were able to draw 1-1 with them on their road, will they still have a chance when they return to our home stadium? Let's go back to the home stadium and defeat them! ”

In fact, Simeone has some sneaky concepts here, there is no direct logical connection between the two football games, and it cannot be said that Atletico Madrid drew with Barcelona away from home, so he will definitely win when he returns to his home stadium.

But the players didn't think about it so much, Simeone's prestige in the team is very high, and they will always believe the words of the leading brother without thinking.

So they were quickly full of fighting spirit!

What is Barcelona, back at home to clean them up!

Simeone was relieved to see that the team's morale had not suffered, and at a critical moment in the late stages of the league, it would be troublesome if the team's morale was low.

Barcelona's morale was high, partly because they equalised before the break, but also because they were absolutely confident in their own strength: Barcelona have suffered a 1-1 draw in the first leg of the first leg at home on five occasions in European competition, three of which were successfully promoted, and only two were eliminated or lost. In the UEFA Super Cup in November 1989 (which was a two-legged affair), Barcelona drew 1-1 at home to Milan and lost 1-0 at the San Siro. In the 1994-95 season, Barcelona drew 1-1 at home to Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, and came to France, where Barcelona lost 1-2 and was eliminated. These two eliminations are a long time ago, and Barcelona have been terrifyingly dominant in the Champions League for nearly a decade, knocking out their opponents in the second leg of the last three first-leg draws.

So, from Barcelona's point of view, the danger is certainly there, but qualifying for the semi-finals is anything but a unlikely event.

Therefore, in the post-match interview, Barcelona coach Martino did not look too depressed, and he even looked confident.

'We would have liked to win at home, preferably without conceding a goal, but neither of those things did today. But I'm happy with the way the players played, and when we were behind we tried to save our lives. If we still have that belief in the second leg, I think we will advance. Martino said.

Simeone, on the other hand, praised the team's performance after the game: "I think my players have great willpower and this score makes me proud. Courtois has been fantastic and his future must be full of brilliance; Li Qingshan's goal made me very happy, he was very confident when he shot on goal, he was a reassuring goalscorer. ”

At this time, Simeone didn't say a word about his heartbeat when Li Qingshan shot........

The 1-1 scoreline has left the second leg full of suspense between the two sides, and almost all of Spain is watching the two La Liga teams in the second leg of the Champions League.

Real Madrid, on the other side, lost 2-0 away to Borussia Dortmund, failed to score away and were almost on the verge of elimination. If Real Madrid are eliminated, then the winner between Atletico Madrid and Barcelona will be left in the Champions League semi-finals.

The Spaniards naturally don't want to see such a scene, and if possible, they even want the Champions League semi-finals to be all La Liga teams, but unfortunately except for Barcelona and Real Madrid, the performance of other La Liga teams in the Champions League has been inconsistent, and now there is finally a team that Atletico Madrid looks to be able to perform consistently in the Champions League.........

After the midweek Champions League fixture, the 30th round of La Liga is in full swing at the weekend.

Atletico Madrid's home game against Villarreal came in the morning on April 5. Diego Costa's injury has taken the squad down, but even so, Atletico's win at home to the Yellow Submarine is not a big problem.

Villarreal's recent form has been quite sluggish, and the ever-growing injury list has kept the team winless in several league games. If it weren't for their excellent performance at the beginning of the league and a lot of points, it is estimated that they would have to worry about relegation now.

Due to the physical and energetic drain of the team from the double game in a week, especially the high intensity of the Champions League game against Barcelona in midweek, and due to the absence of Diego Costa, Villa, who replaced him, was significantly less effective up front than Diego Costa.

Thankfully, Li Qingshan's performance was quite active, and his fitness was not affected by the midweek game at all, so he put a lot of pressure on the Villarreal defence.

Under his constant onslaught, in the 33rd minute of the game, he knocked on Villarreal's goal with his trademark header.

Once the situation opened up, the game was much easier.

Not long after the start of the second half, Li Qingshan's header in the penalty area was ferried, and Koke pushed the empty goal at the back point, and finally Atletico Madrid won the game 2-0 and continued to maintain the lead in the standings.

At the post-match press conference, Villarreal's head coach Marcelino said helplessly: "We did our best in this game, but Li Qingshan's impact in the penalty area is too amazing, and it is difficult for our players to defend against such an impact for 90 minutes." Football games are like that sometimes, when you have a star player, sometimes the game becomes easier. ”

After this game, Atletico Madrid entered the rhythm of preparing for the Champions League. This kind of rhythm is not easy for this Atletico Madrid team, who have not had much experience in a high-intensity game like this. In fact, this season was also the first Champions League game since Simeone took over the team.

This will produce a team that will advance to the semi-finals, and for Barcelona fans, they will be hoping to reach the semi-finals for the seventh consecutive year, while Atletico Madrid fans will be eager to relive the good old days of 27 years ago.

In fact, there was not much time to prepare, and three days later, in the second leg of the 2013/2014 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, Atletico Madrid hosted Barcelona.

After 90 minutes, it will be clear who will advance to the semi-finals.