Chapter Twenty-Four: Who is the best in physical fitness?

Since the beginning of 2014, the La Liga schedule has become more and more tight. Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info especially for teams with European missions, in the case of third-line operations, it is a very severe test for the team's physical fitness and squad thickness.

Just three days after the end of a costly battle for the top spot with Barcelona, Atletico Madrid will host the second leg of the Copa del Rey at home. The attack won 2-1 away at Valencia, but that score wasn't enough to guarantee Atletico Madrid a smooth run.

Despite the match in three days' time, Simeone decided to take a day off after the match against Barcelona. After all, players are not iron-clad, and a 90-minute game can be very physically demanding.

The match between Real Madrid and Espanyol was played on the second day of the match between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. Sure enough, Real Madrid, who were away from home, easily beat Espanyol by one goal and narrowed the distance between the standings and the top two.

The Atletico Madrid players, who returned to the training base after the holiday, may also be in a slightly depressed mood because of this. A draw at home put their title race on the back burner, and the pursuers behind them began to press on. In the middle of the league, the pressure started to build up.

Simeone, of course, saw it, and he was in the office at this time to discuss the countermeasures with his assistants.

Now Atletico Madrid is faced with a choice question - whether to focus on the league or the cup.

If it's the best situation, it's best to win all the championships! But Simeone knows very well in his heart that Atletico Madrid does not have a squad like Real Madrid after all, and even on the bench can sit a group of superstars worth tens of millions. Atletico Madrid's squad is not thick enough to support them to be able to go hand in hand with multiple lines. If every competition is put into the competition, then by the end of the season, Atletico Madrid may have to be empty.

Therefore, in the face of a multi-front combat situation, it is a rational choice to make trade-offs.

In Spain, Atletico Madrid has won the Copa del Rey last season, and this season, for the whole team, the most desired thing is, of course, the La Liga championship!

Simeone groaned and said: "I decided that we will focus on the league, as for the Copa del Rey........ the substitute lineup, and then make adjustments if the Copa del Rey can reach the last four. How is the fitness of the team at the moment. ”

Strength and conditioning coach Ortega replied: "Most of the players who played in the last league game were not in a very good condition, and in today's training, their reaction rate, enthusiasm, the amplitude of their movements, their explosiveness and flexibility in disguise have decreased significantly. Except, of course, Li Qingshan, who seemed completely unaffected by that match. He's training really well. ”

Simeone nodded and looked at José Biarron, the head of the team's medical team. The medical captain quickly produced a report and said: "We have done a physical examination of some of the players, and most of the main players have a red light on their physical condition, and they need at least three to four days to recover, and their current fitness is not enough to support them for the game in two days." ”

This was all expected by Simeone, and he nodded and made a decision. It seems that the Copa del Rey will only be able to field a pure substitute lineup.

José Biarón hesitated for a moment and continued: "However, Li Qingshan's situation is very strange, we even gave him a comprehensive physical examination, and his physical condition is not at all like a player who has experienced a long season and played almost all games, but the situation is much better than the player's physical condition at the beginning of the season. ”

"We gave him a body fat test, physical training heart rate monitoring, lactate level test, all of which show that he has no symptoms of fatigue at all, if he just had a high-intensity race a day ago, running all over the world, running a distance of up to 10 kilometers, it is estimated that not many people will believe it, but the facts in front of us are really unbelievable."

Jose Villalón said a lot, but what Simeone needed most was the point he expressed: "In other words, Li Qingshan can play in the game in two days' time, and it will not affect his body at all?" ”

José Biarón nodded: "Although I don't know what the reason is, it is. Maybe he was born to be a footballer. It's as tireless as a robot. ”

Either way, Simeone was quick to confirm his starting line-up for the next Copa del Rey game against Valencia.

With the exception of goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, centre-back Godin, Gabi, who is suspended for the next round of the league due to a red card, and striker Li Qingshan, the other starters from the previous game will not be included in the squad for this game.

When the lineup was confirmed, Simeone breathed a sigh of relief, if it was possible, of course he would not have given up on a front so early, and now it seems that the situation is much better than Simeone imagined, at least he can form a complete central axis. From goalkeepers, central defenders, midfielders, and center forwards, this central axis is basically the main configuration. Even Simeone unknowingly included Li Qingshan in the main lineup, and the idea of just wanting to bring in a substitute striker had long been left behind by him. Having a big center forward with such physical strength and strength that is not much weaker than other Atletico Madrid strikers is, of course, going to the death.

In this way, Atletico Madrid, which maintains the integrity of the central axis, basically maintains a framework with considerable strength, and only needs to add some auxiliary players to this central axis, and Atletico Madrid is not necessarily weaker than Valencia, which is fully attacking, at home.

Moreover, it is not necessarily a bad thing to send a bunch of substitutes once in a while, and it is even possible that the substitutes will burst out with stronger combat effectiveness. After all, in the face of competition within the team, the substitutes' thirst for opportunities may make them burst out with more momentum.

That's what this game is.

Facing Atletico Madrid, who sent a large number of substitutes, Valencia could not bargain on the road.

Atletico Madrid is already good at breaking the ball and counterattacking, and Valencia, who fell behind in the first leg, is eager to equalize, which naturally gives Atletico Madrid the opportunity to break the ball and counterattack.

In the thirty-sixth minute of the first half, Atletico Madrid successfully broke the ball in the backfield and found the top of Li Qingshan's head with a direct long pass.

The forward partners in this game are Li Qingshan and Villa, and such a forward combination is not much weaker than Diego Costa and Villa or Diego Costa and Li Qingshan. Atletico Madrid's three strikers have their own characteristics, and their combination on the pitch can also complement each other.

Just like now, Li Qingshan, who is good at high-altitude balls, crossed the ball with a header and passed the ball to the feet of Villa, who is good at running. Villa received the ball in the box and shot at goal, deceived the defender and slammed it to the baseline, then rubbed the ball up near the baseline.

Li Qingshan, who had already followed up, pressed Valencia's central defender to score with a header.

1-0, Atletico Madrid, who sent most of the substitutes, took the lead.

In the second half, the side changed sides and fought again, and in the 78th minute, the same offensive routine was staged again. This time, Villa, who received the header ferry, did not stop the ball, but directly met the ball and volleyed. The goalkeeper didn't have time to react before the ball flew into the goal.

In the end, the game ended with a score of 2-0, and Atletico Madrid, who had been heavily rotated, defeated Valencia with the wonderful performance of two strikers, and advanced to the next round of the Copa del Rey 4-1 over two legs.