After the kick-off, Southampton kept kicking back in the midfield and never rushed forward. However, Atletico Madrid's defenders were not in a hurry. They still stayed within the 30-meter defensive zone and never rushed out to expand their own area.
defense zone.
Southampton's first shot came from a long shot.
De Bruyne passed the ball to J. Ronaldo who was pulling out of the penalty area. J. Ronaldo took the ball and turned around. Seeing that the player who came up to defend him had not come up yet, he decisively took a shot!
The ball roared into the sky and then began to fall rapidly!
This long-range shot was a world-beater, but Courtois also made a world-class save. The Belgian stretched his arm and then narrowly pushed the ball over the baseline!
"This guy does this just because he has a top goalkeeper..." Ji Ya thought in his heart.
However, Courtois's performance is indeed very good. He has performed very well since the beginning of this season, and his performance is a little better than those famous goalkeepers.
"In this case, long-range shots may be a bit unreliable." Ji Ya thought in his heart.
After the opening, if the opponent sticks to the penalty area, they will use long-range shots to test. This is the strategy set before.
But seeing that Courtois performed so well when he came up, it would be bad if he took too many long shots and brought out the opponent's condition.
So Noriya made a gesture to the court, asking the players to change their offensive strategy.
Southampton did not send this corner kick directly into the penalty area, but passed a tactical corner kick and began to continue to control the ball and pass the attack.
This time the pass was passed deeper, and Atletico Madrid's defense responded immediately.
Everyone started to focus on Southampton's players, even the players who were not holding the ball. With a sufficient numerical advantage, their man-to-man defense was quite effective.
However, Southampton quickly passed the ball to De Bruyne who was running on the right side of the penalty area!
De Bruyne started to break through with the ball, and when Mario Suarez went to defend, he was suddenly broken through.
Seeing that another Belgian was also performing well, Atletico Madrid's other midfielder Thiago pounced on him.
De Bruyne made a fake pass, then quickly started and broke through again!
"Two people in a row! De Bruyne's performance is really amazing!"
As the commentator shouted, De Bruyne began to move faster, and other Southampton players also began to run faster and faster!
The acceleration of their running and attacking rhythm immediately caused Atletico Madrid's defensive running to also speed up!
No matter how strong the defense is, when two people are broken through in a row, there will definitely be a huge gap.
Atletico Madrid's defense is no exception.
Just when Godin was concentrating on preparing for De Bruyne's conflict, he saw De Bruyne lift his foot while running and pass the ball into the penalty area!
At the same time, a big black man rushed out of the crowd with an unstoppable momentum!
Courtois struck.
With his height and long arms, he still has a chance to touch the ball before Lukaku grabs the point.
However, Lukaku, who rushed into the penalty area, quickly took off, and when the ball was falling, his header lightly touched the bottom of the ball...
The ball immediately flew into the air obediently, flew past Courtois' outstretched hand, and then fell quickly, falling directly into the gate of Atletico Madrid!
One to zero! In the eighth minute of the game, Southampton took the lead!
A Belgian assisted another Belgian and broke through the third Belgian's ten fingers...
"Wonderful breakthrough, wonderful pass, wonderful shot! Southampton's attack was so perfect, De Bruyne's performance was simply amazing! Lukaku's grab was too timely, even if he took off
If you slow down a little bit, Courtois can make a save! I think Belgium’s performance in this summer’s World Cup can make people look forward to it even more!”
As the commentator shouted, the Southampton fans shouted wildly and loudly, while Lukaku ran on the field with his arms spread out, followed closely by the excited Southampton players.
Noriya waved his fist vigorously - Want to win on our home court? Sorry, this is impossible!
Victory must belong to us!
Simeone shook his head helplessly. He was mentally prepared for Southampton's sharp attack. However, Southampton actually relied on the players' personal abilities to complete this attack, which made him somewhat unprepared.
After all, Southampton has always played an overall offense. Just like this season, although Suarez is the top scorer and has scored many goals, he is only a part of Southampton's offensive system, not overriding it.
On top of the entire offensive system.
But the attack just now was purely De Bruyne's personal performance.
Did Ji Ya give De Bruyne such power, or was it De Bruyne's own decision?
Judging from Ji Ya's performance, he gave De Bruyne such power...
Is this a change for Southampton, or have they always been prepared?
Thinking of this, Simeone is a little unsure. If Southampton can still hide this hand and not use it, then their overall strength will indeed be a bit scary.
But even if they lose a goal, they can't just admit defeat.
The game is still long, and this goal can only prove that the winner of this game will definitely be decided within ninety minutes!
Southampton's players celebrated for a while and then returned to their own half. Atletico Madrid's players also quickly regained their composure and they restarted the game.
Atletico Madrid's offense was relatively simple, and soon they passed the ball to Costa, who started to attack personally.
Casemiro entangled him, but physically, Casemiro was still a little worse. Costa still dribbled the ball forward, attracting enough attention, and then passed the ball to the receiving Ah.
Derrian.
After Adrian got the ball, he shot a long shot. The ball hit the blocked Otamendi and flew out of the baseline, resulting in a corner kick.
Cork took a corner kick and Font made the first clearance. The ball flew to the outside. Thiago passed it to Felipe who was assisting on the left. Felipe made a pass. The ball was blocked by Klein with his foot and then changed.
It flew towards the goal and finally landed on top of the net.
Atletico Madrid continued to take a corner kick, and Mario Suarez rushed to header the ball high.
Ji Ya nodded with satisfaction in the audience.
Southampton's defense is average, and that's when they are on offense. Their counterattack ability against the opponent is indeed not very good, but if they open up a defensive position, their defense is still very good.
After withstanding Atletico Madrid's attack, Southampton began their slow passing attack again.
