"Hmm, is 'Miracle Dick' better, or 'Magician Dick' (I won't go into the origin of this, everyone should know it)..."
Dick was yawning in his mind as he sat down in his seat. Seeing him receiving such a welcome, Mourinho's eyes on the visiting team's coaching bench became a little colder.
"Sure enough, it's not that simple... What a pity, Van Gaal didn't listen to me..." Mourinho thought in his heart.
In fact, it’s no wonder that Van Gaal underestimated the enemy. His judgment was based on the psychology of a head coach. As a result, Dick was not a normal head coach. Probably only Mourinho, who had dealt with him, could vaguely understand.
Knowing something about him, it is normal to suffer such a loss, just like Cooper.
Now Van Gaal is sullen - he has hidden two absolute main players, but let Litmanen and Ronald De Boer, who have not performed very well this season, play, while Atletico Madrid has all the main players.
He was sent on the field. He also watched the video of the last round of Atletico Madrid. The initial establishment of the central axis of Gamarra, Belleron, Juninho and Hasselbaink was the increase in Atletico Madrid's combat effectiveness.
The key is that these four people are now on the court, and Atletico Madrid's formation is the same as the second half of the previous round, a standard defensive counterattack!
However, Van Gaal did not want to just admit defeat.
Isn’t it just that the two main players are missing? I don’t believe that Atletico Madrid has become a top team now, and I don’t believe that Barcelona will not be able to break through Atletico Madrid’s strict defense without their two main players – we can’t
Not Valencia! Valencia is not good at attacking because they lack a top center, but what about us? There are two such outstanding forwards on the field! Kluivert is the best center in the four-three-three tactic.
Dani is in hot form recently and is a standard point-grabbing forward. With these two on the court and the creativity of our midfielder, are we afraid that we won't be able to score your Atletico Madrid goal?
Van Gaal does not believe in evil, but after the game started, his confidence began to waver slightly...
"Don't believe in evil, brother, I did not give them any injections or medicine, but their fighting spirit is stronger than ever!" Dick thought leisurely on the coaching bench with his legs crossed.
.
What makes all Atletico Madrid fans extremely excited is that after two consecutive victories, Atletico Madrid players not only did not lose their energy, but seemed to have aroused a strong fighting spirit and began to run back and forth in the midfield.
Moving, blocking Barcelona's attack.
Logically speaking, Atletico Madrid should have encountered more difficulties defensively in this game. Although there are no Rivaldo and Figo, Barcelona's positional offensive ability is still quite outstanding. However, from the beginning of the game, Atletico Madrid
The competitive players showed high fighting spirit and blocked Barcelona's attack from the midfield - even Juninho kept pressing Guardiola in the frontcourt, making it impossible for him to easily organize the attack...
Faced with this kind of pressing that started from the midfield, Barcelona's players seemed a little uncomfortable. If Rivaldo and Figo were there, they could pass the ball directly to the feet of these two people to launch an attack. However, they
Not here now...
Guardiola made an extremely wonderful long pass after the start. However, Cocu, who broke into the penalty area, had already heard the referee's whistle when he hit the ball into the goal - Gamarra, who was lagging behind, moved forward in time.
, leaving him in an offside position, Cocu's goal was disallowed.
Then Ronald De Boer's free kick was saved by Molina, and Litmanen's two breakthroughs from the right were also blocked by Capdevila. After blocking Barcelona's attack after the opening,
Atletico Madrid began to take advantage of the situation to counterattack!
Different from the previous game where they basically contracted their defense, Atletico Madrid adopted relatively active tactics in this game. Although they still put a lot of effort into defense, in offense, they did not rely on one or two people.
The long pass breakthrough!
In the 15th minute, Belleron got the ball in the backcourt and quickly handed it to Juninho in front and then moved forward. Juninho passed it to Solari who was determined to get in on the left. Solari dribbled the ball forward.
Two steps later, it was passed to Hasselbaink. Hasselbaink took the ball and passed it back. Belleron quickly took off and shot far away. The ball was saved by Hesp.
"Yes, this kind of attack is what we want." Dick nodded secretly. Atletico Madrid actually had many players with good skills in the frontcourt, but there were not many fast players. The counterattack tactics he set up were this kind of three-four.
Personal cooperation in a small area and quick passing to complete the counterattack may be a little slower, but the success of the offense will be greater. What's more, in this game, Barcelona changed the usual 433 to 442. In fact,
The ability to control the upper midfield has been weakened a lot, and Atletico Madrid is more likely to complete such an attack.
"If you just rely on that kind of lucky counterattack to score goals, even if you win the game, it won't have such a big impact on Barcelona's confidence." Dick thought in his mind.
The game on the field is still going on. Atletico Madrid's counterattack just now sounded the alarm for Barcelona. Their offense seemed to be slower than before, and the two sides started to struggle in the midfield.
Dick is also happy to see this situation. In the last round, they recovered deeply against Valencia because they were afraid of Lopez's speed and skills. Does Barcelona have such a forward? No, Kluivert is a center forward.
Dani is a pure shooter, so it doesn't matter if there is more space in the backcourt. Instead, he needs to strengthen the defense in the midfield to have a better effect.
Different beards require different scissors to deal with. If Van Gaal thought that Atletico Madrid would still use the same shrinking defense as in the last game, then he was wrong!
Seeing the constant struggle between the two sides in the midfield, Barcelona's midfield has not yet gained the upper hand. Van Gaal's brows furrowed even more tightly. Atletico Madrid's midfielder's performance is still quite good, but Barcelona's midfielder is weaker than usual.
Okay, if this entanglement continues, it will not be easy for Barcelona to score goals...
"They are strengthening the midfield." Mourinho whispered to Van Gaal.
"It seems that I have really underestimated this guy. All he wants is to compete with us in the King's Cup! This bastard, is he so sure of relegation?" Van Gaal whispered to Mourinho through gritted teeth.
Oh said.
"Maybe he is just a guy who puts personal grudges more seriously than the interests of the team..." Mourinho said with a wry smile.
Van Gaal was stunned for a moment, and then he realized - yes, maybe Dick is such a person. After all, he is only twenty-one years old, and he is still at an age where he likes to act impulsively. Maybe he has never thought about it at all.
What impact will the full effort in this game have on the cause of relegation? I just want to prevent Barcelona from winning a championship and reduce the possibility of streaking!
Coupled with the fact that Van Gaal knew that Dick was kicked out by Cruyff, Van Gaal, who was originally furious, couldn't help but smile bitterly - did he really want to be angry with such a fool?
To be honest, although Van Gaal's slogan is to win the Triple Crown like Manchester United last season, he also knows very well that winning the Triple Crown does not rely on strength alone, but also requires luck.
In fact, Manchester United did not have an overwhelming advantage on all fronts last season. As a result, they were very lucky, which created a miracle. Although Barcelona still has a chance to win the championship on all three fronts, it has not been able to do so.
He has been almost dragged out. This is the real reason why he hid Figo and Rivaldo in the semi-finals of the King's Cup - the Triple Crown is just a gimmick. What he really wants to achieve is to win the Champions League.
He has made a breakthrough. He has already won two domestic double crowns. What he lacks is just a Champions League. If he can win the Champions League, he can be compared with Cruyff in Barcelona's history.
We know that Cruyff’s dream team only has one Champions League title!
Leading Barcelona to the semi-finals of the Champions League this time is already Barcelona's best result since the only championship in history. Now for Van Gaal, what he has to do is to win the Champions League in one go. Then his
The position will be extremely stable!
You must know that there are already signs of civil strife in Barcelona, both within the team and outside. Barcelona fans are dissatisfied with Van Gaal's emphasis on the Dutch gang and the Portuguese gang and his contempt for local players. Within the team, Rivaldo and Figo are
He was dissatisfied that Van Gaal valued his old Ajax team - both of them only received an annual salary of three million US dollars. However, Litmanen, who joined freely in the summer, as a player who could not even play in the main team, received an annual salary of five million US dollars.
Million dollar annual salary!
Now with the big goal of hitting the Champions League, the team is relatively stable. Van Gaal now just wants to win the Champions League and then put things right!
"Let's keep playing like this. After all, we still have a home court, so there's no need to be too anxious." Van Gaal stabilized his mind and said to Mourinho.
Mourinho nodded. The current situation is just a stalemate. There is no need to be too anxious. So what if there is a small loss in the away game? Back at home, plus there is another game against Atletico Madrid in the league, three consecutive games.
After the defeat, how much physical fitness and condition can Atletico Madrid, which is already at the end of its strength, still have?
After all, Barcelona's two main players were hidden in this game...
Just when Van Gaal was about to continue watching calmly, an unexpected situation on the field made him angry again...
In the 30th minute of the game, Barcelona's attack failed and Atletico Madrid launched a counterattack.
Juninho saw little opportunity after taking the ball, turned around and passed the ball to Belleron who was coming from behind. Belleron caught the ball and turned around, suddenly raised his foot and distributed the ball to the right. Aguilera came from this side
Rushed up.
When facing Sergi's defense, Aguilera first made a fake pass to the center, and then suddenly moved the ball to the sideline and forced a breakthrough!
Aguilera, who is already thirty years old, breaks through as quickly as a young man!
Facing this former national team teammate, Sergi obviously did not expect that Aguilera would suddenly return to his peak state. Aguilera accidentally rushed past him!
After breaking through Sergi, Aguilera had nothing to defend in front of him. He broke through all the way to the bottom line, and then he spotted Hasselbaink who was connecting in the middle and passed the ball out.
Originally Abelardo was pestering Hasselbaink, but when Hasselbaink rushed forward to receive Aguilera's pass, Abelardo ran two steps, but suddenly
My feet slipped and I fell to the ground!
"I wiped it. I didn't seem to use the fall card. This guy actually fell down..." Dick thought in shock.
Hasselbaink was not polite when his defender fell down for no apparent reason. He took a step across, received Aguilera's pass and raised his foot to shoot in the face of compatriot Hesp, and the ball hit the net.
