Chapter 153 The old golden boy breaks the deadlock
In the second half of the game, neither Atletico Madrid nor Espanyol made any substitutions.
Atletico Madrid continued the tactics of the first half, pressing high and pressing overall.
Different from the first half, the defense against Zhao Yang and Asensio was not only strict and fierce, but also separated them, cut off the passing lines, and prevented them from cooperating.
This defense worked well for the Spaniards.
Atletico Madrid defended Asensio, the hub of Spaniard's offense and defense. The other Spaniard players had rough skills. Under Atletico Madrid's high-pressure press, it was difficult to control the ball and pass the ball accurately. There were almost no passes with more than five shots.
Without the organization of the midfield, Zhao Yang and Caicedo were almost sitting back and waiting in the frontcourt, and could only compete with the defenders for the ball that was cleared into the frontcourt.
Although Zhao Yang also has the "Taishan overwhelming" header skill, he can't beat Atletico Madrid's defenders alone.
Caicedo's header was not as good as Zhao Yang's, and he had no way of grabbing the ball.
Fortunately, the Spaniard's offense could not be organized and the defense was still on line. The defenders and midfielders worked together to block Atletico Madrid's continuous attacks.
Zhao Yang knew that he was more threatening in the frontcourt, but there was nothing he could do if he couldn't get the ball.
For more than ten minutes in the second half, Caicedo and Zhao Yang did not create a single shooting opportunity in front.
Caicedo is a forward and must stay in the frontcourt to contain Atletico Madrid's defenders. Zhao Yang felt that he couldn't touch the ball in the frontcourt, so he came to the midfield to look for opportunities and help Asensio control the ball.
Because Zhao Yang has strong passing ability, his position is relatively flexible. Head coach Sergio did not have any objections to Zhao Yang's position change. The situation was very passive, so it would be a good try to make some changes.
Zhao Yang returned to the midfield and was close to Asensio. Both of them can pass people and control the ball. Together, they quickly developed a chemical reaction.
In the 60th minute of the game, Asensio received a pass from the defender and immediately passed it to Zhao Yang beside him.
When Zhao Yang caught the ball, he used a "fried meatball" fake move to pass the attacking defensive player.
Zhao Yang took two steps forward, and Asensio had already run out of the open space. Zhao Yang gave the ball to Asensio and moved forward himself.
With Zhao Yang opening up the defense, Asensio handled the ball much more calmly. He saw Perez advancing on the other side of the court and immediately made a long pass and found Perez.
Perez went straight to the baseline along the wing, and Zhao Yang and Asensio immediately rushed into the penalty area to outflank the ball.
Perez did not go down to the baseline, but went directly to the side of the penalty area and made a cross.
Inside the penalty area, Caicedo was competing with defender Godin for position. Outside the penalty area, Zhao Yang and Asensio charged in at high speed.
Atletico Madrid defender Godin accurately judged the placement. He got ahead of Caicedo and flicked the ball towards the midfielder.
Although this attack did not result in a shot, it was much better than before when there was no shot opportunity.
Now the Spanish players saw hope. Not only did Zhao Yang stay directly in the midfield, Caicedo also retreated, getting close to Zhao Yang and Asensio, giving them a passing point.
Zhao Yang, Asensio and Caicedo cooperated tacitly, and all three returned to the midfield. The Spaniard's control ability in the midfield was enhanced. On several occasions, Atletico Madrid surrounded the three in the midfield, but they were all blocked.
Asensio easily picked the ball out of the crowd.
After Caicedo retreated into the midfield, the Spaniard's midfield control was strengthened and he was able to attack the ball into the frontcourt, but there was no one in front to respond and he couldn't attack quickly.
The Spaniard passed the ball to the frontcourt, and Atletico Madrid players had already set up a defensive line. It would be difficult for the Spaniard to attack again.
In the 70th minute of the game, the Spaniard controlled the ball in the midfield. At this time, the full-back Perez, who had a strong desire to attack, quickly moved forward. Asensio saw Perez's running route and made a long pass.
Perez was accurately found.
Perez, who was unguarded, took the ball and drove into the penalty area from the right side of the penalty area.
At this time, Oblak struck out at high speed to block Perez's shooting route.
Perez lacked confidence when facing Oblak. He was thinking that he shot directly and missed the goalkeeper.
With this hesitation, the defender came from behind and made a flying tackle, scooping the ball out of the baseline and knocking down Perez at the same time.
Perez thought he had been tackled, so he got up and asked the referee for a penalty kick, but the referee signaled that the game should continue and there was no penalty kick.
Seeing that Atletico Madrid was still attacking, Perez did not dare to argue with the referee and quickly returned to defense.
Perez came back too late. Atletico Madrid pushed the ball to the frontcourt, and deputy Koke took a long shot directly from the frontcourt.
Cork's foot was very strong, but his aim was almost wrong, and he kicked the ball into the stands.
Simeone saw signs of activity in the Espanyol team, and he immediately made adjustments. He replaced Vietto and replaced the veteran Torres, hoping to use Torres' experience to help Atletico Madrid complete the goal.
At the same time, Simeone discovered that only Asensio in the Spaniard's frontcourt had the ability to organize and dispatch, and immediately sent a player to keep an eye on Asensio.
In the 75th minute of the game, Atletico Madrid full-back Felipe got the ball in the backcourt. He rushed along the sideline and miraculously reached the penalty area.
Facing goalkeeper Lopez, Felipe curled the ball into the back corner of the goal.
The ball bypassed goalkeeper Lopez, but was headed out by the Spanish defender on the goal line.
In the 78th minute of Atletico Madrid, Atletico forward Griezmann pulled to the wing to get the ball.
Spanish defender Fuentes came to defend and was passed by Griezmann. Then Griezmann ground the ball across the penalty area.
Spanish defender Alvaro made a clearance at the front point, but kicked the ball to Griezmann who passed the ball and walked towards the penalty area.
Griezmann stopped the ball and took the ball towards the penalty area.
Alvaro quickly came to defend, and Griezmann passed Alvaro with a fried ball and faced goalkeeper Lopez directly.
Lopez blocked the near corner. Griezmann feinted and tried to push the shot into the far corner, but he failed to deceive goalkeeper Lopez. Lopez almost used a move that was close to a horse and blocked it with his foot.
The Spanish fans were about to applaud this save, but then they discovered that the ball was blocked in front of the veteran Torres who came on the bench.
Torres had just come on the field, and he didn't even expect that the opponent's goalkeeper would kick the ball to him.
Although the ball came suddenly, Torres was extremely experienced and the shot was almost engraved in his bones.
Torres subconsciously blocked it with his foot, and the ball returned to the original path and flew right into the Spaniard's goal.
3:2
Torres, who had just played for less than a minute, scored with a supplementary shot and regained the lead for Atletico Madrid.
Torres made his debut at Atletico Madrid and was almost a symbol of Atletico Madrid at the time, and is still the favorite star of Atletico Madrid fans.
Seeing Torres scoring a goal and running with his arms raised high, the fans seemed to have seen the heroic golden boy back then. In an instant, many fans felt like they were "back to youth".