Chapter 111 The Tactical Philosophies of Simeone and Tuchel

The match remained fiercely contested.

Didi di.

A notification sounded from Burgos's Google Glass.

"Pay attention to that Morata kid, he's the best striker in Europe right now!"

"Cut off his connection with Li!"

A few minutes later.

Kante successfully intercepted Griezmann, and Drinkwater controlled the ball.

The two midfield powerhouses who made their name at Leicester City displayed perfect chemistry.

Drinkwater sent a long, ground pass, finding Chelsea's number 10, who had run into open space.

The instant Li Kang received the ball, Koke, Saúl, and Gabi quickly formed a three-man encirclement.

Sliding tackle.

Extending a foot.

Positioning.

Li Kang performed an L-shaped pull, dodging Gabi's sliding tackle.

Immediately following with a step to adjust his center of gravity.

An outward step-over turn.

Giving himself the perfect passing space.

Gasps of amazement filled the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium.

The audience was stunned beyond words: What kind of perverted ball control is that!

Pa!

The ball lifted off the ground, bypassing Atletico Madrid's midfield barrier, and fell straight towards the edge of the penalty area.

Morata was in perfect sync.

Godín and Giménez tried to "close the door!"

They couldn't close it!

The king of weak-foot strikes' timing was near perfect, and his explosive speed was especially terrifying!

In an instant, he shook off Atletico Madrid's defense by half a body length.

Johan Cruyff once said: "It's not that I run fast, but the timing of my start makes me look fast."

The ball descended.

Morata raised his right foot.

Bang!

The ball rocketed towards the lower left corner of Atletico Madrid's goal.

Oblak looked relaxed, anticipating the shot and making a perfect diving save.

His red gloves firmly caught the ball.

Whoosh!

The sighs of Chelsea fans were instantly drowned out by the cheers of Atletico Madrid fans.

"Great shot!"

"Great save!"

"Oblak has played 96 times for Atletico Madrid, with 63 clean sheets! In the 《442》 annual rankings, he is the undisputed best goalkeeper in the world!"

"The 24-year-old genius from Slovenia!"

"Chelsea's attack originated from a back pass again."

"The two teams' transition attacks are truly amazing."

Simeone applauded excitedly.

Tuchel remained unmoved.

In the broadcast room.

The big screen replayed Li Kang's brilliant escape, Morata's volley, and Oblak's extended save.

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[Li Mingdeng's dribbling style is becoming more and more like a combination of Ronaldinho and Baggio. His improvement every season is so exaggerated.]

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[I thought Morata would shoot the ball into the stands.]

-

[Is Oblak the best goalkeeper in the world right now?]

Morata adjusted his hairstyle and turned to give Li Kang a thumbs up.

Godín and Giménez excitedly hugged Oblak.

Li Kang tied his shoelaces.

Not tired at all.

The Iberian Peninsula Hero achievement had already been triggered.

Saúl reached out and gently patted him on the back, wondering, "Why are you sweating so little?"

36th minute of the match.

Kante once again disrupted Carrasco's advance.

Drinkwater controlled the loose ball in time.

He then sent a long pass, finding Marcos on the left flank.

"Li Kang, Morata, and Marcos have formed a triangle."

"Marcos passes the ball to Morata in front!"

"Morata touches the ball once, passing it back to Li Kang behind him."

"Li Kang is surrounded."

"Continuous step-overs, creating passing space to distribute to Moses."

"The ball is intercepted by Filipe, who pushed forward!"

"Not out of bounds!"

"Azpilicueta stops the ball."

Azpilicueta sent a through ball.

Finding Morata again.

Under pressure from Saúl, Morata was unable to turn around, and passed the ball back to Li Kang again.

Koke and Gabi quickly approached.

Li Kang touched the ball once, passing it horizontally to Drinkwater.

Atletico Madrid's midfield continued to grind.

Drinkwater could only pass the ball back to Kante.

Kante sent a through ball, to Li Kang.

The Cruyff triangle was repeatedly compressed into a line by Atletico Madrid's midfield.

Driving to the wing.

Diamond cutting.

Restricting blind spots.

Li Kang had now run into a comfortable passing environment.

A long pass.

Tore apart Atletico Madrid's midfield interception line.

"Outward curve!"

"Beautiful!"

"The momentum of the ball is too strong."

"Ah, what a pity."

Azpilicueta was firmly blocked by Godín, and could only watch as the ball rolled out of bounds.

In the broadcast room.

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[No one can do anything about it.]

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[Chelsea needs to significantly increase the number of receiving points in the middle of the formation to resolve Atletico Madrid's grind.]

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[Atletico Madrid also needs to significantly increase the number of receiving points in the middle of the formation during the autonomous attacking phase to resolve Chelsea's grind.]

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[There are too few attacking points at the front of the formation.]

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[Damn, are we out of balls?]

In the following game.

Both sides didn't have many chances.

The pitch seemed to be crushed into pieces, making it difficult for the ball to be advanced into dangerous areas.

Li Kang orchestrated the game in the center.

Continuous escapes, long and short guided passes.

Even Atletico Madrid fans couldn't help but cheer.

Atletico Madrid's physically strong players defended very cleanly.

As of 2018, Atletico Madrid had very few fouls in past European matches, and had only 7 fouls in the entire match against Bayern Munich in the semi-finals.

The goal that the audience was expecting hadn't arrived yet, and the referee had already blown the whistle to end the first half.

BEEP! BEEP BEEP~

The players from both sides slowly left the field.

Dino quickly handed Li Kang a dry towel and a sports drink.

"Li, is there anything you're not comfortable with?"

Li Kang shook his head.

He didn't know when it started, but every time during half-time, he felt like he was being "cared for" like a boxer.

Atletico Madrid's locker room.

Simeone loudly explained the adjustments for the second half.

"In the second half, we must optimize the details of the transition attack and lure their defense forward."

"Space."

"Their defensive methods in the first half were relatively simple, always resolving pressure by locking down our midfield."

"As long as we strengthen the repeated horizontal passes in the middle and increase the frequency of shuttle runs on the wings, we can launch a complete attacking chain."

Very concise language adjustments.

Hidden behind it was a full degree of attacking freedom.

Are Atletico Madrid players really all trained to be worker bees?

No.

Watching Atletico Madrid's matches, fans will discover that the Colchoneros' attackers are very, very creative during the transition attacking phase.

If they were all worker bees strictly executing attacking routines.

There wouldn't have been Saúl's brilliant moment of dribbling past five players.

Simeone didn't continue to say any encouraging words.

Atletico Madrid's players were still full of fighting spirit.

Chelsea's locker room.

Tuchel drew a horizontal line on the tactical board.

A horizontal line marked with time semicolons.

He patiently explained the tactical tendencies at different time points in the second half.

"When facing Atletico Madrid, every stage of our autonomous attack has a huge risk behind it."

"The risk is greater than any opponent."

"We must cover up the flaws in the high defensive line as quickly as possible."

"During the positional attack phase, we can appropriately increase meaningless repeated passes."

The disciples understood.