I returned to Spain, took a day off, and only had time to train for one day before Atletico Madrid rushed to the away game to prepare for the next game.
At 19:00 on the evening of February 19th, the 24th round of La Liga Atletico Madrid's away game against Sporting Gijon officially started at the Molinon Stadium, home of Sporting Gijon.
Sporting Gijon is currently ranked second from the bottom in the standings, deep in the relegation zone, and its paper strength is naturally very far behind Atletico Madrid.
However, football matches are not all about strength on paper, but also about bench depth, schedule, home and away games, team status, weather conditions, etc.
This game is a bit difficult for Atletico Madrid.
From the away game against Racing Santander in the last round of the league, to the away game against Lazio in the Europa League in mid-week, and now the away game against Sporting Gijon, the next time is another home game against Lazio in mid-week.
Atletico Madrid has begun to enter a two-front battle cycle, but their bench depth is not as good as Real Madrid, Barcelona and other giants. They only have one main lineup to compete in the world, and they happened to encounter three consecutive away games.
Moreover, the weather was not good and it was raining lightly during this game.
Therefore, the entire Atletico Madrid team was almost out of shape in this game.
Sporting Gijon is different. Although it is very weak on paper and is obviously a relegated team. But because of this, Sporting Gijon at home is even more desperate and tries its best to score points.
In football matches, sometimes it is more difficult to play against a relegation team than against a championship team. This is why. Because the relegation team has to stay in the league, it is a life and death battle that affects whether they can stay in the First Division next season.
Competing for the championship is only about honor, but avoiding relegation is a matter of life and death.
Although a small number of outstanding players can be transferred to other first-division teams, most of the players who are not wanted can only be relegated with the team.
Therefore, if they don't want to be relegated and play in the second division next season, they have to fight hard.
Of course, facing Qiao Anchen and Falcao, a powerful striker combination in Europe, Sporting Gijon will naturally not be too aggressive in attacking, leaving Qiao Anchen and Falcao room to counterattack.
Anyway, they are relegating, not competing for the championship. Even if the final score is 0-0 and they can only get 1 point, it is acceptable.
The relegation team faces Atletico Madrid, which is fourth in the standings. If it can get 1 point, it can be considered a victory.
Therefore, after the game started, although Sporting Gijon attacked vigorously amidst the cheers of the home fans, they did not advance blindly. Once the ball was lost, all members immediately returned to the defense and did not give Atletico Madrid a chance to penetrate the defense.
It wasn't until the 17th minute that Atletico Madrid got its first chance to threaten a shot. Unfortunately, Qiao Anchen was guarded by two opposing players and was unable to take a shot. He could only transfer the ball crosswise to Falcao who was following behind.
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However, Falcao's volley in the penalty area missed the post slightly and failed to hit the door frame. After all, his shooting skills were still far behind Qiao Anchen.
There is no way, Qiao Anchen's unique shooting skills are not only unmatched by Falcao, but also by Messi and Ronaldo.
Atletico Madrid's counterattacks are only occasional, but Sporting Gijon's offense is indeed continuous.
Even if the efficiency is not as high as Qiao Anchen, with more attacks and more shooting opportunities, he can still score the goal.
Before the end of the first half, in the 37th minute, Sporting Gijon played a good team attack. In the end, forward Balal made a wonderful back-heel pass in the penalty area, and midfielder Aiguren followed behind him in the penalty area.
The ball was kept on the line and he violently volleyed the ball through the penalty area and into the upper left corner of Atletico Madrid's goal.
In fact, goalkeeper Courtois has made several key saves before, and his goalkeeping ability is still very strong, but this time he failed to save the goal. His save failed and he could only watch helplessly in the air.
The ball hits the net.
Amid the excited applause and cheers of the home fans, Sporting Gijon took the lead to break the deadlock, leading Atletico Madrid 1-0 at home.
In the next few minutes, neither side scored again.
After 1 minute of stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half. The two sides entered the halftime break with a score of 1-0. Sporting Gijon, playing at home, temporarily took the lead by one goal.
After a 15-minute intermission, the two sides changed sides and fought again in the second half. Sporting Gijon, who was leading the score, no longer attacked aggressively.
After all, they just need to keep the score until the end and get three points.
Atletico Madrid, on the other hand, is naturally not willing to accept it.
With the score already behind, Atletico Madrid had to work hard and strengthen its attack.
Although they are very tired, everyone does not want to lose, but wants to continue winning, keep the top four positions in the standings, and strive to replace Valencia and enter the top three UEFA Champions League qualifications.
I have to say that sometimes people think that Qiao Anchen is the lucky boy of Atletico Madrid, which makes sense.
This time, Qiao Anchen did not use the lucky card that must score at all, but in the 64th minute, he dribbled the ball from the wing and made a pass, causing Sporting Gijon defenders Orfila and Falcao to compete for a header in the penalty area.
When I was playing, I accidentally let the ball hit my arm.
"beep……"
The referee's whistle sounded and Orfila was awarded a penalty kick by the referee due to a handball foul in the penalty area.
Even if Orfila and his teammates argued that the handball was not intentional and that it was hit on the shoulder and not on the hand, they could not change the referee's decision.
The referee saw the ball very clearly, and it was impossible for Sporting Gijon to confuse the situation and get away with it.
Atletico Madrid won a penalty kick.
This kind of opportunity, as the team's first penalty kicker, Qiao Anchen would not waste it. His perfect shooting skills allowed him to easily kick the ball into the upper right corner of the goal. Although goalkeeper Bebru judged the right direction, he was beyond his reach.
, still can’t reach the ball.
In the 64th minute, Qiao Anchen made a penalty kick and took it personally, helping Atletico Madrid equalize the score 1-1.
Qiao Anchen once again continued his consecutive scoring record despite his poor condition. The number of consecutive scoring games in La Liga has reached 7 games, which is only 3 games away from the consecutive scoring records of Martin and Ronaldo in La Liga.
But Atletico Madrid's luck didn't end there.
After the game restarted, Sporting Gijon, which was originally in the lead but was equalized by a penalty kick from Atletico Madrid, was naturally unwilling to accept it and stepped up its offensive, hoping to score another goal and regain the lead.
Unexpectedly, he suffered another heavy blow in the 73rd minute.
This time it was even more embarrassing than a penalty kick. It was the left winger Alda Turan who dribbled the ball near the baseline and then passed the ground ball, preparing to pass it to the center, allowing Falcao or Qiao Anchen to grab the shot.
Unexpectedly, Sporting de Gijon defender Botilla hit the ball first with a flying tackle, but the trick was that he failed to shovel the ball out of the baseline and instead shoveled it into his own goal.
Botilla scored an own goal, turning Arda Turan's cross into his own goal, helping Atletico Madrid reverse the score 2-1.
In this way, Atletico Madrid relied on two lucky goals within ten minutes to reverse the score 2-1 and lead the home team Sporting Gijon.