On the evening of May 9, before the start of the game, the National Arena of Romania was already bustling with people, and countless fans could not wait to enter the final venue, waiting for the game to start.
These fans include Atletico Madrid from Spain, die-hard Biba fans, local Romanian fans, overseas Chinese and domestic compatriots of Qiao Anchen, and fans of other stars from various countries, etc., filling 54,000 seats to the brim.
Nothing left.
During the warm-up before the game, as Qiao Anchen appeared, tens of thousands of die-hard Atletico Madrid fans and Romanian neutral fans in the stands applauded and cheered. There were also thousands of overseas Chinese fans holding five-star red flags for him.
Come on and cheer.
Qiao Anchen also felt very excited.
He has learned from reporters that many of these fans have flown all the way from China to watch his final.
If Atletico Madrid wins, this will be the first European championship won by a Chinese player in Europe, which is of great significance.
Therefore, Qiao Anchen also felt excited and determined to win the game even if he used skill cards and lucky cards. The champion would never be left behind.
Of course, it would be best if you could defeat Biba without using skill cards.
After the pre-match warm-up, a short cultural performance of the final was held on the court. Then the starting players of both teams came out with their ball boys, played the Europa League theme song, shook hands, took photos, and picked sides. After the entrance ceremony, the final was about to begin.
Atletico Madrid sent out a lineup of 4231 today. The goalkeeper is No. 13 Courtois. The defenders from left to right are No. 6 Felipe Luis, No. 23 Miranda, No. 2 Diego Godin, and No. 20 Juan.
Forlan, double defensive midfielder No. 14 Gabi, No. 4 Mario Suarez, left midfielder No. 7 Adrian, right midfielder No. 10 Qiao Anchen, attacking midfielder No. 22 Diego, and center forward No. 9 Falcao.
There is no doubt that this lineup is a balanced formation with both offense and defense. The stronger Atletico Madrid only needs to play an upright game and make no mistakes, and the championship will basically be guaranteed.
Athletic Bilbao sent out a 4321 three-midfielder lineup, with goalkeeper No. 1 Ilesos, and defenders from left to right: No. 3 Otneche, No. 5 Amorebieta, and No. 15 Iola.
No. 10 De Marcos, the three defensive midfielders from left to right are No. 21 Herrera, No. 24 Javi Martinez, No. 8 Ituraspe, left midfielder No. 19 Muniain, right midfielder No. 14
No. Susaeta, center No. 9 Llorente.
The three defensive midfielders are to increase the defensive strength in front of the back line, but Athletic Bilbao's style is similar to Barcelona, known as a copycat version of Barcelona. At the same time, the head coach Bielsa is also a crazy coach who advocates offense.
Therefore, in actual matches, Athletic Bilbao prefers to take the initiative to attack most of the time. In particular, they defeated Red Devils Manchester United in two rounds in the knockout round, which became a classic battle in this season's Europa League knockout round.
However, in the 29th round of La Liga, Biba played against Atletico Madrid and was defeated by Atletico Madrid 3-1.
In this game, facing the combination of Qiao Anchen and Falcao, who have the strongest attack power in Europe, it is difficult to say whether Athletic Bilbao will dare to attack Atletico Madrid. Everything will have to wait until the game actually starts.
At 20:45 in the evening on May 9, 2012, amid the cheers of 54,000 spectators, with the whistle of German referee Wolfgang Stark, the match between Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao began.
The 2011/2012 Europa League final officially begins at the National Arena in Bucharest, the capital of Romania.
Athletic Bilbao won the right to kick off the first half. They did not pass the ball forward, but passed it all the way back to the backcourt to control it. Then Falcao, Qiao Anchen and others pressed forward before moving forward.
Pass and start attacking.
However, Atletico Madrid's defense maintained very well and did not give Biba a chance to open the defense. Biba used their pass-and-control football similar to Barcelona to try to firmly control the ball at their feet, maneuvering back and forth, trying to find Atletico Madrid's
loopholes.
But in fact, their players' personal strength is not as good as Barcelona's, and their control of the ball is not as precise.
At 1 minute and 29 seconds, Biba forward Llorente was unable to turn around under Diego Godin's close defense, so he passed the ball back to midfielder Javi Martinez.
But his passing intention was seen through by Gabi on the side. Before the ball was passed, Gabi shifted in time and rushed towards Llorente's passing route.
Then, when Llorente passed the ball, Gabi, who had just been rushed by the horse, stole the ball before Martinez. Martinez tried to counterattack with a flying tackle, but Gabi turned around with Cruyff
Smashing the ball and knocking Martinez to the side.
Then Gabi passed the ball to Adrian on the left, and Atletico Madrid launched a quick counterattack.
Adrian's breakthrough from the left was intercepted by Athletic Bilbao right back De Marcos, and he failed to make a successful pass. Fortunately, full-back Felipe Luis followed up with a timely assist, and Adrian followed up.
The ball was knocked back, and then he cut inside and ran towards the penalty area, forcing De Marcos to run with him, making room for Felipe Luis to pass the ball.
At 2 minutes and 22 seconds, Felipe Luis made a pass from the left. Falcao ran without the ball at the front point and got stuck in his position. He jumped in front of Biba center back Iola and scored, completing Madrid's goal.
Athletic's first goal of the game.
Unfortunately, the ball missed the goal frame and Falcao missed the post under the push of Illaura.
Although the ball did not go in, Felipe Luis's assisted cross and Falcao's astute movement and header still won applause from Atletico Madrid fans.
Biba goalkeeper Ilesos took a goal kick. He did not kick it forward, but passed it to the defender and slowly controlled the ball. It is indeed correct to say that Biba is a copycat version of Barcelona. They also like it.
Play pass control.
It's a pity that Biba's passing control is much worse than that of Barcelona. Both the individual strength of the players and the overall cooperation are inferior. Therefore, Biba's attack still failed to form a goal and was forced to stop by Atletico Madrid's defense.
To advance, he had to slowly pass the ball back to the midfield and backcourt, trying to reverse the ball in the midfield and reorganize the attack.
But Atletico Madrid didn't let them get what they wanted.
Under Simeone's training, Atletico Madrid now plays a high-pressing tactic. No matter where the ball is, even if it is at the feet of the opponent's goalkeeper, Atletico Madrid players will press forward and will not let you slowly control the ball and waste time.
It was the same this time. Athletic Bilbao failed to control the ball under Atletico Madrid's pressure. Midfielder Munia made a mistake in passing the ball to Herrera, and Atletico captain Gabi once again accurately predicted the ball.
Judge and stop moving in advance.
After stealing the ball, Gabi was about to dribble the ball forward, but was pushed down from behind by the opponent's counterattack player. Atletico Madrid won a midfield free kick.
The distance was too far and it was too far to the right to shoot directly, so after taking the free kick, Gabi did not take it toward the goal, but lobbed it diagonally into the penalty area.
Falcao pushed away Biba defender Amorebieta during the competition, grabbed the first point, and headed the ball towards the goal.
However, as soon as Falcao hit the ball, the referee's whistle sounded. Amorebieta fell to the ground. Falcao was convicted of a pushing foul during the offense, but was not shown a yellow card.
Falcao and the Atletico Madrid players had no objections and accepted the referee's penalty, because at this time Falcao's header had been confiscated by goalkeeper Ilesos, and it did not pose any threat, so naturally it was
I won’t be dissatisfied with the referee’s decision.
It is also true that he pushed the opponent down and then headed the ball.
Athletic Bilbao took a free kick in the backcourt. After a series of passing and controlling cooperation, this time the ball finally reached the frontcourt. At 4 minutes and 35 seconds, right midfielder Susaeta made a pass from the bottom.
Llorente, who reached 195cm, fought for the top of the penalty area and tried to header the goal.
Llorente is indeed of good height, and he did hit the header, but due to interference from Atletico Madrid defender Miranda, he failed to hit the goal frame and flew high over the crossbar.
Athletic Bilbao's first attack came to nothing and failed to pose a threat to the goal.