After the game between Barcelona and Real Madrid, the next day, September 16, in the fourth round of the new La Liga season, Atletico Madrid played at home against Rayo Vallecano.
Before the start of the game, the Atletico Madrid team paraded around the stadium with the European Super Cup they won from Chelsea 5-1 in the previous game, showing it to more than 50,000 home fans. The atmosphere at the Calderon Stadium was quite warm.
After the game started, Atletico Madrid, which was playing at home, took the initiative to press forward and began to attack.
In this game, Simeone made a change and tried a new 433 style of play, with Diego Costa, who is 188cm tall, as the center, Falcao and Qiao Anchen as the left and right wingers, and Mario Suarez in the midfield.
Si, Gaby, Alda Turan.
Compared with the 4231 balanced formation, this three-forward formation has obviously stronger attack power, but the effect cannot be known until it is played.
I wonder if Diego Costa, who has just returned from Rayo Vallecano on loan, can play the role of tactical center, supporting Joan Chen and Falcao on both sides in the penalty area.
But this is a brand new attempt.
Diego Costa performed very well during his loan spell at Rayo Vallecano.
Atletico Madrid has to fight on three fronts this season, and all three fronts want to compete for the championship, so they must have rich tactics to prepare for various complex court situations. They cannot conquer the world with one formation.
Especially in the league, if you want to compete for the championship, defense alone is not enough. Even if you are undefeated throughout the season, you will not win the championship if there are too many draws.
For example, in the 1978/1979 season, Perugia created an undefeated record throughout the season, but ultimately failed to win the championship due to too many draws and too few points. The Serie A championship that season was taken away by AC Milan, which had more wins.
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Therefore, Simeone will try the 433 formation from now on, preparing to take the initiative to attack in the league, strive to gain points, and compete for the championship.
But what is unexpected is that Diego Costa seems to have seamlessly integrated into the team without any adaptation period and perfectly fits this new 433 formation.
When Diego Costa appeared in the center position and there was an extra lubricant between Joan Chen and Falcao, Atletico Madrid played a jaw-dropping offensive football.
Before Joan Chen entered the first team, Falcao was Atletico Madrid's biggest superstar and the historical transfer icon. Not only did he have the most ball rights, the most goals, and the highest salary, he was also the star that fans liked the most.
As a result, after Qiao Anchen was promoted to the first team during the winter break, Falcao became a foil from the first game. It was not until the last European Super Cup that Falcao surpassed Qiao Anchen's score with a hat trick.
It was a rare moment to be the best player in a single game.
Qiao Anchen not only scored much more efficiently than Falcao, he also scored more goals in half a season than Falcao did in the entire season, breaking his proud record of 17 goals in a single season in the Europa League/European competition.
He has a goal record, and he is a player cultivated by Atletico Madrid's own youth academy from beginning to end. He wears the No. 10 jersey and is an absolute core. He is also more popular with fans. Even after completing the latest contract extension, his salary is higher than that of France.
I got high school entrance examination.
Therefore, Falcao was emotional and a little aggrieved. Although there was no public conflict between him and Qiao Anchen, there was really not much connection between the two on the court, and it was common for them to fight on their own.
The two are said to be one of the most terrifying strike partners in Europe. The number of goals scored by the two exceeds the total number of goals scored by most teams, but in fact most of them are scored by their own individual abilities.
The ball and the number of assists to each other are very few.
The period when Qiao Anchen first entered the first team was better. Now as time goes by, with Qiao Anchen's annual salary exceeding Falcao after renewing his contract and becoming the highest salary in the team, the relationship between the two has become increasingly cold.
Although relying on the awareness of professional ethics, the two did not have any public conflicts, but it did have a slightly negative impact on the team's offense.
But now, when Diego Costa, who is taller and stronger, appears at the center position, isolating Qiao Anchen and Falcao, and using him as the lubricant in the middle, the effect of the three forward lineup is continuous.
Simone, the instigator, was a little confused.
Only 4 minutes into the game, Qiao Anchen passed two people on the right and passed the ball into the penalty area.
With his back to the goal, Diego Costa resisted the push from Vallecano defender Amat behind him. He received a pass from Joan Chen, adjusted it and then passed the ball into the space on the left.
Falcao entered the penalty area from the left, received the ball at the rib position on the left side of the penalty area, adjusted, passed defender Tito who rushed to block, and then kicked the goal.
The ball escaped goalkeeper Dani Jimenez's fingers, but unfortunately hit the outside of the goalpost and bounced off the baseline.
Although the ball was not scored, the threat was not small. Especially the smoothness of this attack made Simeone's eyes brighten off the court.
However, whether the tactics worked or whether it was the individual performance of the three people remains to be seen.
Simeone didn't have to wait long.
In the 9th minute, Falcao broke through from the left and cut inside, sending the ball to Diego Costa. Defender Fuego, who was closely marking Costa, immediately rushed to grab the ball, preparing to poke the ball.
At this time, Qiao Anchen was running without the ball from the center and into the right side of the penalty area. His full acceleration and 91 speed made it impossible for Rayo Vallecano's defender to keep up.
So, everyone saw that Diego Costa did not stop the ball at all, but took advantage of the situation and knocked the ball diagonally to the right. The ball came to the line of the small penalty area, directly in front of Qiao Anchen's running position.
Although full-back Tito noticed Diego Costa's passing intention and Qiao Anchen's movement, he tried his best to defend from the outside and interfered with Qiao Anchen's shot. However, his speed was not as fast as Qiao Anchen's, and he was still a step too late.
Qiao Anchen rushed to the line of the small penalty area and fired a powerful volley without stopping the ball. Only five or six meters away from the goal, he hit a super heavy shot from close range.
The ball flew into the lower right corner of the goal like lightning. Dani Jimenez, who was guarding Falcao's shot on the left just now, was out of reach and could only watch the ball go into the net in despair.
Atletico Madrid's three forwards connected again, and Falcao launched an attack and sent the ball into the penalty area. Diego Costa knocked the ball diagonally from the middle, and Joan Chen succeeded in grabbing the spot and volleying in front of the goal. The Sheets led Rayo Vallecano 1-0.
This is the 25th consecutive La Liga game that Qiao Anchen has scored in across the season.
The commentators in the commentary box shouted excitedly:
“goooooooooooooooooooooooooooal…”
"The ball went in!!!"
"Scene 25!"
"Qiao Anchen scored in his 25th consecutive La Liga game across the season, once again breaking his own world record!"
"Many people don't score 25 times in a season, but Qiao Anchen scored in 25 consecutive league games."
"King Qiao Anchen of Calderon explains to us what a true super genius and striker is."
"And the tactics Simeone arranged today are eye-catching. With two world-class forwards in Falcao and Qiao Anchen, Diego Costa's tactical role in the penalty area has been infinitely magnified."
"Atletico Madrid's attack was quite clear this time. Falcao broke through and cut inside and sent the ball into the penalty area. Diego Costa made a wonderful diagonal pass. Joan Anchen rushed to the goal and succeeded in grabbing the spot and volleying in front of the goal."
"The whole process went smoothly. Rayo Vallecano didn't even touch the ball before Atletico Madrid scored."
"Simeone's new 433 lineup seems to have stronger offensive power."
"Let's continue to see what the real effect is."
After scoring the goal, Qiao Anchen did not celebrate alone. Instead, he waited for Diego Costa and Falcao to run over before hugging and celebrating with everyone.
With the addition of Diego Costa, the awkwardness between Qiao Anchen and Falcao has become much less intense.
Off the field, Simeone was even more excited.
It's not unusual for Qiao Anchen to score goals. What he is even more happy about is that the addition of Diego Costa seems to have really taken Atletico Madrid's frontcourt attack to a higher level.
Amid the excited applause and cheers of the fans, Qiao Anchen also received the reward of 10 million experience points for "25 consecutive La Liga games to break the world record", and the total experience level increased to level 40, 32.8 million/50 million.
After celebrating for half a minute, the game restarted.
Now only one goal behind, Rayo Vallecano naturally wanted to equalize the score. Therefore, after the game restarted, Rayo Vallecano took advantage of the opportunity of the ball in the circle to launch a wave of attacks, but failed to create any threat.
Atletico Madrid, on the other hand, continues to use a terrifying three-forward lineup to bombard Rayo Vallecano's defense indiscriminately.
In the 29th minute, Falcao and Diego Costa completed the position change and sent the ball to the wing. Costa took the ball from the left and cut inside. Falcao and Qiao Anchen, the two great strikers, rushed into the penalty area.
Attracting five or six Vallecano players to defend tightly, Diego Costa made a back pass in an inverted triangle and sent the ball to the top of the arc in the penalty area.
Mario Suarez stepped in from the back row and fired a violent volley from the top of the arc in the penalty area, which was a very high-quality shot.
The ball was powerful, fast, had a tricky angle, and there were so many people in the penalty area that goalkeeper Dani Jimenez was blocked by Falcao.
By the time he saw the path of Suarez's kick and saved it, it was already too late.
The ball flew into the upper left corner of the goal amid the cheers of the Atletico Madrid fans.
In the 29th minute, Atletico Madrid scored another goal, scored by Mario Suarez and assisted by Diego Costa.
Diego Costa, who made his first start of the new season, assisted and scored twice.