Chapter 307 The Iron Barrel Formation of Royal Betis
On January 15, in the first leg of the Spanish Copa del Rey quarter-finals, Real Madrid defeated Valencia 2-0 at home with Benzema's goal and opponent defender Guardado's own goal, winning the first leg.
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There were two Copa del Rey games on January 16, but the evening game had not yet started. That afternoon, Bundesliga hegemon Bayern Munich first revealed the news that Guardiola would return to the arena, sign with Bayern Munich, and will coach Bundesliga Hollywood from next season.
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After taking a break for most of the season, Guardiola finally returned to the attention of the media and fans and was ready to start coaching again.
But moving to the Bundesliga to coach was something many people didn't expect.
Everyone thought that Guardiola would either return to Barcelona to replace Vilanova, who was suffering from cancer, or go to the Premier League, because the competition in the Premier League is fierce enough and suits Guardiola's temperament as a famous coach.
As for the Bundesliga, except for the Champions League, there are almost no challenges in the league. Except for Dortmund who occasionally challenges Bayern's nerves, other teams are simply not enough to watch. Before each season starts, the championship is basically determined by Bayern.
But it doesn’t matter how much money Bayern paid, because the salary Bayern gave was lower than when Guardiola was at Barcelona. According to the Bayern club, Guardiola valued the healthy sports environment of the Bundesliga.
Who knows the truth?
Perhaps due to the influence of Guardiola's signing with Bayern Munich, the players could not concentrate. In the quarter-finals of the King's Cup that night, although Messi scored, Barcelona failed to win at home.
, was tied 2-2 by Malaga, and the opponent also scored two away goals.
The second round of Barcelona vs Malaga is still a bit suspenseful!
The next day, it was the Sheets Army's turn to compete.
At 22:00 in the evening on January 7, 2013, with the referee's whistle, the first leg of the 2012/2013 Spanish Cup Copa del Rey quarter-finals match between Atletico Madrid and Real Betis officially started at the Calderon Stadium.
We have already entered the quarter-finals. Successful advancement will lead to the semi-finals, then the finals, and the championship.
At this point, whether it is Atletico Madrid or Real Betis, or Real Madrid and Barcelona in front of them, they will naturally play with all their main players, strive to advance, and finally win the championship.
Regardless of the level of gold content, he is still a champion.
Atletico Madrid's schedule is home first and then away, so they are at a disadvantage and must establish a sufficient score advantage in the first round. Therefore, from the beginning of the game, the All-Stars, who played all the main players, aggressively attacked the visiting team Real Betis.
Indiscriminate bombing.
Real Betis's schedule is first away and then home. Even if they lose in the first round, they may come back in the second round. Of course, they cannot lose too much.
Therefore, Real Betis's idea is naturally very simple, which is to defend the away game, set up a bus and iron barrel formation in front of the goal, and strive to draw with Atletico Madrid, or score away goals through counterattacks.
Real Betis is currently ranked fourth in the La Liga standings and has good strength. The players are also very united and work hard. When they made up their mind to shrink and defend, Atletico Madrid really couldn't do anything about their intensive defense.
In the 7th minute, Qiao Anchen tried a shot in the right corner of the penalty area, but unfortunately the opponent's defender flew up in time to block the hole of the shot.
In the 14th minute, Qiao Anchen's lateral movement in the penalty area distracted several defenders, giving Diego Costa in the center room to shoot.
Diego Costa received Falcao's cross near the penalty spot in the penalty area and pushed the shot, but it failed to hit the goal frame and missed the post.
In the 19th minute, Falcao received a high ball from Qiao Anchen from the right behind the left side of the penalty area. He headed the ball towards the goal and headed it towards the upper left corner of the goal.
However, the header was too far away, and goalkeeper Castu had already anticipated it and moved to the back point to block it. He jumped up and successfully lifted the header over the crossbar with his hands.
Although the subsequent corner kick was grabbed by Atletico Madrid center back Miranda, it failed to reach the goal frame and went over the crossbar.
Real Betis' bus iron barrel formation worked well, and with a little luck, the score was maintained at 0-0 until the end of the first half.
Unfortunately, facing the sheet army with Joan Chen, Betis' goal was finally lost in the injury time of the first half.
In the 45th minute, Alda Turan made a pass from the right. Diego Costa was at a disadvantage in the battle with the opponent's central defender. The opponent's defender Paulo pushed the ball to the right side of the arc of the penalty area.
In front of Qiao Anchen.
Although Diego Costa failed to head the cross, he interfered with Paulo. Originally Paulo wanted to pass the ball to his teammate, but due to Diego Costa's interference, he just passed the ball.
Pushed in front of Qiao Anchen.
Two Real Betis players nearby rushed towards Joan Chen, but Joan Chen did not give them a chance to get close to interfere. He did not stop the ball at all. He volleyed directly outside the penalty area about 19 meters away from the goal.
It has great strength and speed, and performs well, and the angle is also very tricky.
The ball hit the goal like a cannonball. Betis midfielder Perez, who was in front of him and might have blocked the ball, saw Joan Chen's volley shot and subconsciously turned around, trying to block the hole with his back.
As a result, the ball flew past his shoulder just as he turned around, and then hit the upper right corner of the goal as all the Betis players and fans watched desperately.
Although goalkeeper Castu made a save, it was just for show. The speed of the ball was too fast, and the speed was later calculated to be as high as 114 kilometers per hour. Castu's save seemed to be in slow motion, which was far worse.
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Qiao Anchen used a volley to blast the world wave and finally broke Real Betis' iron barrel formation, helping Atletico Madrid take a 1-0 lead.
There was not much time left. After Qiao Anchen and his teammates finished celebrating, not long after Real Betis kicked the ball out of the center circle, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half.
During the halftime break, Real Betis made substitution adjustments and replaced a player. However, instead of substituting an offensive player to strengthen the attack when the score was lagging behind under the normal operation, they unconventionally replaced a defensive player.
Strengthen defense.
With only one goal behind, it is still possible for Real Betis to comeback in the second round. But if it falls behind by two goals, it will be dangerous. Therefore, it cannot be said that Real Betis made a mistake by substituting players to strengthen defense.
All I can say is that this is one of the choices.
After a 15-minute rest, the two sides changed sides and fought again in the second half, and Real Betis continued to defend with a big iron barrel formation.
Atletico Madrid, on the other hand, had no choice but to continue to attack aggressively and bombard Real Betis' goal.
A score of 1-0 does not guarantee that Atletico Madrid will advance to the second round. It must continue to score goals and expand its lead.
Real Betis naturally knew this. In the second half, they defended even more fiercely and refused to give up any ground. Especially when facing Qiao Anchen, they committed frequent fouls when they were unable to stop him.
In just 20 minutes after the start of the second half, Real Betis received 4 yellow cards, forcing the head coach to change another player in the 67th minute, replacing a defender who had received a yellow card and replacing him with a defender.
A new force defensive player.
But despite this, Real Betis still failed to hold on to the 0-1 score until the end of the second half.
Because Atletico Madrid's overall strength is too strong, and Qiao Anchen draws too much attention from Betis's defense, other Atletico Madrid players also got a lot of opportunities.
Although their shooting skills may not be as good as Qiao Anchen, sometimes they can still score goals if they are lucky.
In the 78th minute, it was full-back Felipe Luis who intervened in the attack. He received a knockback from Falcao near the baseline in the left corner of the penalty area, and hit an arcing shot without anyone defending him, successfully.
He crossed the crowd in the penalty area, avoided goalkeeper Castu's save, and circled into the goal close to the far post.
Felipe Luis helped Atletico Madrid rewrite the score to 2-0, locking the victory of this game, but did not lock in the promotion spot.
This score is a bit confusing for both Atletico Madrid and Real Betis.
Atletico Madrid could not kill the suspense of the second round with this score, and Real Betis was two goals behind and could not say that it had the confidence to come back in the second round.
Therefore, in the last ten minutes of the game, the two sides played more openly. Real Betis stepped up its counterattack, hoping to score a goal before the end of the game, narrow the score gap, and get an away goal.
Atletico Madrid wants to continue scoring goals and expand the lead. If the score is extended to 3-0, it will basically kill the suspense of the second round.
Unfortunately, both sides were not very lucky. Qiao Anchen had a long-range shot from outside the penalty area that hit the crossbar and bounced out of bounds. Real Betis also had a good shot from close range in the penalty area, but was dragged in by Courtois.
The feet behind him blocked it.
In the end, neither side scored again.
After 3 minutes of stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle to end the game. With the goals of Joan Chen and Felipe Luis, Atletico Madrid defeated Real Betis 2-0 at home and occupied the two legs of the quarter-finals.
initiative.
However, it failed to kill the suspense of the second round. The second round moved to the home court of Real Betis, and both sides still had to fight.