Although Qiao Anchen was elected as the best player of the match, Atletico Madrid also won an away victory and had two away goal advantages. The probability of advancing to the quarterfinals after returning to home in the second round is quite high.
But the protagonist of the post-match news was not Joan Chen or Atletico Madrid, but Porto defender Alex Sandro.
Both the media and fans were surprised by Sandro's godlike performance in this game.
Sandro's defensive ability in this game was better than that of some world-class defenders from the five major leagues. The most direct proof of this is that Qiao Anchen did not score a single goal in this game.
You know, since Qiao Anchen made his debut in the professional football circle in early 2012, he has played more than 60 games, and the games without scoring a goal before today were only 3 games.
Of these three games, the other two were caused by Qiao Anchen sitting on the bench and coming on as a substitute at the end of the game, resulting in lack of time.
The only game that Qiao Anchen has started without scoring a goal since his debut is the second leg of the Europa League 1/8 finals on March 15, 2012, when Atletico Madrid challenged Besiktas away from home.
At that time, Qiao Anchen's speed, physique, reflexes, etc. were not as strong as they are now. As a result, now that his strength has increased a lot, he was still defended by Alex Sandro and did not score a goal.
This made Alex Sandro famous in one battle and became the darling of the media and fans. Many giants in the five major leagues also noticed him and were ready to observe and see how he performs in the future.
If he can maintain such a high defensive level for a long time, even if he does not meet the standards of the game against Atletico Madrid and weakens slightly, everyone will understand and accept it and can be introduced.
But if the difference is too large, proving that this game was just an accidental extraordinary outbreak, then we need to think carefully about it.
In the other Champions League games, Juventus defeated Celtic 3-0 away from home, basically ending the suspense of the two-leg match; Paris Saint-Germain defeated Valencia 2-1 away from home, and the promotion prospects are very optimistic;
Dortmund drew with Shakhtar Donetsk 2-2 in an away game, having the advantage of two away goals; Schalke 04 drew with Galatasaray 1-1 in an away game, occupying a certain advancement advantage like Dortmund; ac
Milan defeated Barcelona 2-0 at home and the promotion situation is good; Arsenal lost 1-3 at home to Bayern Munich and basically bid farewell to the Champions League knockout rounds in advance; Real Madrid lost the ball first at home and relied on Ronaldo's goal
After a difficult 1-1 tie, the two sides went to Old Trafford in the second round to have a fierce battle.
When it comes to the knockout rounds of the Champions League, there are a lot more conversations between strong players, and there are a lot more fans watching the knockout rounds.
It is precisely because of this that Alex Sandro's amazing performance caused such a sensation. If it were the group stage, it would definitely not have such an effect.
But whether Alex Sandro really has the potential to be a world-class defender, or whether he only explodes once in a while, remains to be verified in the next game.
Soon, a few days passed by and it was time for the weekend league again. First, Real Madrid challenged Deportivo La Coruña away.
It stands to reason that it should be easy for Galacticos to defeat Deportivo La Coruña, who is in last place. However, because of a Champions League knockout match with the Red Devils and Manchester United in midweek, the Real Madrid team was in poor condition, and Ronaldo was still on the bench.
On the table, Real Madrid conceded a goal first in the 35th minute and fell behind.
Fortunately, Kaka and Higuain scored two goals in the second half, giving Real Madrid a difficult reversal of victory. Ronaldo came on as a substitute in the second half, but did not score.
In another game on the same day, Barcelona encountered the same predicament. They were still at home, and the result was that they also conceded a goal in the first half and then relied on the goals of David Villa and Messi in the second half.
The goal was reversed with difficulty and continued to chase Atletico Madrid in the standings.
Obviously, at the end of the season, because the giants are fighting on multiple fronts and entering the critical period of the knockout rounds, there is a significant fluctuation and decline in combat effectiveness.
This period of time is the reason why the middle and lower-tier teams in the league have a chance to defeat the giants, and it is also the reason why some upper-tier teams collapse at the end of the season when they are fighting on multiple fronts.
The next day, it was Atletico Madrid's turn.
At 20:00 on the evening of February 24, the 25th round of La Liga between Atletico Madrid and Espanyol at home officially started.
We only played a Champions League game in the middle of the week, and a few days later we had to play a Copa del Rey semi-final with Sevilla. Therefore, Atletico Madrid made a certain degree of rotation in this league. Neither Falcao nor Diego Costa started.
On the field, Adrian started as the center in the 4231 formation, with Qiao Anchen, Arda Turan and Koke partnering as the three forwards.
The Spaniard fought very hard in this game, trying to take advantage of the fact that Atletico Madrid needed to fight on three fronts and had to rotate the lineup, and strive to win this game.
In the end, the Spaniard received a total of 8 yellow cards in this game to prevent Joan Chen and Atletico Madrid from attacking.
Of course, Atletico Madrid, who was angered by the opponent's foul, was not to be outdone. They also fought back tit for tat and fought back hard. In the end, they also received 4 yellow cards. Captain Gabi also accumulated two yellow cards, two yellows and one red. In the second half,
He was sent off the field in the 52nd minute.
But even so, the Spaniard still failed to perform a miracle and prevent Atletico Madrid from winning.
Atletico Madrid defeated Espanyol 1-0 at home and won this foul battle.
The reason for the victory was that the opponent's defender Moreno fouled Qiao Anchen in the penalty area in the 68th minute of the second half. Qiao Anchen kicked the penalty kick in one stroke, forming the winning goal.
This goal allowed Qiao Anchen to refresh his La Liga scoring record in consecutive games to 45 games, and also refreshed his La Liga single-season scoring record to 57 goals.
But this did not make the media and fans praise Qiao Anchen because the victory in this game was only because of a penalty kick.
Qiao Anchen has not scored in sports games for two consecutive games. This is the first time this has happened to Qiao Anchen. Many media and fans who can't stand Atletico Madrid and Qiao Anchen have been complaining, thinking that Qiao Anchen has encountered a bottleneck and encountered a problem in progress.
The ball shortage is no longer as scary as before.
Many people cheer for Sevilla, their opponent in the Copa del Rey semifinals, hoping that they can take this opportunity to reverse Atletico Madrid at home, advance to the final, and deprive Atletico Madrid of their hope of competing for the Copa del Rey championship.