From the man behind the football king to the football king.

Chapter 301: Atletico Madrid

On the evening of April 5th, Friuli Stadium.

In the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, Udinese faced Atletico Madrid at home.

Three days ago, Udinese had just finished the 30th round of Serie A with Naples, and three days later, they came to the powerful Atletico Madrid at the Friuli Stadium.

The intensive schedule has made Udinese exhausted, especially in the past period, the team has almost played double matches in a row, which has reached the limit of physical consumption of the entire team.

Guidolin put up the tightest defensive posture and responded to Atletico Madrid's attack with defensive counterattacks.

In this game, Di Natale took a rest and Bruno wore the captain's armband.

As the team's captain and the core of the team, Bruno is extremely tenacious and plays very hard on the court. He not only actively participates in defense, but also dares to take the ball and attack whenever he has the opportunity.

Among them, in the 35th minute, Atletico Madrid midfielder and captain Gabi received a yellow card while defending Bruno's counterattack.

This is also thanks to his calmness and decisive fouling. Otherwise, it would have been a sharp counterattack.

Subsequently, Udinese was suppressed extremely passively. Atletico Madrid was superior to Udinese in terms of passing and controlling the ball, as well as the overall style of play.

This is one of the strongest teams in European football this season.

………………

After experiencing a relatively sluggish 2015-2015 season, the Sheets Army made a comeback this season.

In La Liga, after 31 rounds, Atletico Madrid has a record of 22 wins, 4 draws and 5 losses, closely chasing Barcelona with a 6-point gap, and still maintains its competitiveness for the La Liga championship.

In the Champions League, Atletico Madrid easily won first place in the group stage, and then smothered Eredivisie giants PSV Eindhoven in the quarter-finals.

Atletico Madrid is famous in football for its steely defense.

In La Liga, it only conceded 31 goals in 15 league rounds, which was the second-fewest team in the European mainstream leagues during the same period, second only to Bayern Munich's 13 goals. However, Bayern Munich only played 28 league games, fewer than Atletico Madrid. 3 games.

In the Champions League, in six group matches and two rounds of the quarter-finals, Atletico Madrid only conceded 3 goals, tied with Real Madrid for the fewest goals.

This team has famous European stars such as Torres and Griezmann in the frontcourt, and powerful stars such as Gabi, Koke, Juanfran, Godin, and Felipe in the midfield and backcourt.

Atletico Madrid's powerful attack power and dominance made Udinese almost unable to move and could only passively defend.

But even so, Udinese's defense still couldn't hold on for half an hour.

………………

In the 14th minute, Cork made a direct pass, but Cancelo failed to prevent offside by delaying. Torres scored from yards before Cancelo and Maguire blocked the ball, breaking the deadlock for Atletico Madrid.

This goal completely shattered the balance on the field, but even so, Udinese still did not dare to press out.

Without capital and weak defense, pressing out and attacking is asking for death.

Udinese continued to strengthen its defense and waited for opportunities to counterattack.

In the 30th minute, Bruno got another chance and made a counterattack. He drove the ball all the way to the edge of Atletico Madrid's penalty area. Facing the right back Juanfran who was delaying in defense, Bruno made a deft pass.

Seeing Bruno make a breakthrough, he was about to enter the penalty area, but someone shot out of the diagonal stab and tripped Bruno.

It's Atletico Madrid striker Torres!

A striker actually blocked the opponent's breakthrough in front of his own penalty area, which shows that Simeone pays attention to the defense of this team!

Torres was shown a yellow card by the referee, but Udinese also missed an excellent scoring opportunity.

Bruno missed the direct free kick and failed to create a threat.

Subsequently, Simeone recycled Atletico Madrid's formation and strengthened its defense.

Obviously, Atletico Madrid's head coach was also frightened by Bruno's dribbling attack just now.

………………

As Atletico Madrid recovered, Udinese continued to increase their offensive intensity.

Bruno, in particular, was too animated.

This superstar, who is known as the best player in the world, is almost unstoppable on the court. Often, Gabi and Koke can't stop him or prevent him from passing the ball.

And Torres also retreated to defend once. When Bruno had broken through the double team, he had to choose to foul, which caused him to be shown a second yellow card by the referee.

As a result, the Atletico Madrid forward was sent off in the 35th minute of the game.

If it were any other team facing ten players so early, it would probably be a disastrous defeat. But Simeone's team deserves to be the strongest defensive team on the planet, and they managed to maintain the 1:0 score until the end of the first half.

Of course, this also has a lot to do with Atletico Madrid's defensive system still intact on the field.

The arrival of the halftime break also gave Atletico Madrid a chance to breathe.

In the second half, Atletico Madrid, which faced 10 men, more resolutely implemented a counterattack strategy. Simeone replaced Carrasco with Augusto in the 53rd minute of the game to strengthen the team's counterattack ability.

<divclass="contentadv">Atletico Madrid's counterattack caused a lot of trouble for Udinese, and even Bruno received a yellow card for it.

This is also Bruno's third yellow card in the Champions League this season. Without exception, they were all received while retreating to defend. And this yellow card basically confirmed that Bruno will miss the second round.

Unless Udinese reaches the semi-finals, Bruno's Champions League journey this season will stop tonight!

………………

When he got the yellow card, Bruno didn't defend himself and turned around and walked away. Because when he made the move, he already knew he would get the card.

But if we don't take action, Atletico Madrid may score again.

The live TV footage captured the sadness and helplessness in Bruno's eyes when he turned and walked away.

He has tried his best, but Udinese's strength is just that. He was unwilling to do so, but he was helpless.

This yellow card not only forced Udinese into a desperate situation, but also Bruno. He is determined to do everything he can in the remaining time of the game to win a glimmer of hope for Udinese.

"Bruno takes the ball from the left and brings it to the center!"

"Atletico Madrid players stepped forward to defend..."

"The Portuguese superstar is very skilled with his feet. He controlled the ball and passed it across to the right side of the top of the penalty area..."

"Because Mobile is unguarded, he just kicks and hits the goal!"

"Curve ball..."

……

Amid the sighs of the entire Friuli Stadium, Immobile's curved shot went slightly over the crossbar.

Immobile yelled depressedly, grabbing his hair with both hands. He felt very unhappy because what a great opportunity it was just now!

"It's ok!"

Bruno came over, reached out and touched Immobile's head to comfort his teammates.

"You just keep waiting in this position, and I will definitely pass the ball to you again!"

Bruno is full of confidence in his own strength, and he is now determined to help his team score goals.

………………

On the scene, Udinese still dominated the game. Atletico Madrid retreated completely and was still suppressed in a very embarrassed manner.

The two sides started a fierce battle at the front of the penalty area. Udinese was unable to take a step forward, while Atletico Madrid refused to give in. The two sides played very fiercely.

Bruno then tried to pass to Immobile several times, but failed. Among them, in the 60th minute, he took the ball in the middle of the midfield and passed the ball behind Atletico Madrid.

Immobile quickly penetrated into the penalty area and chased the ball.

But just when he was about to catch up with the ball, Juanfran suddenly stabbed out diagonally, fell to the ground with a sliding tackle, and scooped the ball out of the baseline before him.

Udinese gets a corner kick. However, facing the iron-clad Atletico Madrid, Udinese's corner kick opportunity did not pose a threat, but instead allowed Atletico Madrid to fight back against Udinese.

In fact, if Cancelo hadn't desperately returned to defense and flew to tackle Griezmann when he hit the goal, Udinese might have conceded the second goal of the game.

Cancelo, who caused the team to lose the ball because of his position, can be regarded as completing a redemption.

………………

Saul took the corner kick. He saw Griezmann who was unguarded on the outside of the penalty area and made an immediate decision.

Saul quickly kicked the ball out, but instead of sending it directly to the penalty area, he tried to send it to Griezmann on the outside of the penalty area.

Although there is no shortage of big men in Atletico Madrid's team, facing the combination of Maguire and Vidic, Atletico Madrid will not be able to take advantage. Instead, look for Griezmann who is wandering outside the penalty area, and you might have a chance.

Saul believes that with Griezmann's strength, as long as he stops the ball, brings it a little to the center, and uses his left foot directly, it will be another wonderful shot, which may even penetrate Udinese's goal.

But Saul obviously did not expect that someone had already been watching them in the penalty area.

The reason why Bruno took the initiative to defend Griezmann was because he was confident enough about his speed.

When he saw Saul serve to Griezmann, he immediately jumped out of the penalty area as quickly as possible.

Griezmann's attention was focused on the flying ball. He had already thought about how to connect it. After stopping the ball with his chest, he took a step towards the center and hit it directly with his left foot.

But just as Griezmann stopped the ball on his chest, when the ball briefly left his control, he suddenly felt the figure in front of him disappear, and a figure quickly squeezed between him and the ball.

Griezmann was caught off guard and was squeezed so hard that he almost lost his balance.

Taking a closer look, he saw it was Bruno.

The time he stopped the ball with his chest just now, it was intercepted by Bruno!