The top prediction at the start, I am the third ball king

Chapter 390 Fighting in the Barcelona locker room?
At [-] o'clock in the evening on the [-]th, the lights of Madrid came on, and the Calderón Stadium was very lively.

The battle for the top spot will start here tonight, which is also the last game of the first half of the season.

Atletico Madrid and Barcelona are the only two unbeaten teams.

Tonight they will start the peak battle at the Calderon Stadium.

In the past, at this moment, it should be another team in Madrid-Real Madrid who competed with Barcelona for the top spot.

But this year's results are different, Real Madrid is two points away from Atletico Madrid and one point away from Barcelona.

If Atletico Madrid can beat Barcelona at home tonight and Real Madrid can win again, Real Madrid will surpass Barcelona in points!
At the Calderon Stadium, fans are entering the stadium in an orderly manner, and players from both sides are warming up on the field.

Barcelona finally saw Messi in the formation. The Argentine superstar returned from injury, which added a lot of excitement to tonight's game.

The atmosphere at Atletico was good, with laughter from the players as they warmed up.

Atletico Madrid has remained unbeaten on all fronts this season, which has given fans a great surprise and also greatly improved the team's self-confidence.

Simeone stood on the sidelines and observed the warm-up of the Barcelona players alone. More precisely, he was observing Messi's state.

Returning from injury, how far has Messi recovered?

This is what he needs to know.

Messi was in good form during the warm-up, which made Simeone frown.

As an Argentine, Simeone knows how capable this player is and how terrifying he is on the court.

However, when he turned his head to look at his team, he breathed a sigh of relief, and his frown relaxed.

This is an invincible team, Barcelona has Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, I have Lee, Costa, Godin!
Last season, with Malaga's strength, Pellegrini was able to lead Malaga to double-beat Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​and finally won the La Liga championship.

Pellegrini can do it, can't I?
Thinking of this, Simeone's self-confidence increased a bit.

"Let Lee defend Messi?"

Simeone complained to Pellegrini again in his heart: "Only you can think of such a weird tactic!"

However, thinking about Malaga's "weak" defense, Simeone also understands why Pellegrini did that.

How bad was Malaga's defense last season?

In the case of leading Barcelona by seven points, they were abruptly chased back by Barcelona and even achieved a lead.

If it weren't for the dragging down of the Champions League, Barcelona would definitely not give Malaga a chance to achieve a miracle in the last round and lock the championship early.

Atletico Madrid's defense is second to none in La Liga. So far, it is the team with the fewest goals conceded among the twenty teams in La Liga.

With such a strong defensive ability, does Li Chuanqi need to participate too much in defense?
At 07:30, the players on both sides finished their warm-up and returned to their locker rooms to make final preparations for the upcoming peak match.

In the VIP box, Atletico Madrid President Cerezo was accompanied by FIFA President Blatter, and the two were talking and laughing.

They were flanked by top Atletico Madrid officials and FIFA officials.

Of course Blatter cannot come to Atletico Madrid alone.

Not far away, in another VIP box, Spain coach Bosque led his team of assistants to greet the fans.

Del Bosque had every reason to watch the game.

The last time the Spanish team assembled to play the last two games of the World Cup European qualifiers, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid had a total of 11 players selected, and many of them were the main players of the team.

In other words, in tonight's game, half of the Spanish team's players will play, and more than half of the main players will play!
This kind of game is of course worthy of Bosque to watch the game and observe the state of the players.

Visiting team locker room.

Barcelona coach Martino is encouraging the players before the game: "This is not an ordinary game. I think this game will affect whether we can win the championship!"

This remark caused dissatisfaction among many players. Pique said: "Coach, we must have confidence in Barcelona."

Messi nodded and said: "So far, we have not lost this season. We have won too many times in this stadium."

What the two said made Martino very uncomfortable. He felt alone and helpless in the locker room.

Martino is an Argentine. The reason why Barcelona invited him to coach Barcelona is because of his Argentine identity. He hopes to coexist harmoniously with Messi and create sparks.

After his successful coaching in the Americas, Martino is also very eager to succeed in Europe, so when Barcelona offered him an olive branch, he agreed without any hesitation.

Under his leadership, Barcelona has a good record this season. Both in La Liga and the Champions League, they have achieved good results. La Liga remains unbeaten, with four wins, one draw and one loss in the Champions League group stage.

The only defeat in the group stage was an away game against Ajax. At that time, Barcelona had already locked the place in the group, which was a careless loss to Jingzhou.

Such a result in other clubs is a superb performance, but in Barcelona, ​​it is a very ordinary result.

In the words of World Sports Daily, "Martino's coaching, so far, can only be described as a pass."

Martino thought that Messi would see him as a fellow and give him support in the locker room, but what he didn't expect was that Messi didn't seem to buy it and didn't give him much support.

Perhaps in Messi's heart, Barcelona is his hometown, and in his heart, Argentina's only thought is to play for this country.

"I know that everyone has won many honors on the field, but I also know why Barcelona invited me to coach here."

Martino said with a cold face: "If it weren't for the poor performance in the past two years, maybe I wouldn't have the opportunity to come to Barcelona. Since I am now the coach of Barcelona, ​​you should respect me.

But I don't see any respect from you guys! "

These words were very serious, and Pique wanted to refute a few words, but Harvey stopped him with stern eyes.

Iniesta said: "Coach, we definitely support you, you continue to talk."

Martino took a deep look at Messi and said: "I know that if you call the chairman, I will be fired. You don't have to show me this every day, I already know it."

The atmosphere in the locker room became tense.

Messi looked up at Martino, and Martino looked at him without showing any weakness.

Harvey stood between them, pulled Messi with one hand, looked at Martino and said, "Coach, now is not the time to talk about these things, we are about to start a match."

Other players also persuaded Martino.

……

Unlike the chaos in the Barcelona locker room, the Atletico Madrid locker room was full of fighting spirit. Simeone was spitting at the tactical board and making tactical requests to the players.

"Barcelona has the ball in the backcourt, we must, immediately counterattack! Never give them any chance to pass the ball forward quickly! Including using fouls to stop them!"

Simeone said loudly: "We want to make the scene chaotic! Only then will we have a chance!"

"Two seconds!"

Simeone yelled at the players: "Two seconds after losing the ball, we must complete the counter-steal, and we must not give them any chance to easily handle the ball!"

(End of this chapter)