In the early morning of March 12, Beijing time, the 28th round of La Liga was played first, and the defending champion Atletico Madrid hosted the relegation team Cadiz. After 90 minutes, Atletico madrid won 2-1 and La Liga won four consecutive times. After the match, Atletico overtook Barca to move up to third place in the table, just four points away from Sevilla.
As the defending champions of La Liga, Atletico's performances this season have been disappointing. Although excellent players such as Griezmann and DePaul were introduced in the summer, the team's performance was not as good as in the past. Falling behind in the league early, Atletico's la Liga goal this season has been set for Champions League qualification. With Barca on their rise again, simeone's side will not be easy to reach the top 4 of the league.
Facing Cadiz this game, Atletico's goal must be to get 3 points. In the last 5 encounters with opponents, Atletico have scored more than 3 goals in 4 games and are very experienced in defeating opponents. Atletico sent a two-striker duo of Felix and Griezmann, who started for Atletico for the first time in three months.
However, the first to stand out in this game is Felix, who has been in hot form recently. Cadiz made a mistake at the back and Felix broke the ball calmly to help Atletico take a 1-0 lead. In the last 8 games, including this game, Felix has been directly involved in 7 goals, and the player who claims to be Ronaldo's successor has now become Simeone's most powerful weapon.
The opening trail was behind, but it didn't disrupt Cadiz's tactics. Before half-time, they benefited consecutively. First in the 39th minute, Rainier was awarded a yellow card for a red card, while Negredo scored with a header in the 45th minute to help Cadiz draw 1-1 at Atletico.
Returning in the second half to see that he could not completely suppress his opponents, Simeone quickly replaced Su Ya and Correa. It is worth mentioning that the early morning game is a milestone of Su Ya's 250 La Liga appearances, and he has been a substitute in the game for 3 consecutive times, which is also the first time in La Liga. Shortly after Su Ya came on, Atletico's offensive style improved significantly.
In the 67th minute, De Paul, who had transferred from the summer, stepped forward in time to score in the melee to give Atletico a 2-1 lead. It is worth mentioning that after joining for most of the season, this is only the first league goal de Paul scored for Atletico. In the final moments of the competition, Atletico's 19-year-old Serano was given a red card, but this did not affect Atletico's victory.
At the end of the match, Atletico won 2-1 to win four consecutive games, and Simeone's side took a strong posture to Old Trafford to challenge Manchester United. After entering 2022, Atletico scored 22 points in 10 league games, the strongest in the league period, beating Real Madrid and Barca. Four days later in the Champions League, Atletico will face Manchester United away from home, with the two sides drawing 1-1 in the first leg. For Simeone, who is hopeless in defending La Liga, going further in the Champions League is his most important goal of the season.