In the early morning of April 14, Beijing time, the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinals ushered in a focus battle, Manchester City away to Atletico Madrid. At the end of the first half, the score was still 0-0, and the two teams made few threats, except for Manchester City once in the middle post, atletico players escaped handball, and VAR refused to intervene.
This is the first time the two teams have played each other in the Champions League, with Manchester City good at passing and controlling the way they play, and Atletico mainly playing defensive counter-attacks, and the two teams are in stark contrast. Previously, in the round of 16, Manchester City eliminated Portuguese Sports 5-0 on aggregate, and Atletico Madrid eliminated Manchester United 2-1 on aggregate.
The matchup between the two teams in this game is notable, Guardiola has won 1 and lost 2 of the previous three games against Simeone in his coaching career, and with a small 1-0 home win at home in the first leg last week, Guardiola led the team to a 2-2 record against Simeone, and the two were tied.
In terms of starting, Manchester City continued the 442 formation, With Mahrez and Foden suddenly advancing, De Bruyne, Rodri, Gundogan and B-seat sitting in midfield, and Atletico sent Griezmann and Felix to the double forward combination.
After the opening, neither team was conservative, and the physical confrontation was increasing. In the 13th minute, Foden fell to the ground after being hit by Felipe in the air behind him, and suffered a short treatment after bleeding from his head, then Fuden wrapped his bandages and returned to the game, the referee only gave a warning, causing Guardiola to be dissatisfied.
In the 24th minute of the match, City passed the ball into the box, Llorente scrambled to touch the handball, the referee did not say, Atletico escaped the penalty. In the 25th minute, Felipe, who was more defensive, brought down De Bruyne behind his back and the referee showed a yellow card warning.
In the 30th minute, Walker crossed to the back of the penalty area, Foden distributed to Gundogan, Gundogan pushed the neutral post from close range to pop up, JD An immediately headed the ball to block, De Bruyne's shot was released, and Manchester City missed the opportunity to break the deadlock.
At the end of the first half, the score was still 0-0 draw, and the suspense was left until the second half. According to statistics, Manchester City completed 8 shots in the half but none of them were on target, Atletico only 1 foot shot on goal to complete the shot, the possession rate is less than 30%, Simeone talked about leading the team to turn over?