One of the big battles in the third round of the Champions League group stage was played by Atletico Madrid at home to Liverpool, and there was a certain gap between the two sides before the game, Liverpool beat Watford 5-0 before the match, while Atletico Madrid did not play after the international match, coupled with the mediocre state this season, in La Liga for the time being, there is no suitable way to play, and no players are particularly outstanding.
Simeone played in the 352 formation as before, facing the opponent's front trident this time, hoping to suppress it by numbers, but to his surprise, Simeone let back Jeffrey Condobia move back one block, putting José Jimenez back on the bench. The two wing-backs continued to make cameos with Yannick Carrasco, as well as Kieran Trippier, who had a small range of movement, attacking strong and defending weakly on the other. The front line abandoned Suarez in favour of João Felix, who was less currently selected this season, to partner Griezmann.
This game is indeed very "unexpected", first of all, Atletico Madrid lost and returned is expected by the editor, but what is unexpected is that Atletico lost very "wonderful". First of all, in the first fifteen minutes of the first half, Atletico's first goal was full of Salah's dribbling ability, but also reflected the lack of defensive ability of wing-backs and midfielders, Jannik Carrasco is a winger, to keep defending, facing Salah, Arnold and other excellent and tacit combinations, which is not what he can handle, plus the middle bag of Thomas Lemar and Corker are pushed like scarecrows, and finally indirectly cause the first goal. In addition to the responsibility for the second goal defensively falling on Felipe, who made a mistake, the defender at the top of the penalty area also had a certain responsibility, failing to protect the second point, of course, the time of the shot plus Nabi Keita's world wave, the loss was understandable.
Atletico have home advantage, but quickly fell behind by two goals, which surprised the editor. However, in recent years, when Atletico Madrid encounters difficulties, it often shows the psychological quality of this "crazy" team to become unfazed. Instead of panicking, the team snatched back the initiative in the game after fifteen minutes. Liverpool, despite their form, led by two goals early, leaving Atletico Madrid to give it a go, and just a few minutes later, a corner kick inspired by Thomas Lemar was met by Koch and the shot was gently reversed in front of Griezmann's goal to make it 1-2. After chasing a goal, the home team has more confidence, this game Griezmann, João Felix, Yannick Carrasco and others have repeatedly seized the opportunity to reverse the offside, taking advantage of Liverpool's defensive line to press forward, three times four times to create opportunities to attack the goal, but liverpool goalkeeper Alisson performed extremely well, saving Liverpool three times and four times.
In the 33rd minute of the first half, Atletico Madrid finally got the equalising opportunity, João Felix turned around and passed to Griezmann at the top of the box, who used his best to create an excellent shooting opportunity with a push, a seemingly simple but fatal kick, allowing Atletico to come to the second half with great momentum.
Another "surprise" was staged in the second half, a red card from Griezmann. In terms of match rules, there is not much controversy about direct red cards. But from the replay, Griezmann did not notice Roberto Firmino's position from beginning to end, and naturally reached out to control the ball, and kicked the opponent in the head as soon as he turned around. A "helpless" red card turned the whole situation around, but the lagging Atletico Madrid players continued to work together, at least hoping to get one point back.
The last "accident" was a penalty before the end of the game, Mario Hermoso's brain "short circuit" made Atletico lose three points, the opponent's high ball was hoisted into the box, Diogo Jota was cutting into the box, and Mario Hermoso knocked down the opponent in a "no ball" way, and no VAR knew the point. The location of the ball, the degree of threat, the position of the defender himself did not need to make such a superfluous action, and in the end this penalty made Atletico lose the game.
On the contrary, before the end of the game, Diogo Jota put down José Jimenez in a defensive attack in the penalty area, and the referee overturned his penalty according to the VAR, and there was a lot of controversy, of course, it seemed that the same way of penalty, fans may feel unfair. But looking at VAR again, Diogo Jota's power is indeed not as strong as Mario Hermoso's "MMA" approach, and the referee makes sense to overturn the decision after watching the action carefully, but it seems to be emotionally unfair to the fans.
In the end, although atletico Madrid lost this game, in addition to the lack of concentration at the beginning of the whole game, the subsequent games showed the psychological quality of the team, and the offensive aspects were also greatly improved, of course, Liverpool's loose defense also helped Atletico to gain more space in attack. However, in any case, the failure to score three points in this game has no disastrous impact on the qualifying situation, and the rest of the matches against Porto and AC Milan can concentrate on three points.