Champion’s Heart

In the early morning of April 3rd, Beijing time, and the night of April 2nd, local time in Munich, the Champions League quarter-finals began. Bayern Munich was the first to appear. They faced Juventus at home. Also kicking off at the same time on the same day is Porto's home game against Barcelona.

Although the Dortmund media gave Juventus advice before the game, it had no effect.

Bayern Munich easily defeated Juventus 2:0 at their home court.

Just one minute into the game, Alaba opened the scoring for Bayern Munich. This goal completely disrupted Juventus' plans.

However, Bayern Munich did not pay the price for the victory in this game. In the 16th minute, Toni Kroos was injured and could not continue the game and was replaced early. As the core of Bayern Munich's midfield this season, Kroos' injury may affect Bayern Munich's subsequent performance in the league and Champions League, which is a bit worrying.

In another stadium, Porto lost to Barcelona 1:2 at their home court. They did not cause much trouble to Barcelona. Two away goals greatly increased Barcelona's hopes of qualifying. In the second round, back at Barcelona's home court, it was almost impossible for Porto to come back.

As a Chinese fan, this day's game is not of great concern. In addition to the existing fan groups of the three teams of Barcelona, ​​Juventus and Bayern Munich, more people are still waiting for tomorrow's game.

Tomorrow, Dortmund will go away to challenge Atletico Madrid!

In the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, the highest level Chinese derby will be staged!

As for the other match between Real Madrid and Galatasaray, not many people paid attention to it. I am afraid that even domestic Real Madrid fans, many people will choose to watch the live broadcast of Atletico Madrid vs. Dortmund, and through other channels, For example, use the Internet to pay attention to the score of Real Madrid's game.

Moreover, domestic CCTV also chose to put the match between Dortmund and Atletico Madrid on the free sports channel, while Real Madrid and Galatasaray were put on the paid Fengyun Football Channel. Through this arrangement, we can see which game is the most popular in the country.

There is still one day left before the game starts, but there are already many reports about this game in the media.

The Dortmund team arrived in Madrid, players from both sides were interviewed, coaches from both sides attended the pre-match press conference, and Dortmund conducted field adaptability training...

Various news reports heightened the tense atmosphere of the game.

Sun Pan said in an interview with reporters before the game: I have already told Zhou Yi.

I won't let Dortmund score a goal in this game!

Zhou Yi said with a smile: Atletico Madrid is very strong and it is an away game. To be more realistic, I think it would be good to draw with them in the away game.

Sun Pan was as arrogant as ever, but Zhou Yi's low-keyness surprised everyone. Chinese media analysts believe that Zhou Yi may be saving his character by saying this, actively showing weakness to let Atletico Madrid relax their vigilance, and then attack Madrid again in the game. Jingjing launched a sudden attack and caught the opponent by surprise.

Although foreign media do not know the term accumulating character, they also find Zhou Yi's low profile a bit strange. Generally, when challenging an opponent, even if they are not strong enough, they will say some nice words to boost their momentum. Even if the real goal is a draw, they will try their best to win. Why did Zhou Yi directly say that the goal was a draw?

Based on Zhou Yi's past performance, everyone feels that Dortmund's goal may not be a draw, but they just hope to use such words and deeds to paralyze their opponents.

If Zhou Yi still had time to pay attention to media reports before the game, he would definitely say that the media were overthinking it.

Striving for a draw in this game was not his goal, but the goal set by the coaching staff.

We have reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Every opponent here is difficult to deal with, and every game is full of difficulties. So we must be careful and not take it lightly.

Moreover, with the strength of Atletico Madrid, it will not be easy for Dortmund to defeat them on the road. If you want to win, you have to be more involved in the offense, and being more involved in the offense will lead to fewer troops in the defense. When the time comes, it will be over if Atletico Madrid counterattacks.

This is not shocking, but real. Simeone's Atletico Madrid relies on a solid defense and is very successful on the counterattack.

Klopp wouldn't take that risk.

Moreover, Atletico Madrid, playing at home, is the side that desperately wants to win the game, so Dortmund just defends, waits for Atletico Madrid to press out, and then hits them to counterattack. There is no need to press out.

A draw in the away game is completely acceptable.

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On the day of the game, Atletico Madrid’s home stadium, the Calderon Stadium, was packed. For Atletico Madrid fans, it is very rare for the team to reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League - the last time they reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League was 16 years ago.

In the history of the Champions League, Atletico Madrid has reached the quarterfinals six times, the last time being in the distant 1996-1997 season. Back then, Atlético Madrid was in the same group as current quarter-final opponent Dortmund. They had four wins, one draw and one loss in the group stage to get 13 points, and beat Dortmund to become first in the group with a goal difference advantage.

However, after advancing to the group stage, they were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Ajax, who was still very powerful at the time, 3:4.

Since then, Atletico Madrid's results have been ups and downs. Not to mention the Champions League quarter-finals, it would be great to enter the Champions League. In the 21st century, they have even been relegated.

The last time Atletico Madrid participated in the Champions League was in the 2009-2010 season. At that time, they qualified for the Champions League qualifying rounds with fourth place in La Liga last season. Through the qualifying rounds, they were able to participate in the Champions League group stages. Was placed in a group with APOEL, Chelsea and Porto.

As a result, Atletico Madrid did not win a single game in the six group matches. They had three draws and three losses and only accumulated three points. They scored three goals and conceded eight goals. This was only because of an away goal in the match against APOEL, so they were ranked first. APOEL participated in the Europa League in the second half of the season as third in the group.

However, no one expected that Atletico Madrid's performance in the Champions League would be so poor, and going to the Europa League would be a blessing in disguise.

Atletico Madrid, who were relegated from the Champions League, eliminated Galatasaray in the Europa League quarter-finals with a total score of 3:2. In the quarter-finals, they eliminated Sporting Lisbon 2:2 with the advantage of two away goals and reached the quarterfinals. In the quarter-finals, they eliminated Valencia 2:2 with the same advantage of two away goals and advanced to the semi-finals.

Atletico Madrid defeated Liverpool 1:0 at home in the first leg of the semifinals. Within 90 minutes of the second leg away game, Liverpool beat Atletico Madrid 1:0. The two sides had the same total score and the same number of away goals and could only enter overtime.

In overtime, Liverpool took the lead, and Benayoun helped the team rewrite the total score to 2:1. If this score remains until the end, Atletico Madrid will be eliminated. But in the 102nd minute, Atletico Madrid forward Diego Forlan scored a key goal for Atletico Madrid.

Although Atletico Madrid lost to Liverpool 1:2 in the away game, with Forlan's goal, Atletico Madrid scored one more away goal than Liverpool. So they once again relied on the advantage of away goals to eliminate Liverpool and reach the final...

In the Europa League final, Atletico Madrid and Fulham once again dragged the game into overtime. In overtime, it was Diego Forlan's goal that finally helped Atletico Madrid win 2:1. Defeated Fulham and won the Europa League.

What was lost in the Champions League was made up for in the Europa League. Atletico Madrid's winning experience is truly legendary.

A year later, Atletico Madrid once again won the Europa League championship trophy. This time with the participation of Chinese players - Sun Pan, as the team's main goalkeeper, set the stage for the team to win the Europa League championship. Great contribution.

In this Europa League, Atletico Madrid won 12 consecutive victories and swept across Europe.

These two Europa League wins have accumulated a lot of European experience for Atletico Madrid, so they can reach the quarterfinals in one breath after participating in the Champions League again after two years this season.

This is a manifestation of strength, and it is also the reason why Klopp does not dare to take Atletico Madrid lightly in the away game. There is no conspiracy theory in Zhou Yi's words, it is pure respect and attention to Atletico Madrid. (To be continued.)