Lin Hai Ting Tao
Chapter 1069 Second Half
Now they had only forty-five minutes left, and they had to chase back at least three goals to advance to the final. One goal less would mean elimination.
Jürgen Klopp was well prepared for this during the half-time break. Under these circumstances, Atlético Madrid's countermeasures were obvious and required no guessing.
Borussia Dortmund's strategy against Atlético Madrid's counterattack was very simple: defensive counterattack.
Withdraw the defense, then look for opportunities to counterattack.
And Borussia Dortmund had the wherewithal to launch counterattacks. Yan Min, Aubameyang, and Reus were all fast, technically skilled, and strong individual players, capable of causing chaos in the opponent's defense even on their own.
So a defensive counterattack was actually very suitable for Borussia Dortmund at the moment.
The morale of the Atlético Madrid players was indeed very high. After Simeone's adjustments at half-time, they all performed normally and didn't look as dispirited as they had after conceding the goal.
But while their morale was high, Borussia Dortmund's morale hadn't dropped either. Having just pulled back a goal, they could even be said to be "in high spirits." At this moment, every Borussia Dortmund player felt very stable and secure, because they had an away goal. This goal, combined with the 4-2 aggregate score, almost guaranteed them an invincible position.
So the game didn't repeat the opening scene of the first half, as Atlético Madrid fans had imagined.
Atlético Madrid's offensive was indeed very fierce. Judging from the momentum of the attack at the beginning of the second half, it really wasn't inferior to the start of the first half.
But Borussia Dortmund in the second half was different from Borussia Dortmund in the first half.
Faced with Atlético Madrid's aggressive offensive, Borussia Dortmund responded with sharp counterattacks.
In the forty-eighth minute, only three minutes after the start of the second half, Atlético Madrid launched an attack. Arda Turan's small-angle shot from the left side of the penalty area was saved by Weidenfeller.
The rebounded ball was cleared by Borussia Dortmund players. Zhou Yi grabbed the second landing point and directly found Yan Min with a long pass. Borussia Dortmund took advantage of the situation to launch a quick counterattack!
Yan Min dribbled the ball for thirty meters, then crossed the ball in front of the goal. Aubameyang's shot after receiving the ball at the edge of the penalty area went slightly wide.
Although it didn't go in, it scared Atlético Madrid fans quite a bit – when the ball went wide of the goal, a huge exclamation erupted from the stands. They almost thought the ball was going in...
"Aubameyang's shot was a little off, what a pity! Borussia Dortmund's counterattack was of very, very high quality!"
"Oh! Aubameyang! Borussia Dortmund was so close to ending the suspense of this game! A 5-2 score would be enough to make Atlético Madrid collapse!" He Ping said.
But although this attack didn't result in a goal, it didn't affect the Borussia Dortmund players.
Because they knew that there would be many more such opportunities in the second half, and they didn't need to rush at all.
Sure enough, in the next ten minutes, Borussia Dortmund got two more counterattack opportunities. Although neither resulted in a goal, they still threatened Atlético Madrid's defense, making Atlético Madrid fans tremble with fear.
After three consecutive counterattacks like this, Atlético Madrid also realized that if they continued to attack like this, they might concede a goal before they scored...
So Atlético Madrid, who had originally been aggressive and wanted to devour Borussia Dortmund, now had to face a choice – should they continue to attack, regardless of defense, and strive to score three goals first? Or should they appropriately withdraw a little to avoid conceding a goal?
The Atlético Madrid players were unsure.
Simeone on the sidelines knew what was happening when he saw this situation.
The players' mentality was unstable, and they couldn't maintain a unified opinion on the goal of the game.
This situation was very dangerous. If it dragged on for too long, the team would become disjointed, which would give Borussia Dortmund more opportunities to take advantage of.
So Simeone immediately made adjustments, which were actually the same as the current tactics, but he needed to stabilize morale and unify thinking.
His decision was the same as during the half-time break, which was to continue attacking.
For Atlético Madrid at this moment, there was no other way to go.
After conceding a goal to Borussia Dortmund, Atlético Madrid was forced onto Mount Liang, with only one path to take: attack.
Although attacking might lead to them conceding more goals in the game, not attacking would be a certain death.
And with Simeone's temperament and personality, he would never admit defeat at this time. Of course, he would fight to the death with his opponent.
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After having their thinking unified by the coach, Atlético Madrid finally got rid of their previous hesitation and began to bombard Borussia Dortmund's goal.
Of course, Borussia Dortmund was prepared for this tactic from Atlético Madrid, and they weren't afraid. They just played their defensive counterattack.
During this period, Atlético Madrid naturally had more shooting opportunities, while Borussia Dortmund had fewer.
There were also some dangerous scenes, such as in the seventy-second minute, when Juanfran crossed from the right side of the penalty area, and Arda Turan headed the ball from ten meters away from the goal at the far post. After Weidenfeller touched it with his fingers, it hit the crossbar and bounced back.
Turan followed up with another shot, but it was blocked by Piszczek, who had retreated to the goal line, with his foot.
"Turan!! Piszczek made a key defense! He blocked the ball off the goal line! What a close call! Atlético Madrid almost scored!" He Ping roared loudly, but even if Atlético Madrid had scored this goal, they would still have needed to score two more...
In the following game, Atlético Madrid's main striker Diego Costa was also injured and unable to continue the game, so he had to be substituted.
And Costa's substitution was a huge loss for Atlético Madrid's attack.
Without Diego Costa, it would be even more difficult for Atlético Madrid to break through Borussia Dortmund's goal.
Many Atlético Madrid fans showed disappointed expressions, as if they had already foreseen the outcome of the game.
After Diego Costa left the field, Atlético Madrid's morale began to gradually decline.
Now there were less than fifteen minutes left in the game.
In the seventy-ninth minute, Turan passed the ball, and Filipe shot from a small angle on the left side of the penalty area, but it was saved by Weidenfeller again.
In the eighty-fourth minute, Borussia Dortmund got a counterattack opportunity. Aubameyang passed the ball, and Reus almost formed a one-on-one opportunity, but the ball he shot at Courtois was blocked by the Belgian goalkeeper with his foot...
"Reus – ahhhh! He almost killed this game in advance!" Marcel Reif shouted regretfully.
But it didn't matter if he didn't kill it, anyway, there was already very little suspense left in this game.
With less than ten minutes left in the game, if Atlético Madrid wanted to eliminate Borussia Dortmund, they would need to score three more goals, but how was that possible?
Atlético Madrid's defeat was inevitable.
The TV broadcast gave Simeone a close-up shot. The Argentine coach's facial expression was still firm, but no one knew what he was thinking in his heart...
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Until the referee blew the whistle to end the game, the score on the field was never changed again.
In the end, Borussia Dortmund lost 1-2 to Atlético Madrid away from home, but eliminated Atlético Madrid 4-2 on aggregate.
"The game is over! The game is over! Borussia Dortmund eliminated Atlético Madrid 4-2, and they have reached the Champions League final for the second consecutive season! This is truly an amazing achievement!" Marcel Reif said excitedly.
With Bayern Munich having been eliminated by Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund became the only representative to defend the glory of German football.
"The defending champion has entered the final, so will Borussia Dortmund have a chance to defend the title? You know, no team has been able to do this since the Champions League was reformed..." Marcel Reif also looked forward to it.
Borussia Dortmund's substitute players rushed onto the field and hugged their teammates on the field to celebrate.
Being able to reach the Champions League final for two consecutive seasons was indeed worthy of a good celebration.
Klopp was able to suppress his inner excitement at first and shake hands with Simeone.
After shaking hands, he revealed his true colors and happily jumped onto the field, running towards his players.
A group of people celebrated heartily in the opponent's home stadium.