Although it has not been able to reach the finals, the Chinese team still has to play another game of three or four finals like the team that reached the finals.

This also means that Gao Zheng cannot return to the club just because the Chinese team stopped in the semi-finals.

The Asian Cup third and fourth place finals were held on the night of January 30, which was only one day before the finals.

In response to this question when asked in an interview, Simeone said half-jokingly: "I stand up for the bad things for Gaozhai. Since I have to play six games, why not play the finals but play the same 3 and 4 finals as a useless one? It doesn't matter, just wait for one more day, we wait more often..."

The reporters present laughed, and Simeone was also laughing.

The atmosphere looks relaxed.

In fact, considering the lack of Gao Zheng, Atletico Madrid has performed well during this period. Although they lost two games in the league, their ranking did not drop, and they were still in third place. They tied Barcelona tightly and scored the same points as Barcelona, ​​both four points behind the top Real Madrid.

In the Copa del Rey final, they also eliminated their city rival Real Madrid with a total score of 4:2 without Gao Zheng.

Of course, in the first leg of the Copa REE quarterfinals a few days ago, they lost 0-1 away to Barcelona.

But isn't there a second round?

This press conference is the pre-match press conference for Atletico Madrid to face Barcelona at home.

On the evening of January 28, the second leg started at Calderon Stadium. Atletico Madrid played at home, only one goal behind Barcelona, ​​and they could still reverse the turn.

No wonder Simeone seemed very relaxed when answering this question. The premise of Simeone's answer was that someone asked him that Atletico Madrid had lost to Barcelona in the league this season, and lost again in the first leg of the Copa REE quarter-finals. This time he faced Barcelona again, would he miss Gao Zheng a little?

So Simeone made the above answer, half-jokingly avoiding this topic, he wanted to say that he wanted Gao Zheng and let other Atletico Madrid players on the team think? Oh, it was Gao Zheng's credit for winning the ball, but if he lost the ball, he would not have Gao Zheng, so what did he treat us as?

If he said he didn't want Gao Zheng, he might have spread his words the next day, and he would not want to be broken by the media to make his relationship with Gao Zheng.

Although Gao Zheng is the core of Simeone's team, Atletico Madrid is not a single team. In addition to Gao Zheng, Atletico Madrid has other good players.

This is the difference between his team and Sampdoria. If Sampdoria lost Gao Zheng, it might have collapsed. Sampdoria, who has lost Gao Zheng this season, is only ranked 13th, which is far behind the two seasons with Gao Zheng.

Berardi performed very well, but he could not help Sampdoria alone. After all, he is not Gao Zheng, and there is still a big gap between him and Gao Zheng.

"…This time it's our home court, and we are confident of taking Barcelona."

Finally, Simeone said.

In the two games I lost before, Atletico Madrid challenged Barcelona away, so they lost. This time Atletico Madrid is home, and Atletico Madrid's home court has always been a very terrible league. Real Madrid, who performed well in the first leg of the quarterfinals, challenged Atletico Madrid away in the first leg of the quarterfinals, lost 0:2.

The away game was only 0-1 and Simone lost to Barcelona, ​​so of course he was confident that he would win back at home.

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In this second round, Atletico Madrid, who played at home, was indeed full of momentum, and he rushed and beat hard as soon as he got up.

And in the first minute, Fernando Torres scored the first goal, tied the total score to 1:1, sounding the clarion call for Atletico Madrid's counterattack.

Torres, Atletico Madrid's "golden boy" was loaned from AC Milan in January this year, which is also to make up for the vacancy on the Atletico Madrid forward after Gao Zheng left the team to play in the Asian Cup.

At the same time, the return of the "Golden Boy" who has been wandering outside for many years and is now unsatisfactory can also reflect the humanity of Atletico Madrid.

Torres performed well after returning from loan. Since returning from loan on January 6, he has scored two goals in the league and has now earned one goal in the Copa del Rey.

However, Barcelona quickly tied the score in the ninth minute. Neymar helped Barcelona tie the score 1:1, and the total score became 2:1.

In the 30th minute, Atletico Madrid broke the deadlock again. Juan Fran broke into the penalty area and caused Barcelona central defender Javier Mascherano to foul, and the referee awarded Atletico Madrid a penalty kick.

Raul Garcia took the penalty and tied the total score to 2:2. However, according to this score, it is still unfavorable for Atletico Madrid, because the total score is the same, and Barcelona has an away goal, and the away goal advantage allowed them to beat Atletico Madrid and lead in the competition to advance to the semi-finals.

If they want to reverse the turn, they have to continue scoring.

But in the 38th minute, Barcelona quickly scored back again. This time, Busquets' header was touched by Atletico Madrid's central defender Miranda.

This own goal is really too bad for morale.

But it was still in the back. Just three minutes later, Barcelona scored another goal, Neymar received Alva's pass and scored twice.

Barcelona led 3:2 in a single game, with a total score of 4:2.

If Atletico Madrid wants to reverse, it will not be possible to score two more goals. They have to score three goals, and at the same time expect Barcelona not to score again.

They have been forced into a dead end!

In the second half, Simeone dispatched troops and replaced Saul with the poor performance in the first half with Griezmann.

And in sixty-three minutes, all three substitutions were used up.

But Atletico Madrid's offensive did not improve.

On the contrary, the team captain Gabi was sent off the court with a red card in the 78th minute for a foul.

"The score is behind, and there is still one less person. Simeone's home game plan seems to be going to be a terrible..." commentator Jose Maria jokingly said, "I wonder if Simeone misses Gao at this time? Under the backward situation, Atletico Madrid has 45 minutes to solve this problem, but now it seems that they have no way to break through Barcelona's goal..."

The TV broadcast seemed to be in tune with the commentator Maria, and it happened to give Simeone a close-up shot.

Diego Simeone in the close-up seemed very anxious. He whistled on the sidelines and signaled the players to press on.

However, he has quickly used up all three substitution places. After making the adjustment, he has actually no better way than watching the show off the court.

"By the way, Gao has scored seven goals in the Asian Cup, taking the lead in the Asian Cup scorer list, far ahead of his opponents." Maria did not forget to finish the game and introduced to the audience who did not know and pay attention to the Asian Cup in front of the TV.

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In the end, Atletico Madrid tried his best but failed to score even a goal in the second half.

They lost to Barcelona 2-3 at their home court, and were double-killed by their opponents at home and away in the Copa RE.

He was also eliminated from the Copa del Rey.

At the end of the game, Jose Maria teased: "No matter whether Diego Simeone misses Gao, I think Atletico Madrid fans must miss Gao very much..."

Gao Zheng had to wait until January 31st to finish the third and fourth finals with the UAE before he could return.

He will definitely miss the 21st round of the league against Eibar.

But this doesn't matter, this game doesn't matter at all.

What’s important is that in the next 22nd round of the league on February 7, Atletico Madrid will face Real Madrid at home.
Chapter completed!