Atletico Madrid rely on what eliminated Bayern to reach the Champions League final

Not a traditional giants, but toppled Bayern Barcelona; no golden dollar stick, but unique and tough playing style. Under the leadership of skipper Simeone, Atletico Madrid has become one of the most special and powerful teams in today's soccer world, and they have written a legend with their own style. The team that lost to Bayern in the second round yesterday, but ended up in the Champions League final with a slim margin of one more away goal, is likely to fulfill their own Madrid myth.

Passive all over the pitch, waiting patiently for a counterattack

Atletico's formation is usually 442 or 4411, with the forwards looking for space to create devastating strikes. In the 2-0 Champions League second-leg defeat to Barcelona, Atletico's left-back Felipe made a long pass directly to the striker, and Barcelona's compressed backline gave Atletico a chance. Once Barca got close enough to the Atletico defense to threaten, it was met with fouls.

Atletico played a very passive game against Bayern, as they do against other strong teams, and were suppressed by Bayern for the vast majority of the game. In terms of statistics, Atletico was at an absolute disadvantage, with only 27.5 percent ball control and a 60 percent passing success rate far lower than Bayern's 85 percent. The number of shots on goal was even more dismal for Atletico, with only seven in the match, while Bayern blasted 33 shots on goal. But all they needed was a chance to counterattack, and Torres and Griezmann knocked Bayern's door open with the simplest of combinations.

Rough defense, big bus in front of goal

The Sky chief said, "Atletico's soccer is disgusting, he plays Italian soccer, big bus in front of the goal." And as for his defensive philosophy, Simeone is very laid back, "I only care about winning games, all I do is to win games, not to please anyone."

Statistics show that Atletico have not conceded a single goal in their last five Champions League home games, and have achieved a horrific 14 shutouts in their last 16 Champions League home games. What's even more frightening is that Atletico have only conceded five goals at home in the Champions League over the past three years. Of course, Atletico's shutout miracle is not just limited to their own doorstep. This season, Atletico have kept 33 games without a shutout, including 21 of the 35 rounds of La Liga matches without conceding a goal. According to the statistics before the quarterfinals, Atletico topped all teams with a whopping 47 percent steal success rate.

Atletico's tactics usually don't involve wingers, forcing opponents to distribute the ball to the sides through high steals by the front players when the opponent is in control of the ball. And on the wings, in contrast to the three-midfield system of many teams, Atletico will achieve a 4-on-3 or 3-on-2 numerical advantage through the collective defense of the wing-backs, center-forwards and wing-backs.

Manager's philosophy: A new benchmark in soccer

Simone, who was a brave and ruthless player in his playing days, is sometimes not afraid to use some of his "means" to win, and his kick in the World Cup that gave Beckham a red card is still very impressive. Previously Atletico Madrid is a traditional technical team, Simeone coaching a change in the past, the team more emphasis on defense, more emphasis on stealing interceptions, to improve the quality of counterattacks. And in the two lines of play, Atletico's average number of steals is also among the top. In the past many years, Barcelona and Real Madrid monopolized the La Liga, and their soccer has become the benchmark of modern soccer. However, the emergence of Simeone-led Atletico has broken that mold. The team has won five consecutive matches in the last five games, and each of their opponents is not bad, including Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao and other European powerhouses. Simeone's theory is that teams rarely concede and win more games.

After winning the first leg of the semifinals against Bayern, La Gazzetta dello Sport praised Simeone, saying, "Simeone is Che Guevara, he is the commander, and soccer, which is based on the idea of possession, is going to die. Those things that Barcelona and Spanish soccer espouse are crushed by Simeone's defensive counterattacks."

Prolific striker investment with vision

Atletico have a high-quality production line. Although not a traditional giants team, they have been prolific in producing quality strikers. Historically, Atletico have not only been able to produce their own good strikers, but have also been able to sell at a high price and buy at a low price to find the most suitable strikers for their own line, to keep the striker line ultra-competitive, and at the same time keep the club in a more favorable mode of operation.

Back in 1997, Vieira had joined the club for 11 million dollars, and his stunning figures of 24 goals in 24 matches allowed Lazio to buy him for 19 million dollars. After that, Atletico also had Hasselbaink on the front line, and in recent years, the familiar Aguero, Fran, Falcao, have all once attacked on the Atletico front line, and Torres, who is still in the team today, is the former Spanish golden boy, whose performances laid the foundation of Atletico's strength.

Summarizing the success of Atletico, we have to admire their precise vision of buying people. According to statistics, in the past 17 years, Atletico a*** invested in 17 forward players, of which only 7 sold at a loss, with a total investment of 193 million euros, while the income is as high as 264 million euros. At the same time, Atletico's youth training camp also has a very good reputation, in Real Madrid has become a generation of legendary Raul from Atletico's youth training camp, and Torres is growing here.