Soccer Card System

Chapter 519 The Severe Cold in Moscow (Part 2)

Chapter 519 The severe cold in Moscow (second update)

Chapter 5: The Cold in Moscow

After finishing the No.20 second round of the league, Atletico Madrid ushered in a league away game!

They played away against Racing Santander.

Since Atletico Madrid drew CSKA Moscow in the UEFA Champions League round of [-] draw, in order to prepare for the difficult away game in Russia four days later, Atletico Madrid made a substantial rotation in this game.

Despite this, Atletico Madrid still scored a victory away from home.

Relying on Mario Suarez's No.708 header in the second half, Atletico Madrid beat Racing Santander 60-[-] and continued to maintain their unbeaten momentum. Their unbeaten record has continued to No.[-]!

After the game, Atletico Madrid flew to Moscow immediately.

Russia's away game has always been a nightmare for Western European teams.

Especially for teams from the warm Iberian Peninsula, they are located at the southern tip of Europe, and the annual minimum temperature will not drop below zero. In Russia at this time, temperatures of more than ten degrees below zero are just the most common occurrences.

Ice and snow, severe cold, all these are quite a test for the southern teams.

Historically, Russian teams have repeatedly relied on the severe cold weather at home to defeat giants from the west.It's like they used the severe winter cold to repel foreign enemies many times in their history.

Even Napoleon lost his troops and generals in this severe cold.

Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​AC Milan, Manchester United and other well-known European giants also lose more than they win when they play away games in Russia, especially at a time like February, when Russia is icy and cold.

This was felt by the Atlético Madrid players as they stepped off the plane at Moscow airport.

Although they put on thick cotton wool coats early on, every player, including the coaches, wrapped themselves tightly.

But the moment they got off the plane, almost every player shivered from the cold.

Even Gao Bo couldn't bear the severe cold weather.

He is also a southerner—from southern China, of course.

Guangdong is considered to be one of the southernmost provinces in China—of course, Hainan is more southern than them. However, since Hainan was also part of GD province in the past, traditionally, Cantonese have a concept—except for the brother province Guangxi, the people in other provinces are from the north.

Although the latitude of Guangdong is similar to that of Spain, compared with the temperature in winter, Guangdong is actually much colder than Spain.

Affected by the warm and humid Atlantic current, Spain is a place where you don't need to wear winter clothes all year round.

Gao Bo's nose was red from the cold, let alone a group of Atletico Madrid players who lived in Spain all year round.

Some of them tightly wrapped their coats, some rubbed their hands, ignoring the microphones and cameras of the surrounding reporters, and walked quickly onto the bus waiting outside the airport.

There is a heater on the bus, which is what the players need most at this time.

Almost every player who boarded the bus let out a long sigh of relief.

The trembling figures of Atlético Madrid players after getting off the plane were recorded by the Russians and put on TV.

"The Spaniards can't adapt to the climate here. Looking at the performance of their players, we know that CSKA Moscow will once again win a battle against the Western giants at home!! The weather forecast shows that the temperature the day after tomorrow will be even lower than today. This is an excellent opportunity for CSKA Moscow. If they can take advantage of this opportunity to score as many goals as possible and beat Atletico Madrid, CSKA Moscow may be able to eliminate Atletico Madrid and reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League!!!"

On a local TV station in Moscow, a host said so.

He is actually right, the severe cold weather is indeed a major challenge to Atletico Madrid.

On the second day of training, the players first jogged to warm up, and then took off their jackets. Almost all of them were emitting white gas, as if submerged in smoke.

After a training session, the cheeks and noses of the players were red from the cold. Gao Bo had to urgently instruct the logistics staff to buy a large number of masks and warm hats in Moscow.

When the players were training, Gao Bo frowned the whole time.

Under such weather, it is very difficult for the players to show their 50.00% state - in fact, Gao Bo is very satisfied if he can show [-]% state.

In the afternoon, the team went to CSKA Moscow's home stadium, the CSKA Arena, for training.

Here, Gao Bo's expression was even more solemn.

He walked to the center of the court, knelt down and pressed the playing field with his hand!

"The pitch is hard, it's an artificial grass pitch!"

Moya came up behind him, his face was also frowning.

Gao Bo grabbed a handful of rubber pellets from the field.

These colloidal particles were like sand, slipping from between his fingers.

"In such a stadium environment and weather, I'm afraid it's easy to get injured." Gao Bo shook his head. "We need to keep playing in this game. We can't let the game become fierce. Even if it's a draw, or even a small loss to the opponent, it's no big deal. Our goal for this game is that there should be no injury reduction, and no big losses!"

Moya nodded after listening to Gao Bo's words.

CSKA Moscow is not a strong team, they rely on the harsh environment at home.

Therefore, Atletico Madrid, who are playing away, can't afford to fight hard against their opponents in such an environment.Anyway, the Champions League knockout match is two rounds. At home, Atletico Madrid will teach CSKA Moscow how to behave.

During the game the next day, when players from both sides were in the player tunnel, they could see the difference between the two teams.

Atlético de Madrid's players were all wrapped in thick cotton coats, while on the other side, CSKA Moscow's players only wore thermal sports underwear inside their short-sleeved jerseys.

Before the two teams entered the field, they could see the different degrees of adaptation to such a severe cold climate.

Gao Bo and his coaching staff looked towards the stands.

In the stands, the Russian fans were even tougher. Many of them took off their shirts and were shirtless, waving the clothes in their hands and shouting.

Lin Sen was speechless, he wrapped his coat tightly.

"This old man is really not afraid of the cold."

Gao Bo smiled.

"They can only do this for a while, and we will teach them a lesson when we arrive at our home court!!"

With that said, he sat back on the coach's bench.

The game was very dull, Atletico Madrid controlled the ball and slowed down the tempo as much as possible.

The CSKA Moscow players were very excited. They made a very high-pressure press on the field in an attempt to bring the rhythm of the game up.

In such a venue environment, Atletico Madrid's control has dropped significantly.

CSKA Moscow's offensive wave after wave, in this case, Atletico Madrid can only shrink half-court defense.

Gao Bo had already expected such a situation. On the starting list, he formed a defensive formation.

Diego Costa was alone in front, next to him was Aguero.

In midfield, Kante, Gabi, Mario Suarez and Modric started.

As for Griezmann, the French boy is sitting on the bench and rubbing his hands constantly.

His ears were red from the cold.

On the court, Atletico Madrid even fell into a situation of being besieged.

But until the end of the first half, CSKA Moscow failed to score.

In the second half of the game, Atletico Madrid also completely put on a defensive posture.

Cork came on to replace Aguero, and Gao Bo continued to strengthen the number of midfielders.

After more than 80 minutes, the score on the field was still zero to zero.

For this situation, Gao Bo can still accept it.

The away game was zero to zero, and when he returned to Calderon, he would never give CSKA Moscow any chance.

And CSKA Moscow obviously knows this too. If they want to advance to the quarter-finals of the Champions League, at least they must win at home!

Now the right time and place are on their side. If they can't win this, the quarter-finals of the Champions League will definitely miss CSKA Moscow.

And in the No.809 minute of the game, after the high center forward Dombia grabbed the high point, he gave the ball to the Russian star Zagoyev, known as the "new czar"!

Zagoyev's volley after stopping the ball at the penalty area line pierced Atletico Madrid's goal.

Atlético Madrid defended most of the time, but in the end CSKA Moscow scored.

This goal caused some changes in the format of the two rounds.

At least the Russian commentator was quite excited: "Zagoyev's goal gave CSKA Moscow the hope of qualifying for the quarter-finals of the Champions League!!"

In the CSKA Arena, the Russians are completely crazy!

As the Russian commentator said, this goal really gave CSKA Moscow the hope of advancing.

Zagoyev's goal gave CSKA Moscow a [-]-[-] victory over Atletico Madrid at home.

In the two rounds of the contest, CSKA Moscow won the first round, and Atletico Madrid has not yet scored an away goal. It seems that this score is very favorable for them.

Gao Bo shook his head slightly when the whistle sounded for the end of the game.

In fact, he had already expected the result of such a game.

The severe cold weather and the extremely unsuitable artificial grass field have created considerable difficulties for Atletico Madrid.

Just losing one goal is still acceptable for the team.

At their home court, Atletico Madrid has absolute confidence.

CSKA Moscow can only rely on the Russian environment to be aggressive at home. In Spain, their strength may not even be considered second-rate!

(End of this chapter)