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Atletico Madrid, which has maintained a winning streak since the start of the league, finally ushered in its first defeat in the sixth round of the league on September 26.

They lost 0:1 away to Villarreal.

Of course, the failure of this game is excusable. Because Simeone made a substantial rotation adjustment to the lineup.

Players including Gao Zheng and Griezmann did not appear in the starting lineup.

This is because in the next week, Atletico Madrid will usher in a game against Benfica, which is the strongest team in this group except for them.

After the game against Benfica, the next step is the Madrid city derby.

Although Atletico Madrid had an advantage in the match against Real Madrid last season, this does not mean that Atletico Madrid will still be able to easily beat Real Madrid in the new season

Any derby needs to be taken seriously.

With these two games behind, the game against Villarreal is not so important.

Moreover, even if Atletico Madrid lost to Villarreal in this game, it would not be wronged. So far this season, Villarreal has remained unbeaten. Like Real Madrid and Celta Vigo, they are the only three undefeated teams.

But they are different from those two teams. Although Real Madrid and Celta Vigo are undefeated, they have four wins and two draws. Villarreal has five wins and one draw.

So after defeating Atletico Madrid, they surpassed Atletico Madrid with 15 points and became the first in the league with 16 points!

Although everyone knows that it is almost impossible for this team to win the league championship, ranking first in the league now does not mean that it will still be in this position when the league ends. But for the "Yellow Submarine"

"It's enough to keep their supporters happy by surfacing once in a while and sitting at the top of the league.

After losing to Villarreal, Atletico Madrid and Barcelona scored 15 points, ranking second.

The league is still long and losing a game is not fatal.

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After the game against Villarreal, Atletico Madrid ushered in the Portuguese giants Benfica at home.

It turns out that

In the Villarreal game, Simeone would rather lose the game than rotate.

Because although Atletico Madrid is at home, Benfica is very tenacious.

Although Correa opened the scoring for Atletico Madrid in the opening 23 minutes.

But on 37 minutes, Niklas Gaitan equalized for Benfica.

Then the Benfica No. 10 player was very active, threatening Atletico Madrid's defense many times.

In the fifty-first minute, he assisted his teammate Guedes to score and once again broke through Atletico Madrid's goal.

There was an awkward silence as the Benfica players celebrated their second goal at the Calderón.

This is the home stadium of Atletico Madrid!

No one expected Atletico Madrid to fall behind their opponents 1:2 at home.

Even if Atletico Madrid's strongest team is excluded from Benfica's group, it is also under the premise of "excluding Atletico Madrid". As a result, this Benfica actually wants to pull Atletico Madrid from the throne at home?

Fortunately, Atletico Madrid still has Gao Zheng.

In the 77th minute, Gao Zheng finally equalized for Atletico Madrid.

His direct free-kick into the back of the net revived the atmosphere at the Calderón Stadium.

"Gao Zheng! He saved the team! If Atletico Madrid lose this game at home, the consequences will be unimaginable!" He Ping said with lingering fear.

In the end, with Gao Zheng's goal, Atletico Madrid drew with Benfica 2:2 at home.

It's certainly not a good result, but after the process of almost losing the game, the draw is not so unacceptable.

After all, with a worse result in front of everyone, the lesser of two evils.

If it wasn't for Gao Zheng, this match would have been lost...

However, after the game, Atletico Madrid's performance was still criticized by the media.

This is the home game. Everyone predicted that Atletico Madrid would beat Benfica at home.

As a result, you are only a draw at home, so what if you go to an away game?

Is it possible that Atletico Madrid really wants to compete with Benfica for the first place in the group?

Everyone is not worried about the right to qualify for the group stage. But if you can't get the first place in the group, it will be too shameful.

Moreover, the group ranking is not only related to face, but also related to the result of the draw after entering the knockout round.

If Atletico Madrid wants to face a weaker opponent in the knockout round, they must take the first place in the group in order to draw second in the group.

At the same time, Atletico Madrid can be tied by Benfica at their own home court, which also shows how difficult it is to play in the Champions League.

The teams that can participate in the Champions League match basically have two brushes. Take Astana, the weakest team in this group, as an example.

In the first round of the group stage, they lost 0:2 cleanly to Benfica in the away game. As a result, after returning to home in this round of the group stage, they drew with Galatasaray 2:2.

You must know that Galatasaray only scored in the 86th minute, which is basically a lore. As a result, in the 89th minute, Astana pulled it back in a daze, allowing the Turkish team to fly a three-pointer.

Even an opponent like Astana should not be underestimated, this is the Champions League.

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In another Champions League group match on the same day, Atletico Madrid's city rivals Real Madrid beat Malmo 2-0 away.

The UEFA Champions League group stage has already been mentioned for two rounds. Real Madrid has won all two games, scoring six goals and conceding none.

After being tied by the newly promoted Sporting Gijon in the first round of the league, the team led by Benitez has gradually been on the right track.

In the next four league games, Real Madrid maintained a winning streak. It was not until the last round of the league that they were tied by Malaga at home.

But then in the Champions League group stage, they defeated the Swedish team Malmo 2-0 away.

This fully shows that Benitez's team's self-adjustment ability is still very strong.

After sending away Ancelotti, the hero of the Champions League ten-time champion, Real Madrid fans are still a little worried, worried that Benitez will not be able to control the Galacticos.

But looking at it now, many people can put their hearts in their stomachs.

After all, Benitez is also a tactical master who led Liverpool to the Champions League trophy. Although he had a bad nose in Inter Milan, it may just be that Inter Milan is not suitable for him.

And you must know that Real Madrid used to be Benitez's old club-Benitez spent his youth player period in Real Madrid's youth training camp.

And Benitez's coaching career also started in Real Madrid-he is now coaching Real Madrid's B team Castilla, and then served as an assistant coach for Real Madrid's first team.

So this man has Real Madrid blood, he coached Real Madrid, just like Guardiola coached Barcelona.

Everyone believed it was a match made in heaven.

Looking at it now, this tactical master has indeed brought Real Madrid on the right track.

The turmoil after Ancelotti's dismissal did not affect the Real Madrid first team.

——The premise of saying this is that Benitez passed the next "examination".

Real Madrid challenged Atletico Madrid away.

This Madrid city derby is a big test that determines everyone's evaluation of Benitez.

After all, Real Madrid faced Atletico Madrid eight times last season, only won one game in the Champions League, drew three games, and lost all the other four games.

It can be said to be tragic.

And even if they won Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, they failed to go further in the Champions League, and the victory against Atletico Madrid seemed meaningless.

Such a bad single-season record made every Real Madrid fan take a deep breath.

With the introduction of the new head coach, everyone naturally hopes that Real Madrid will be able to avenge their shame under the leadership of Benitez.

It can be said that in the last round of the league, when Benitez made a rotation for the Champions League, the team was still tied by Malaga, and there were still criticisms in the media. But as long as he can lead his team to beat Atletico Madrid, then these criticisms will disappear.