After a brief morning training session, Madrid will fly to Valencia and then welcome their opponent Valencia in the next round of the league.

It is not an exaggeration to describe Valencia's situation at this time as an internal and external troubles. At the beginning of this season's league, as the league champions of last season, they were hailed by all media as favorable candidates for this season's championship.

Although their former meritorious coach Benitez went to England, they also invited Ranieri, the second-place coach of Chelsea last season's Premier League team.

However, Ranieli's previous coaching experience in Spain was not good. He once brought Atletico Madrid to Class II. Although Ranieli did not coach a full season at Atletico Madrid, the class was dismissed midway through the league because of poor results.

However, perhaps it is the board of directors of Valencia. I believe that Ranieri has improved his coaching ability through years of training, so they also chose Ranieri, but Valencia's head coach.

However, choosing Ranieri as the head coach of Valencia seems to be a wrong choice for the Valencia board of directors.

In the knockout round of the just-concluded League Cup, Valencia unexpectedly lost to the Bucharest Stars and was eliminated from the event, which became the direct fuse for Ranieri's dismissal. The Italians' previous series of achievements also made the club dissatisfied.

“We decided to remove Claudio Ranieri from the head coaching position,” Valencia Club President Bautista said in a press conference. “We believe that the team’s record in the past few weeks has not been ideal, and he agrees that we have been further and further away from the goals set at the beginning of the season.”

Valencia currently ranks sixth in the La Liga, and has just experienced the embarrassment of losing to the game for six consecutive rounds. In the League Cup, they were eliminated by the Bucharest Stars in the first leg while leading 2-0. This unexpected blow shocked the club. Last season, Valencia, coached by Benitez, won the double championships in the league and League Cup, and Ranieli's results this season are in sharp contrast with his predecessor.

Ranieri is really worthy of being the title of tutor. Often, the teams led by Ranieri can put such a team with a very bad lineup together, and then make the team achieve unexpected good results.

However, Ranieri is unable to lead the team to compete for the championship in a player who has a chance to win the championship, both in Chelsea and Valencia.

In the year when Chelsea competed for the championship, Ranieri can be said to be the Arsenal team last season's condition was too amazing. No one could stop them if they won the championship unbeaten in a season, which can explain that Ranieri's bad luck.

But for Valencia, Benitez won the League Cup and League championships last season, but Raneli was left with him, but Raneli was just going to beat first and then suppress. He performed well at the beginning of the league, and the more he went on, Valencia's performance became worse.

Valencia's new coach is Antonio Lopez, assistant coach of the Benitez era, to replace Ranieri to coach Valencia's remaining games this season.

The coach's name is the same as that of Atletico Madrid's main left-back, but they have no relatives. At this time, the only thing Lopez takes office is to win the game.

He must lead Valencia to win this game so that he can stabilize the confidence of Valencia fans and also stabilize the confidence of the players in the game.

You should know that if the players lose confidence in the head coach, they will naturally not be able to effectively execute the head coach's tactical arrangement on the court.

So this situation is something that Lopez doesn't want to see, but the reason why he is Benitez's assistant coach is because his defensive arrangement ability is very good.

Otherwise, Lopez would not be able to work with an extremely conservative head coach, because all head coaches don't like his assistant as someone who has differences with his tactics.

In this way, the head coach will have problems in the management of the coaching staff, so in this regard, it is certain that Lopez must also be a conservative head coach.

"This is the first time we have come to Valencia to play at home. I think you must be very clear about the power of Valencia's team." Cooper sat in the locker room to the players for the final mobilization, and then he continued: "I believe that this team of Valencia does not need me to say anything more. Although they are ranked only sixth at this time, don't ignore the strength of their team. Many of their stars still have strong abilities."

"I know, coach, we won't ignore every opponent," Torres, as the player representative, said first.

"Yes, we can finally play the game. We will definitely let the Valencia team members swallow another defeat," Baboro also said at this time.

This game is the expiration of the suspension period between Baboro and Franco, and both players can reappear in Atletico Madrid's lineup, which should be a good addition to Valencia's lineup.

As Atletico Madrid's only high point above the defense line, his ability to defend high-altitude balls is also a key for Atletico Madrid to not concede goals.

For Atletico Madrid, Franco should be a guarantee for the defenders, because since Franco joined Atletico Madrid, he seemed to have suddenly become enlightened.

Franco's low-level mistakes have become fewer, and it cannot be said that Franco has no mistakes at all. If there are no mistakes at all, Franco will become the world's number one goalkeeper.

However, it is obvious that Franco naturally made fewer mistakes than when he played for Mallorca, and Franco is much better than substitute Martin.

Atletico Madrid can be said to be able to strengthen at both points, which is also the confidence that Atletico Madrid can defeat Valencia away in this game.

Cooper's understanding of these players of Valencia is also a key to Atletico Madrid's good results in this game. After all, although Valencia's formation has undergone changes, many players are still players of Cooper's time coaching Valencia.

Cooper naturally has a very good understanding of the technical characteristics of these players. When these players were under Cooper, they were all adult players. Even if they had some ability growth, I believe they would not be too big.

Cooper can be said to be confident at this time. In this game, he wants to maintain the defensive counterattack formation, so that he will definitely be able to defeat Valencia.

"Valencia is a defensive team. Their offensive ability is not very good. They still use defensive counterattacks to attack more. However, at this time, Valencia has suffered a six-game losing streak and has reached the point of downturn. Although they have just changed the head coach, their players' mentality may not be able to adjust." Cooper also explained to the players at this time: "So I think they will definitely choose attack in this game, because this is their home court. They need a victory to stabilize the morale of the army, but our team does not need victory in urgent need. If we can win one point in this game, we should stick to the defensive counterattack style and don't think about anything else."

Cooper is unifying the thinking of Atletico Madrid players, and he allows Atletico Madrid players to unify their thinking and do a good job of defensive counterattack.

Instead of looking at how to defeat Valencia at Mestalia Stadium, it can be said that Cooper's tactic is very suitable for Atletico Madrid.

Atletico Madrid has adapted to the defensive counterattack formation, and there is no player in Atletico Madrid's lineup who can really hold on to football and have super strong passing ability. Van der Fate is still in the recovery stage at this time.

Soon the players of both sides came out to play, and Atletico Madrid arranged a four-two-three-one formation in this game.

Goalkeeper Franco left-back Antonio Lopez right-back Velasco centre-back Baboro and Perea.

Both midfielders are Mascherano and Corsa, and Lusin rested in this game.

Left forward Glenshare, right forward Mark, front midfielder Jorge.

The forward is Torres.

Portilo, who had always been the starter before this game, sat on the bench lineup. It was obvious that Cooper added one more player in the midfield in this game. I believe Cooper hopes that Jorge can help forward Torres pass the ball.

This is also the test of Cooper. A fatal pass during a defensive counterattack is very critical. If Atletico Madrid can also have an offensive point in the middle, it will undoubtedly be a restraining control of Valencia's defense.

Valencia's formation in this game was 451, with goalkeeper Canisarez

Left guard Aurerio, right guard Canela, center back Ayala and Machena.

In the midfield, Alberda and Baraja are partnered with each other, Vicente on the left, Angulo on the right, and Amar on the front midfielder.

The forward is Mista.

In addition to Cooper's expectations, Valencia still arranged a relatively conservative single forward formation at home, which also deliberately controlled the midfield defense.

However, after Ranieri was dismissed, the head coach of Valencia made a major change in the lineup. Lopez, the Italian players introduced by Ranieri, all of them were placed on the bench, which was to maintain harmony in Valencia's locker room.

Valencia is also a team dominated by Spanish players, and these Italian players will surely be subject to ruthless suppression with the dismissal of former head coach Ranieri who trusts them.

In fact, this is professional football. Once the emperor is the emperor and the ministers are the same. Sometimes after changing a head coach, it can determine the career of a professional player.

Whether it is better or change is determined by the head coach. The head coach is the soul of this team. Whoever he lets the court play, then whoever he can play, and whoever he doesn't let the court play, then whoever cannot play.

"It seems that Valencia still wants to win with stability." After Cooper saw Valencia's starting list, he also thought to himself.

But this actually doesn't matter. Since Valencia also wants to play defensive counterattack, it depends on who can do more defensive counterattacks in the two teams, and it depends on who can always stick to their playing style.

Who scored the goal first may be the key to this game. The team that scored the goal is always on the initiative. I have never heard of any player scoring the goal first, and then they fell into a passive position.

Cooper walked over to the coaching seat at this time, and then he heard the applause from Valencia fans. It was obvious that Valencia fans were still very warm.

Their fans still think that Cooper has made great contributions to Valencia. The reason why Benitez was able to succeed in Valencia was, on the one hand, because Benitez has strong personal abilities and also has a contribution from Cooper. After all, Cooper brought Valencia's team and fans the experience of competing for the championship, so the team did not win a championship during Cooper's coaching period, but it was enough to make fans proud to enter the finals of the Champions League twice in a row.

"Cooper also applauded and expressed his gratitude to Valencia's fans!!" But soon Cooper sat on the coach's seat and watched the game. Cooper had already assigned everything he could to Atletico Madrid's players. What he had to do at this time was to see how the players performed on the stadium.

At this time, Atletico Madrid players were also waiting to enter the court, and the players from both sides led by Torres and Alberda walked onto the court.

The one who walked side by side with Mark was Spain's talented winger Vicente. When he last met with Valencia, Vicente was injured, so Mark did not talk to this extremely fast Spanish side fast horse.

Both Vicente and Mark think this is a very regrettable thing, and this time the two of them have to make up for such a regret. The competition between Mark and Vicente is the best winger in La Liga is about to begin.

"I heard you are very awesome. This time I finally have the chance to compete with you," Mark said to Vicente beside him.

"So too. It's a pity that I didn't play against you last time, but this time I won't. I will definitely beat you and let you know how powerful the Spanish wingers are," Vicente said confidently at this time.

He has full confidence in defeating Mark. Vicente's nickname is called Benicalap Dagger. After joining Valencia in the 2000-01 season, Vicente exploded with amazing energy. In the short term, he quickly became one of the top left wingers in international football, but long-term injuries prevented him from further development.

He was born in Valencia on July 16, 1981. As a left-wing forward, he has extremely fast speed, extraordinary skills and goals-scoring awareness that many wingers lack.

In the 1997-98 season, Vicente began his professional career, and his first stop was Levante, the Spanish Second Division team. After spending two seasons in Levante, Vicente was brought to Valencia in 2000, and he began his amazing performance. At the beginning, everything seemed not so smooth, because on Vicente's favorite left side, Valen had the then Argentine international Kili Gonzalez. As a newcomer, Vicente faced quite fierce and severe competition. Although the competition for the main players in the team was fierce, Vicente still contributed 5 goals in his first season in La Liga and made 13 appearances for Valen in the Champions League that year. Although Vicente sat on the bench in the final with Bayern, this could not hide his success in a season.

In the 2001-02 season, Benitez's arrival gave Vicente a real chance to prove himself, and he did not disappoint anyone. His rapid growth helped Valen win the La Liga championship again after 30 years. It also marked the countdown of Kili Gonzalez's day in Valen.

The 2003-04 season was perhaps the most perfect period for Vicente so far. His perfect push to "Che" won their second league championship trophy in the Benitez era and won the UEFA Cup. Vicente kept creating murderous intent for Mista at the deadly bottom on the left. That season, people began to fear his wing attack with Luffit.

In the 2004-05 season, Claudio Ranieli became Valen's new coach, and his conservative style of play also made Vicente's attack on the left wing stagnate. Ranieli hoped that Italian left back Moretti would "help" him instead of letting him play freely on the left. More importantly, an ankle injury caused his entire season to be scrapped. Vicente had to recover from his injuries in the first half of the season. However, his return brought the club back to the complete 11 players, and it was not too late, because Ranieli had been fired at that time.

This game is also Vicente's first comeback after recovering from injury. He also tried his best to prove his strength and then prove his worth in front of the trusted acting head coach.

Let Valencia rediscover the invincible offensive mode of the previous one and then become a strong competitive team for the La Liga champion.

Vicente's wish starts with defeating Mark. He has also seen Mark's outstanding performance before. He knows that defeating Mark can bring extremely strong confidence to Valencia's teammates, and at the same time it can also undermine the morale of Atletico Madrid.


Chapter completed!