Copa Del Rey: Atletico Madrid vs Espanyol – Second Half Report (Part 2)
(Read the first part http://www.senore.com/Copa-Del-Rey-Atletico-Madrid-vs-Espanyol-Second-Half-Report-Part-1-a49243)
In the 65th minute, Atletico Madrid defender http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Filipe-c13764 Luis also got a yellow card to mark the eighth booking of the game. It was like a rugby game with lots of tackles flying in. The referee barely made a bad decision even though it was a tough
call for him.
During the 67th minute, the game took another turn. The Atletico Madrid coach decided to introduce another holding midfielder as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Raul-c30652 Garcia and Fran Merida were seen warming up on the touchline. However, Espanyol totally ruined the day for themselves
when http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Victor-Ruiz-c36094 Torre. He got a yellow card in the first half for the same type of late sliding challenge on the Argentinean. During the second half, he came forward and slid down on another useless
challenge on Sergio Aguero and got booked for the second time and the referee showed him the second yellow card as he was sent off as well.
Both the teams went down to ten men but the Espanyol coach did not want to take any chances. While the Madrid players were still warming up, the visitors decided to make two quick changes to change their “extra” offensive approach. Sergio Garcia de la Fuente
came off as Juan Daniel Forlin came on to add extra pace on the pitch. Jesus http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Álvaro-c5280 Garcia took his position on the field. Now, Espanyol were in operation with a single striker and four defenders with
two full backs who were constantly making runs forward to help the team in attacks.
On the other hand, with Espanyol coming forward, the Atletico Madrid coach decided to strengthen his defence by adding a few midfielders. The Spanish coach took off Simao and brought on centre midfielder Luis Garcia to add an extra man right behind the striker.
However, with Espanyol pressurizing them too much, the Atletico Madrid coach took off his only striker in the game, Sergio Kun Aguero for Fran Merida as the formation shifted from 4-4-1 to 5-5-0. The mid table side were playing without a striker as they wanted
to keep their one goal advantage to themselves.
After the physical 90 minutes, the referee blew his whistle with Atletico Madrid winning the game with a single goal that actually came off because of a penalty. Both the teams played well and two red cards were given out along with 9 yellow cards which
simply sums up how much both the teams wanted to win. The home team took advantage of their home ground and home crowd as they emerged victorious and now Atletico Madrid are going to head into the new year with a goal.
Tags: