After this round of La Liga matches, Atletico Madrid has accumulated 28 points from 14 rounds, temporarily ranking fourth in the standings.
The two big brothers on the list are still Real Madrid and Barcelona. The two clubs are only one point apart, and they are neck and neck.
Yellow Submarine, on the other hand, made mistakes in the first half of the season and was temporarily ranked ninth at the end of 14 rounds.
However, the gap between Valencia and Atletico Madrid is not big, only 8 points.
Only Biba suddenly emerged and reached third place in the league in the first half of the season.
The next round of games is three days later, which is the last group match of the Champions League. It is the final game that determines whether Atletico Madrid can still stay in the Champions League.
But the key to qualifying depends on whether Wolfsburg can stop Chelsea at home. It's a pity that my brother Lukaku has not joined the Blues at this time, otherwise Atletico Madrid will be a sure shot at advancing to the group stage this time.
Flores and the members of the coaching staff are wrestling with this in the conference room. The weather in Eastern Europe is getting colder and colder since December.
According to the information sent back by the advance scouts, the temperature near the Donbas Arena during the day yesterday was close to 0 degrees, which is definitely a challenge for the players.
Another report shows that snow will begin to fall in Dongwu (I'm afraid) starting today, and the snowfall is expected to last for a week.
During the snowfall, temperatures will drop to minus 7-10 degrees across the eastern region.
Of course, the game will not change venues due to snowfall. After all, the Donbas Arena was just completed and delivered today. This stadium was rated as the highest five-star stadium by UEFA. As long as there is no snowstorm, the game will be held. It will continue as usual.
However, the Donbas Arena was destroyed by war in 2014, which was a pity.
Before 2014, Shakhtar Donetsk's home stadium had always been known as the devil's home stadium, which frightened the visiting Europa giants.
But after 2014.
I have a hometown, but no home...
Flores was worried about this. The time and location were not right for Atletico Madrid, and Atletico Madrid had only one way to win.
Otherwise, even if Wolfsburg defeats the Blues at home, Atletico Madrid will have no chance of qualifying.
The only advantage may be that Shakhtar Donetsk has qualified and will send a second-tier team to fight.
After much consideration, Flores decided to leave on the afternoon of the 6th to adapt to the temperature in Dongwu first and avoid flight delays caused by snowfall, which would increase the fatigue of the players.
The distance of 3,300 kilometers takes at least 8 hours by plane (with stops). The issue of air tickets and flights is left to the general manager of the club to solve.
We must arrive in Dongwu on the night of the 6th, and adapt to the venue and temperature during the day on the 7th.
In addition, Flores also urgently requested the club to bring two accompanying doctors. This kind of temperature change can easily cause fever.
In the end, all that remains is the arrangement of the lineup.
The core defense of the Shakhtar Donetsk team in front of us is basically composed of Eastern European or domestic players.
They have excellent physical qualities such as endurance and stamina. The most important thing is that they have a hidden bonus to their combat effectiveness at home.
They are extremely aggressive in fighting, and their ability to siege within a small area is also very high.
The entire midfield is basically composed of South American players, and is known as: the Eastern European cavalry dancing samba.
Especially from the midfield to the forwards, all Brazilians have strong skills, dribbling, and passing and control abilities.
According to the lineup of Shakhtar Donetsk in the last game, the average age of the entire team is only 24.9 years old, which is definitely a very young team in the Champions League.
In the 2008-09 season, Shakhtar Donetsk won the first UEFA Cup championship in their club history.
In the match with Barcelona for the Super Cup championship, the game was tied in 90 minutes and successfully contained the striker composed of Henry, Messi and Ibrahimovic.
In the end, they fought until overtime and lost 0:1 to Cosmos Barcelona.
Rubbing his eyebrows, Flores suddenly felt a headache. All the data in front of him showed that it was extremely difficult to take away 3 points at the Donbas Arena.
On a snowy day, ground combat will be a big constraint for Atletico Madrid, which pays attention to technology. It is difficult to perform at 80% of its usual level.
In the end, after careful consideration, Flores put together a lineup of 442 and went all out to use Atletico Madrid's strongest spear to knock down the Eastern European cavalry!
…
After several hours of flying, the team finally arrived in Dongwu late at night on the 6th.
When their bus entered the city, heavy snow began to fall in the sky, as if it was foreshadowing something.
The Spanish players are okay, but the South American players are collectively confused, especially the players from Argentina and Uruguay.
With a face that felt like seeing God, Salvio desperately took pictures with his mobile phone. He even called his mother: "Mom, snow! Snow! Have you ever seen snow? I'll take a video to show you!"
Before they could lament the weather in East Wu, there were already crazy fans surrounding the team bus outside the hotel. The orange Shakhtar Donetsk flag blocked all the windows of the bus. Although the unified roar could not be heard, It doesn't mean anything, but it's definitely not a good thing.
Lindy once thought that these crazy people would rush the bus, but this group of people seemed to be just declaring their sovereignty and did not take any further action.
Flores' face looked as ugly as possible. They had changed their schedule in advance, but they were still blocked by fans.
After local security coordination, the fans finally dispersed slowly. In the freezing snowy night, no one dared to spend the whole night on the roadside.
Even so, all the players and staff who came with the team still had lingering fears.
When arranging a hotel room, Aguero went to Lindy and expressed that he wanted to communicate with him if he had any questions.
In fact, he was just worried about these crazy fans, which made Lindy dumbfounded.
The relationship between the two quickly heated up after that day of "pointing the country", and their attributes also rapidly improved.
In just a few days of training, Aguero has vaguely felt that his goal-grabbing skills have once again improved.
Lindy, on the other hand, has improved in speed and strength. Coupled with his previous unremitting training, his [Strength] has reached 80. This is also related to the skill [Steel Body]. [Speed] has been increased to 81. Among them, [Concentration] in the mental attribute has increased to 70 with the game. Lindy's average midfielder score has reached 74. Now, the skills that are limiting him are also slowly improving.
In Lindy's plan, the Madrid derby after the winter break is his stage.
The two eventually fell asleep listening to each other's snores.