Despite winning the League Cup and completing a small treble, Paris Saint-Germain still couldn't celebrate from top to bottom.
Because there is another game in three days, and it is a very important Champions League semi-final.
Paris Saint-Germain's schedule at the end of the season is so dense that it is frightening.
After the French Cup semi-final on April 16 and the League Cup final on April 19, there will be an even more intense Champions League semi-final.
What’s even more worrying is that this is an away game.
Moreover, after arriving in Madrid, Ibrahimovic strained a muscle during the adaptive training on the first day of the game and was unable to play.
Whether Paris Saint-Germain can escape from Calderon unscathed is a difficult question.
You know, the current Atletico Madrid, under the leadership of Simeone, has risen to become one of the top three teams in the Spanish Super League, alongside Real Madrid and Barcelona.
So far this season, Atletico Madrid is ranked first in the standings and is likely to beat Real Madrid and Barcelona to win the La Liga championship.
Under Simeone's coaching, Atletico Madrid is now tactically flexible and united. They are good at high-pressure defense, reasonable fouls, and defensive counterattacks. They have extremely high offensive efficiency and often win when their ball possession rate is far less than that of their opponents.
If Lu Wenbin leads a healthy Paris Saint-Germain team, there will naturally be no problem.
The key issue now is that Ibrahimovic is injured, and Paris Saint-Germain has already experienced a series of tough battles and will play away against Atletico Madrid.
Even if Paris Saint-Germain is led by Lu Wenbin, it cannot be said that they will win for sure!
On April 22, at the Calderon Stadium, the first leg of the 2013/2014 Champions League semi-final between Paris Saint-Germain and Atletico Madrid officially began.
Sure enough, except for center forward Diego Costa who stayed in the front to launch a counterattack, most of the other players retreated to their own half to conduct defensive operations.
But they did not completely return to the front of the penalty area, but started defending near the midline. Once they sensed danger, Atletico players would foul before Paris Saint-Germain players could dribble the ball into the 30-meter range.
Simeone, who started out as a defensive midfielder, has helped Atletico Madrid players improve their foul experience a lot.
Within 20 minutes of the start, Lu Wenbin got two free kick opportunities, but both were from 30 meters away.
One time he activated the system skill and the free kick was within the goal frame, but was easily saved by Courtois, who has become a world-class goalkeeper. Another time, the free kick he took flew directly out of the bottom line.
This is how Atletico choose to defend and where to commit fouls.
Once Lu Wenbin dribbles the ball within 30 meters of the goal, two or three players will rush up to fight for the ball, and will not let Lu Wenbin dribble through or pass the ball comfortably.
Without Ibrahimovic's support in the attack, Paris Saint-Germain's offensive strength and efficiency declined significantly.
Paris Saint-Germain is not as luxurious as Real Madrid to have Lu Wenbin, Ronaldo, Ozil, Di Maria, Benzema and Higuain in the frontcourt at the same time.
Cavani and Lavezzi are always far behind Ibrahimovic in passing and technique.
In the 23rd minute, Atletico Madrid even launched a very threatening counterattack.
Fortunately, Thiago Silva was quite focused, even though his tackle ruined Diego Costa's one-on-one opportunity.
Otherwise, when Costa takes the shot, given Costa's hot form this season, Paris Saint-Germain's goal will be very dangerous.
Although Silva committed a foul and was shown a yellow card by the referee, fortunately it was a foul outside the penalty area.
Atletico Madrid doesn't have a free kick expert like Lu Wenbin, so this free kick did not pose any threat.
But under Atletico's crazy full-court pressing, Paris Saint-Germain was unable to break through Atletico's goal.
In addition to the free kick, Lu Wenbin also had two shots within the goal frame, but they were both saved by Courtois who performed well.
In today's semi-final, Lu Wenbin was unlucky and Paris Saint-Germain also performed poorly.
In the 37th minute, Atletico Madrid even took the lead in breaking Paris Saint-Germain's goal.
The goal was scored by Diego Costa, who has been in great form this season under Simeone's coaching.
He overpowered Silva in the penalty area and headed his teammate's cross from the wing into the Paris Saint-Germain goal.
Suddenly, Calderon was like a volcano erupting, and Atletico fans celebrated wildly in the stands, celebrating their lead over the upstart Paris Saint-Germain.
Fortunately, Paris Saint-Germain still has Lu Wenbin.
Although Atletico Madrid's crazy pressing was very effective against Paris Saint-Germain, whose physical fitness was questionable, mistakes were inevitable sometimes, giving Paris Saint-Germain free kicks in threatening positions.
In the 44th minute, Atletico Madrid captain Godin fouled Cavani, giving Lu Wenbin a free kick in a good position and distance.
Moreover, Lu Wenbin’s skill cooldown period has also expired.
Lu Wenbin activated the system skill and kicked the ball into the theoretical blind spot, the intersection of the crossbar and the post.
This time, Courtois was unable to turn the tide and could only watch the ball fly into the net in the air.
Thanks to Lu Wenbin's free kick, Paris Saint-Germain finally equalized the score before the end of the first half.
Not long after, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half.
After a 15-minute break, the two sides changed sides and continued the game.
Atletico Madrid still adheres to their high-pressure and defensive counterattack tactics.
Of course, apart from this, they have no other tactics to compete with Paris Saint-Germain led by Lu Wenbin.
Although Lu Wenbin wanted to lead the team to victory, his teammates' physical fitness was getting worse and worse, and Atletico Madrid also guarded him closely.
Simeone's defensive coaching feels no less than Mourinho's.
However, Blanco is not as good as Mourinho in coaching the team's offense.
Coupled with the huge gap in strength among his teammates, Lu Wenbin is not as sharp as he was in Real Madrid in terms of offense or organization.
After the two sides maintained the score of 1-1 for 20 minutes in the second half, the Paris Saint-Germain players began to show signs of exhaustion.
In the 67th minute, defensive midfielder Motta was the first to collapse and fell to the ground while running without anyone touching him.
After examination by the team doctor, it was found that he had a strain caused by muscle fatigue and had to be replaced.
In the 78th minute, Lu Wenbin made a cross from the bottom of the wing, but Cavani not only failed to head the ball in the competition with the opponent and left the field injured, but he was not awarded a penalty.
In the 83rd minute, center back Marquinhos was sent off with a red card for a foul after he tackled Costa from behind as he could not catch up with Costa who was about to have a one-on-one chance.
Paris Saint-Germain played with ten men.
Finally, in the 87th minute, Atletico Madrid midfielder Koke made a stunning long-range shot that penetrated the goal guarded by Duchez.
Atletico Madrid took the lead again and Calderon went into a frenzy again.
In the last few minutes of the game, Paris Saint-Germain launched an even more frenzied attack. Lu Wenbin even dribbled past three players in a row, but the ball was still tackled away by the fourth player after dribbling past them.
After 4 minutes of stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle to end the game. Paris Saint-Germain lost 1-2 to Atletico Madrid away from home after a series of fierce battles and Lu Wenbin's bad shooting luck, losing the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals.
This is one of the few times in Lu Wenbin's career that he lost a game after starting.
Although they only lost one goal and one away goal, Paris Saint-Germain's road to the final still looks very dangerous.
Even if they return to their home court in the second round, Simeone's team will not make things easy for Paris Saint-Germain.