Chapter 719: Rattan Armor Army

On the evening of May 8th, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, at the Amsterdam Arena, Manchester United challenged Ajax away in the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals.

Under the coaching of head coach Ten Hag, the Jiafu team has achieved excellent results this season. Not only did they enter the semi-finals of the Champions League, but they also won the Dutch Cup final three days ago with a 4:0 victory over Willem II. In the Eredivisie, they also beat PSV Eindhoven with a goal difference advantage and ranked first in the Eredivisie.

In the Amsterdam Arena, they only lost one game this season, which was the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals. They lost 1:2 to Real Madrid at home, but that was the only game. In the rest of the games, they won 14 and drew 2 in 16 games in the Eredivisie, won 2 in 2 games in the Dutch Cup, and won 2, drew 1 and lost 1 in the Champions League.

Moreover, Ajax's offensive power this season is very strong. In 32 rounds of the Dutch Eredivisie, they scored 111 goals, averaging 3.5 goals per game, making them the team with the strongest offensive power in the mainstream European leagues; among them, they scored 66 goals in 16 home games, averaging more than 4 goals per game.

In the Dutch Cup, Ajax scored 21 goals in 6 games, averaging 3.5 goals per game.

As for the Champions League, Ajax scored 20 goals in 11 games, including the first round of the Champions League semi-finals, and the goal efficiency is also very impressive.

On the defensive end, Ajax is also very stable. In the Dutch Eredivisie, they conceded 30 goals in 32 rounds, 11 goals in 11 games in the Champions League, and 2 goals in 6 games in the Dutch Cup, averaging less than 0.9 goals per game throughout the season.

At the Amsterdam Arena, Bayern Munich, which was full of superstars, drew 3:3 with Ajax. Juventus, led by Cristiano Ronaldo, also failed to take away the victory. The two sides shook hands and made peace with each other 1:1. AEK Athens lost 0:3 and Benfica lost 0:1.

This young team, with an average age of only 24, set off a youth storm that swept across Europe.

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The performance of the Amsterdam Arena this season is quite outstanding, which also makes Manchester United particularly cautious when visiting the Amsterdam Arena.

Mourinho arranged a 4-3-3 formation, allowing Fred and Kante to form a double defensive midfielder again, ready to fight. But in the end, just 4 minutes into the game, Schone took a corner kick from the right side, and De Ligt jumped high in the middle and scored a header!

1:0!

Ajax had a dream start at home. They tied the total score to 2:2 and had the advantage of away goals. If the game ends with this score, Manchester United will be eliminated!

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLL!!!!"

The entire Amsterdam Arena cheered like crazy, and countless fans sang De Ligt's name.

"De Ligt! This talented central defender from the Ajax youth training camp, the youngest captain in Ajax's history, has made a fantastic start for Ajax!"

"Ajax has equalized the total score. According to the current score, they will eliminate the powerful Manchester United and enter the Champions League final again after 23 years!"

"23 years is a long time. For this team, most of the players were not born at that time! For example, among the 11 Ajax players on the field, there is De Ligt who just scored a goal. He was born in August 1999; Mazraoui, who was born in November 1997; Van der Beck, De Jong, who were born in April 1997, and Dolberg, who was born in October 1997... In addition, Onana, who was born in April 1996, was just one month old at the time..."

Fantastic goals, crazy home courts, outstanding stars... These all seem to foreshadow Manchester United's disaster.

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"These guys are really crazy!" Kante said as he looked up at the fans of Jiafu in the stands while walking towards the center circle.

Looking around, the entire stand was red and white, and with the ups and downs of the fans, it was like a red and white ocean.

"Der Licht is a genius!" Mbappe praised.

Speaking of De Ligt, he and Mbappe are also old rivals.

This Dutch genius central defender was Mbappe's biggest competitor for the European Golden Boy Award last year. In the end, Mbappe still relied on the advantage of offensive players to beat De Ligt with a slight advantage and won the European Golden Boy Award in 2018.

This is also the third time that a Manchester United player has won the European Golden Boy Award in the past four years. Previously, it was Martial in 2015 and Rashford in 2017.

As a defender this season, Van der Beck has scored three goals in the Eredivisie, and also scored 2 goals in the Champions League, which is also a new high in his career. It can be seen that this genius central defender is in the best state of his career.

With Ajax's excellent performance and De Ligt's outstanding performance, this talented central defender is also the biggest favorite for this year's European Golden Boy Award.

Another favorite for the 2019 European Golden Boy Award is Manchester United's young striker Mason Greenwood. This newly emerging Manchester United youth player this season, although he has not had many opportunities to play in Manchester United, has repeatedly performed well.

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From Ten Hag's playing days to coaching, the all-out attack and defense of the Netherlands and Germany is naturally the cornerstone of his tactics. He first coached at the Go Forward Eagles, and then served as a reserve team coach at Bayern. He had intersections with Guardiola and has a deep understanding of German football.

In terms of formation selection, Ajax has always been "433 forever", but Ten Hag needs to be more flexible. His main formation is between 4231 and 433.

Under Ten Hag's training, Jia Fu's characteristics are high pressure and high ball control, his style of play is not conservative, and his players are very capable.

There is no doubt that this Ajax game is full of attacking enthusiasm, and the transition between offense and defense is extremely fast. They are always putting pressure on their opponents. They have Liverpool-style tight pressure and some Manchester City short passes when leading the attack. The characteristics of penetration and high-frequency cross-shifting also continue the tradition of Dutch football being good at using the width of the field for transfer.

Among them, the most important part of the Jia family is the connection between Van de Beek and the three forwards.

This was what the head coach repeatedly warned before the game, but Manchester United did not do a good job with their double midfielders just now. As a result, Van de Beek immediately caught the opportunity and inserted it into the goal.

Although the shot was saved by De Gea, it gave Ajax a corner kick, which led to the goal.

This somewhat embarrassed Kanter, who is the backbone of the defense.

Bruno also saw the clues. When he walked back, he clapped hard and shouted loudly: "It doesn't matter, it's only 4 minutes. Let's take our time, focus on defense first, and stabilize our position. We will definitely have a chance."

Bruno is the captain of the team, but his weight in the locker room is getting more and more important. Everyone can listen to what he says.

Kanter nodded towards Bruno and expressed his gratitude.

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"He is becoming more and more like a general now." Faria said with appreciation.

Mourinho nodded, clearly agreeing with his assistant.

Bruno has indeed become a vital member of the Manchester United dressing room.

After seeing the players return to their positions, the Manchester United coach immediately walked to the sidelines and called out to Fred and Kante, indicating that they should pay attention to restrict Van de Beek and not give him too many opportunities to cut him off from the front line. The connection between the three players.

This season, the connection between Van de Beek, Tadic and Huntelaar is also a very important offensive link for Ajax. Van de Beek is the soul of Ajax in regulating the rhythm of the game and connecting offense and defense. As long as Van de Beek is blocked, Ajax's offensive threat will be much smaller. By that time, Manchester United will be able to exert its strength.

Sometimes, football is just that simple. As long as targeted tactics work, the situation will change.

After the game restarted, Ajax's morale was still high, but it always slowed down its offensive. On the one hand, Manchester United's two defensive midfielders began to strengthen their defense against Van der Beek. On the other hand, they are very afraid of Manchester United's counterattack.

Ten Hag obviously also knows very well that if he rushes forward rashly, leaving a gap behind him and giving Manchester United too much space to counterattack, it will definitely be fatal. So after grabbing a goal in the opening game, Ten Hag cleverly arranged for the team to slow down the attack and play steadily.

At the same time, Ten Hag also made arrangements specifically for Bruno's defense. This is just like Manchester United will arrange for Van der Beek, Bruno is the core of Manchester United's soul.

Almost every time Bruno gets the ball, the nearest Ajax player will rush to grab it immediately, mostly the three midfielders De Jong, Schone and Van de Beek, which affects Bruno's performance.

But Bruno also quickly expanded his running range, actively using interspersed running to pull the opponent's defensive players and create opportunities for his teammates, but the effect was not very obvious.

Bruno was not in a hurry, and still ran patiently and actively, looking for opportunities.

Fortunately, after Mourinho's adjustments and Ajax's intention to slow down the offense, neither side was able to create a good scoring opportunity in the next twenty minutes.

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Manchester United stole the ball in the backcourt and passed a long ball to the right side of the frontcourt.

Harry Kane grabbed the first shot, but was pressed hard by Ajax center back De Ligt step by step. He had to bring it back and pass it to Bruno who caught up behind him.

As soon as Bruno received the ball, Schone and left back Tagliafico immediately gave up on Harry Kane and rushed towards Bruno.

The two Ajax players were like a wall, blocking Bruno.

Bruno turned around immediately to protect the ball, but the two of them still stood in a fan-shaped position behind them, pressing forward step by step.

Through the corner of his vision, Bruno could see that Kante was in the middle and Harry Kane was behind him, but he was unable to pass the ball and could only bring it back.

This is a game strategy, he predicts that these two players will not be able to follow him back at the same time. Although Van der Beek is very active on the court, his defense is basically a show-off. As long as De Jong and Schone both come out, Kanter will have a chance.