Chapter 160 Fight to the End

In the morning, in the northern suburb of Gelsenkirchen, Germany, in Berg Park, Yang Yang started his daily morning exercise.

For more than ten consecutive days, he fought hard against Porto's left-back Nuno Valente in the super training ground, as well as the steel-like defense of the Portuguese Super League team, but the final results were unsatisfactory.

Jose Mourinho has built a very good defensive team, and the tactical execution of this group of players in Porto is quite high, they always meticulously carry out the tactical instructions of Mourinho, let this The team's defense can be said to be indestructible, especially in the Champions League knockout stage.

Sometimes, confidence comes out of this game after game.

The two teams that have reached the Champions League final this season have not performed well in the group stage. Ajax advanced through thrillingly, and Porto also learned the painful lesson of losing 1-3 at home to Real Madrid. Two out.

In the knockout round of the round of 16, the two teams encountered both Premier League teams. Ajax eliminated Arsenal, and Porto was no less inferior, killing Ferguson's Manchester United. These two games have made the entire European football big. for shock.

In the quarter-finals, Ajax had even worse luck. They met Real Madrid and Porto met Lyon. The former completed an epic reversal, and the latter advanced without any risk.

But the situation in the semi-final was the opposite. Ajax narrowly beat Monaco, but Porto narrowly eliminated Deportivo Deportivo on the road. Both teams advanced to the final.

Goalkeeper Baia, defense Valente, Carvalho, Jorge Costa and Paulo Ferreira, this can be said to be the most unbreakable defense line in European football this season, and also the best defense line in the Champions League.

But relying on just one line of defense is obviously not enough. Mourinho played three defensive midfielders in the midfield, Maniche, Costinha and Mendes. These three midfielders were in front of the defense line and built a solid foundation for Porto. An unbreakable midfield defensive line was created, which was equivalent to a second insurance for Porto's goal.

Porto's midfield core is called Deco, a Brazilian, but he is not a typical Brazilian player. His style of play is not fancy at all, but very practical, and his strength is quite good. It is reported that Barcelona, ​​Manchester United, Bayern Munich , Real Madrid, Chelsea and many other teams have to poach him.

It seems to be in the same line. Porto's striker is not strictly sharp, but it is very mobile. The two strikers are like Rangers in the frontcourt, constantly sweeping, pressing and pressing the opponent's defense line, but also can actively return. To prevent, where there is a loophole, it will be patched.

The front, middle and back lines are integrated, Porto is like a hedgehog curled up, making people have nowhere to start.

What's even worse is that when you can't attack and you accidentally leak out your flaws, it will suddenly stab you.

Even Ajax manager Ronald Koeman has to admit that this is a team with no obvious weaknesses.

In the face of such a team, generally speaking, there is only one way, and that is to die.

Just like Ajax battling Arsenal to death, they can only battling Porto. In a defensive position without loopholes, they forcibly cut out loopholes, but at the same time they have to beware of the opponent's counterattack to avoid conceding the goal.

Against a team like Porto, if you concede first, you've already lost most of the game.

...

Yang Yang hit the ball, ran all the way, and thought all the way.

These are what the coaching staff called the players for a meeting as soon as the team arrived at the hotel in Gelsenkirchen yesterday, and assistant coach Luther Carroll instilled in the players.

In the past ten days, Ajax players have repeatedly studied Porto and the players who are playing against them. It is no exaggeration to say that Ajax's preparations were unprecedented and meticulous, but they still failed to Cut out Porto's obvious weakness.

Gelsenkirchen is located in western Germany, very close to the Netherlands, but Ajax still flew from Amsterdam to Germany two days ahead of schedule, and borrowed the training ground of Schalke 04, which shows the club's attention.

And Yang Yang simulated Porto's defense in the super training ground, and he always wins less and loses more.

Thinking of this, Yang Yang felt sullen and shouted softly. After kicking the ball out with his big feet, he sprinted forward at the fastest speed, caught up with the ball, kicked it out, and chased after him at full speed.

Yang Yang didn't stop until he was so tired that he was out of breath.

In the past half a month, he has done three things in the super training ground, simulating Porto's defense for pair training, continuing to polish the two star skills of [Ronaldo's assault] and [Beckham's cross], training [Bo Gerkamp's stop].

How to enter the country still needs to be verified by the game, but one thing he is very clear about, the battle in Porto will be the most difficult but also the most important game since his debut.

Like everyone on the team, he finally reached the Champions League final. He has already won the Eredivisie championship and the Dutch Cup championship. He is one Champions League away from the legend, and no one is willing to give up easily.

Everyone on the team has already held the determination to fight to the end, just waiting for the game to come.

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The venue for the Champions League final went to Schalke in the northern suburbs of Gelsenkirchen, while Ajax's hotel, the Slausberg Hotel, was further north of the stadium, in Berg Park.

There are three lakes around the hotel in a zigzag shape. The largest is Lake Berg, surrounded by a sports center and a tennis club. Next to the hotel is the famous beer garden, but now the entire hotel is wrapped up by Ajax.

Since the hotel is not big, it can only accommodate the first team and the coaching staff, so the relatives of the players can only live in the urban area. The club has also made special arrangements for this, so that the players can prepare and compete without distractions.

When Yang Yang returned to the hotel from the park outside, he happened to bump into Luther Carroll.

As soon as the assistant coach saw Yang Yang, he immediately guessed that he must be out for morning exercise again.

"Fortunately this is a suburb, there are no fans of Porto, otherwise you will not be able to come back." Luther Carroll joked.

Yang Yang smiled, "If there are really fans of Porto, then I won't go out."

The assistant coach laughed and immediately told Yang Yang to go back to take a shower and change his clothes, "After breakfast, we have a meeting."

Yang Yang didn't dare to be careless and went back to the room, just when Sneijder got up, he said hello and went straight in to take a shower.

Ajax's management is still very strict. For example, meals must be at the same time, whoever is late will be punished, and there will be a meeting after breakfast. It can be seen that the coaching staff must have figured out something last night.

The first meeting after the team arrived yesterday was mainly to analyze the opponents in combination with the video. The video included the highlights of all the matches of Porto’s Champions League this season. .

And today's meeting is mainly to lay out the game strategy.

There is also a training session in the afternoon. The coaching staff will arrange targeted training in the afternoon according to the game strategy arranged in the tactical meeting in the morning. Therefore, this will be very important in the morning.

So far this season, the cards that can be played by both sides have basically been exhausted, and there is no secret to each other. The most important thing is to see how the two sides play their cards and how to deal with them.

Ronald Koeman believes that Porto will definitely play a defensive counterattack in this game. This is an opportunity for Ajax, but it is also a challenge. If they can take the opportunity to score a goal first, then Porto will have to press it out Play, then Ajax will be able to counter Porto with a defensive counter-attack.

This is absolutely the ideal process for Ajax.

The worst result is that Ajax could not attack for a long time, made serious mistakes, and was seized by Porto to counterattack and score. At this time, Porto's defensive counterattack will be more determined, and Ajax's situation will be even more embarrassing .

Of course, there is also a possibility that both sides are conservative, and neither takes risks or gives the opponent a chance, then it depends on the on-the-spot performance of the players on both sides.

As the saying goes, there is no good game. Last year's Champions League final was a match between two Serie A teams. As a result, the two sides scored zero to zero in 120 minutes. On the one hand, it can be said that the targeted tactics of both sides are very strong, and the players' tactics are executed The strength is high, but at the same time it can be said that both sides are quite conservative, on the premise of not taking risks and making mistakes.

Mourinho's Porto will definitely do this. This team's midfield defense is better than Ajax's, but its attacking ability is weaker than Ajax's. Mourinho will definitely put it first. He placed himself in a position where he would not make mistakes or concede the ball, even at the risk of dragging the game into overtime and penalty shootouts.

The biggest problem with Ajax is that the players are too young. Both Ronald Koeman and Van Gaal are very worried that the players are too reckless in the game, take the initiative to make mistakes, and give the opponent an opportunity, which is quite fatal.

Therefore, in the meeting before the game, the coaching staff repeatedly emphasized the most, that is, the mentality must be stable.

"In the game, any situation may arise, we may score first, but it is not enough to make us happy; we may also concede first, but we do not need to be discouraged, because it is not that we have not fallen behind, but We have equalised and reversed again and again and we have that quality."

At the end of the meeting, Ronald Koeman still repeatedly reminded players to maintain a stable mentality.

"I have experienced three Champions League finals in my career, the first was in PSV Eindhoven, when we faced Benfica in the Portuguese Super League, and the two sides played 0-0. To win, that time we relied on an unbreakable defense and a tenacious will."

"The second time we reached the Champions League final was in Barcelona. We faced Sampdoria in Serie A. The game was very difficult. At that time, it was the peak of the seven sisters in Serie A. How solid their defense was, you can imagine. , and in the game we both got a great opportunity, but neither of us grasped it, and finally scored the winning goal in extra time."

"The last time, which everyone is familiar with, was the final against Capello's AC Milan, and we lost 0-4. The main reason for that game was that our mentality was out of balance, so we lost a crushing defeat. ."

Ronald Koeman used his personal experience to remind every player in the conference room.