Chapter 81
On the evening of November 26, Amsterdam Arena.
In the fifth round of Group H of the Champions League, Ajax faces AC Milan.
Due to a 2-3 loss to Celta Vigo at the Vallados Stadium in Spain at the beginning of the month, AC Milan defeated Brugge 1-0 away, which made the group ranking of Group H reversed. AC Milan won two and one draw. The record of one loss ranks first, Ajax ranks second with two wins and two losses, Vigo Celta ranks third with one win, two draws and one loss, and Bruges ranks fourth.
But in fact, the points of these four teams are all very close, and anyone may qualify or be eliminated.
The fifth round is undoubtedly the key.
For this game, AC Milan hid five main players including Kaka, Seedorf and Cafu in last week's Serie A, plus the return of Maldini, the Rossoneri is clearly determined to win.
Ajax continues to suffer from the pain of injured soldiers. Trabelsi on the right is still "outside due to injury". Players such as Songk have recurred old injuries, which makes the team's lineup seriously insufficient. Mitya was placed on the left. , O'Brien plays the position of right back.
After the sluggish performance of Celta Vigo in the last start, Yakubu froze for two games, but this time he started again and served as the right winger of the team. It can be seen that Koeman is really on hand. There is no reliable right-winger.
But the house leak happened overnight rain, and Ajax's misfortune did not come singly.
After only 28 minutes of the game, Ibrahimovic injured his right ankle in a shot. After that, although he struggled to support, he still failed to last until the end and was forced to be replaced in the 40th minute. Veteran Litmanen came on as a substitute.
Losing Ibrahimovic and Van der Vaart in a row, Ajax's strength has been greatly reduced.
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In the 52nd minute of the game, AC Milan's right-wing star Cafu broke through after stealing the ball, and completed a beautiful two-to-one cooperation with Inzaghi before kicking a cross. Ajax defender O'Brien jumped to the top, Shevchenko stopped the ball and got rid of Yakubu, who was back on defense, calmly volleyed with his left foot and sent the ball into the lower right corner.
One to zero!
There was a sigh of loss throughout the Amsterdam Arena.
Yang Yang, Vermaelen and the players of the second team were all sitting in the stands, witnessing the whole process of AC Milan's goal, and there was only emotion in his heart, because it was the 33-year-old Cafu who provided this assist. half the field.
The one who scored this goal is the world's top striker Shevchenko, who is also the number one candidate for this year's European football player and world football player.
At the critical moment, these AC Milan stars played a key role.
"This is the real superstar." Van Basten said with a sigh of relief.
He started his career with Ajax, but his peak was given to AC Milan, so he has deep feelings for both teams, but at this moment he doesn't know which football he should support team.
Especially the scorer Shevchenko, many people say, he has surpassed Van Basten.
AC Milan soon made a comeback. Cafu was very active on the right, and Ajax did not have the shock of Ibrahimovic in the frontcourt. AC Milan's pressure was very light, and the defense line dared to press it boldly. There is a tendency to form a siege.
"They have so much experience, Maldini, Costacurta, Cafu, Pirlo, Shevchenko, Inzaghi... all of them are the top stars in Europe, even the youngest Kaka. We performed well in every game, and our average age was only 22 years old, and we were inexperienced, it was really…”
When Van Basten said this, he let out another long sigh of mixed flavors.
As a witness to the peak period of Ajax in the past, and seeing the youth guards today, the gap is really difficult for outsiders to understand and understand.
Yang Yang, who was sitting on the side, could only feel his pessimism about this game at most.
In the face of a team with such a solid defense, it is basically difficult to recover a goal after losing a ball, especially when it comes to defending against the opponent's counterattack.
At the beginning of the first half, during Ajax's attack period, Kaka's sharp counterattack left a deep impression on everyone. Ancelotti arranged him to start for the counterattack.
Yang Yang watched Kaka's game live for the first time, but he was deeply shocked, especially the speed of the counterattack.
It should be said that Kaka is the most amazing new star emerging in European football this year. From him, Yang Yang also clearly sees his own shortcomings and gaps.
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As it turns out, Van Basten's hunch was right.
The game ended 0-1, Ajax lost at home and ushered in a two-game losing streak in the Champions League group stage.
More importantly, from the technical point of view, Ajax only had two shots in the penalty area, all of which were completed before Zlatan Ibrahimovic came off the field. After that, Ajax completely lost the attack. threat.
AC Milan's goalkeeper Dida didn't even make a fall to the ground to save the whole game. It can be seen that Ajax's attack was not threatening at all. Even if he launched a counterattack in the final stage of the game and formed a siege, he still failed to Into the restricted area.
Zero to one, the score is not big, but Ajax is a complete defeat.
In the other game of the group, Celta Vigo drew with Brugge 1-1 at home, which simply pushed Ajax into a corner and made the Eredivisie giants unable to retreat.
After the five rounds, AC Milan ranked first in the group with ten points and qualified for the group ahead of schedule. Ajax and Vigo Celta both scored six points, Bruges five points and three goals. The teams bite each other tightly.
The last round of Celta Vigo is away against AC Milan, who has no desire to play, and Ajax is going to challenge Bruges away. This will be the two focus battles that will decide life and death.
But the problem is that the defending Champions League champions will play in the Toyota Cup on the weekend of the Champions League group stage.
Therefore, Ajax basically had no way out in the sixth round away game against Bruges, only to win.
But Bruges also showed everyone through the first five tough battles that although they are in fourth gear, they are by no means a fish-belly team, especially in their own home court, they are absolutely capable of defeating all incoming enemies.
The dilemma brought about by the two-game losing streak in the Champions League quickly made the domestic media in the Netherlands turn their heads, unanimously criticizing Ajax’s poor performance, and also questioning Koeman’s formation, especially Yakubu’s. The use has become the focus of everyone's bombardment, because the Ghanaian players have made extremely serious mistakes in both games.
Many media even believe that if Ajax is out of the Champions League group stage, Koeman should take the blame and resign.
In the eyes of most people, although Ajax sold Chivu and Van der Meede in the summer, they also brought in Escud and Wesley Sonk. The French central defender is the backbone of the current team's defense. The core, and the Belgian striker is currently the team's top scorer in the Champions League. Although he did not play the main force in five games, he still contributed three goals.
On the contrary, Coman, whether it is arranging troops or commanding on the spot, has frequent problems.
Unknown fans were also dissatisfied with the team's performance. Even after Ajax returned to the Eredivisie League, they quickly defeated Feyenoord 2-0 at home, but they still could not calm the fans. 's anger.
Last season's Champions League quarter-finals made everyone see the hope of Ajax's revival, and the club all looked forward to it, especially the return of the legendary coach Van Gaal, which made everyone have high hopes. But the result?
Once the Champions League group stage is out, there must be a person with sufficient weight to take this responsibility.
Coach Ronald Koeman, technical director Van Gaal, and even President Van Prager, who has been complained by fans for many years.
The outside media and fans were violent, and the inside of the team was equally uneasy.
The news of Trabelsi's departure from the team has intensified, and even Premier League upstarts Chelsea, Juventus and Roma have all joined the fray, which makes the momentum of Ajax's right-back leaving the team more and more obvious.
Under the internal and external troubles, the entire De Tokmost once again fell into the haze of depression.
Even the always relaxed second team of Ajax also ushered in the first defeat of the Youth League, but Yang Yang's performance is still very good, and after seeing outstanding world-class stars such as Kaka and Shevchenko After that, Yang Yang worked harder whether it was training, special training, or extra training.
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bang... bang... bang... bang...
With a certain rhythm, the ball flew out of Yang Yang's right foot again and again, hit the wall, and bounced back randomly.
Yang Yang kept moving laterally at a distance of twenty meters from the wall, facing the incoming ball, either with his left foot or with his right foot, sending the ball back to the wall again and again, waiting for the next rebound.
Although after deliberate training, Yang Yang's left foot is still not flexible enough. Some simple movements can be done, but more complicated ones will not work. However, Yang Yang is determined to train his left foot.
Time passed unknowingly, and Yang Yang was already sweating profusely, but there was still no sign of stopping.
He's seventeen, and by all indications, he's not that far from the first team.
Just after the team lost to AC Milan at home, his best friend Fermaelen received an order from the first team to officially enter the first team, which made Yang Yang very envious, but also felt a little pressure.
The words of Ibrahimovic and Maxwell are still in my ears, Fermaelen went in, what about himself?
When the first team opportunity presents itself in front of you, can you seize it?
This made Yang Yang full of a sense of crisis, and it also made him work harder in training, special training and extra training, and did not dare to slack off.
It was only when night fell that Yang Yang stopped out of breath.
It was also at this moment that he suddenly realized that there was a person sitting in the corner not far behind him.
The slightly obese middle-aged Dutchman held a bottle of water in one hand. After seeing Yang Yang stop training, he shook the water in his hand and handed it to Yang Yang from a distance.
More than half a year ago, the familiar feeling of being at the Almere Skate Park is back.
Let me tell you the good news first, the collection of [Super Fengbao] has exceeded 10,000, and it was broken around 23:30 on the evening of the 13th. Haha, I have been staring nervously.
Thanks to all the book friends for their support, without you, there would be no [Super Fengbao] today, but the collection of over 10,000 is just the beginning, and we still have a long way to go, please walk with me hand in hand.
The bad news is that the recommendation votes on the 14th are a lot less, brothers and sisters, please vote more, please!