Chapter 369

Amid the heated discussion around the world, Van Gaal gave Jiang Xiaolin a day off alone, allowing him to spend a day with his mother and cousin.

Jiang Xiaolin was able to drive himself, so he took his mother and cousin to Chinatown in Amsterdam and met his former boss Song Zhicheng.

If Song Zhicheng hadn't helped him, it would be hard to say what Jiang Xiaolin's fate would be in the Netherlands!

Even his later football career was opened by Song Zhicheng's personal connection to send him to the Class D amateur team Pulmes.

Without the experience of Pulmes, Jiang Xiaolin himself could not say whether he could be possessed by the Green God System.

Therefore, Jiang Xiaolin's gratitude to Song Zhicheng was sincere, and Jiang Liantao also thanked Song Zhicheng excitedly.

Of course, Jiang Xiaolin's visit to Song Zhicheng's restaurant with his mother and cousin naturally caused a sensation in Chinatown.

Jiang Xiaolin received the European Golden Boy Award last night, and he scored a goal at a speed of over 100 kilometers per hour in the game, and a goal of the century comparable to Maradona's goal of dribbling past five players. Most people in Chinatown watched the live broadcast.

When they heard that Jiang Xiaolin brought his mother and cousin to Chinatown to thank Song Zhicheng, everyone rushed to Song Zhicheng's restaurant, and the whole Chinatown was almost blocked.

Many Dutch teenagers in Amsterdam also excitedly rushed into Chinatown to see Jiang Xiaolin, the 17-year-old Dutch super shooter.

If the local police station had not received the alarm and quickly sent people to maintain order, the door of Song Zhicheng's restaurant might have been crushed.

In the end, Jiang Xiaolin was escorted away by a police car.

After returning to Alkmaar, Jiang Xiaolin began to resume training with the team, while Jiang Liantao and Jiang Xueling were accompanied by a female staff member sent by the club and a Chinatown girl contacted by Song Zhicheng to travel in Alkmaar and surrounding areas.

The two of them will stay in the Netherlands until the winter break, and then return to China with Jiang Xiaolin.

Without financial pressure, Jiang Xiaolin is not short of money, so it is still very good for Jiang Liantao and Jiang Xueling to travel and spend a vacation in Europe.

On December 18, UEFA held the Champions League/UEFA Cup knockout draw ceremony.

The Champions League quarter-finals produced several strong dialogues such as Chelsea VS Juventus, Real Madrid VS Liverpool, Inter Milan VS Manchester United, etc., which attracted enough attention.

Jiang Xiaolin won the European Golden Boy Award, scored a free kick at a speed of 118 kilometers per hour, and scored a goal by running past five people, etc., which were all overshadowed by the news of the Champions League draw results.

As for the draw ceremony of the UEFA Cup, no one paid attention to it except the local media of the participating teams.

This is the reality.

No matter how much Jiang Xiaolin made in the Eredivisie and the UEFA Cup, in the minds of most people, it is still not as attractive as the Champions League.

Without proving himself in the Champions League, no matter how many goals Jiang Xiaolin scored in the Eredivisie and the UEFA Cup, no matter how wonderful the goals were, he could not be called a top star.

Even with the huge population and market of China behind him, it would not work.

Of course, for the fans and fans of the Alkmaar Club and Jiang Xiaolin, the draw ceremony of the UEFA Cup knockout stage still made them very happy.

Jiang Xiaolin scored twice in the last round of the group stage and led Alkmaar to a 2-0 victory over Udinese and the benefits of rising to the top of the standings were also reflected.

In addition to the 8 groups in the group stage, three teams in each group, and a total of 24 teams that qualified from the UEFA Cup group stage, the 8 third-placed teams eliminated from the Champions League group stage entered the UEFA Cup knockout stage.

Therefore, the knockout round of the UEFA Cup consists of 32 teams, and the first round of the knockout round is the 1/16 finals.

And Alkmaar's opponent in the 1/16 finals is Lekpusna from the Polish Super League.

This is undoubtedly a super underdog team. Compared with the teams in the five major leagues, the Dutch Eredivisie, the Portuguese Super League, and well-known teams such as Dynamo Kyiv, Zenit St. Petersburg, and Olympiacos, its strength is much worse.

Although Lekpusna is now at the top of the Polish Super League standings, the Polish League itself is a second-tier league of UEFA. Even if it is at the top, it is a world of difference compared to the top of the Dutch Eredivisie.

When the draw results came out, even the players and coaches of Lekpusna thought they were unlucky and felt that it was impossible to move forward.

According to the coach of Lekpusna in an interview, they only need to play two games with Alkmaar, try their best to show their football style, and watch Jiang Xiaolin, the new European Golden Boy Award, on the spot.The winner's performance is enough.

The media in the Netherlands and Alkmaar generally believe that Alkmaar will have no problem defeating Lekpsner and advancing to the quarter-finals.

This is not arrogance, but the strength of the two sides is too far apart.

The difference between the top of the Eredivisie and the top of the Polish Super League is really too big.

Of course, any accident can happen on the football field.

For example, in the 2004 European Cup, who would have thought that the Greek team would win the championship in the end?

Therefore, the media and fans can take it for granted that Alkmaar will win, but the Alkmaar team cannot think so.

However, the knockout stage will be in the second half of the season, so Van Gaal did not mention it. He plans to wait until the 1/16 finals to remind the players.

Alkmaar's strength is definitely stronger than Lekpsner. As long as they take it seriously and don't underestimate the enemy, there will be no accidents.

On December 19, Alkmaar played at home against Utrecht in the 16th round of the Eredivisie.

Utrecht is a traditional powerhouse in Dutch football, a second-tier team below the three giants Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord.

Although it is not as good as the three giants, it can occasionally win championships, challenge the status of the three giants, make trouble, enter European wars, etc.

However, Utrecht's performance this season is average, and it is currently ranked only 10th in the Eredivisie standings, ranking in the middle.

Therefore, when facing the top Alkmaar away, Utrecht did not overestimate its own strength and launched an offensive against Alkmaar, but took the initiative to retreat and played a defensive counterattack.

However, as a traditional powerhouse in the Eredivisie, Utrecht did not completely shrink its defense. They are a team that truly implements the Eredivisie's all-out attack and defense concept.

In this game, Utrecht did not completely shrink within 30 meters of the goal to defend. Instead, from the midfield, two forwards launched a counter-attack, the midfielders ran back and forth outside the penalty area to counter-attack, and the back line firmly guarded the penalty area, making Alkmaar's attack not very smooth.

Of course, with strong overall strength and Jiang Xiaolin's performance, Alkmaar still took the lead in scoring.

However, this goal was rare not scored by Jiang Xiaolin, and not even assisted by him.

However, it can be regarded as an attack initiated by Jiang Xiaolin.

In the 14th minute, Jiang Xiaolin dribbled horizontally outside the penalty area, and with no shooting angle, he used his full-value passing skills and suddenly passed the ball to Hamdaoyi's head in the penalty area.

Although Hamdaoyi was unable to head the ball due to the pull of the opponent's defender, he still saw the landing point and headed the ball to the corner of the small penalty area at the back point.

Moussa Dembele, the winger who cut into the penalty area from the wing, rushed to the ball and volleyed it without stopping. The ball flew into the goal instantly.

Although goalkeeper Misidni made a save, Dembele's shot was too fast. Misidni didn't even touch the shadow in the end, and watched the ball fly into the net.

After scoring a goal and taking the lead, Alkmaar can sit back and deal with Utrecht slowly.

With only one goal behind, Utrecht still wanted to score a goal to equalize the score.

Therefore, under the premise of solid defense, Utrecht occasionally played a good counterattack.

In the 22nd minute, Utrecht's full-back Strott suddenly rushed in from the wing, first dribbling past Alkmaar's winger Stein Schars who was trying to intercept him, then moving forward more than ten meters and making a wall-to-wall match with his teammates, passing the full-back Jariens and making a cross.

Utrecht striker Udalu followed up in the middle, grabbed the first point and headed the ball, which really hit the goal frame, with good power and angle.

But Sergio Romero made a world-class save, flying sideways and saving Udalu's header in the penalty area.

Utrecht missed the goal.

They also didn't grab the first point in the subsequent corner kick, and Ragnar Klavan headed it out of the penalty area.

The game continued, Alkmaar continued to attack, and Utrecht defended.

However, Utrecht was not passive, and their all-out attack and defense were still quite good.

The pressing from the midfield made Alkmaar's attack not smooth.

It was not until the 42nd minute of the first half that Jiang Xiaolin scored his first goal of the game.

Jiang Xiaolin retreated outside the penalty area, ran to the wing and exchanged positions with the winger, got the ball, and then played a two-on-one match with his teammates., dribbled the ball horizontally to the corner of the penalty area and shot a long shot into the far corner.

Jiang Xiaolin scored Alkmaar's second goal, helping the team lead Utrecht 2-0. The AFAS Stadium was filled with the sound of fans shouting Jiang Xiaolin's name.

Then, a few minutes later, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half, and the two sides entered the halftime break with a score of 2-0, with Alkmaar, who played at home, leading by two goals.

After a 15-minute break, the two sides changed sides and continued the game.

The rapid progress in the league and the League Cup may have made Alkmaar's players underestimate the enemy.

At the beginning of the second half, Utrecht used the kick-off right to pass the ball back twice, leading Alkmaar's formation, and then suddenly launched a quick attack.

This caught Alkmaar off guard.

Finally, Utrecht's striker Yun Dagen dribbled into the penalty area and was about to shoot, which was a huge threat.

Defender Hector Moreno, who was defending Yun Dagen closely, had no time to think. He only wanted to prevent the opponent from shooting, so he subconsciously made a flying tackle from the side.

As a result, Yun Dagen was not tackled, but was knocked to the ground. Moreover, Moreno's studs stepped on Yun Dagen's ankle, making Yun Dagen unable to get up for a long time.

The referee came forward to check Yun Dagen's injury, and then he did not hesitate to award a penalty kick, and gave Moreno a red card, and sent him off directly.

Although Moreno put his hands together to tell the referee that he did not commit a malicious foul, he could not make the referee take back his decision, and he could only leave the field in frustration.

Then, Utrecht's front midfielder Kairovi scored the penalty kick in one fell swoop and scored the goal of Alkmaar. The score between the two sides became 2-1, and Utrecht was only one goal behind Alkmaar.

Moreover, Alkmaar had one player sent off with a red card, and they had one less player to fight.

Van Gaal had to quickly replace Hamdaoyi with substitute central defender Moisander to keep the defense intact.

On the football field, it can be said that everyone has their own position. After one less player, Alkmaar's offense and defense have dropped a level.

Especially in Jiang Xiaolin's offense, without Hamdaoyi's running and pulling, Utrecht can concentrate on using its defensive power on Jiang Xiaolin alone.

Even with Jiang Xiaolin's skills and strength, it is difficult for one person to challenge Utrecht's entire defense line.

In addition, in defense, because Moisander is a substitute, both his personal strength and tacit understanding with his teammates are not as good as Hector Moreno who was just sent off with a red card.

Therefore, the defense line is often tight, forcing Dembele, Schals, Martens and others in the midfield to frequently return to defense, and there is even less help for Jiang Xiaolin in offense.

Even Jiang Xiaolin couldn't often perform the long-distance attack of passing five players like in the last game. It was just like Jiang Xiaolin's occasional shot at a speed of more than 100 kilometers per hour, which was a rare opportunity.

In this game, Jiang Xiaolin obviously didn't encounter such a good thing.

In the 67th minute, Jiang Xiaolin had a long shot outside the penalty area in a counterattack, but unfortunately the distance was too far and he couldn't make a violent shot at more than 100 kilometers per hour, which gave goalkeeper Misidni enough reaction time to save the ball.

Alkmaar was affected by one less player, both offense and defense, while Utrecht strengthened its offense because of one more player.

After all, they were only one goal behind now.

Although their forwards' shooting skills were not as good as Jiang Xiaolin's, they could still occasionally hit the goal frame and score goals after shooting more times.