Chapter 719: Rattan Armor Army

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

Under the coaching of head coach Erik ten Hag, the team has performed very well this season. Not only did it reach the semi-finals of the Champions League, it also won the Dutch Cup final in the Netherlands with a 4-0 victory over Willem II three days ago. It also topped the Eredivisie with a goal difference advantage over PSV Eindhoven.

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

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

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

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

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

At the Amsterdam Arena, the superstar-studded Bayern Munich 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 a 1:1 draw. AEK Athens lost 0:3 and Benfica lost 0:1.

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

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The Amsterdam Arena has had a very good record this season, which makes Manchester United particularly cautious when visiting the Amsterdam Arena.

Mourinho deployed a 4-- formation, with Fred and Kante forming a double defensive midfielder again, ready to go. But just minutes into the game, Schone took a corner kick from the right side, and De Ligt jumped high in the middle and headed the ball into the goal!

1: 0!

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

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLL!!!"

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

"De Ligt! This talented central defender who came from Ajax's youth training camp and 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 8; Van der Beck, who was born in April 1997, Frenkie de Jong, who was born in May 11, and Dolberg, who was born in October 1997... In addition, Onana, who was born in April 4, was just one month old at that time..."

Fantastic goals, a crazy home field, outstanding stars...all of these seemed to foreshadow a disaster for Manchester United.

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"These guys are really crazy!" As he walked towards the center circle, Kante looked up at the Jia family fans in the stands and said.

Looking around, the entire stand was red and white, and as the fans cheered up and down, it looked like a red and white ocean.

"Dricht is a genius!" Mbappe praised.

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

This talented Dutch central defender was Mbappe's biggest competitor for the European Golden Boy Award last year. In the end, Mbappe relied on his offensive player advantage to beat De Ligt by a narrow margin and won the 2018 European Golden Boy Award.

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

As a defender this season, Van de Beek has scored three goals in the Eredivisie and two goals in the Champions League, which is also a new career high. It can be seen that this talented central defender is in the best form of his career.

Thanks to Ajax's excellent results and De Ligt's own outstanding performance, the 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 has not had many opportunities to play for Manchester United this season, but he has repeatedly performed outstandingly.

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

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

Under Ten Hag's coaching, Jiafu's characteristics are high pressure and high ball control, the style of play is not conservative, and the players are very capable.

There is no doubt that this Ajax team is full of offensive enthusiasm, with extremely fast offense-defense transitions, always putting pressure on the opponent. It has both Liverpool-style tight pressure and some of Manchester City's short pass penetration and high-frequency cross-position characteristics when leading the offense. At the same time, it continues the Dutch football tradition of being good at using the width of the field for transfers.

Among them, the most important link of Jiafu is the connection between Van der Beck and the three forwards in front.

This is what the head coach repeatedly reminded before the game, but Manchester United's double defensive midfielders did not do well just now, and Van der Beck immediately seized the opportunity and made a shot.

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

This was somewhat embarrassing for Kante, who was the backbone of the defense.

Bruno also saw the clues. As he walked back, he clapped his hands vigorously and shouted loudly: "It doesn't matter. It's only 4 minutes. Let's take it slow. First, we need to do a good job of defense and stabilize our position. We will definitely have a chance."

Bruno is the captain of the team, and his weight in the locker room is getting heavier and heavier. Everyone listens to what he says.

Kante nodded to Bruno to express his gratitude.

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"He is becoming more and more like a great general," Faria said admiringly.

Mourinho nodded, obviously agreeing with his assistant.

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

After seeing the players return to their positions, the Manchester United coach immediately walked to the sidelines and called Fred and Kante, signaling them to pay attention to restricting Van der Beck, not giving him too many opportunities, and cutting off his connection with the three forward 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 adjusting the rhythm of the game and connecting the offense and defense. As long as Van de Beek is strangled, Ajax's offensive threat will be much smaller. At that time, Manchester United can exert its strength.

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

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

Ten Hag was obviously very clear that if he rushed forward rashly, leaving gaps behind him and giving Manchester United too much space to counterattack, it would be absolutely fatal. So after grabbing a goal at the beginning of the game, Ten Hag cleverly arranged for the team to slow down the attack and play steadily.

At the same time, Ten Hag also made special arrangements for Bruno's defense. This is just like Manchester United will make arrangements for Van der Beck. Bruno is the soul of Manchester United.

Almost every time Bruno gets the ball, the nearest Ajax player will rush to grab it first, especially the three midfielders De Jong, Schone and Van der Beck, which also affects Bruno's performance.

But Bruno quickly expanded his running range and actively used 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. He continued to run patiently and actively, looking for opportunities.

Fortunately, after Mourinho's adjustments, and Ajax's deliberate slowing down of the attack, neither side was able to create good scoring opportunities in the following twenty minutes.

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Manchester United intercepted the ball in the backcourt and made a long pass to the right side of the frontcourt.

Harry Kane got the first point, but was pressed hard by Ajax center back De Ligt from behind, so he had to go back and pass the ball to Bruno who was catching up.

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

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

Bruno turned around immediately and protected the ball, but the two men still stood in a fan shape behind him, pressing forward step by step.

From the corner of his eye, Bruno could see that Kante was in the middle and Harry Kane was behind him, but he couldn't pass the ball and could only dribble back.

This is a game strategy, he expected that these two players could not follow him back at the same time. Although Van de Beek was very active on the field, his defense was basically just for show. As long as De Jong and Schone both came out, Kante would have a chance.