Chapter 150 A Show of Strength

April 23, 2002, evening, heavy rain.

Ajax, who had just defeated Utrecht 1:0 in the league and successfully maintained a 2-point lead, welcomed the first leg of the Champions League semi-final at the Arena Stadium. The opponent was the strongest team in the world today, Real Madrid.

Raul, Guti, Zidane, Figo, McManaman, Hierro, Solari...

Even if it is a player on the bench of Real Madrid, if you pick one out at random and put it in other teams, it is definitely the level of the main star. This shows how strong the overall strength of this team is.

Focusing on offense and neglecting defense is the consistent feature of Real Madrid. Even though Bosque won the Champions League in 2000 with a five-back defensive lineup, he still uses four defenders now, with the purpose of arranging the superstars piled up in the front court to the maximum extent.

Zidane's policy of adding Pavon allowed Pavon to gain a foothold in Real Madrid's defense. From the perspective of a professional coach, his performance was remarkable, with highlights and mistakes. This is a disadvantage of young players, especially in a team like Real Madrid that focuses on offense and not defense.

But even so, in front of Real Madrid, which is as powerful as an aircraft carrier, Ajax is just a small fishing boat without any threat.

But this did not stop the fanatical Ajax fans from gathering at the Arena Stadium. No matter how heavy the rain was, it could not extinguish the enthusiasm in their hearts, and no matter how powerful the opponent was, it could not make them feel afraid.

When the Mercedes-Benz bus of Ajax slowly stopped at the player channel of the Arena Stadium, the Ajax fans who had gathered at the scene rushed forward. Although they were stopped by the police and staff who maintained order, they still shouted slogans in the heavy rain.

"Kill Real Madrid, long live Ajax!!"

"Kill Real Madrid, enter the final!"

"We want to win the European Cup again!!"

Many excited fans even threw away their umbrellas, letting the heavy rain pouring down on Amsterdam soak their bodies and clothes, but this only stimulated their fighting spirit.

Standing outside the player's tunnel, there was a cute little kid, less than 10 years old, struggling to hold up a card with an Arabic numeral 5 written on it crookedly!

In the 100-year history of Ajax, they have won 4 European Cups, and in the Hall of Honor of Arena Stadium, there is a real St. Pauli Cup that Michels and Cruyff kept for Ajax. It was the trophy after Ajax won the Champions League three times in a row, and it is also the pride of all Ajax people.

Van Gaal won it once for Ajax, and the next year he reached the final again, but he was one step short.

Now they hope that Ye Qiu can lead Ajax to defeat Real Madrid and offer another Saint-Bolaid Cup to the Hall of Honor of Arena Stadium. Even if it is just a replica, it is worthy of their pride.

Ye Qiu was the first to get off the bus and kept nodding to the fans. Although he was holding an umbrella, he did not open it. Instead, when he passed by the little boy, he opened his umbrella and handed it to him. He patted his face gently, smiled, and went into the player tunnel.

He could not understand the almost religious feelings of Europeans towards football clubs. Sometimes he even wondered, what these people like is football itself? Or Ajax?

He would not go into a dead end on this issue, but he knew very well that he and the Ajax fans outside who were cheering for the team in the rain had the same goal, which was to do their best to beat Real Madrid and enter the finals!

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Bosque always gave Ye Qiu a kind feeling. He always showed a smiling face, looking like an old man who would guide him step by step, a good old man who would never get angry with you.

Ye Qiu no longer had the kind of surprise he had when he first arrived and saw the superstars, because his team itself had a group of future superstars, so when he saw Figo, Zidane, Raul, and Guti, and watched them walk out of the player tunnel and nod to him politely, he just nodded in return.

When shaking hands with Bosque, he was not too polite, but just exchanged a few polite words with the Spanish coach on the sidelines while the players were warming up on the court.

All that could be heard from Bosque should be praise and compliments. His attitude towards Ye Qiu was very comfortable, without the kind of dominance of some top coaches, nor the kind of high-handed momentum of the giants, which made people feel very comfortable, so they couldn't help but say a few more words.

The scene of the two talking and laughing on the sidelines was naturally captured by the live broadcast camera. The commentator on the scene also joked that the actions of the two head coaches weakened the tension of the game itself.

But who could have thought that Bosque and Ye Qiu were not even talking about football on the sidelines. Instead, Bosque talked about some interesting things he had encountered in Amsterdam for more than a day, and Ye Qiu gave him some suggestions, such as telling him that the food in that place was delicious, and so on.

After the warm-up training was over, the conversation between the two was also terminated, and each team returned to the locker room.

Real Madrid's starting lineup for this game was announced, and the goalkeeper was Cesar.

This Cesar is not the Brazilian goalkeeper Julio Cesar who later helped Inter Milan win the Triple Crown, but the Spanish goalkeeper Cesar Sanchez, who was born in 1971 and is now 30 years old, in his prime as a goalkeeper. Age, and after joining Real Madrid from Valladolid in 2000, he once occupied the main position this season and performed very well.

The current Real Madrid goalkeeper position is basically between Casillas and Cesar taking turns. On the one hand, because of Casillas's contract renewal and other issues, he even has a relationship with Barcelona, ​​and on the other hand, Because Cesar has performed really well this season.

The defense line consists of Robert Carlos, Pavin, Hierro, and Salgado respectively. The midfield double midfielders are Makelele and Helguera. Among them, Helguera is currently in the most glorious period of his career. Under Bosque, he and Makelele form Real Madrid's double midfielder and are the team's pillar players.

In front of the double midfielder, Zidane, Guti and Figo, together with Raul in front, formed Real Madrid's star-studded attacking formation, and it is difficult to clearly define the position of the players in this attacking lineup. , because the liquidity is very large.

Although Zidane is on the left, he likes to move to the center, leaving the left to Robert Carlos. Guti's position is sometimes forward, and he even forms a double forward with Raul, and Figo He also often switches positions to the left and plays very lively.

The good tacit understanding developed, coupled with the strong personal strength of the stars, made Real Madrid's offense very difficult to defend, so Ye Qiu kept reminding his players in the locker room that they must concentrate Mentally, focus on the game.

"To be honest..." Ye Qiu looked at the starting 11 players in the locker room and shook his head, "I don't know what kind of strategies and tactics Real Madrid will adopt. Del Bosque has more leverage, and he may target us. Or maybe they won’t make targeted arrangements based on their characteristics, and they are very likely to attack after the opening.”

Ye Qiu breathed out softly, "I can't figure them out because they are too powerful!"

The side with the advantage often has more choices, just like Real Madrid. They don't have to worry about Ajax's attack, because maybe as long as they pass the ball once, as long as their star's personal flash, they can win. Enough to destroy everyone's efforts at Ajax.

Ye Qiu is full of confidence in the future, because he firmly believes that this group of players will definitely become talented under his cultivation. However, the competition is imminent, and the future cannot provide him with any help now.

The players in the locker room were silent because they could not refute Ye Qiu's words. What they needed at this moment was the head coach telling them what to do, and as long as Ye Qiu said it, they would believe it and go for it.

"But we have no choice!"

"Yes, Real Madrid is indeed very powerful, but so what? They have already bullied us at our doorstep. Can we give in? Can we be timid? Unless we are willing to stick our heads out like trash , pointing at our necks, telling them, please move quickly, otherwise, we have only one way!"

Ye Qiu took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and said word by word: "Then we have to fight with them!"

"If they are cruel, we must be more cruel than them; if they are cruel, we must be more cruel than them!"

"We don't care what they think, how they play, that's Real Madrid's own business, we just think about ourselves, we can play how we want, we can play how we want, because we are Aja "

"Never make your opponent feel comfortable, mark my words!"

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Del Bosque's opening tactics were straightforward.

When the game whistle sounded, the on-site commentator only introduced Real Madrid's starting lineup. Even Ajax's lineup had no time to introduce. Real Madrid had already brought the ball into Ajax's goal. 30 meter area.

Zidane took the ball in the upper left corner of the penalty area. He faced the double-teams of Sneijder and Maicon.

The reason why superstars are superstars is because they can do things that others cannot do. Therefore, even when Zidane is faced with double-teaming by two players, he can firmly control the ball. At his feet, and when he realized that he might not be able to control the ball, he knocked the ball back to Roberto Carlos who came in behind.

Baskin didn't hesitate with his left foot. After getting the ball, he strode forward and quickly followed up with his body. He raised his left foot and fired a heavy shot from a long distance. Everyone present could easily hear this. The blast of air caused by a foot shot.

This shot was very powerful, and the toe was hard, but the angle was slightly off, and it slid out of the door.

"A very dangerous shot. Real Madrid gave Ajax a blow just over 1 minute into the game. It made the entire Arenal Stadium fans sweat. I believe many fans didn't even know it. As soon as I sat down, I was shocked, it was very surprising!”

This is indeed a show of force, taking advantage of the opportunity to serve and creating a threat with the first shot. Real Madrid's strength is indeed felt by everyone in Ajax.

Taking advantage of the shock caused by this shot, Real Madrid quickly took the initiative on the court.

Ye Qiu stood on the sidelines, staring at the game with a frown, muttering to himself: "He thought we were scared!"

He should be talking about Bosque here.

Ye Qiu walked to the sidelines and pressed forward towards the players. At the same time, he asked Sneijder to look at Zidane and closely guard him, not to let the Frenchman have too much freedom, and the players should be more active and bold on the court, not to be afraid.

"Tell them, this is our home court!"

Ye Qiu's roar on the sidelines could even be heard on the live TV. On the one hand, it was because he knew very well that he could not fall into a passive position at the beginning, otherwise Ajax would not even have the most basic chance; but also because the momentum on the scene was too loud, and it would not be heard at all if he didn't roar.

The roar from the head coach immediately made the players on the court more active and proactive.

In the 6th minute, Sneijder took advantage of Gilberto Silva's interception and ran to the empty space to receive the ball. After receiving the ball, he passed the ball through Hierro. After Ibrahimovic suppressed Hierro with his body, he quickly rushed to receive the ball.

Under the interference of Pavan, the Swede's dribbling speed was not fast enough and was soon caught up by the Real Madrid defender who was chasing back, but Ibrahimovic still shot the ball about 21 meters away from the goal.

The Swedish center's long-range shot was very accurate, the foot was also very hard, and the speed was very fast. Cesar originally thought there was no threat, but he quickly reacted and flew to the right to make a save, saving the ball from the bottom line, a corner kick.

Sneijder quickly ran to the corner kick and signaled to his players in the penalty area who had already turned into a meat grinder, but just when everyone thought he was going to enter the penalty area, Sneijder sent a tactical corner kick.

The ball was passed to Keita, who passed it diagonally to the front of the penalty area without stopping. Van der Vaart rushed from the right side of the top of the arc to the left side of the top of the arc. Facing Keita's diagonal pass, he grasped it very well. He stopped and rubbed the ball. The ball flew up quickly from the front of the penalty area in a beautiful parabola and fell directly to the left side of the goal.

Cesar obviously had no way to make a save. He couldn't save the ball at all. He could only watch the ball fall. Then, everyone heard a muffled sound from the collision between the football and the crossbar. The ball hit the crossbar.

A sigh was clearly heard at the scene. If this kick had gone in, the situation would have changed completely.

"Ajax obviously made some arrangements for set pieces. Ye Qiu must have practiced this routine before the game, and it did create a threat, but unfortunately, Van der Vaart's beautiful arc shot hit the crossbar and went out of the baseline!"

"If Real Madrid launched a strong attack after the start and gave Ajax a warning, then Ye Qiu's Ajax quickly counterattacked and used two very threatening shots to warn Real Madrid that this is the Arena Stadium, our territory!"

Soon, Ajax made a comeback again.

This time, Robben forced Salgado to use his speed on the left and stopped suddenly, knocking back to Keita at the front of the penalty area. The latter shot with his left foot and slightly exceeded the crossbar.

And soon, when Ajax was defending Zidane, Sneijder tackled the French star and was warned by the referee with a yellow card. This was also the first yellow card of the game, but it successfully prevented an attack by Real Madrid.

The reasonable use of foul tactics was also what Ye Qiu focused on before this game.

To be honest, if they want to play with technology, Ajax's players can't catch up with Real Madrid's superstars, so when dealing with Real Madrid, they must not follow their rhythm and play with them, otherwise they will die miserably.

They are best at technology, and Ye Qiu wants the players to make reasonable use of fouls, which can not only disrupt Real Madrid's rhythm, but also affect the emotions of Real Madrid players.

In this day and age, if you want to use Real Madrid's best technology and penetration offense to kill Real Madrid, it's just like using ball possession tactics to kill Barcelona in 2013. It is estimated that such a team has not yet been born, so everyone's consideration for dealing with Real Madrid is still containment.

No matter how Bosque plays after the start, Ye Qiu has no extra choice. He can only adopt a strategic play to seize the advantage, because Ajax's characteristics and defects have been exposed very clearly. Once the start is not good, then when the players' physical energy is almost consumed, Real Madrid's technical advantage will become more obvious.

Fortunately, after two years of accumulation, the players of Ajax already know Ye Qiu's tactical thinking very well. Sometimes, with just a small gesture, they can understand the intention of the head coach.

Therefore, after being hit by Real Madrid at the beginning, Ajax quickly gave Real Madrid a series of threats, and even successfully pressed Real Madrid back to their half, while Ajax actively adopted a high-position defense strategy, launching fierce pressure and pressing in the middle and front court against Real Madrid.

After Bosque coached Real Madrid, he focused on defense, and a good defense must first consider the system, and then the individual strength of the players. Therefore, even if this line of defense of Real Madrid seems to be difficult to reassure, Real Madrid has lost only 7 goals in 12 games in two rounds of group matches, plus 2 games in the quarterfinals, and 14 Champions League games. There is no need to say more about its defensive ability.

Therefore, even though Ajax quickly reversed the situation after the start, Real Madrid was still able to keep calm, steadily set up the defense, and let Ajax press forward.

Facing Real Madrid's tactical play, Ajax's offensive was restricted. It was difficult to create threats within the opponent's 30-meter area, and they could only frequently use long shots.

Everyone can see that continuing like this is not a solution!