Balaidos Stadium.
Celta's home ground.
The stadium, which could hold more than 30,000 people, was brightly lit at night and the stands were full.
The familiar theme song of the Champions League echoed in the stadium.
Celta and Ajax's starting players stood in a row for the opening ceremony. The 22 players looked serious and the atmosphere of the upcoming battle was getting stronger.
"The fifth round of the 2003-2004 UEFA Champions League group stage matches is about to begin. Today, we are at Balaidos Stadium in Vigo, Spain. Celta will be hosting the Dutch team, Ajax. Both teams have not performed well in the UEFA Champions League this season. This is the first time Celta is participating in the UEFA Champions League. In the first four matches, they have three draws and one loss. Ajax has one win and three losses. Both teams have three points. Considering that Club Brugge has eight points and AC Milan has seven points, and their record is better than Ajax's, the loser between Celta and Ajax will be eliminated early! If it is a draw, Ajax will also be eliminated!
Below is the starting line-up of both teams.
Celta starting 343.
Goalkeeper: Carvalero.
Defenders: Contreras, Sergio, Juanfran.
Midfielders: Velasco, Lucin, Berizzo, Silvinho.
Forwards: Edu, Katanja, Júlio.
Ajax starting 433.
Goalkeeper: Lobonte.
Defenders: Grygera, Heitinga, Escude, Maxwell.
Midfielders: De Rong, Qin Xiong, Pienaar.
Forwards: Van Der Vaart, Ibrahimovic, Snede.
Well, the opening ceremony of the UEFA Champions League match is over. Players from both teams stand in formation and get ready to kick off. With the whistle of the referee, this battle of life and death in Group H begins! "
Manager Comain was confident. He lost to Ancelotti because his skills were not as good as his opponent. There was nothing to be upset about.
However, in this away game, he was full of confidence to face Celta's manager, Lotina again.
On paper, Celta's strength was obvious to all. They were not the best, but they were strong enough. However, they lacked European experience. This could be seen from the last match in Amsterdam, and from the arrangement of the opposing team's general, Lottina, in this match.
Ajax had no way out. If he could not win, he would be eliminated.
Under such circumstances, Ajax would definitely attack in an away game.
But Selta had adopted such a radical formation. 343.
Although the situation in front of Celta was similar, if they could not win, the probability of being eliminated was very high. However, they had the home advantage. Furthermore, Ajax was proud of his position in the football world, so Celta did not need to be so aggressive!
"That's good," Comain thought. "Serta wants to attack, which is exactly what Ajax wants."
At the start of the match, Qin Xiong was fully focused on the match. Since the beginning of the match, Celta had quickened the pace of the match. Their attacks were as fast as lightning.
They mainly focused on the flanks.
The two flanks, Silvinho Júlsuli and Velasco Edu, repeatedly attacked Ajax's defensive line on the flanks. Lucin was in the middle.
Snede and Van Der Vaart did not play an obvious role in the defense, which allowed Celta to gain a huge advantage in the flanks' offense at the beginning of the match. They were always able to shift the offense from the front to the middle.
Ajax was playing in an away game, so he was slow to get into the zone. Qin Xiong withdrew from his position at the beginning of the match and focused more on defense. He did not mind the opponent's fierce attacks. The more the opponent played like this, the better Ajax's chances were.
Heitinga was in trouble. Due to the large number of attacking players on the flanks, it was not enough to rely on Qin Xiong and De Jong to guard against the inside cut. It would be fine if he and Eskud joined forces to block the opponent's striker, Catanha. However, the three strikers of Celta, Edu, Catanha, and Júlsuli, all had good ball control abilities. If a one-on-one defense could not be perfect, they must have teammates to assist in the defense. Because of this, Eskud's attention would be distracted. The job of defending against Catanha would mainly fall on Heitinga.
This was not because of Heitinga's will, because Catanha's main area of activity seemed to be targeting Heitinga. Obviously, he was bullying him because he was young!
Catanha did not look like a Brazilian striker at all. He had a nickname, "Hairy Crab," and the number of fouls he committed over the years was the highest in the team. He could be said to be "full of evil." The most vicious evil he committed was to break the leg of Barcelona's French goalkeeper, Duteruel. At the same time, he knocked the Swedish defender, Andersson, into shock during the fight for a header!
From the beginning of the match, Catanha intentionally or unintentionally provoked Heitinga. He collided roughly during the fight for opportunities and seemed to be recklessly entangled after losing the possession of the ball. This infuriated Heitinga bit.
In the third minute of the match, Júlsuli passed a 45-degree cross from the flank. Catanha defeated Heitinga in the fight for a header. However, the two were evenly matched. Catanha's header was almost the same as breaking the siege. However, after landing, Heitinga fell to the ground. Catanha "inadvertently" kicked Heitinga's arm.
This made Heitinga immediately get up and confront him!
The referee blew the whistle to stop the match. He ran over to separate the two and gave them a warning.
In the seventh minute, after figuring out the opponent's attacking pattern and attack and defense rhythm, Qin Xiong began to show his skills.
He, Maxwell and Pienaar carried out a triangular pass and quickly dribbled across the half of the field. In the opponent's midfield combination, Belizzo was mainly responsible for defense. Lucin was both offensive and defensive. Qin Xiong dribbled in front of Lucin and passed the ball to Pienaar.
He and Pienaar had a running coordination of parallel and cross positions. In the process, Qin Xiong slanted into the gap between Belizzo and Lucin. Pienaar then passed the ball to Qin Xiong. The two of them worked together to break through the opponent's midfield defense!
The opponent had three defenders. The space for a frontal breakthrough was naturally narrow because the horizontal defense area was much smaller.
Qin Xiong dribbled the ball to the right in front of the penalty area. When Hu Anfran moved a step towards his side, Qin Xiong immediately sent a penetrating straight pass.
Van Der Vaart, who was offside from Hu Anfran's side, directly charged into the penalty area!
Semi-single!
In the middle, Ibrahimovic used his nimble running to get rid of Sergio and came to the gap.
Ibrahimovic was sure that as long as Van Der Vaart passed the ball, he would score the goal!
However, Van Der Vaart directly shot with his left foot, hoping to blast the ball into the near corner of the goal!
In the 2002 World Cup, Argentina's national goalkeeper, Carvalero, used his body to block the ball from the near post. Van Der Vaart's shot was powerful and heavy. He could not react to it with his hands, but his body blocked the goal!
Van Der Vaart held his head in regret. Ibrahimovic spread out his hands and complained. However, Van Der Vaart did not look at him.
In the Estadio Balaidos, the Celta fans applauded Carvalero's performance.
Qin Xiong frowned slightly.
He actually did not care about the individual statistics.
Therefore, when he passed the ball to Van Der Vaart, he did not care if he could get a direct assist.
He thought that the better opportunity just now was, of course, when Van Der Vaart passed the ball to Ibrahimovic, who had a chance in the middle of the goal.
He was ready to attack from the corner and did not pay attention to it. It was common to miss one or two chances in a game.
If Celta's formation today did not change, Qin Xiong thought that Ajax would get a lot of attacking opportunities.
The opponent had three defenders. As long as the midfield defense was broken, the three defenders would definitely not be able to defend against Ajax's winger cutting inside!
Five minutes later, Edu broke through on the right side of the front field. Maxwell successfully intercepted the ball, and Ajax launched a fast attack.
After the ball reached Qin Xiong's feet, he immediately dribbled the ball across the half of the field. Velasco rushed over to intercept. Qin Xiong paused, and Velasco also paused. However, when Qin Xiong sped up again, Velasco obviously could not keep up. The change of rhythm in dribbling was what Qin Xiong liked to use the most.
Coming to the front field, Lucin and Berizzo learned their lesson and firmly controlled the defense in the middle of the penalty area.
However, Qin Xiong suddenly dribbled the ball to the side under their surprised gazes. Snede understood tacitly and cut into the middle to interfere.
After Qin Xiong reached the left side of the penalty area, he passed the ball to Ibrahimovic, who had retreated slightly.
After the pass, Celta's right center back, Contreras, looked in the direction of the ball. Qin Xiong's cold gaze swam around him, ready to burst out with speed at any time!
Ibrahimovic received the pass in the middle. Van Der Vaart on the right and Qin Xiong on the left both looked at Ibrahimovic, waiting for him to send a pass. It was a simple diagonal pass. Left or right, any side would do!
However, Ibrahimovic took a step to the side and directly shot at the goal!
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