The Amsterdam Athletic Stadium was boiling with excitement!
The fans had been suppressed and nervous for a long time.
When Qin Xiong used the rainbow to challenge Vieira, they wanted to stand up and cheer for Qin Xiong. When Qin Xiong used the Marseille roundabout to assist, they almost shouted out loud.
However, they were too nervous.
It was not until Van Der Vaart sent the ball into Arsenal's goal that they stood up and cheered wildly.
Van Der Vaart showed his wild side and ran excitedly to hug Qin Xiong.
Ajax's other teammates also ran over and everyone hugged together.
They firmly believed, and they had firmly believed before they set foot on the UEFA Euro 18 final: We can go further!
We can beat Arsenal!
Although it was only a goal to equalize the score, the confidence and encouragement it brought to Ajax was extremely important.
"Ajax equalized the score! Qin Xiong tore apart Arsenal's defense with his own strength and finally gave Van Der Vaart a comfortable assist. Van Der Vaart did not disappoint his teammates and fans' expectations. He used an earth-shattering volley to blast open Arsenal's goal! 1: 1. This score is still unfavorable for Ajax, but they are no longer in a situation where they are behind in the score. "
Comain waved his fists, but his expression was still dignified.
It was just an equalizer. In fact, because Arsenal scored an away goal, Arsenal could be said to be in the lead.
Wenger was shocked.
If one only looked at the scene of Van Der Vaart's goal, Arsenal's defense simply made a major mistake in marking.
But the truth was not like that!
Arsenal's defensive strength was ranked in the top three in the United Kingdom. How could they easily make such a low-level mistake?
Qin Xiong!
Before this attack, all of Qin Xiong's planned attacks in the second half were evaluated by Wenger as childish!
But after this goal, the previous childishness had been subverted. It was simply a wonderful midfield command strategic layout!
Constantly attacking the left flank, even if it did not succeed, he would still attack the left flank. Qin Xiong's seemingly childish and stupid behavior of going to the tiger's mountain despite knowing that there was a tiger was just a facade!
Arsenal was fooled and blindly confident, thinking that they had figured out his movements.
On the field, not only must he always be ready for opportunities to come, but he must also take the initiative to create opportunities!
When the opportunity came, Qin Xiong did not waste all of his previous efforts. Strategically, he created a diversion and defeated Vieira with his personal ability. After he entered the front waistline, he turned to the middle. His goal was to create a one-on-one chance for van der Vaart to score!
It was almost as if Qin Xiong alone had attracted the attention of Arsenal's defensive forces. All of them were pressed on the right and middle sides of the defensive zone, leaving the left side completely empty!
Wenger kept repeating the whole process of Ajax's attack in his mind.
Qin Xiong was so calm and cold that it made people's hair stand on end. In the process of his dribbling, there was even a moment when he thought of finishing the shot himself. It was not that he could not, but the possibility of scoring was definitely not as high as creating a one-on-one opportunity for Van Der Vaart.
What was needed to create this attack in one go was not only the cooperation of his teammates, but also Qin Xiong's vision of the big picture and awareness of the field's strategy. It was unprecedented!
Yes, unprecedented!
Wenger had coached so many players, but he had never seen a player who could play Arsenal in the palm of his hand in this level of competition!
It was also because Ajax's overall strength was not as good as Arsenal's that Ajax played such a wonderful and dazzling fast attack, which set off Qin Xiong's role as the core.
Wenger closed his eyes and sighed. It was a waste of talent for him to be in Ajax!
When he opened his eyes again, Wenger began to think about the ending of the game.
Wenger was very much like Chen Shou's evaluation of Zhuge Liang when he wrote the Romance of the Three Kingdoms: military rule was the strength, strategy was the weakness.
From the time he took charge of Highbury, he was able to change Arsenal's home ground from a boring library to one of the most sought after home grounds in the Premier League. He was also able to change Arsenal's extremely dull and utilitarian style of play during the Graham era. He was also able to overturn the Red Devils' rule in the Premier League. However, Arsenal was dispirited in the Champions League all year round. It felt like they were an insider in internal battles and an outsider in external battles.
That was because the Premier League and the Champions League were ultimately two completely different competitions.
Especially in the knockout stages of the Champions League, the outcome would be decided in 180 or 210 minutes. The situation was ever-changing. When he needed to command on the spot and change his tactics, Wenger did not allow Arsenal to have a sudden outburst. In other words, he was not fickle, but the opponent changed. Then Arsenal would react passively and make mistakes in panic. That was why Arsenal, under Wenger's management, struggled in the Champions League even though they had the world's top striker, defensive midfielder, solid defensive line, tacit team as a whole, and a persistent tactical style.
The Champions League was sometimes a paradise for adventurers.
Arsène Wenger was not good at taking risks.
It was also because of this that Arsenal's defensive counterattack in the Champions League was probably the safest and had the least room for error.
Wenger would be satisfied if he could get a score of 1: 1 in the away game.
According to conventional thinking, Arsenal would be stronger when they returned to Highbury. Ajax could not beat Arsenal there.
Therefore, Wenger chose to beat the gong to retreat!
He gestured to the players on the field to reduce the team's offensive investment and focus on defense. He did not want to give Ajax any more chances.
Originally, Arsenal's defensive line was very stable, and the breakout point was mainly Ashley Cole. The loss of the goal just now had something to do with Ashley Cole not being in position. Now that he had received Wenger's instructions, Ashley Cole simply did not go forward to participate in the attack, and focused on defense.
Bergkamp was replaced by the veteran Parlour, who was over 30 years old. Before the pair of tough defensive midfielders, Vieira and Silva, Arsenal's most stable defensive midfielders combination was Vieira and Parlour. Parlour's defensive strength was unquestionable.
Arsenal, who originally had Bergkamp in the middle and front field, did not have many decent counterattacks in the second half.
Ashley Cole did not go forward and Parlour replaced the talented and old Bergkamp. Arsenal's offense in the front field became more difficult.
The situation on the field developed very strangely.
Ajax's adjustment in the second half was to weaken the offense and strengthen the defense. Then, Ajax scored.
Arsenal also strengthened the defense in the last 15 minutes of the game and weakened the offense. However, their defensive line was in danger wave after wave.
This was because Jax's defense was more stable, and Jax's offense was more varied. Qin Xiong was the one who created all of this.
The liberated Qin Xiong could unscrupulously change positions with his teammates and cover the entire front field!
In the 81st minute of the game, Qin Xiong moved to the right flank and Van Der Vaart passed the ball back to him. Before Parlour could help defend and snatch, Qin Xiong suddenly sent a pass out.
The hurried and fast football fell into the back of the penalty area, behind Arsenal's goal. Lehmann hurriedly moved over and he was horrified to see that the Snede had shaken off Lawrence, who had cut diagonally into the back of the penalty area, and rushed to tackle the ball with no regard for his own safety. He wanted to kick the ball into the goal!
But he was still too slow. Perhaps Qin Xiong's pass was too powerful.
The tip of his foot touched the football, but he could not control the angle. The football was shoveled out of the end line by him.
Wenger watched in a cold sweat on the sidelines.
He could not help but clench his fists.
He was extremely nervous.
Qin Xiong's kick might not have had much imagination, but it won in the element of surprise!
His combination of passing and running with the winger on the other side, Snede, was close to perfect. Unfortunately, Snede's legs might be a little shorter. If he had started earlier, he would have been offside. Qin Xiong's pass would have been too light, and the opponent would have rescued him.
Vieira tried to cut in from the midfield to create a killing opportunity.
But after his long shot was successfully saved by Lobonte, Ajax's counterattack almost made Vieira's intestines turn green with regret.
He thought that with Parlour and Silva around, Qin Xiong would still not dare to attack the middle.
He was wrong!
As soon as he went up, Qin Xiong immediately returned to the middle, received Grygera's diagonal pass, and rushed forward in the middle.
Ibrahimovic did not do anything in the penalty area. He was blocked too tightly, so he took the initiative to retreat and act as a fulcrum. He cooperated with Qin Xiong in the middle during the attack.
Qin Xiong's pass penetrated Silva and Parlour's defensive zone. Ibrahimovic took the ball with his back and did not turn around. He used his body to confront Qin Xiong.
When Silva turned around to press, he passed the ball diagonally back to Qin Xiong.
Qin Xiong, who rushed past Parlour, did not see a good opportunity for Van Der Vaart to cut in front of the penalty area. Ashley Cole's defense followed like a shadow, so he could only choose to do a long shot himself.
Bang!
In the narrow angle, Qin Xiong's long shot hit the goalpost and bounced out of the end line!
After the shot, he stood in place and raised his hand to wipe the sweat that slid down to the tip of his chin.
What spilled out from the back of his hand were the sighs of tens of thousands of Ajax fans in the Amsterdam Athletic Stadium.
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