Third watch.
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The French Ligue 1 teams did not play a pivotal role in the history of the Champions League. So far, only Marseille from 11 years ago had reached the top of Europe, and the number of times they had reached the final could be counted.
Monaco belonged to the French Ligue 1 team, but strictly speaking, Monaco was an independent country. Therefore, the Monaco team led by Deschamps could reach the semifinals of the Champions League. It could be said that they had written a new football history for Monaco.
The support that Deschamps and his team received was imaginable. Even the Monaco royal family came to the Stade Louis II to cheer for the team.
When the players from both teams lined up on the field, the live camera was aimed at the VIP box, where the Monaco royal family was applauding.
"The first leg of the 2003-2004 UEFA Champions League semifinals is about to begin. Monaco from the French Ligue 1 will face Ajax from the Netherlands at the Stade Louis II at home!
Many conservative and traditional fans have lost interest in the final stage of the Champions League season. The reason is obvious. Let's take a look at the teams that reached the semifinals of the Champions League this season: Ajax, Monaco, Deportivo, and Porto.
None of the powerhouses in the current top league!
But I think this is the charm of football. Football is not a game that is more important than size or logical reasoning.
The football world needs new blood, new history, and new characters to create new glories and leave us with new memories.
No one was optimistic about Deportivo, who lost to San Siro 1: 4, but the defending champion AC Milan was overturned by Deportivo 4: 0 in the away game!
Should Deportivo enter the semifinals?
What's there to doubt?
Even if their fans were less than a fraction of AC Milan's, they won! They created a miraculous reversal and should be on the stage of the semifinals.
When Porto drew against Manchester United, no one was optimistic about Mourinho's team. However, Mourinho wildly celebrated his team's elimination of Manchester United at Old Trafford!
When Galactica arrived at the Stade Louis II with a 4: 2 lead, every Monaco fan was worried. Every Real Madrid fan was in a relaxed mood waiting for the news of the team reaching the semifinals. However, after 90 minutes of the game, Monaco's top striker of the season, Morientes, shed tears of sadness. Did Monaco lose? No! Monaco defeated Real Madrid 3: 1! It was Morientes, the man who was mercilessly abandoned by Real Madrid, who buried Galactica with his own hands! His heart was still with Real Madrid, so he shed tears. Monaco broke into the top four of the season with a passionate momentum!
Arsenal and Chelsea were the traditional powerhouses of the Premier League and the newly promoted aristocrats. The young Ajax guards showed a maturity and passion that did not match. They advanced to eight out of sixteen, and four out of eight. They defeated the two London powerhouses in succession with an excellent record of three wins and one draw in four games!
Yes, in this season's top four, there were no powerhouse teams that were among the most popular in the world. However, these four teams that had broken into the top four of the Champions League deserved the respect of the world. They had each written their own epic on their way to the top four. They did not get here by luck.
Now, all four teams had a chance to win the final championship. It seemed that there was no obvious difference in their strength. They were dark horses, but who could be the dark horse to reach the top of Europe?
The finals would begin from the semifinals!
AS Monaco start 4-4-3.
Goalkeeper: Roma.
Defenders: Ibarra, Rodriguez, Givett, Evra.
Midfielders: Cisse, Bernardi, Kierkes.
Forwards: Giuly, Morientes, Roten.
Ajax start 4-4-3.
Goalkeeper: Lobonte.
Defenders: Grygera, Heitinga, Escude, Maxwell.
Midfielders: De Jong, Galasek, Qin Xiong.
Forwards: Van Der Vaart, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Snede. "
Monaco had been a bit magical this season under the leadership of Deschamps.
Three of their main players in the starting lineup were on loan!
The full back, Argentinian Ibarra, was on loan from FC Porto.
The back, Cisse, was on loan from Paris Saint-Germain.
The striker, Morientes, was on loan from Real Madrid.
Even so, Monaco's competitiveness in the league and the Champions League was obvious to all.
In the league, Ajax had won the championship in advance, so they had a more relaxed preparation environment than Monaco. Monaco was still in a stalemate with Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain. At the end of the season, every game was a key battle, which made Ajax better in the allocation of energy.
It was not by chance that Monaco could reach the semifinals of the Champions League. In addition to the fact that they had defeated Galactica five times in two rounds in the elimination of Real Madrid, they had also defeated Deportivo de La Coruña with a score of 8: 3 in the group stage!
However, Monaco's problems were also very obvious. Their three main players were on loan. It was conceivable that the depth of the team's bench was worrying.
In the final sprint at the end of the season, Deschamps made sacrifices in the league in order to go all out in the Champions League.
When Louis II sounded the battle horn, Monaco immediately went into a state of frenzy after the start of the game.
Although Qin Xiong had watched a lot of Monaco's games from videos, it was a completely different feeling to actually experience it on the field.
Monaco's offense was like a tide!
Crazy like a demon!
This was a passionate team, a team that also had a firm belief in offensive football.
As a young man in the football world, the young marshal Deschamps was using this passion to realize his ambition and shake the traditional structure!
Perhaps the European football world's football tactics had not yet reached the point of fission, but in this season, taking the teams that broke into the semifinals as an example, there was an idea that was worth paying attention to, and that was the rise of the winger style again.
Ajax, Porto, Monaco, and Deportivo de La Coruña were not exactly the wingers that still occupied the mainstream in the past or the present. Just like the former David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, or Joaquin Vicente, who were simply cannon balls for the center forward.
Monaco's Roten and Giuly, Ajax's Snede and Van Der Vaart, Deportivo's iron triangle on the flanks, and Porto's sharp blades on the wings in their counterattacks.
It was precisely because these dark horses used emerging characters in their tactics and took the initiative to change that they were able to exert unexpected power in difficult games and overshadow the old powerhouses.
Monaco's flanks were more flexible and varied than the London duo that Ajax had previously encountered.
This was not a comparison of the players' individual strengths, but a comparison of their offensive styles and the role they played in the tactical system.
Monaco had the home advantage, and the offensive that broke out at the start of the game came from the flanks. Roten and Giuly would send cannon balls to Morientes on the flanks, but they were not limited to just sending cannon balls.
Giuly, who had the speed and dribbling style of the Son of the Wind, Kanigia, might lack the wildness and passion of the Son of the Wind, but he stirred up trouble on the flanks, and sometimes even wanted to directly attack the enemy's goal, causing Ajax's defensive line to panic from the start.
Didier Deschamps' team was not as cold and rational as gold. Monaco was passionate and full of talent.
When the flanks wreaked havoc on Ajax's defensive line, and the three midfielders, who were known for their tough defense, surrounded and suppressed Ajax crazily in the front field, continuously pressuring Ajax, Ajax was losing ground from the start of the game.
There were only two ways to suppress the opponent's passion. One was to be even crazier than the opponent and see who would collapse in the unstoppable rhythm. The other was to use absolute rationality to suppress the opponent. More specifically, it was to use defense to reshape the situation of the game, so that the opponent's attacks would not succeed, and their boiling blood would gradually cool down, and then stage a desperate counterattack!
Ajax obviously could not adapt to the game faster than the opponent on Monaco's home ground and get into the game state.
Qin Xiong could not connect with his teammates, at least in the offense. Monaco was too wild, too unrestrained!
They were like a pack of beasts on steroids, rampaging on the field, causing Ajax's offensive formation to shatter.
Qin Xiong himself was facing the combined defense and pressure of the opponent's three defenders in the midfield, and there was very little space for him to perform. This made him decisively withdraw and participate in the defense, and he waved his hand to signal the trident in the front field to withdraw as well. Regardless of whether they could restrict the opponent's offense, at least when Ajax needed to attack, they could at least be closer to each other and have more time to control the ball!
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