Mourinho was never afraid of the opponent's attack.
Three people's attacks were unsuccessful, four people were unsuccessful, five people, six people …
When the opponent could not shake Porto's defensive line, more and more attacking players piled up in the front line, which gave Porto an opportunity: the opponent's backfield was wider and there were fewer defensive forces!
I'll defend first so that you can't attack!
Then I'll counterattack and defeat you!
Deco's diagonal pass in the front half of the penalty area was not particularly accurate, but fortunately, he grasped the strength of the pass so that Maniche did not have to worry about the football rolling out of the sideline.
Maniche quickly started after he got the ball on the sideline of the midfield and moved forward in a straight line along the sideline. For a moment, his speed was as fast as lightning.
In the midfield, De Jong and Galasek saw that the other two strikers, Alberto and Delle, were also following quickly in the middle and did not dare to divide their forces to help defend the sideline.
After Maniche dribbled the ball to the sideline area forty yards away from the goal, De Jong moved to the sideline and tried to double Maniche with Heitinga.
Porto really used all their offensive talents in their counterattack tactics.
Alberto and Delle did not immediately rush into the penalty area to wait for an opportunity. Porto's counterattack was not rigid, but flexible and free.
After De Jong moved, Delle seemed to follow De Jong and pulled apart a parallel distance from Alberto to ensure that Galasek could only mark one player. He and Maniche were separated by Heitinga and De Jong.
At this time, the young Heitinga saw De Jong coming to help and took the initiative to rush up to try to intercept the football at Maniche's feet.
He did not observe Alberto's position.
As soon as he moved, the horizontal defensive distance in the penalty area was invisibly widened, forcing Maxwell and Eskuder to also passively adjust their defensive positions to guard the key area.
As Ajax's defensive line raced against time to adjust, Maniche decisively passed the ball across the gap between Heitinga and De Jong.
De Jong and Heitinga just looked behind them, only to see Delle kick the ball straight to the end line.
Maniche powerfully cut into the bottom line of Ajax's penalty area from Heitinga's side!
After passing the ball, Derlai also cut into the penalty area, forcing Eskuder to move to his side, which exposed the gap in the middle and back of the penalty area. Perhaps the gap would be filled by Galasek and Maxwell in two seconds.
However, in this wave of Porto's counterattack, Ajax's defensive line had been continuously passive since the first step. Alberto seized the opportunity and was the first to rush to the empty area in front of the door.
Maniche's horizontal pass went around Escudo's back. When Escudo turned around to look back, Alberto received the ball and shot!
Galasek was one meter behind him to block the pass. He was less than a second slower. Maxwell was on his way back to the middle, but he was less than two meters away from Alberto!
Lobonte had no choice. Maniche's pass made it impossible for him to abandon the goal. He passively followed the movement of the football to adjust his defensive position. As a result, Alberto's shot was in the opposite direction. When Lobonte reacted, he knew that the save was useless, so he could only look at the ball and sigh!
The FC Porto fans in the stands of the FC Schalke Stadium roared with excitement. Mourinho lowered his head and closed his eyes so that no one could see his proud smile. After waving his right fist in front of him twice, he raised his head again and resumed his cold expression.
"Maniche's pass, Alberto's push shot in the middle. The ball is in! Porto took the lead in breaking through Ajax's goal in the Champions League final! The goal scorer is Alberto, a young player promoted by Mourinho from the Porto youth team. He repaid the manager's trust with a goal! In this contest of styles between the two teams, Porto used defensive counterattack to get the first goal! "
Comain did not have time to make any expression of disappointment or frustration on the sidelines. He walked to the sidelines and took advantage of the gap when the Porto players went to celebrate. He called Grygera, who was walking toward the backfield, to his side and gave Grygera face-to-face instructions. Grygera nodded solemnly and walked back to the backfield.
Comain could not blame a player for the goal concede just now.
Ajax strongly advocated playing offensive football. The tradition of taking the initiative to attack could not be abandoned. This was the foundation of Ajax's foothold in the world of football. It must not be shaken!
If it were not for the Champions League, he would not have changed the formation to play a double defensive midfielder system.
And even if it was changed, the system was officially established after the first round against Arsenal.
Ideally, even if Ajax was counterattacked by the opponent, there would be at least five defensive players.
With three defenders and two defensive midfielders, the missing defender was the full back. After the assist to the front field, he could not return to his position immediately. This was common in high-level games. If a full back could not attack with the assist, the speed of the opponent's counterattack could allow the full back to catch up. That could only mean that the opponent did not know how to counterattack at all!
With five defensive players to defend against the opponent's fast attack, the two staggered defensive iron triangle system was already the limit of the tactical deployment!
But the specific problem in this game was that Grygera could not move!
He always had to participate in the defense.
Because Heitinga and Dirong were too young and they were defensive players, once they made a mistake, it would be a disaster.
In the defense just now, Heitinga and Dirong went to jointly defend against Maniche. The idea was good, but they misjudged the situation. It could be said that the defensive choice of the two men was a big problem. Dirong made Galasek very embarrassed. He directly changed from active defense to passive pursuit of the opponent's target. Heitinga also forced Eskud and Maxwell to change their defensive positions, and in this series of changes, Porto seized the opportunity to break through the defensive line.
Comain asked Grygera to reduce the number of assists in the first half of the game to ensure that if a five-man defensive line was to be formed in response to the opponent's counterattack, it would be three defenders of Grygera, Heitinga, and Eskud. At least this would reduce the probability of the defensive system collapsing due to a problem with the defensive choice.
This meant that the responsibility of Ajax's full backs' assists fell on Maxwell, which would also reduce the comprehensiveness of Ajax's offense. After all, without an assist on the flank, the threat to the opponent would certainly be reduced.
The Ajax players looked dignified. Ibrahimovic stepped on the ball in the center circle with an extremely indignant expression.
Ajax's strong attack failed. Instead, the opponent broke the goal first. This was Ajax's difficulty. Offensive football had to bear the risk.
If Ajax was given a chance to counterattack like Porto, they could perform better. Unfortunately, Porto was not Ajax and would not be willing to play an open and passionate game with Ajax.
Qin Xiong took a deep breath and tried to ease the tension rising in his heart.
It came from the pressure. His determination to win the title would not waver, but the score on the scoreboard was a reality that could not be ignored.
Affected by the goal, Porto played more calmly, but they tried to counterattack from the left flank again, but the effect was not ideal. Heitinga would not easily cause a disaster under the protection of Grygera and Eskud. Dirong also paid attention to the situation around him under Galasek's reminder.
Ajax remained rational and continued to play.
Porto's fouls finally began to be taken seriously by the referee.
In the 37th and 40th minutes of the game, within three minutes, the referee showed yellow cards to Costinha and Dellay respectively. The former knocked down Snede for the third time, while Dellay's infringement on Qin Xiong's back was clearly observed by the referee.
After Costinha was yellow, Qin Xiong decisively changed his offensive strategy and concentrated on attacking Costinha's defensive area!
At the same time, Maxwell was also on this side, so it was easier to link up.
But Deco would also move to this side like a shadow to increase the toughness of the defense.
It seemed like it was hard for Jax to break through the defensive line using normal methods, and it seemed like the free kicks that were given to them by fouls weren't of high quality.
At this time, the geniuses needed to improvise and gain an advantage in the local area.
Someone should stand up!
Mourinho was thinking on the sidelines. He considered whether to completely shrink the formation before the end of the first half to stabilize the lead, but the game time was not enough to be completely at ease.
Porto's situation was actually very similar to Ajax's. If they defended, they might not be able to defend. They must threaten to attack to intimidate the opponent and force the opponent to not fully commit to the attack.
Mourinho looked at the time on the big screen and decided to order Porto to defend at the 43rd minute of the first half.
However, when the game entered the 42nd minute, a scene that made Mourinho regret appeared on the field!
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