Porto was good at defensive counterattack, but it did not mean that they could not play positional play.
It was just that there was nothing new about positional play.
When the attacking space became narrow, their attacking players did not appear to be better than Ajax's attacking group in terms of running position.
Manitchev on the left, Alenichev on the right, McCarthy on the striker. Deco organized the offense behind them. It was a very common offensive configuration.
In the 85th minute, Alenichev's pass after breaking through the bottom of the right wing was of average quality and was directly confiscated by Lobonte.
Ajax continued to use the long pass tactic, and the offense did not improve much.
Qin Xiong seemed to have lost his amazing aura and was doing ordinary passing work. Even if his pass to Ibrahimovic in the front field was accurate, because Ibrahimovic was caught in a double team, plus the flying distance of the football was too long and the speed of the ball was too slow, Porto was not only able to resolve this simple attack of Ajax, but also able to immediately launch a quick attack.
Mourinho still maintained a calm expression on the sidelines, but deep down he felt that the situation of the game had changed!
It was a mysterious feeling.
Ajax's substitutes were still warming up. He did not know what Comain was waiting for, or was he preparing to send them into overtime?
He did not know!
On the field, Porto's defensive line did not sound the alarm frequently. Ajax seemed to take the initiative to retreat. From this point of view, it should be beneficial to Porto.
At least they did not have to worry about the rear defensive line and constantly use positional play to challenge Ajax's defensive line.
But Mourinho just felt that something was wrong!
In the 87th minute of the game, after Deco dribbled horizontally in the front field to shake off Qin Xiong and blast a long shot that hit the goalpost, the Ajax fans at the scene exclaimed. Fortunately, Lobonte was focused and well prepared to hold the football firmly. Otherwise, Deco might have killed Ajax.
Even when he saw this scene, Mourinho still frowned.
Porto could play positional play, but the greatest offensive power came from counterattack!
If positional play was the main means of attack, they would not be able to reach the final.
Now they were the defensive line and looked very safe. But at the same time, they had lost the space to counterattack.
Mourinho quickly reviewed the changes in the situation after Ajax scored the equalizer in his mind.
When the time on the big screen reached 90 minutes, the fourth official of the stadium raised the signboard for injury stoppage time on the sidelines. Mourinho was shocked. He quickly walked to the sidelines, and his eyes revealed a sharp light. He waved his hand and ordered the team to retreat!
Even the striker, McCarthy, had to go back and defend!
He had to go back and use up all his time!
Mourinho, who had been calm and composed throughout the 90 minutes of the match, felt his heart beating like a drum.
When he repeatedly reviewed the changes in the game situation in the last ten minutes, he was surprised to find that with the ease of Porto's defensive line and the ability to instigate positional attacks in the midfield, their overall formation was slowly pressing forward every minute. Perhaps it was not obvious, but this change was extremely slow.
Ajax retreated to the back of the defensive formation, while Porto rushed forward with positional play. At the same time, the attacking players found that they did not need to retreat to defend. Ajax did not make any threatening attacks, and he used that kind of long pass play. The players in the front field could not immediately retreat to defend.
As a result, their trident and midfield commander, Deco, did not immediately retreat like the tide after the attack failed.
Another point was that Ibrahimovic was initially at the front of the forward line. He also constantly retreated, but the distance of each retreat was not large. Bit by bit, he moved Porto's rear defensive line forward.
The defensive problem in front of Porto was simple: seal off Ibrahimovic and eliminate Ajax's attacks.
On the contrary, if they left it alone, the rear defensive line would stay in the penalty area and Ibrahimovic would retreat to support. With his technical ability, he could get rid of a defender. But if he shot a long shot in front of the penalty area, who could guarantee that he would not ruin Porto's efforts with a shot?
Therefore, the choice of Porto's rear defensive line players was not wrong.
However, in Mourinho's view, the choice of the rear defensive line was not a problem. The problem was that even if Ibrahimovic retreated to support and harass the players guarding Ibrahimovic, it should not be the rear defensive line, but the midfielders in the front field who retreated.
This would ensure that Porto always held their own defensive zone, while at the same time compressing the space in the rear defensive line and not giving the opponent the slightest chance.
The current situation deviated from the original trajectory.
Porto's defensive line seemed stable. Yes, they absolutely restricted Ibrahimovic!
But there was a big premise: Ajax's midfield line did not press forward to attack at all!
Snede and Van Der Vaart, who retreated, did not attack either.
Porto's true defensive quality?
They had not been tested at all in the last ten minutes!
Calm was not enough to represent a stable defensive line.
Just as Mourinho was waving his arms excitedly on the sidelines to get the players on the field to retreat, Porto was in the middle of an attack. The players' attention could not directly observe Mourinho's on-the-spot adjustments.
Maniche dribbled the ball forward on the left side. He wanted to cut inside to pass Grygera, but he failed.
After Grygera's successful steal, he quickly passed the ball straight to Qin Xiong in the middle.
Qin Xiong received the ball with his back. Deco, who was preparing to harass him, did not succeed. Qin Xiong kicked the ball back to Galasek, then turned and ran forward!
As he ran, Deco turned and chased after him, but it was obvious that he could not keep up with his speed.
Porto appeared to be a little unprepared to deal with this defense. They had no time to pay attention to Qin Xiong.
They put all their attention on Snede!
Galasek passed the ball diagonally to the side, and the ball reached Snede's feet. He decisively kicked the ball. After a short respite, he accumulated enough stamina for an outburst.
The problem with Porto's defense line was exposed at this moment. Alenichev who was behind Sneijder was far away from him, and he couldn't interfere with Sneijder's attack. Therefore, Alenichev couldn't slow down Jax's attack.
When Snede dribbled the ball forward on the flank, Porto's defensive players realized that they had unknowingly left the penalty area, so they retreated in unison.
Snede kicked the ball past the midfield line and headed toward the middle.
Ibrahimovic did not retreat immediately, but stayed in the middle in front of the penalty area to wait for an opportunity. He was sandwiched by Mendes and Costinha to defend against Ibrahimovic.
Snede did not pass the ball to Ibrahimovic, but to his compatriot Van Der Vaart.
The Dutch golden boy may have exhausted the last of his stamina for a high-quality burst of speed. He also rushed up from the right flank.
After Snede kicked the ball, he quickly cut into the penalty area, forming a running threat to the goal as a left winger, and would wait for his teammates to pass the ball.
His running position shocked Porto's rear defensive line. Ferreira immediately returned to the penalty area, trying to form a close marking on Snede's route.
Mendes saw Van Der Vaart use a pause in the rhythm to get rid of Valente's advance in the moment when he controlled the ball on the flank. He decisively moved over to intercept Van Der Vaart.
Van Der Vaart took the ball back one step, evaded the angle, and passed the ball directly to Ibrahimovic.
After the pass, Van Der Vaart flew past Mendes and rushed to the right side of the penalty area, where the right winger should pose a threat to the goal.
Valente followed Van Der Vaart again, but he was left behind by Van Der Vaart outside. This made it so that once Van Der Vaart could get the ball at his feet, Valente might not be able to intercept Van Der Vaart.
Carvalho had to retreat to prevent Ibrahimovic from passing the ball to Van Der Vaart, and Costa also had to guard against Ibrahimovic sending a bomb to Snede. The two center backs slowly retreated, hoping that Costinha could successfully intercept Ibrahimovic one-on-one!
Ibrahimovic steadily stopped the ball. He used his body to block Costinha's harassment. After observing that the opponent's rear defensive line was restrained by Snede and Van Der Vaart's forward plugging, Ibrahimovic made a fake pass!
He pretended to kick the ball to Van Der Vaart's side, causing Costinha to raise his leg to block. Ibrahimovic then deftly spiked the ball past Costinha's center of gravity. He faced Ajax's penalty area head-on and moved forward with small steps. He did not dare to take big steps, nor did he dare to rashly lift his leg. He knew that there was not much time left, and he needed to ensure that this attack could produce the results they wanted!
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