The Ajax fans witnessed the offensive and defensive showdown in the stands. The protagonists were the current and former Ajax players. They had mixed feelings.
If Ajax could retain those geniuses, would the European football world not be theirs?
Reyes seemed to have suddenly been enlightened. It was probably because he had recently lowered himself to be a supporting character and patiently observed and thought that he suddenly had an epiphany.
When Qin Xiong used the right flank as a breakthrough point and asked him to contain the defense of the back waistline, he suddenly thought: I can do the job of breaking through the right flank!
That was his job to begin with.
He was confident that he could gain an absolute advantage over Emmanuel Elsson.
He did it as soon as he thought of it. So, in the 39th minute of the game, he decisively sprinted down the right flank and broke through Emmanuel Elsson from the outside. Then, when the opponent turned to defend, he pulled the ball back to form a space for him to cut inside. He then dribbled into the penalty area.
Emmanuel Elsson collapsed earlier than Brinder had imagined, and he collapsed even more miserably!
First, he was beaten by Qin Xiong until he trembled in fear. Then, he could not calm down in the face of Reyes. His offensive ability on the field could not be used. Brinder regretted including him in the starting lineup and secretly decided to replace him at halftime.
Reyes's breakthrough had indeed caused Ajax's defensive line to panic because Qin Xiong was still at the front waistline. Galasek and Pinar could not retreat to the penalty area to participate in the defense without any worries.
They were afraid that Reyes would make a commotion on this side. But after Reyes charged into the penalty area, he passed the ball back to Qin Xiong outside the penalty area. This made Ajax's defenders breathe a sigh of relief.
Reyes could not see the route to pass the ball to Henry, and he was not very confident in his shot. So, he could only pass the ball to Qin Xiong, who ran into a gap and could provide support.
Lindberg, Galasek, and Pinar immediately surrounded Qin Xiong, but Qin Xiong immediately transferred the ball to the left flank the moment he touched the ball.
This transfer ball made the hearts of the audience fluctuate. Wasn't this the biggest characteristic of Qin Xiong that attracted everyone's attention in the first place?
He suddenly changed the direction of his attack and tore apart his opponent's defensive line.
After Qin Xiong passed the ball, Ajax's defenders realized how much they had invested in Reyes and Qin Xiong's defense during this period of time. Their defense was heavily tilted!
The defensive distance between Grigra and Derong was too large!
That was an obvious opening, and Pires still had room to dribble and shoot.
Henry ran to the other side of De Jong. De Jong hurried to keep up. If Henry stopped again, Vermaelen would have to move to the other side to avoid giving Pires a chance to find Henry. Pinard dashed towards Pires.
At this time, Galasek, who was the calmest, saw Qin Xiong running forward, but he could not stop him!
He couldn't possibly hug Qin Xiong and stop him from running away, right?
When he turned to defend against Qin Xiong, Pires passed the ball. He did not pass to Henry, but he passed the ball to the back of the goal!
It was Qin Xiong's point.
In the tight and loose defensive changes, Qin Xiong's forward cut could be said to be unimpeded. He did not care about Galasek, who was diagonally behind him, who would be shaken off in the forward sprint. Instead, he was concerned about Vermaelen. If he was stuck in position, Qin Xiong would be useless no matter how fast he ran. After all, it was impossible to go around an arc to grab the point.
But Vermaelen lost the protection of the back of the goal because he moved to the other side. He was too slow to stop and turn around.
What appeared in front of Qin Xiong was a half-empty goal. Stekelenberg was powerless this time. He could only watch as Qin Xiong pointed at the back of the goal with his right foot and shot the falling football into the goal.
"Arsenal scored! Qin Xiong received Pires' pass and sent the ball into Ajax's goal. He scored the first time he faced his former club. At this time, the Ajax fans must be in a very bad mood. Look, Qin Xiong did not show any emotion after the goal. He turned around calmly and walked back with his head slightly lowered. "
Qin Xiong held the goal post after the goal, then lowered his head to restore his breathing rhythm. When he turned around, Reyes rushed over. Qin Xiong gently pushed Reyes away, then walked to the backfield with his head slightly lowered.
He did not want to celebrate. It seemed that he could not do it at all. In front of the fans who once supported and loved him, under their watchful eyes, he celebrated breaking through Ajax's goal.
Henry ran over and patted Qin Xiong on the back, then walked to the backfield. His teammates understood Qin Xiong's mood. After all, he made his debut at Ajax and achieved great glory at Ajax.
Killing one's former club was not a glorious thing, under the premise that there was no absolute contradiction.
In the stands, other than the Arsenal fans who came from afar celebrating, the Ajax fans fell into silence.
They quietly stared at Qin Xiong, and there was no resentment in their hearts. The Ajax club permanently retained the authentic Champions League trophy, and that was Qin Xiong's credit.
Goodbye. They were not strangers. The feelings of the past were difficult to part with. Just like life, there would always be a complicated reunion, and there would always be the entangled silence of love and hate.
Brinder was furious.
But more than that, he blamed himself.
He had wrongly overestimated Emmanuel Elson, or it could be said that there was a problem with his own line-up. He did not know how to make up for it. It seemed that there was really not much way. Looking at Ajax's substitutes' bench, who could be sent on the field and not be destroyed in the wings?
The main force was injured, and the gap between the substitutes and the main force was huge. This was the current situation of the powerhouses in Europe's second-tier leagues. Even Ajax would not be so extravagant as to be able to bring out 1.5 sets of strong main force line-up.
Arsenal barely had 1.5 sets of elite players that could be used, and once they encountered a wave of injuries, the main force line-up would become extremely fragile.
The first half of the game was over, and Arsenal walked into the locker room with a one-goal lead in the away game.
Wenger praised the team's performance at halftime, and then made targeted adjustments based on the situation in the first half. He asked the team to focus on the right wing.
Whether Ajax would make a substitution at halftime, Arsenal would have to attack Ajax's left back in the second half.
Reyes was happy. Wenger's adjustment meant that he would get more support, which would help him play better.
Brinder replaced Emmanuel Elson with Trabelsi at halftime.
It was not a substitution. Trabelsi was the right back, and outsiders did not know whether he could play on the left, but since Brinder did not let Trabelsi play in the starting lineup, he must have his concerns.
In fact, the substitution did not have any effect. Trabelsi was very unaccustomed to the left back position, and his defense frequently lost position, which gave Brinder a headache.
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