The Champions League was a stage that the mainstream European media would pay attention to.
When the group draw for Group H of the Champions League group stage came out, everyone thought that AC Milan and Ajax would advance to the top 16 together.
AC Milan, the defending champion.
Ajax, last season's top eight.
What was Club Brugge?
What was Celta?
This was considered one of the groups with the least suspense.
However, after two rounds of the competition.
The spectators outside were dumbfounded.
The defending champion, AC Milan, only got one point.
Ajax won one and lost one, three points.
Club Brugge won both matches, six points!
Celta and AC Milan were the same, one point.
Ajax won against Celta and got three points.
However, the current situation was completely different from what was initially expected!
The ideal situation that people expected was that before the start of the third round, AC Milan and Ajax would get at least four or six points from Club Brugge and Celta!
Then, the two powerhouses would meet to fight for first place in the group.
Celta and Club Brugge would fight each other for two rounds, and they might wear each other out. Then, in the fifth and sixth round, AC Milan and Ajax would still have the upper hand and would advance to the knockout stage without much accident.
But now, the situation had completely changed!
AC Milan, with only one point, was bound to go all out in the third and fourth round against Ajax. They would bare their bloody claws and frantically tear Ajax apart to avoid the tragic fate of the defending champion being eliminated in the group stage!
AC Milan was five points behind Club Brugge at the top and two points behind Ajax. Realistically, they had to at least defeat Ajax. If they looked further, not only did they have to pursue advancing to the knockout stage, but they also had to prepare to avoid the first place of the other groups in the top 16. Then, AC Milan had to fight for first place in the group with five points and four matches left!
Due to the influence of the general situation, Ajax's victory received very little attention.
The outside media focused on the third and fourth round of the competition.
Jax would have to face the defending champion AC Milan, who would not hold back at all, in a desperate battle!
The European media focused on the subversive process of the Champions League Group H, while the China media regretted that Qin Xiong sat on the bench for 90 minutes.
However, at the very least, Qin Xiong still appeared in the live broadcast for a few seconds. Even if he was a substitute, even if he did not play, it still made many fans excited. It meant that a Chinese player had come to the edge of the Champions League stage.
Qin Xiong's state of mind was calm, and he was not affected at all.
He was a substitute in the First Team. Being a substitute did not mean that he would play in every match.
He also understood Comain's approach very well. It was no exaggeration to say that the game against Celta was a life-and-death battle in the Champions League. It was extremely risky to use him rashly. After all, this was not the Eredivisie. Even if the gamble failed, there was still a way out. It did not mean destruction.
Especially when he thought about a month ago, he was still in the youth team. Qin Xiong had never believed that others had to give him anything. Everything had to be fought for by oneself.
He still trained seriously and worked hard to move forward with the most professional attitude.
Perhaps it was his calm performance that made Comain's impression of him rise sharply.
After being a substitute in the last round of the Eredivisie, in the seventh round of the Eredivisie, when Ajax visited FC Groningen, Qin Xiong was included in the starting lineup by Comain!
On this day, the sky was gloomy, but Qin Xiong was in high spirits. He took the ticket given to him by Louis Van Gaal and went back to Wardle Street at noon to give the ticket to Freddy. As Freddy was acquainted with Zeller's friends, Qin Xiong asked Freddy to call those friends to ask if they were interested in watching the game. If they were, they could go together. There were definitely enough tickets.
Probably because FC Groningen's home ground did not have a high attendance rate, Ajax had a lot of tickets. Louis Van Gaal also told Qin Xiong that as long as he was in the starting lineup in the future, he could directly ask the team's management staff for tickets. He could ask for them openly and not be shy!
The minimum number of tickets for a home game was three. For an away game, it depended on the situation. However, there were definitely no tickets for a European game.
The gloomy sky did not reduce Qin Xiong's desire to fight.
He followed the team to the northeastern city of Groningen and went to their home ground to warm up before the game. The wind was a little strong, but Qin Xiong did not care. He was as focused and serious as ever.
Comain deliberately emphasized before the game to pay attention to control in the game and pay attention to the reasonable distribution of physical strength.
This gave Qin Xiong higher requirements. He was the midfield organizer and the controller of the rhythm.
After the manager's arrangement before the game, Qin Xiong stood with his head held high in the players' tunnel with his teammates, waiting to play.
Because after this league game, it would be October's FIFA game, so Comain wanted to win this league game and let most of the players who played in the Champions League three days ago continue to be in the starting lineup!
The player Qin Xiong replaced was Sikora. The winger was fast. A few days ago, he played in the Champions League and shuttled up and down the flank, which consumed a lot of physical strength.
Today, Comain also wanted to see the effect of pushing Van Der Vaart back to the front line.
Qin Xiong's friends also came to Groningen to watch the game. For the game in the afternoon, they sat in the stands and brought their raincoats with them. Even George came here with the focus of Deheus and the others.
They were looking forward to Qin Xiong's appearance as a starter!
This meant that he had taken another step forward in Ajax!
Qin Xiong himself was well aware of this. In today's game, he had to play in his best condition and do his best to play well. Maybe this would be his opportunity to "usurp the throne!"
With an incomparably high fighting spirit, Qin Xiong walked into the Groningen stadium with his teammates with his head held high.
The cool wind blew, and Qin Xiong was in high spirits.
However, when he stepped into the sidelines of the game, he suddenly froze in place as if he was under a spell.
Patter.
His face was hit by cold liquid, and the water droplets slid down his cheeks.
Patter, patter, patter …
Qin Xiong looked up at the sky in astonishment.
The gloomy sky was covered with dark clouds. In this afternoon, the clouds covered the sky and weakened the intensity of the sun. Under the stadium lights, fine raindrops fell from the sky and swayed with the wind.
Qin Xiong stretched out his hand, palm facing up, and stared down at his palm, as if to determine what had fallen into his palm!
He was like a person who had never seen rain before. He was unfamiliar with the raindrops. He was surprised and stunned!
Of course, he had seen rain before.
However, in his memory.
He had never played football on a rainy day!
On the road to growth, health was always the first priority.
For athletes, the common cold that ordinary people were used to was the most taboo disease for athletes!
The most vicious curse in football was to hope that the person you didn't like would catch the flu!
Ordinary people might think that this was too exaggerated, and when they saw such news, they would think that the player who made the vicious curse was too naive.
Wishing that your "enemy" would catch the flu?
Come on, are you a primary school student?
What was so scary about a cold and a fever?
At most, you just need to rest for a few days. You might even recover without medicine.
However, football players were most afraid of the flu.
Players who caught a cold would first be quarantined by the club to avoid infection.
Secondly, a cold had an incubation period. If you did intense exercise without being aware of it, then a small cold could lead to more serious injuries!
Qin Xiong had never played football on a rainy day because he knew how big the hidden danger of a cold was to an athlete's health!
From the beginning, he listened to the doctor's advice to avoid catching a cold and fever, and put his health first. Therefore, Qin Xiong felt that everything was right. As he grew up, he didn't think too much about this problem. Even if it was raining, he could still train indoors and not play football outdoors. He didn't care about it, so he didn't care.
But today, at this moment, he realized that he had missed an important training environment in his past training and growth.
That was the rain match!
Although rain matches were not common in football games, they definitely existed!
The impact of rain matches was something that Qin Xiong had never experienced before.
Today, he was going to step onto an unfamiliar battlefield and play in an unprepared environment!
The coach and teammates were confused by Qin Xiong's strange reaction. They thought that he was doing some weird Eastern cultural ritual.
Qin Xiong put down his right hand and clenched his fist. His fighting spirit didn't diminish at all. He took a deep breath and still held his head high. His gaze was firm as he walked into the increasingly heavy rain on the field.
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