super storm

Chapter 88 Lore
When the game progressed to the second half, the scoreboard at the Young Breedel Stadium showed a score of one to one.

The process of the game is not surprising. Ajax showed an extremely strong desire to win at the beginning, and launched a round of attacking instead of the guest. However, Bruges, who are playing at home, are obviously well prepared for this. The two tall central defenders have been sticking to Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The Swedish center was frozen by the opponent throughout the first half.

Mitea on the left also failed to perform. In the entire Ajax frontcourt, only Wesley Sonke on the right performed well. In an attack before the end of the first half, he suddenly broke into the penalty area and earned a penalty for the team. The Belgian forward took the penalty himself and scored the fourth goal of this season's Champions League group stage.

But before Songke scored a penalty, Brugge took advantage of a set-piece in the frontcourt in the No. 208 minute. High center forward Lange overwhelmed Heitinga and Escuder and scored a header in front of the goal.

After changing sides to fight again in the second half, Ajax still frequently attacked Brugge, but the home team defended very steadily, leaving no chance for Ajax, which made Ajax very depressed when playing away.

Fortunately, in another match far away in the city of Milan, AC Milan and Celta Vigo also had a one-to-one match. Kaka and Jesuli scored goals for the two teams in No.40 and 42 minutes respectively.

This somewhat made the Ajax players on the field secretly relieved, but everyone knew that if there was no way to break through the opponent's goal, the situation would only become more and more unfavorable to Ajax.

Of course, the pressure is on both sides, and Bruges and Celta Vigo in Milan are also under great pressure.

Now it depends on which of the three parties has the stronger ability to withstand pressure.

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"Brugge manager Trende Soled looks set to make a substitution."

"It's about replacing Lune Lange with Benguet Settnes, and it's a very clear signal to step up the attack."

"Both players are high center forwards, with a height of 1.8 meters [-], and they are both Norwegian fellows from Solled. They are very good at grabbing high balls. Just now Langer used such a set kick to break through Ajax's goal."

"But what I want to say is that Settnes is physically stronger than Lange. He is especially good at physical confrontation and has quite an advantage. Before this game, he has always been the starting center for Bruges, but he only scored one goal in the first five Champions League games. Counting the goals just now, Lange scored two, which is slightly better."

"Trend Soled replaced Settnes at this time. Obviously, he wanted to use Settnes' advantages in physical confrontation to suppress Ajax's midfield. This will be a very big challenge for Heitinga and Escuder."

"Look at this Brugge attack."

"Sure enough, I went directly to Settnes in the frontcourt. The two central defenders of Ajax were at a disadvantage in terms of height and strength. Settnes grabbed the first spot, then passed back to his teammates, distributed to the wing, and then passed... Accidentally made a big pass."

"But we can also see the change in Brugge's attack after Seitnes came on."

"Ajax should be careful, it's a red flag."

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Yang Yang came back from the warm-up zone and was about to sit back on the bench when he suddenly heard the fans in the stands exclaim, followed by a sigh of disappointment. Looking back, he happened to see the Bruges player pass the ball diagonally into the penalty area.

Ajax's goalkeeper Robont made a decisive attack and got the ball.

This made Yang Yang frown. When he sat back on the bench, he just heard the veteran Litmanen shaking his head and sighing beside him: "The center forward that Bruges replaced at this time is very dangerous. If he has not scored in several consecutive games this season, it often means that he is extremely hungry for goals and has obvious advantages in physical confrontation."

Ajax's central defenders pay great attention to playing the ball. Both Heitinga and Escuder are central defenders with good ball-playing ability, but the ensuing contradiction is that these two central defenders do not have an advantage in terms of height or physical confrontation, especially when facing high-level forwards like Lange and Settnes, the exposure is even more obvious.

Maxwell and Trabelsi on the two flanks are very active and attack frequently, but the consequence is that there is also a lot of space behind them. Once the opponent seizes the opportunity and counterattacks from the two wings, the opponent's high center forward in the middle will become very deadly.

"Our offense still hasn't been straightened out. If this continues, the situation will only get worse." Litmanen added.

Yang Yang agrees with Litmaning's judgment very much.

Ajax's current problem is mainly the contradiction of the distribution of the ball. Ibrahimovic and van der Vaart are both players who need to take the ball. Both of them are in the middle, one in front and one in the middle.

The consequence of this is that it is easier for Bruges to defend, while Ajax's offensive rhythm is slow and it is difficult to create threats.

Not only Ibrahimovic's performance was sluggish, but Mitya and Songke also performed poorly.

Needless to say the former, he basically didn't perform well on the left, and Sonk was also stalked by Van der Heyden on the right. Except for the penalty kick, he basically didn't perform very well.

"It's probably going to be replaced." Yang Yang guessed.

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"Milan, Celta Vigo scored!"

"what?"

Ronald Koeman stared at his assistant with wide eyes, and couldn't believe his ears.

"Ancelotti just replaced Costacurta with the teenager Abate and reorganized the defense. As a result, the defense loosened. Pete Lucin assisted Jose Ignacio to score a goal. Now the score is one to two."

Luther Carroll looked a little flustered, but he quickly reported the information he had just received.

As soon as Celta Vigo scored, he immediately received a call from his side.

Ronald Koeman also quickly woke up from the shock. He clearly realized that the game can no longer continue like this, and he must hurry up to score goals, otherwise, the right to qualify may be lost.

"Quick, get Litmanen ready to play."

After hearing this, Luther Carroll immediately turned around and called out to Litmanen who was on the bench. The latter quickly jumped up from his seat. He was already ready and did not need to warm up again.

"Who to replace?" Luther Carroll asked with concern.

Yes, who should be replaced?
Ronald Koeman was a little hesitant, he didn't have many choices at this time.

Although Mitya's performance is sluggish, he can still contain opponents on the left, and Songk is on the right. No matter who is won, Ajax's side will lose its threat, which is extremely unfavorable for offense.

But soon, Ronald Koeman made a choice.

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One minute after Celta Vigo's goal, Ajax replaced Mitya with Litmanen.

Van der Vaart was pushed to the front left winger position, Litmanen and Sneijder occupied the center, responsible for the team's midfield organization and passing, which also completely sounded the clarion call of Ajax's Jedi counterattack.

Celta Vigo scored and Ajax had no choice.

Only by scoring goals and defeating Bruges can the team have any hope of qualifying, otherwise, they can only go to the UEFA Cup in despair.

But Brugge also knew the difficult situation Ajax was facing. Trende Soled quickly made a second substitution adjustment, replacing an offensive player in the frontcourt with a defensive midfielder Smolders to further strengthen the defense of the midfield.

Ajax continued to attack, but Bruges steadily retreated to their own half. Through tight defense, it was always difficult for Ajax to find effective offensive opportunities.

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"Ajax made their second substitution of the game, replacing Wesley Sonk with Sawyertals."

"This is still a signal to step up the offense."

"Ronald Koeman has been forced to give it a go."

"Van der Vaart's performance on the left was not satisfactory. He was still adjusted to the forward position of the midfielder, cruising behind the center Ibrahimovic, Sawyertals played on the left, and on the right, he pushed out the Tunisian right back Trabelsi, who came back from this game."

"Now Ajax is killing red eyes, but there is not much time left for them."

"The time has entered eight 10 minutes, and only the last 10 minutes are left, plus stoppage time."

"Actually, Ajax should slow down their offensive appropriately and let Brugge press out, so that they will get more offensive space. On the contrary, like now, pressing so high not only allows the opponent to organize a tight defense, but also exposes a large space behind them. This is also an opportunity for Brugge, who are good at defensive counterattacks."

"I believe Ronald Koeman is well aware of where he is, but he has no choice."

"Celta Vigo is 2-[-] ahead of AC Milan. The Rossoneri have no fighting spirit in this game. Celta Vigo is very likely to win. Only by winning can Ajax overcome Celta Vigo and qualify as No.[-] in the group."

"But now Ajax has to pay attention to defense in addition to offense, especially the two wings, which are too far ahead, which leaves a huge space for Bruges to counterattack."

"Okay, we were just talking, and Club Brugge launched a counterattack."

"Cross to the left, Van der Heide comes in quickly, a quick counter from Club Brugge."

"Van der Heyden dribbled the ball down the left, Trabelsi and De Jong fought their way back."

"One kick passed the ball into the penalty area..."

"The ball went in!!!!!!"

"Cetnes!!!!"

"I was just saying that Ajax have to watch out for Settnes."

"The player is hungry for goals and after coming off the bench, in the No. 804 minute, scored for Club Brugge."

"This should be a lore!"

"This goal from Cetnes completely crushed Ajax's dream of qualifying for the Champions League. Even if they can't equalize the score, they are likely to be eliminated at the bottom of the group and miss the UEFA Cup."

"The blow to morale from this goal was too great."

"At this moment, to be scored in this way by the opponent is a huge blow to Ajax."

"There are 6 minutes left in the regular game. I wonder if this will be the last 6 minutes of Ajax in the Champions League?"

(End of this chapter)