The Godfather of Football

When the 1.88m Ballack saw the 1.91m Yaya Toure, he must have been thinking, what is this black-headed, black-headed, silly boy laughing over there?

It must be said that Yaya Toure's dark face, with a mouth full of white teeth, looks a bit silly when he laughs, but this kid has no self-awareness at all, and he just likes to laugh, so he was nicknamed Black Bean in the Ajax locker room!

"Our boss asked me to keep an eye on you!" Yaya Toure said with a smile after approaching Ballack.

Ballack glanced at the kid, smiled coldly and proudly, and did not answer him, but turned his head away directly.

Yaya Toure did not feel that he was left out by Ballack. He was more excited now, because this time he was directly talking to the core midfielder of the Bundesliga who was in the limelight. The head coach told him that if he killed Ballack, he would become famous in one fell swoop.

Others would never get such a good thing in their lifetime, so Yaya Toure was naturally excited.

The game started with Leverkusen's kick-off. Berbatov in front quickly knocked the ball back to the back line and handed it to Novotny. The German central defender stopped the ball steadily, showing the style of a general.

The central defender combination of Novotny and LaMelo is the best combination in the Bundesliga this season. Among them, Novotny definitely showed the world-class central defender level. His defensive skills are almost impeccable, especially the frontal defense, which is even more insurmountable. Countless forwards who have been in the Bundesliga have fallen in front of him.

The ball quickly returned to the midfield from the back line and was handed to Ballack.

As soon as he saw Ballack take the ball, Yaya Toure rushed to it immediately, but the German did not wait for him to get close and passed the ball directly to Basturk in front. The latter quickly split to the right. Schneider made a cross, but Lucio rushed before Berbatov and headed the ball to resolve an attack by Leverkusen.

The ball was flying in the air, and Ballack and Yaya Toure on the ground were both trying to determine where the ball would land. But it was obvious that Ballack's judgment of the ball was better than Yaya Toure's, so he quickly got into position and headed the ball to Basturk.

"Can you keep an eye on me?" After Ballack landed, he turned around and looked at Yaya Toure behind him, asking disdainfully.

Yaya Toure was a little upset. Heading was not his strong point. Ballack had just taken the lead, and now he was hit. He felt ashamed and annoyed. Seeing Leverkusen pass the ball to Ballack's feet again, Yaya Toure learned his lesson this time and stuck to him directly.

Both of them were tall and strong men. As soon as they came into contact, Ballack was not knocked away as Yaya Toure thought, but both of them felt a bit of difficulty. The German reacted faster and kicked the ball to the left before losing the ball, passing it to Ze Roberto, but the position was a little far back, and Brazil had to retreat to get the ball on the left, losing the opportunity to attack.

"I'm just staring at you, what's wrong?" Yaya Toure stared at Ballack and replied.

Ballack smiled coldly and didn't say much. He still had patience and temper.

Ajax did not adopt the high-position defense that they were good at before in this game, and the pressure on Leverkusen's midfield was not very strong. It was just that Gilberto Silva stood firmly at the front of the penalty area to protect it, and Keita responded at any time, resulting in Leverkusen's attack being strictly restricted near the front midfielder Basturk.

With the front blocked, Ballack in the back naturally began to take on more tasks, so you can see that Ballack began to frequently move forward to participate in the team's frontcourt offense, and sometimes even in a more forward position than Basturk.

The Turkish midfielder's skills are beyond reproach, but Ballack is the most suitable for such a head-on job.

Ballack's first shot was a sudden long shot from outside the penalty area. At that time, Gilberto Silva poked the ball under Basturk's feet, and Ballack inserted the ball and kicked it directly without saying a word. Van der Sar in front of the goal could only react and habitually lifted the ball with both hands and lifted it over the crossbar.

This long shot did not score, but it scared Ajax from top to bottom.

Ye Qiu could no longer sit still, came to the sidelines, waved at Yaya Toure, and anyone who saw his angry expression must be asking, what are you doing, kid? Don't you stick to him like a dog-skin plaster? Where have you been?

Yaya Toure knew he was in the wrong, lowered his head and dared not look at his head coach, but he immediately leaned towards Ballack.

Really outstanding players usually don't shoot, but once they do, they must create threats.

Among Leverkusen's midfielders, Ballack has the heaviest defensive task, not only because he is in the middle, but also because his partner Basturk hardly participates in defense, so the interception task in the midfield almost falls on Ballack, which makes it impossible for him to make every forward run.

But one of the important reasons why the German midfielder can become the world's top midfield core player is that he knows how to look at the timing. If he wants to go up, he can do it at any time, but the question is, when to go up will have the least risk to defense and the greatest help to offense, which requires players to have an excellent overall view and the ability to read the game.

Yaya Toure followed Ballack. He wanted to defend Ballack, but it was difficult because Ballack rarely let the ball stop at his feet. His technique was very practical. He would touch the ball once rather than twice, so the ball was more of a transition at his feet, and it was very fast. It was difficult to stop him.

But Yaya Toure was not stupid either. After the unfavorable start, he began to learn to be smart.

Since you don't stick to the ball, I will interfere. I will interfere with your receiving the ball in advance and your touching the ball. Anyway, my task is to do nothing. I will just stick to you and stick to you to death. Let's see what you can do to me!

Ballack also began to have a headache about the Ivorian's stickiness. This kid has a body, strength, height, speed, and flexibility. He is also good at footwork. Sometimes he was deceived, and he caught up with him all of a sudden. It was almost like a dog shit plaster. You can't get rid of it. He just disgusts you!

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“Is he going to play one-on-one marking?”

Top Muller sat in the coaching booth of the visiting team at the Arena Stadium, frowning as he watched the game.

The game had been going on for 13 minutes, and Leverkusen's offense was still difficult to launch. The midfield and frontcourt were strongly suppressed by Ajax. Although Ballack had a very threatening long shot, his overall performance was also limited. A very important reason was that Ye Qiu specially arranged a player to mark him in this game.

Ajax's tactical formation was still 433, with Van der Sar as the goalkeeper, Abidal, Kivu, Lucio and Maicon as the back line, Keita, Gilberto Silva and Yaya Toure as the midfielders, and Robben, Ibrahimovic and Van der Vaart as the trident.

The change that Ye Qiu made in this game was to leave the previous main midfielder Sneijder on the bench and arrange Yaya Toure to start instead. This Ivorian midfielder had been a substitute before and his performance was not very impressive, so Top Muller did not have much information about him.

But from the game, this player is indeed very accomplished at least in terms of sticking to people.

He has the typical physical qualities of black players, fast and agile, plus good tactical execution, very sticky.

"Let Ze Roberto and Basturk support Ballack more!" Top Muller explained.

Assistant coach Pierre Ritbarsky immediately nodded and agreed, and walked to the sidelines to explain.

But as soon as Leverkusen moved, Ajax immediately followed suit. The midfielder and Maicon on the right began to press forward as Ze Roberto and Basturk retreated. Leverkusen's midfield was a little out of touch with Berbatov and Neuville on the front line, making it more difficult to launch an attack.

It was at this time that Ajax finally launched a defensive counterattack.

After Ballack got the ball, he wanted to pass it to Schneider under the interference of Yaya Toure, but Keita successfully intercepted the ball and passed it behind Ballack. Van der Vaart pulled from the right to the middle to get the ball, and then turned to face Leverkusen's goal.

Van der Vaart took the ball and faced Leverkusen's defense directly. He chose to dribble forward, attracted LaMelo, and passed the ball diagonally behind him. Ibrahimovic and Novotny had a one-on-one contest at the front of Leverkusen's penalty area. In the end, the German central defender took the ball decisively before Ibrahimovic entered the penalty area and intercepted the ball in his own defense area.

This was a seemingly non-threatening but very dangerous contest. If Ibrahimovic had passed it, then this kick would have been a single shot. With the Swede's ability, it was almost a sure thing to score a single shot.

Therefore, knowing this, Top Muller walked to the sidelines after being startled and applauded Novotny.

This was a defense that even Ye Qiu had to applaud and admire. Novotny's ability was really beyond doubt. If it weren't for his injury, it was estimated that his achievements would be quite high, and he might even become another world-class central defender who was late in life.

While Ye Qiu was applauding Novotny, he was also paying attention to Top Muller.

The attack just now seemed random, but in fact it was deliberately arranged by him. If you have to find a fatal flaw for Leverkusen, it is undoubtedly the gap left by Ballack as the team's midfield barrier.

Therefore, the task he assigned to the players was that once Ballack left his position, Van der Vaart would immediately cut into the middle from the right to replace Ballack, and once the team got the ball and counterattacked, they would directly look for Van der Vaart.

Of course, if Ballack is in the midfield, Ajax's pass will be more on the left, and Maicon on the right will be more defensive. Although he did not perform well in the first game against Leverkusen, Ye Qiu saw that Maicon was in good shape recently, so he continued to entrust him with the important task in this game.

"He didn't seem to care!" Ricklink smiled a little lucky.

There is too much information in a football game. It is impossible for any head coach to remember all the information, and most of it is still somewhat accidental. Therefore, every head coach will miss some information in every game, or ignore some things they think are insignificant.

Just like Van der Vaart's cut-in just now, Top Muller obviously felt that it was an accident, and there was no need to adjust the team specifically because of it. After all, as long as an adjustment is made, the team may be affected and more problems will arise.

"Wait, there will be another chance!" Ye Qiu said with a smile.

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Ye Qiu, to Van der Vaart, is full of mystery.

Sometimes, Van der Vaart, like everyone else, is full of curiosity about Ye Qiu. Where did he find so many strange but capable players?

Ibrahimovic, Keita, Lucio, Maicon, Gilberto Silva...all of them were little-known before, but after joining Ajax, they all showed outstanding performance. A capable player, Ye Qiu's vision of others makes even Rick Link, the club's most venomous person, admire him, let alone others.

This led to a saying circulating in Detok Most in the past two years that the players chosen by Ye Qiu are all geniuses!

Sometimes, Van der Vaart sympathizes with Ballack, because he has personally experienced the depression of being stuck with Yaya Toure. He can't get rid of him or kick him away. There is simply nothing you can do with this guy. .

Usually, a tall and strong player like this has weaknesses in speed and agility, but not with this guy. He is not fast, but definitely not slow. He is also very flexible and can play tricks with his feet. It is simply It's a midfielder version of Ibrahimovic.

Being stuck to such a soft-hearted guy will give you a headache, it will definitely give you a headache!

Van der Vaart was secretly happy, at least Yaya Toure was his teammate, not his opponent.

His movements in this game were more based on Ballack's movements. As long as the distance between Ballack and the two central defenders on the back line was widened, Van der Vaart would immediately run into this area. , and then wait.

Waiting for the teammates behind you to intercept the ball and pass it to your feet.

As time passed, Van der Vaart ran from the right to the center again and again, but ran back to the right again and again, because as soon as Ballack came back, he had to run back, and repeated it for at least five times. six times.

In the end, Ballack seemed to be aware of Van der Vaart's intention, and began to consciously move forward less aggressively. Instead, he sat at the back of the team and froze Van der Vaart's inward cuts. This directly led to a change in the scene. Very tight.

Time jumped steadily to 40 minutes, and the score on the scene was still 0:0.

"It can be seen that neither side has a good way to break through the opponent's defense. Although Ajax playing at home is at a disadvantage in terms of strength, Ye Qiu's team has built a very strong defense. This time he obviously learned Based on the experience of the previous game, it is more about adopting a steady and steady strategy.”

"Top Muller is also afraid to take risks. Both teams regard this game as a life and death battle in the Champions League group stage. No one is willing to risk their own Champions League future. This has led to both sides not wanting to take risks. Not investing more in offense.”

"Frankly speaking, the importance of such a game goes without saying, but the viewing pleasure is poor."

The on-site commentator was obviously a little disappointed with this. Ajax has always been aggressive in attacking football in the Eredivisie, but in the Champions League, due to the team's strength, they were never able to play convincingly when encountering strong opponents. No matter the situation, whether facing Barcelona, ​​Lyon, or Leverkusen, Ye Qiu always chooses a more balanced strategy.

From a professional perspective, this is understandable. After all, Ajax has the lowest average age and the least experience among the 32 teams in the Champions League this season. Such a team requires them to play hard. Offensive football, possible?

"Perhaps, the first half will end with a score of 0:0!" the on-site commentator speculated.

But at this moment, Ajax launched a quick counterattack after stealing the ball.

When the ball came to the feet of Gilberto Silva, the Brazilian raised his head, held the ball under his feet, and was observing the situation. At this moment, in front of him, Leverkusen's defensive formation was in place, as if An iron wall stood in front of the Ajax Trident.

According to Gilberto Silva's usually conservative passing strategy, in this case he will choose to pass back to reorganize. Because he is a midfielder, once the pass is missed, it is likely to cause the opponent to directly launch an offensive counterattack.

But just when he was about to knock back, he saw Yaya Toure raising his hand for the ball. The Brazilian barely thought about it and just poked the ball forward.

The ball followed a straight line from the feet of Gilberto Silva, stuck to the turf, and rolled to the feet of Yaya Toure.

At this time, Ballack immediately left his position and ran forward, trying to prevent Yaya Toure from turning around. However, after stopping the ball, the Ivorian turned sideways, with his shoulder facing Ballack, protecting the ball and heading directly towards Dribbling the ball to the left.

Ballack followed up quickly, but he found that the Ivorian was very skilled in dribbling, which made him unable to steal the ball when he wanted to. He was somewhat surprised because he did not expect that this big black man was quite good at his feet.

While dribbling the ball quickly, Yaya Toure also noticed Robben pointing behind him on the left, so he sent the ball forward with his right foot. The ball immediately seemed to be held by a string. The gap between LaMelo and Sebeczen passed through and went straight to the left side of Leverkusen's penalty area.

Arjen Robben, who was on par with Sebeczen, immediately started his engine, and after getting rid of Sebeczen at lightning speed, he caught up with the ball on the left side of the Leverkusen penalty area. Without any hesitation, he passed the ball directly.

Tens of thousands of Ajax fans in the Arena Stadium cheered excitedly, and many fans in the front row even stood up involuntarily, ready to celebrate.

Ibrahimovic in the middle tried every means to squeeze Novotny, but the German central defender took the most advantageous position in advance and did not lose in the physical confrontation, suppressing the Swede tightly, but unfortunately, Robben's cross was not intended for Ibrahimovic, but went to the back post.

Van der Vaart, who followed Ballack's movement and cut to the middle, saw that there was no chance, and immediately changed his mind and rushed directly to the back post!