The Godfather of Football

Long before Barcelona welcomed Ajax, some media had compared the two teams, believing that as long as Barcelona had one Rivaldo, it would be worth the entire Ajax team. Team.

In 1997, Rivaldo switched from Deportivo La Coruna to Barcelona, ​​costing Barcelona a total of 16 million euros. And Ye Qiu's Ajax introduced so many players from beginning to end, and the total price was almost the same. It can be said that one Rivaldo is worth the entire Ajax team.

Ye Qiu was not angry at all for this kind of ridicule from the media. On the contrary, he used the media's remarks to stimulate the players' fighting spirit and told his players how the media outside humiliated them and looked down on them. If you want to clear your name, there is only one way to go, defeat Barcelona at the Camp Nou!

This game is related to the final ranking of Group F, whether the star-studded Barcelona can advance to the next round of group matches, and is also related to financial revenue of over 10 million euros, and even potential benefits of tens of millions. Who Will it not be taken seriously?

Because it is so important, not only the media and fans in Spain and the Netherlands are paying close attention to this game, but even fans all over the world are paying attention to this game. UEFA has also decided to make the game played at the Camp Nou stadium This game was heavily promoted and broadcast live to the whole world. It would be an understatement to say that it attracted worldwide attention.

Some people support Ajax and some support Barcelona, ​​but the result of the game will definitely disappoint most people in the end, because the final result of this game was 1:1, and no one won the opponent.

Ye Qiu's team played a surprising attack right from the start. In the first 20 minutes, it caused a lot of trouble for Barcelona and secured many scoring opportunities for itself, including 3 excellent scoring opportunities. But both Ibrahimovic and Robben wereted one after another. Only Van der Vaart's kick after cutting in from the right gave Ajax the leading goal.

After that, Ajax encountered an almost crazy counterattack by Barcelona. At the Camp Nou, Barcelona would never allow their dignity and pride to be provoked by their opponents, especially this team was only an Eredivisie opponent, but they never Can score goals.

Finally, before the end of the second half, Rivaldo used his personal ability to get the ball from the left, passed two Ajax players in a row, and then shot a curved ball from the front of the penalty area, directly hitting Fan Desa was helpless in the blind spot.

No one is satisfied with the score of 1:1.

Ajax led for more than an hour, but in the end Barcelona equalized the score and they were not satisfied.

But Barcelona is even more dissatisfied because they will be forced to go to the UEFA Cup because of this draw. This is absolutely an unacceptable shame for the proud Catalans.

The league, the league was not good, the Champions League, the Champions League was eliminated, the whole Camp Nou stadium was fried!

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"get out of class is over! get out of class is over!! get out of class is over!!!"

Ye Qiu was sitting in the visiting team's coaching bench at Camp Nou. All he could hear in his ears were boos and shouts from Barcelona fans, who were venting their dissatisfaction with the current situation of the club.

Because the relationship between Ajax and Barcelona is very special, many staff members in the Ajax team, including Bobby Harms, are pessimistic and disappointed with the current situation of Barcelona.

"Who would have thought that after the glorious peak of the Dream Team, Barcelona would fall so quickly. They haven't won a championship for several years!" Bobby Hames shook his head and sighed.

These days, if a wealthy team does not win a championship for a season, it is already a time for deep reflection. Two consecutive seasons without a championship almost means a major turmoil in the management. But like Barcelona, ​​which has been without a championship for many years, everyone is worried. , will this team lose the aura of a wealthy team and completely become a civilian team?

This is not alarmist. Are there many such examples?

Not much else to say, Athletic Bilbao was so awesome back then. In terms of history, I don’t know how brilliant this team is, but what about now? This team can only be regarded as a barely mid-range team in La Liga, and it is difficult to compete for the championship.

"Don't worry, every team with a historical background is not so easy to fall. Barcelona itself has a very complete set of hematopoietic functions, and in recent years, Barcelona has always adhered to the youth rules formulated during the Cruyff period. Training concept, I believe it will be effective soon in a few years!”

If Ye Qiu remembers correctly, La Masia currently has Messi, Cesc Fabregas, Iniesta, Busquets and many other stars who will be outstanding in the next few years. They will also be Barcelona in the future. A key star in transformation.

Although many people will be dissatisfied with some of Barcelona's styles on the court in the future, causing great controversy, there is one thing that Ye Qiu always insists on, and that is Barcelona's insistence on the concept of youth training and the performance of the Barcelona Dream Team. Football is enough to put this team into the history of football.

"Youth training?" After hearing this, Rick Link smiled bitterly and even laughed a little, "De La Pena, Herard, Celades, Xavi Moreno... players who have come out of Barcelona's youth training in recent years are still Less? But have they used it?”

Speaking of this, Ricklink shook his head vigorously, "In these giant teams, youth training and the first team are separated. No matter how many players are trained in youth training, if the first team doesn't use them, what effect will it have?"

De La Pena left Barcelona this season and went to Lazio, but his performance was very bad; after Gerard switched to Valencia, he immediately played very well and showed his strength, but after returning to Camp Nou with a lot of money, he was waiting for the bench; as for Celades, after leaving Barcelona, ​​he formed a double defensive midfielder with Makelele in Celta, and his performance was very eye-catching. The two joined the Galacticos at the same time when Florentino was in charge of Real Madrid. At first, Celades overwhelmed Makelele to occupy the main force, but now, how many people still remember him?

As for Xavi Moreno, Ye Qiu and the others are very familiar with him. He was the main striker of Alaves last year and the top scorer of La Liga last season. He was very successful, but after joining AC Milan this season... I won't say it!

Ye Qiu had never thought that Ricklin was a senior fan of Barcelona. Why did these words sound so resentful? But it was not surprising to think about it again, because of the relationship between Cruyff and Van Gaal, it was not uncommon for Ajax fans to be Barcelona fans.

Ricklin's words sounded very much like the complaints of Real Madrid fans in his previous life, and they all felt a little disappointed.

But now Ye Qiu could not convince Ricklin, because he could not tell him how glorious Barcelona would be in the next few years, and how brilliant it would be, and even become the so-called cosmic team.

There is no doubt that Barcelona's success depends on the foundation accumulated over many years. If it were not for the persistent youth training concept from Cruyff to now, I believe they would not be able to usher in the peak of the Dream Team III.

Some people say that Barcelona's success is because their ball control system is in line with the football trend at that time. Ye Qiu thinks this is right or wrong, because ball control is the pursuit of everyone at any time in football history. Who doesn't want to control the ball for 90 minutes?

But has anyone ever been able to achieve this level of Barcelona in history?

Ye Qiu thinks that Barcelona's success is because they have studied the control of the ball to an extreme.

In other words, in football tactics, any of the elements that affect the game can be achieved to the extreme, then the team can achieve the achievements of Barcelona Dream Team III, but the key is that everyone understands this truth, but who can do it like Barcelona?

Or, the reason why Barcelona has been able to persevere for so many years is actually due to a certain amount of chance and luck.

So, Ye Qiu has always adhered to a principle that tactics don't matter whether they are good or bad, as long as they are good for oneself and can help oneself improve, offense and defense don't matter, control of the ball and control of space can be compatible, even if it is something from the opponent, he will learn and learn from it.

Therefore, Bobby Hams would say that he is like a sponge, madly absorbing the essence of others' years of accumulation.

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Ajax drew with Barcelona 1:1, Leverkusen defeated Lyon 4:2, so the ranking of Group F came out.

The top two teams that made it to the second round of the European Champions League group stage were Ajax and Leverkusen. Barcelona ranked third in the group and was forced to play in the UEFA Cup, while Lyon did not even get a single point and advanced directly from the Champions League group stage.

Although Santini's team performed poorly in the Champions League, they performed very well in Ligue 1. This is probably related to Santini's own strategy. They focused on the Ligue 1 and gave up the Champions League.

In addition, PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord were also eliminated from the Champions League. Both teams could only participate in the UEFA Cup in the end, so Ajax became the only seedling of the Dutch League in the Champions League.

After the group stage, UEFA immediately announced the team divisions for the second round of group stage draws.

Based on the results of the group stage, plus the team's previous Champions League points and other factors, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Juventus and Liverpool became the first-tier seeding teams in the second round of group stage.

In other words, these four teams will definitely be divided into different groups.

Ajax, Deportivo La Coruna, Nantes and Panathinaikos were in the second tier; Manchester United, Arsenal, Porto and Galatasaray were in the third tier, and they were all the second best teams in the group; the fourth tier was Roma, Sparta Prague, Leverkusen and Boavista.

The intensity of the competition in the Champions League can be seen from the tiers. Almost every team in each tier is very strong. Needless to say, the teams in the second tier, Manchester United and Arsenal can only go to the third tier. Porto, Galatasaray, Roma, Leverkusen... These teams are not easy to deal with, and it is a headache to meet them.

According to the rules of the draw, teams from the same country in the first round of the group stage will not be grouped together again, so some teams are actually destined to meet each other.

This time the draw ceremony was held at the Hilton Hotel in Geneva. Ye Qiu did not attend because he was busy preparing for the game. Ajax arranged for the technical director and the team leader to represent the team to Geneva, but in the end Leo Beenhakker brought back bad news.

Bayern Munich, Ajax, Manchester United, Boavista, these four teams formed Group A of the second round of the group stage.

This is not because Ajax's draw was bad, it can only be said that the luck was relatively bad, and the only thing to blame is that the Champions League is too strong.

Liverpool, Roma, Nantes, Sparta Prague; Juventus, Deportivo La Coruna, Arsenal and Leverkusen are in one group; Relatively speaking, Real Madrid has the best luck, and the three opponents drawn are Panathinaikos, Galatasaray and Sparta Prague. The overall strength of these three opponents is not very strong, and it is difficult to shake Real Madrid's qualification.

In contrast, almost every other three groups are in a deadlock situation, and the competition in Group D is definitely the most intense. Juventus, Deportivo La Coruna, Arsenal and Leverkusen are together, which can be called the death group, and Ajax encounters Bayern Munich and Manchester United, and the situation of qualifying is also not optimistic.

According to the schedule of the second round of the Champions League group stage, Ajax will play two rounds before the winter break. Ajax will first challenge Boavista away, and then face Bayern Munich at home. The remaining four rounds will be played after the winter break. The top two teams in the group will advance to the quarterfinals.

I don’t know if it was affected by the result of the draw for the second round of the Champions League group stage. Ajax players performed very poorly in the away game against Grafschap in the 12th round of the Dutch Eredivisie. They all seemed to have lost their past vigor and became lifeless and physically weak.

In this game, Ajax was almost suppressed by Grafschap throughout the game. The attacking power was not too threatening. Instead, Grafschap took advantage of the mistakes of Kolo Toure and Kivu in the Ajax defense line in the 36th minute of the first half and broke through Ajax’s goal first.

This goal made Ajax even more impetuous and passive. The referee was very dissatisfied with the frequent fouls of Ajax players and kept giving cards. Among them, Ibrahimovic was almost sent off with a red card for confronting the referee.

During the halftime break, Ye Qiu immediately replaced Ibrahimovic, who was not performing well, but was obviously in a bad state and a little out of control, with Huntelaar, hoping that Huntelaar could perform well when facing his old club.

But after the start of the second half, Ajax's state has not improved much. Robben on the left seems to be out of shape. Instead, Van der Meyde on the right has become the most threatening side of the team. When Ye Qiu replaced Robben with Hleb, Ajax's offense really improved.

In the final stage, Ajax relied on Hleb's wide-range diagonal pass to the penalty area. Van der Meyde broke into the penalty area and shot, but was saved by the goalkeeper. Huntelaar followed up and penetrated Grafschap's goal, equalizing the score for Ajax.

But after that, no matter how Ajax attacked, they could not break through Grafschap's goal, and could only accept a 1:1 draw with regret. This also disappointed Ye Qiu, because in his opinion, Grafschap should have won this game. Now that it didn't win, the team lost two points.

Although PSV Eindhoven lost 1:2 to Sparta Rotterdam away in the same round, and Feyenoord also lost 1:2 to Breda away, Ajax's lead did not decrease at all, but increased from 3 points to 4 points. But for Ye Qiu, Ajax lost 2 points in this game.

Sometimes the advantage of the standings can be deceptive. There are so many opponents in the league, and they will meet sooner or later. Meeting a strong team and a weak team is 3 points, but the value is completely different, so Ye Qiu was disappointed that the team drew with Grafschap.

This may be a bit harsh, because if you insist on calculating it this way, PSV Eindhoven lost to Sparta Rotterdam, the favorite for relegation, which will undoubtedly make PSV Eindhoven fans more disappointed.

In Ye Qiu's strategy for winning the championship, the points that should be obtained must be obtained. Only in this way can the team ensure that the points are not lost when necessary. One of the important reasons why Ajax failed to win the championship last season was that the team failed to win some games with obvious advantages, or even did not get any points, which ultimately led to the team's unfavorable situation for winning the championship.

Because of this, Ye Qiu held an internal meeting of the coaching staff in De Tokmost when he drew with Grafschap away and ushered in the two-week national team match day. Even the club chairman Van Praag and technical director Leo Beenhakker attended this meeting.

At the meeting, Ye Qiu emphasized that the coaching staff and the first team, and even every department and everyone in the club, must unify their thinking, have one idea and one heart, be united and have one caliber to the outside world, and the same is true for the team.

"I have a feeling that the situation will become increasingly unfavorable to us before the winter break!" Ye Qiu said solemnly.

PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord's UEFA Cup opponents have come out, namely Thessaloniki in Greece and Freiburg in the Bundesliga. The former's strength needs no further explanation, PSV Eindhoven is sure to win, while Freiburg is currently performing poorly in the Bundesliga and is on the verge of relegation.

Freiburg performed well last season and qualified for the Bundesliga's UEFA Cup, but after a summer, the players suffered heavy losses, and Freiburg's competitiveness declined significantly, which ultimately led to the team's lack of combat effectiveness. Feyenoord will not have any big problems defeating its opponents.

In this case, they will put more energy into the league, while Ajax will face strong opponents in the Champions League.

Although Ajax's lineup looks huge, it was a few years later. The current Ajax is too young, especially some substitutes. This means that if the team is fighting on a single line, Ye Qiu is very confident, but if it is fighting on multiple lines, it is inevitable that there will be some problems.

This is also the sadness of some small teams, just like Moyes' Everton in the previous life, one season was amazing, and the other season was sluggish, and the decisive factor was the European competition.