Seventh update!
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Ajax's defensive adjustment in the midfield, Koeman's fine-tuning of defensive tactics began to show results. ◇↓
If Roten and Jiuli attack Ajax's defense alone, the results will be minimal.
In this case, the 1:1 score is very unfavorable for Monaco, and they have to score a goal, but the three midfielders in the middle seem to be too focused on Qin Xiong, which has significantly reduced their role in the offense.
Therefore, full-backs Evra and Ibara must assist to give Jiuli and Roten more support, and generate more offensive cooperation on the flanks to create chaos in the Ajax defense line.
In the 71st minute, Ibala assisted along the right side. The Argentine received an inward cut and suddenly hit a pass back to the wing and sent a high-quality cross. Morientes' header in front of the goal almost cost Ajax his life!
Bang!
Morientes watched in disbelief as he was determined to win the header hit the crossbar and bounced out!
Lobonte did not make a save at all. If the ball fell into the goal, he could only look at the ball and sigh!
Monaco fans in the stands sighed loudly, and even the members of the Monaco royal family in the VIP box beat their chests and stamped their feet. It was a pity for the ball.
Ajax, who was a little scared, immediately launched a counterattack. Galasek headed the ball out of the penalty area, and he deliberately pushed the ball to the direction where Qin Xiong was.
The top of the ball is not accurate. Qin Xiong and Zix seem to have a chance to grab this ball, but Qin Xiong is faster. He took the lead and came to the football landing point. Before the football landing, he kicked the ball directly with his arch to the right position of the midfield.
After the ball was released, Qin Xiong immediately ran to the frontcourt.
Van der Fate received a pass from Qin Xiong on the right. At this time, Evra came to press on the ground like a shadow. He had no choice but to buy time for Monaco's defense, entangled Van der Fate, and delayed his chance to send the ball forward.
Haha. What a Van der Fate, what a Dutch Golden Boy, he turned around halfway and knocked the ball to the middle of the frontcourt with his heels.
Evra's defense failed, and Van der Fate's improvisation was not a blind move. He observed that Ibrahimovic ran over to receive the response and made such a pass.
Ibrahimovic retreated to the front midfielder and controlled the ball steadily. At first, he seemed isolated and helpless, so Sneider took the initiative to come to the front midfielder from the left.
Sneider's running also affected Qin Xiong's running position.
There is no need for verbal communication or eye contact. Qin Xiong turned to the left after crossing the midfield!
He and Sneider unknowingly completed the role exchange.
Sneider and Ibrahimovic kept a good distance in the front midfielder area to ensure that they cooperated with the ball and did not lose the ball rights.
Cise and Benardi couldn't do anything about these two people.
When Qin Xiong reached the left side position in front of the penalty area, Sneider decisively passed the ball diagonally to Qin Xiong's line to cut inward.
Ibaraben and Qin Xiong were running side by side. After Qin Xiong ran into the inward line, his defense seemed out of reach, and was gradually thrown away by Qin Xiong and blocked behind him.
Rodriguez moved over and intended to block Qin Xiong's inward cutting, but he did not expect that when Qin Xiong received Sneid's pass, Qin Xiong took the initiative to pause and tweak the ball horizontally instead of going directly towards the goal!
Cross-cut strip in front of the penalty area!
Rodriguez hesitated for a moment and then stepped forward to press, but Qin Xiong's next strait ball speed suddenly exploded, causing Rodriguez's steal to be lost.
Givette thought Qin Xiong would turn inward into the penalty area by wiping through Rodriguez's space, and then turning 90 degrees into the penalty area. He could only move horizontally to fill the defense area on this side and act as a barrier with the goal.
But he was still wrong. Qin Xiong seemed to be not interested in the goal direction at all. He still dribbled horizontally. After crossing Givet, Cisse and Benardi were only two steps away from retreating and directly intercepted Qin Xiong!
At this moment, Qin Xiong turned his head and looked at Monaco's goal, and goalkeeper Roma was in a good position. He no longer hesitated and shot a low flat ball from under his feet.
The football, less than half a meter above the ground, was like thunder, rushing straight to the lower right corner of the goal. Roma made the prediction correctly, but he could only watch the football fly into the goal while moving and slamming!
Half a season has passed, and Qin Xiong is increasingly feeling about cross-cutting in front of the penalty area, which he learned from Pan Luo himself, and especially when he was shooting at the goal 70-90 degrees, he felt that the shooting rate was higher!
Compared to frontal long shots, someone blocks the field of view and at the same time, it may be easier to control the angle and footwork.
Qin Xiong also wants to thank his teammates, Ibrahimovic and Sneider for restraining their opponents' attention and allowing him to cut horizontally in front of the penalty area as if he was in a no-man's realm.
So he went backwards to the sidelines after scoring the goal, laughing silently, while raising his hands to point Sneijder and Ibrahimovic respectively.
He was thrown to the ground by Sneijder. Fortunately, Ibrahimovic rushed over and didn't press it up, otherwise Qin Xiong would have screamed. Ibrahimovic stood beside the two of them, clenched his fists with one hand, and shouted at the stands where the visiting team fans were.
Koeman looked a little out of control, and he couldn't help but be excited and led Monaco away, which almost meant that Ajax had one foot into the final!
"2:1! Qin Xiong's goal helped Ajax lead Monaco 2:1 away! They reversed Monaco! Although this is only the first leg of the semi-finals, if he can lead the opponent with a total score and hold two away goals, the probability of Ajax advancing to the Champions League final this season is very high!"
Deshang's face was solemn, and he was shocked by Qin Xiong's performance.
It is not up to luck to Ajax to reach the Champions League semi-finals.
Just as all the Ajax people were celebrating and were in great joy, a basin of cold water fell on its head in less than 2 minutes.
Monaco was eager to equalize the score and the army was approaching, which gave Ajax better room for counterattack.
Less than a minute after re-teleblowing, Ajax got another excellent opportunity. Van der Fate gave Ibrahimovic a wonderful pass on the right.
Ibrahimovic shot at the penalty area line almost the same position as Qin Xiong's goal, but the football was directly kicked and flew into the stands, making a very outrageous shot.
After the shot, Ibrahimovic stood there and lowered his head, then reached his right hand to the back of his right thigh. He turned around and walked slowly towards the sidelines. His walking movements seemed a little awkward, which made people feel that he was being wounded!
But at least he didn't sit down and was able to walk, which means the strain may not be too serious.
The teammates were as deep as water. After destroying Monaco's attack, the team doctor asked Ibrahimovic about his condition on the sidelines. Ibrahimovic said he felt uncomfortable with his thigh muscles. Koeman did not force him and immediately started a substitution.
As for the specific situation of Ibrahimovic, no one knows now, but it has cast a layer of shadow on the hearts of fans and players.
"Oh no, Ajax's top striker Ibrahimovic came out of the field due to injury. He always frowned. He couldn't tell whether he was in pain, but he was already on the bench. I don't know if he can participate in the next round. If he can't play, the loss to Ajax will be very big. Koeman made a substitution. He replaced Ibrahimovic with O'Brien and replaced a defensive midfielder with a forward. Koeman wanted to save the 2:1 victory."
It is undeniable that Koeman is a good coach. He has his strengths and of course his shortcomings.
In this critical battle with unprecedented pressure, Ibrahimovic's sudden injury posed a problem for him.
He did not choose to replace the striker.
Because Ajax has put it bluntly, there is no center that Koeman can trust.
Songke?
With most of the time sitting on the bench, Songk, Qin Xiong, Van der Fate, and Sneider were unable to form a tacit cooperation in the frontcourt.
The most basic tacit understanding of cooperation is passing and running.
These are two aspects: one pass and the other run. The timing is very critical. The passing ball is sooner or later, and the running ball is very different.
So Koeman couldn't trust Songk.
The current score is 2:1. In order to maintain the fruits of victory, strengthening defense is the most common and common way for head coaches.
He chose to play in a defensive midfielder, which seemed understandable.
Chapter completed!