Chapter 173 The second genius from China! In the final stage of the game, the entire Ajax team played very anxiously. Their lineup is composed of too many young players, and young players are notoriously easily affected by their mentality. No one can stop them when they play like crazy, but once they fall into anxiety or even adversity, their mentality will be affected and they will play more and more impatiently. This will not only fail to help the team, but will also lead to more mistakes and create opportunities for the opponents. In the 77th minute, Ajax players made mistakes in the attack and Inter Milan found an opportunity to counterattack. Inter Milan's counterattack was very fast. From Cambiasso's interception of the ball, to the pass to the wing, and then to the transition to the frontcourt, it only took a few passes for Inter Milan to spread the battle from the front of their own penalty area to the front of the opponent's penalty area. Although Cruz's shot was saved by the goalkeeper in the final moments, Inter Milan's quick counterattack still made the Ajax players sweat. The opponent's counterattack was too fast. No one stuck to the ball during the counterattack. They passed the ball forward as soon as they got it, leaving them no chance to return to defense. Is this the quality of counterattacks by top teams? Really scary! In order to launch a quick counterattack of this quality, in addition to the players' tacit cooperation with each other, they are also required to have strong personal abilities. The player with the ball needs to have a broad vision and superb footwork, find the correct passing route in the shortest time possible, and pass the ball to his teammates without any delay.
The players in the front court must have excellent running ability. If they cannot run into the open space, the passes from their teammates will be cleared by the defense and they will naturally not be able to pose a threat. It is not easy to achieve these two points, it requires top midfielders and top forwards. So even if everyone plays defensive counterattacks, there is a huge difference in the quality of counterattacks between ordinary teams and top teams. For most teams, they are not afraid of strong teams taking the initiative to attack, but they are afraid of them playing defensive counterattacks. With the quality of their counterattacks and the defensive capabilities of ordinary teams, this tactic is always effective and ordinary teams have no power to resist. Fortunately, the top clubs have to save their reputation. Although defensive counterattacks are practical, it is not pleasant to say it out loud. Except for a few coaches who are obsessed with the defensive counterattack tactic and want to use it against anyone, other head coaches usually play their tactics according to the opponent and will not use a rigid tactic to the end. But now for Ajax, even though both sides have made their cards clear, they have no choice. Attacking means death, defending also means death, so you might as well give it a try! …… Inter Milan took a corner kick, and Lin Feng slowly came to the corner area. Seeing Lin Feng appear in the corner area, the home team fans in the stands couldn't help but become nervous. It is said that all of Inter Milan's previous weird corner kick tactics came from this guy, and the free kick tactic that Inter Milan used to score a goal just now was scored by Lin Feng himself. This made Ajax fans very worried. They wondered what "big gift" this guy had prepared for them? They actually guessed right. Before the game, Lin Feng did prepare some corner kick tactics for this match. But Inter Milan was already in the lead at this time, and for confidentiality reasons, he did not intend to use it now. So this time Inter used the regular corner kick tactics, but the opponent didn't know this. They racked their brains to guess what strange corner kick tactics Inter might use, and finally focused their defense on the back point and the middle of the penalty area. As a result, because of this, Cruz at the front point easily grabbed the first landing point. After being unlucky for most of the half, Ajax finally seemed to have their luck turn around. Cruz headed the ball from 7 meters in front of the goal and it hit the crossbar. The ball bounced back and was caught by Cordoba on the left, but his header from 4 meters in front of the goal hit the crossbar again! The ball bounced out of the bottom line, and there were two stunned guys holding their heads in the Ajax penalty area.
The expressions on Cruz and Cordoba's faces were similar, both looked as if they had seen a ghost. The attack from such a close distance can hit the crossbar, and it hits the crossbar twice in a row. Is this the river? Inter seemed to have used up their luck and failed to score any more goals in the next ten minutes. But Ajax on the opposite side was not much behind. Although they tried very hard to attack, they still couldn't find the secret to scoring a goal. In the end, after ninety minutes of competition, the two sides ended the first round with a score of 2:3. This score is quite favorable for Inter Milan, and the initiative to advance is completely in their hands. As long as they don't make multiple fatal mistakes in the next round, it will be very safe for them to advance to the quarterfinals. Although Inter Milan won the victory without any trouble, the other two teams among the three Serie A giants that went out at the same time were not so lucky. AC Milan encountered resistance from the Bundesliga champion Bayern Munich in the round of 16. In the first round at the Allianz Arena, AC Milan was once suppressed by the Bundesliga champion. Ballack's long-range goal in the first half made AC Milan's situation even worse, but shortly after the start of the second half, Ismael handballed in the penalty area and gave AC Milan a penalty kick. Shevchenko scored in one fell swoop to equalize the score, and the score remained 1:1 until the end of the game. In the end, with a bit of luck, AC Milan not only escaped from the Allianz Arena unscathed, but also scored a valuable away goal. Ballack, the five-time runner-up, seems to be missing out on his first Champions League trophy. If Inter Milan's reversal and AC Milan's draw can be considered as taking the initiative to advance, then the situation on Juventus' side is not so good. Originally, when the draw for the round of 16 was made, Juventus had the best luck among the three major Serie A teams. In the round of 16, they drew the relatively weak Bundesliga team Werder Bremen. Before the game, the outside world generally predicted that Juventus would defeat their opponent by a large margin. However, the result was shocking. Juventus lost 2:3 to Bremen away from home. This was the second upset in this round of the Champions League after Liverpool lost 0:1 to Benfica. If Liverpool's one-goal loss was due to bad luck, then Juventus was completely defeated by their opponents technically. In the 39th minute of the first half, Bremen's top striker Klose's shot caused Buffon to lose the ball, and Schulz made a follow-up shot and scored, giving Werder Bremen a temporary lead of 1:0. But in the 73rd and 78th minutes of the second half, Juventus took advantage of the opponent's declining physical strength and launched a fierce attack. Within five minutes, Nedved and Trezeguet scored successively, reversing the score to 1:2. The consecutive goals boosted Juventus' morale, while their opponents' physical strength was almost exhausted. At this time, everyone felt that Juventus' victory was in their grasp! However, football is so magical. Just when everyone was optimistic about Juventus, Werder Bremen launched a desperate counterattack. In the 87th minute, Chen Tao took a tactical corner kick from the right side. This corner kick tactic was obviously learned from the tactics used by Lin Feng when Inter Milan played against Juventus. Borowski was lurking in the middle of the penalty area. When Chen Tao took the penalty kick, he suddenly shook off the person guarding him, went back to the back point, used the space created by his teammates moving forward, and headed the ball into the goal with a lion's head. In the second minute of injury time, Borowski created another corner kick from the right bottom line. Chen Tao once again stood in the corner kick area. Juventus learned their lesson this time and sent two players to mark Borowski. However, seeing that there were more teammates in the front, Chen Tao did not imitate Inter Milan's corner kick tactics and directly kicked the ball to the front point. Owomoyela headed the ball at a small angle 8 meters away from the goal. Piero, who was guarding the goal post, blocked the shot, but Miku made a quick shot from 2 meters in front of the goal and sent the ball into the goal again. The score became 3:2, Werder Bremen defeated the Serie A champion! Although this victory is not enough to ensure Werder Bremen's advancement to the quarterfinals, beating the Serie A giants at home is enough to make them crazy. After the game, the applause at the Weser Stadium lasted for a long time, and the Chinese player Chen Tao also became famous in this battle and attracted attention from many media.
The many key passes he made during the game and the two corner kicks he took in the final moments of the game can be said to have directly changed the outcome of the game. After the game, many European media rated Chen Tao as the second genius from China! This directly raises him to the same level as Lin Feng, and this evaluation can be said to be quite high. On the plane back to Italy, Lin Feng learned the results of other matches. When he learned that Chen Tao defeated Juventus by stealing his corner kick tactics, he was extremely shocked: Will the impact of my butterfly wings be too great? Having said that, he still immediately sent a congratulatory text message to Chen Tao and opened the National Youth Team's chat group. As expected, the group was very lively at the moment. Gao Lin: "Congratulations to Brother Chen for leading the team to the lore victory over Juventus. He is truly a role model for our generation! Applause, applause, applause!" Zhu Ting: "It was really amazing. I watched the entire game. I thought we were going to lose until the very end, but I didn't expect there would be such a shocking reversal!" Hao Junmin: "Nothing to say, just one word: Awesome!" Chen Tao was embarrassed by the praise and had to stand up and say: "Haha, it's not as exaggerated as you say. The main credit for winning this game is to my teammates. We also have to thank Lin Feng. If I hadn't learned the tactical corner kick from him, it's still unclear whether we could have defeated Juventus in the end!" Seeing that Chen Tao mentioned himself, Lin Feng also came out to join in the fun: "Brother Chen, I heard that you were named MVP of this game. Congratulations. Next time we meet Juventus, please help me beat them up. The harder the better. It would be best if we beat them until their morale collapses and they can't even kick a ball!" Chen Tao couldn't help but shook his head and laughed when he saw Lin Feng's words: "You think too highly of us. This victory was purely a fluke." Cui Peng: "Brother Chen, don't be so modest. Brother Lin is great, and you are great too. If it were us, we wouldn't be able to steal his skills even if we wanted to!" Zhao Xuri: "Haha, Xiao Cui, I'm not trying to discourage you. We don't even have the chance to play against Juventus, so there's no chance to steal their skills!" Cui Peng said dissatisfiedly, "Go away, Marseille's performance this season is not bad, and they may have a chance to fight for a place in the European Cup. But you, Zhao Ritian, how are you doing in Vienna? Have you played in any games?" Zhao Xuri made a smug expression: "Hehe, of course, I have already secured a rotation position, and the main position is probably not far away!" Cui Peng made a surprised expression: "So awesome? Brother, I was only promoted to an important substitute, and you are almost a main player. It's really frustrating to compare yourself with others!" Zhao Xuri: "I am two years older than you. How can an 18-year-old boy like you compare to a 20-year-old veteran like me?" It was the first time that Lin Feng saw someone who just turned 20 years old calling himself a veteran, and he couldn't help but smile. Cui Peng was really unhappy: "Tsk, you are only one year and five months older than me, don't act like an elephant, besides, Brother Lin is one year younger than me!" Zhao Xuri: "You also know that's Brother Lin. He's a rare genius that only appears once in a century. We, a bunch of useless people, shouldn't compare ourselves to a rough diamond like him!" Lin Feng made a speechless expression, ignored the two people's jokes, and continued chatting with Chen Tao: "Brother Chen, the next round will be at Juventus' home stadium. Do you still have the confidence to beat them and advance to the quarterfinals?" There are not many national youth team teammates still in the Champions League. Apart from himself, the rest are only Zhou Haibin's Eindhoven, Feng Xiaoting's Barcelona and Chen Tao's Werder Bremen. PSV Eindhoven met the French Ligue 1 champion Lyon. In the first round, they lost to Lyon, who had one player sent off, at their home ground. In the second round, they would probably be beaten to a pulp at the opponent's home ground. So there is basically no hope of advancing! Werder Bremen's situation was similar to that of Eindhoven, but they defeated Juventus in the first round, giving the outside world hope of their advancement.
Although there is a big gap in strength between them and Juventus, as long as they can draw in the next round, they can advance. By then, there will be three teams in the quarterfinals with Chinese players, and the probability of a Chinese derby between them will be greatly increased. Of course, the China Derby is just a gimmick created by the media. The main reason is that if the two sides meet, Lin Feng can take the opportunity to play with them. Although we have been studying abroad for more than half a year, we don’t have many opportunities to get together. Chen Tao: "It's very difficult. Although we won, the opponent scored two away goals. They only need to score one goal in the next game to advance!" The home score of 3:2 seemed like a win, but in fact the advantage was not that big. In this day and age, the value of away goals is simply too great. Lin Feng: "It doesn't matter, Juventus is not so invincible. Since they lost to us, their condition in recent rounds has not been very good. You have Klose in your team, as well as midfield masters like you and Miku, so you may have a chance to beat them!" Although the chances were slim, Lin Feng still cheered Chen Tao on and even took the initiative to analyze Juventus' weaknesses to him in the hope of helping them. He really doesn't like Juventus. Even if Chen Tao is not in Werder Bremen, Lin Feng hopes that Bremen can advance. Lin Feng has a good impression of this team and its players. Feng Xiaoting: "What's going on? What are you talking about? We were late for the game and didn't see the message you sent earlier!" When everyone was almost done talking, Feng Xiaoting suddenly appeared. Lin Feng asked casually: "Is your game over? Did you win?" Feng Xiaoting sent a crying emoji: "No, we lost, we lost to Chelsea!" Everyone slowly asked a question: How could the powerful Barcelona lose? Is this true? Aren’t people bragging that Barcelona is invincible? (End of this chapter)