Chapter 337: Honor

After the match against AC Milan, Sampdoria travelled to Ajax in midweek, and Di Francisco did not make any changes to his starting line-up, exactly like he did in the previous game against AC Milan.

This is a testament to the fact that he gave up the team's matches against Cagliari and Roma in order to prepare for the two games against AC Milan and Ajax.

Since Sampdoria did not fail to lose away to AC Milan, for some, if Sampdoria can lose the Champions League, it will be a bit of a relief to their wounded hearts.

So when Ajax scored Sampdoria in the 90th minute, they all jumped up and cheered for Ajax.

In their opinion, there is no doubt that this is the lore!

But four minutes later, Gao Zheng's long-range shot from outside the penalty area disappointed everyone who was waiting to see Sampdoria lose. It also disappointed Ajax's 50,000 home fans.

"Gao Zheng!! Once again, he saved the team in the final moments of the game! He Ping's excited voice echoed in the middle of the night. In the 93rd minute against Catania, in the last minute of stoppage time, his goal equalised the score. And now in the 94th minute of the game, also in the last minute of injury time, he equalized for the team again! ”

Caresa also praised: "High! He became Mr. Key in Sampdoria! A big heart, unparalleled composure and calmness, and last-minute consistency and precision! These qualities are the key reasons why Gao Zheng can always play God at the last moment! ”

Gao Zheng's goal completely plunged the packed Amsterdam Arena into the abyss of silence.

Ajax and Celtic share the same idea, that is, the only competitors to qualify from the group are each other, Barcelona will definitely not win, while Sampdoria they have not paid attention to it at all.

Coupled with the fact that this time it is home again, the three points are simply pre-booked, and the only suspense is how many goal difference Ajax can earn on Sampdoria to ensure that they have an advantage in the competition with Celtic at that time.

In fact, in the first round of the Champions League group stage, although they lost 0:4 to Barcelona, Ajax fans were still very happy to hear that Celtic lost to Sampdoria away.

After all, it is normal to lose to Barcelona away, and the three points against Barcelona were not in everyone's plan. But if they lose away to Sampdoria, they will lose three points that should have been securely earned.

Celtic have been at a disadvantage from the start in the battle with Ajax for the right to qualify.

In the second round of the group stage, Ajax will host Sampdoria, while Celtic will host Barcelona.

Everyone is at home, but it is difficult for Celtic to beat Barcelona at home, and there is a chance that they will still lose. As a result, Celtic lost two in a row.

Ajax hosted Sampdoria and the win was in place, with all three points in hand.

After two rounds of the group stage, Celtic have not scored a point and are at the bottom of the table.

Ajax beat Sampdoria and scored three points against the Italian team, but Ajax had the advantage and finished second in the group at the top of the group......

This is the route that Ajax fans have laid out for their team to qualify from the group.

But when the game actually started, everyone realized that Sampdoria was a tough nut to crack.

Sampdoria used defensive counter-attacking tactics in this game, and Ajax, who had the advantage of being at home, were unable to find the back of the net.

Coach Franco de Boer made various moves, and it was not until the 90th minute that Sampdoria finally opened the scoring.

At that time, the Amsterdam Arena was thunderous, and the live commentators of Dutch TV were shouting hoarsely, "Kill! "Every Ajax fan believes that their team will win in the end.

Although there is only one goal difference, it is good to win when it comes to this game, and the value of three points is far greater than the goal difference.

The Ajax players celebrated the goal for a full minute, and even when the game restarted, their minds didn't seem to come back to the game.

So when Gao Zheng shot at the edge of the penalty area, there was only one Ajax player in front of him, and he hadn't stepped up in time to press.

In the blink of an eye, the football shot by Gao Zheng plunged into the net.

The Amsterdam Stadium fell into a deathly silence, and it was hard to believe that the stadium was almost full with 51,000 fans at this moment.

Gao Zheng and his Sampdoria team-mates celebrated on Ajax turf as they dragged him to the ground and then stacked Arhats.

If red-and-white Ajax is the white polar world, then blue Sampdoria is the only water still flowing in this frozen continent.

Referee Elkeson didn't even give Ajax a chance to kick off again, blowing the full-time whistle as the Sampdoria players celebrated wildly.

In fact, when Gao Zheng scored, there were only ten seconds left before the end of injury time.

It's a real countdown lore.

"It's over!" He Ping excitedly raised his arms and shouted. "It's over! Sampdoria held Ajax to a last-minute draw away from home! They got a valuable point! At the same time, the other group game kick-off was also over, and Barcelona beat Celtic 1-0 thanks to Cesc Fabregas' goal in the 76th minute...... At this moment, Celtic is in the bottom with zero points in both games, Barcelona is at the top of the table with six points, Sampdoria is second with four points with Gao Zheng's goal, and Ajax is only one point and ranks third. After the group draw came out, in fact, few people were optimistic about Sampdoria's group qualification, but after two group games, everyone suddenly found that Sampdoria had hope of qualifying for the Champions League knockout round! What a bonus! ”

The Champions League group stage and the Champions League knockout stage are like two world matches, and everyone says that the Champions League is the most technical and tactical event in today's football, and it is also the highest level of football, beating the World Cup and the European Cup. Among them, the Champions League knockout stage is more exciting and intense than the Champions League group stage.

If Sampdoria can reach the knockout stage, for Chinese fans, there is obviously another reason to look forward to watching the Champions League knockout round.

For Gao Zheng, being able to perform well in the knockout round can attract the attention of more giants, lay a solid foundation for his future path, and most importantly, let Europe and even the world see our Gao Zheng's demeanor, which is something that every Chinese fan feels very excited to think about.

Caresa had a different view on the draw, from the perspective of Italian football: "The second round of the Champions League group stage is really not a lucky day for Italian teams. Juventus were held to a 2-2 draw at home by Galatasaray, you know, this is their home stadium! Napoli lost 2-0 away to Arsenal in the group stage after beating last year's runners-up Borussia Dortmund in the first round...... Sampdoria were also unable to win the game, resulting in the three Italian teams participating in the Champions League failing to win. But the situation is different. Juventus drew twice in a row to accumulate only two points, and they also dropped against the opponents who were most likely to pick up points in the group, and the qualification situation suddenly became uncertain. Now we are surprised to find that after two rounds of group stage, the most points are actually Sampdoria, who were previously recognized as the weakest! They finished second with four points after two group games, while Napoli only had three points, let alone Juventus...... Could it be that in the end, the responsibility of saving the dignity of Italian football will fall to Sampdoria, the weakest? ”

"Look at how Sampdoria played in the 90th minute, Juventus should be ashamed! After taking the lead in the 87th minute, they even equalized in a minute! Why can Sampdoria draw and Juventus draw? I think we should give Sampdoria more applause and respect, and less flattery to a team like Juventus! ”