"Bergkamp go home!"

"Who's going to stop Henry?"

"Patrick Vieira will test the Ajax midfielder!"

"Who will be the king of the showdown between beautiful football and offensive football?"

The day before the Champions League match, Dutch sports television was flooded with reports on Arsenal.

Including an astonishing 26-game unbeaten run against Arsenal in the Premier League this season!

Arsenal haven't lost a single game in the league.

Meanwhile, Arsenal's golden left flank is a megatron, with the left-wing combination of Ashley Cole, Pire, Thierry Henry spooking the Dutch football media.

There is also the duo of Patrick Vieira and Gilberto Silva, which is one of the best in the world.

The young Ajax, who are unstoppable in their home league, will undoubtedly be a tough game against the mature and powerful Premier League giants.

Qin Xiong and his teammates will see these reports in the gym, is there any pressure?

No! There is motivation and excitement, excitement that makes people tremble!

If Arsenal are not strong, they will be disappointed.

There's no need to sweat so hard after the winter break, waiting for the upcoming battle!

In his pre-Champions League press conference, a mild-mannered Arsene Wenger complimented Ajax, praised Ajax's quality and insisted that Ajax were the toughest of the drawees, in response to mainstream media claims that Arsenal had been drawn.

Koeman also looked extremely low-key, claiming that Arsenal are difficult to deal with, and Ajax must pay more and more than the other side if they want to advance!

Although the Dutch media believe that Ajax should take advantage of home advantage and build up a first-leg advantage, Koeman did not deliberately emphasise this in his pre-match speech.

Because he knows very well that in the Champions League knockout round, 180 minutes for two legs, or even 210 minutes plus a penalty shootout, the most important point in the competition is mentality!

Whoever is out of balance in mentality will be in an extremely passive situation.

In the face of such a big war, the first thing is to be calm.

Be fully aware of the reality and don't be swayed by external factors.

That's right, Ajax had home advantage in the first leg and the next leg to Highbury will be even tougher.

But can you play aggressively at home in the first leg?

No way!

Absolutely not!

Koeman has not studied Arsenal a lot, and Arsenal's so-called beautiful football only exists in England.

It is because of the overall style of English football that Arsenal's football style is more beautiful.

This does not mean that Arsenal are playing attacking football, and there is no equivalence between attacking football and beautiful football.

Arsenal has abandoned the traditional British style of long-pass rushing and hanging attack, and instead takes the ground pass, but tactically, it is still the mainstream of stable counterattacks, and in counterattacks, they have more space to give full play to their players' passing and cutting positions and speed impact advantages.

If Ajax rashly presses the whole army, for Arsenal, this is right in the middle!

On the evening of February 25th.

Ajax and Arsenal arrived as scheduled at the Amsterdam Athletic Stadium for the pinnacle battle.

When the players of the two teams warmed up in earnest, there were already fans who entered in advance and began to cheer for the team in the stands.

Qin Xiong, who was extremely serious, was about to go back to the locker room after the warm-up, and saw that in the stands, there were old fans who missed the old and waved banners to welcome Bergkamp home!

The 35-year-old veteran Bergkamp is still the main player in the Arsenal team, he is famous, in European football, there is a saying, in today's increasingly utilitarian era of football, the only great masters of art football remain, if you want to appreciate art football, either go to the Bernabeu and watch Zidane play, or go to Highbury and watch Bergkamp play.

This statement has changed recently, and one more person can go to Camp Nou and watch Ronaldinho play.

Either way, it's a testament to Bergkamp's style of play and his place in the hearts of the fans, and it's not about honor.

Qin Xiong put on his sneakers again in the locker room, sorted out his jersey, and stood up energetically, captain Van der Vaart walked in front of each teammate, stretched out his hand, and shook his hand with everyone's expressions, teammates were cheering each other with silent expressions and actions.

Koeman left early after the lecture, just as he has been letting the players relax and face the game with a calm mind in recent times, and he naturally does not want to put too much pressure on the players at this time before the game.

Qin Xiong walked to the door of the locker room, and the other teammates also stood up one after another, and everyone was ready to leave the locker room.

Qin Xiong lowered his head slightly, took a deep breath, raised his head and opened his eyes, his energy was vibrant, and there was an obvious scorching battle flame burning in his eyes.

The Ajax generals, who looked the same as him, did not urge Qin Xiong, and after Qin Xiong reached out to open the door of the locker room, they heard a sound from the players' tunnel, which was the enthusiastic noise in the stadium.

It was the sound of a horn coming from the atmosphere of the battlefield.

They walked out of the dressing room with their heads held high, and without saying a word, they stood in front of the front of the tunnel exit, looking attentive and not glancing at the opponents around them.

The Arsenal crowd is lined up.

The Gunners, who had received great praise in England, had someone looking at Ajax and scrutinizing them, and it was Vieira, who was like a king of the jungle, looking at his prey.

Henry, the biggest name, stood in the front row, he just glanced at Ajax lightly, and then retracted his gaze, the king of guns who was outstanding on the field, as cold as a killer, and his usual attitude was tepid, maybe when he arrived on the field, he would burst out with a sudden and shocking killing machine!

The referee looked at the time, confirmed that the starters of both teams were available, and then entered the field with his fellow referees.

When the two teams stepped into the stadium, the cheers erupted from the entire stadium to deafening.

Walking into the stadium, standing in a horizontal line, the melodious and high-pitched Champions League theme song echoed in the stadium, Qin Xiong looked up slightly, his face was solemn, at this moment, he received the attention, he couldn't imagine.

In addition to the attention of European fans in the Champions League, there are also Chinese fans in China, even if not Ajax and Arsenal fans, who are closely watching him through the broadcast of Guò Sports TV.

While he stood on this battlefield, on the highest stage in Europe, he probably didn't even realize that a flag was quietly rising behind him.

Countless Chinese fans regard him as the flag-bearer of Chinese football! High hopes for him!

"The first leg of the 2003-2004 Champions League 1/8 finals kicked off, today we came to the Amsterdam Athletic Stadium, sitting at home Ajax encountered the giants from England Arsenal, both teams have an exceptionally good record in the league, Ajax only lost one game in 22 rounds of the league, Arsenal created an astonishing 26 rounds of unbeaten, in the English top league, Arsenal is hard to find, but Arsenal is still inferior to Ajax compared to the glory of the Champions League history, to this day, Arsenal, a century-old giant, has never touched the Champions League trophy, while Ajax not only has four Champions League trophies, but also has created a great cause of three consecutive championships. Now is different from the past, since the Bosman law, Ajax's competitiveness in the top European stage has deteriorated, Arsenal has made a new leap after Wenger took over, they challenge the Red Devils' supremacy in the Premier League, and also seek a new breakthrough in the Champions League, now, Arsenal's overall strength is stronger than Ajax, Ajax is talented, but after all, it is too young, but football is played, and anything can happen.

Here's a look at the starting line-ups and rosters for both sides.

Ajax 433.

Goalkeeper: Lobonte.

Defenders: Grigra, Heitinga, Escude, Maxwell.

Midfielders: Galasek, Qin Xiong, Pinal.

Forwards: Van der Vaart, Ibrahimovic, Sneijder.

Arsenal started 442.

Goalkeeper: Lehmann.

Defenders: Lauren, Campbell, Toure, Ashley Cole.

Midfielders: Ljungberg, Vieira, Silva, Pire.

Forwards: Bergkamp, Thierry Henry.

Well, with the referee's whistle, the first leg of the Champions League 1/8 knockout round kicked off, and Arsenal took the lead! ”

When Arsenal kicked off, Henry played the ball back, he ran forward, Vieira passed the ball back to Henry, who turned with the ball and moved like a rabbit.

Qin Xiong pointed to the position behind his middle to signal Pinar to return to the defense to fill the position, and at the same time assisted in the defense of the side, he and Henry, who rushed forward with the ball, were about to meet!

The war between Ajax and Arsenal has begun! R1152