Valedos Stadium.

Celta's home turf.

The stadium, which can accommodate more than 30,000 people, is lit up at night and the stands are packed.

The familiar Champions League theme song echoed through the stadium.

Celta and Ajax's starters stood in a row for the opening ceremony, and the 22 players looked stern, and the atmosphere of the big game was getting stronger and stronger.

"The fifth round of the 2003-2004 UEFA Champions League group stage is about to begin, today we came to the Valedos Stadium in Vigo, Spain, Celta sit at home against the Dutch team Ajax, both teams are not good in the Champions League this season, Celta is the first time in history to participate in the Champions League, in the first four games, they have won 3 draws and 1 loss, Ajax is 1 win and 3 losses, the two teams have 3 points, considering that Brugge in the same group has 8 points, AC Milan also has 7 points, and the record is stronger than Ajax, which leads to this game, Celta and Ajax, whoever loses, who will be eliminated early! If it's a draw, Ajax will also be eliminated!

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

Celta started 343.

Goalkeeper: Caballero.

Defenders: Contras, Sergio, Juanfrán.

Midfielders: Velasco, Lucin, Berizzo, Silvinho.

Forwards: Edu, Katanha, Hesuli.

Ajax started 433.

Goalkeeper: Lobonte.

Defenders: Grigra, Heitinga, Escude, Maxwell.

Midfielders: De Jong, Qin Xiong, Pinal.

Forwards: Van der Vaart, Ibrahimovic, Sneijder.

Well, the opening ceremony of the Champions League match has been completed, the players on both sides are standing in formation and ready to kick off, and with the referee's whistle, this Group H battle of life and death has begun! ”

Coach Koeman is confident, he lost to Carlo Ancelotti, that is, the skills are not as good as others, there is nothing unconvinced.

But when he came to the away game, he faced Celta coach Lotina again, and he was full of confidence.

Celta's strength on paper, in fact, is obvious to all, not top-notch, but strong enough, but their lack of European experience, as evidenced by the last game in Amsterdam and the line-up of the opposing coach Lotina.

There is no way back for Ajax and if they can't win, they will be eliminated.

In such a situation, Ajax will definitely attack when they come to the away road.

Celta put on such an aggressive formation, 343.

Although the situation in front of Celta is similar, if they can't win, the probability of being eliminated is very high, but they have the home advantage, coupled with the pride of Ajax's position in football, there is no need for Celta to be so aggressive!

That's fine, Celta wants to play against the attack, Ajax can't ask for it, Koeman thought.

At the beginning of the game, Qin Xiong was engrossed in the game, and Celta accelerated the pace from the beginning, and the attack was like a gallop.

They play on the wings.

The two wide combinations of Silvinho Jesuli and Velasco Edu repeatedly attacked Ajax's wide defence, with Lucín deploying in the middle.

Sneijder and Van der Vaart were less visible in the back-to-back role, giving Celta a huge advantage in the opening flanks, always moving from the flanks to the middle.

Ajax is playing away, and it is slow to enter the state, Qin Xiong retreated more at the beginning of the game to focus more on defense, the opponent attacked wildly, he didn't mind, and even the more the opponent played like this, Ajax had a better chance.

Heitinga is in trouble, due to the large number of attacking players on the opposing side, the work of preventing internal cutting, it is not enough to rely on Qin Xiong and De Jong, if he joins forces with Escud to block the opponent's striker Katanha, it will be down, but Celta's three forwards, Edu, Katanha, and Hesuli, all have good ball control ability, and if the one-on-one defense cannot be perfect, there must be teammates to assist in the defense, because of this, Escude's attention will be distracted, and the work of defending Katanha mainly falls on Heitinga.

This is not subject to Heitinga's will, because the area of Katanha's main activity, such as against Heitinga, is obviously bullying him young!

Not at all like a Brazilian striker, he has a nickname called "Hairy Crab", and he has the highest number of fouls in the team all year round, which can be called "full of evil", and his most heinous evil deeds are cutting off the leg of Barcelona's French goalkeeper Duteroel, while knocking Swedish defender Andersson into shock in the scramble for a header!

From the very beginning of the game, Katanha provoked Heitinga, consciously or unconsciously, brutally colliding in the scramble for chances and seemingly recklessly entanglement after losing possession, which angered Heitinga bit by bit.

In the 3rd minute of the game, Hesuli crossed 45 degrees on the side, and Katanha beat Heitinga in a header scramble, but the two were evenly matched, Katanha's header was almost the same as clearing, but after landing, Heitinga fell to the ground, and Katanha "inadvertently" kicked Heitinga's arm.

This made Heitinga immediately get up and confront him!

The referee blew a halt to the game, ran over to separate the two, and gave both men a warning.

In the 7th minute, after figuring out the opponent's offensive routine and offensive and defensive rhythm, Qin Xiong began to show his skills.

He made a triangular pass with Maxwell and Pienaar, and then quickly dribbled through the half, in the opposing midfield combination, Berizzo was mainly responsible for defense, Luzin was both offensive and defensive, Qin Xiong dribbled in front of Lusing, and handed the ball to Pinal with a horizontal pass.

He and Pienal have a parallel cross-position movement, in the process, Qin Xiong diagonally inserted the gap between Berizzo and Lucin, and Pienal passed the ball to Qin Xiong, and the two joined forces to break through the opponent's midfield defense!

The opponent has a back three, and the space for a frontal breakthrough is naturally narrow, because the lateral defensive area has been reduced a lot.

Qin Xiong dribbled the ball to the right side in front of the penalty area, and when Juanfran moved a step towards him, Qin Xiong immediately sent a penetrating through ball.

Van der Vaart, who was in an offside position from Juanfran side, went straight into the penalty area!

Half a single knife!

Ibrahimovic in the middle shook off Sergio with a nimble running position and came to the receiving space.

Ibrahimovic is sure that if Van der Vaart passes the ball, he will score the goal!

However, Van der Vaart fired a left-footed shot straight at goal, hoping to blast the ball into the near corner!

In the 02 World Cup, Argentina's international Caballero blocked the ball from the near post with his body, Van der Vaart's shot was so powerful that he couldn't react at all with his hands, but his body blocked the goal!

Van der Vaart hugged his head in regret, and Ibrahimovic complained with his hands, but Van der Vaart did not look at him.

Inside the Stadium in Valedos, Celta fans applauded Caballero's watch.

Qin Xiong frowned slightly.

He doesn't really care about the individual stats of the game.

So he passed the ball to Van der Vaart and didn't care if he could get a direct assist.

He thinks the better chance just now was, of course, Ibrahimovic who had a chance in the middle of goal with Van der Vaart crossing the ball in front of goal.

He was ready to attack from a corner kick and he didn't feel at ease anymore, and it was not uncommon to miss one or two chances in the game.

Celta's formation and playing style today, if there is no change in playing like this, Qin Xiong believes that Ajax will get a lot of offensive opportunities.

The opponent's three defenders, as long as the midfield line defense is broken, the three defenders will definitely not be able to prevent Ajax's winger from cutting inside!

Five minutes later, Edu broke down the right flank and was cut off by Maxwell, and Ajax launched a fast attack.

After the ball reached Qin Xiong's feet, he immediately dribbled through the half, Velasco rushed over to intercept, Qin Xiong's footsteps paused, Velasco also followed the body to pause, but after Qin Xiong accelerated again, Velasco obviously couldn't keep up, and the rhythm change in the dribbling was Qin Xiong's favorite use.

Coming to the front, Lucin and Berizzo learned their lesson and defended the middle in front of the penalty area.

However, Qin Xiong suddenly went to the side with the ball in their surprised gaze, and Sneijder cut horizontally into the middle to form a disturbance.

After Qin Xiong arrived on the left side in front of the penalty area, he crossed the ball to Ibrahimovic, who retreated slightly.

After passing the ball, when Celta's right central defender Contras looked in the direction of the football, Qin Xiong's eyes swam around him coldly, ready to explode at any time!

Ibrahimovic received a pass in the middle, Van der Vaart on the right and Qin Xiong on the left both set their eyes on Ibrahimovic, waiting for him, and sent a pass, a simple diagonal straight stopper, left and right, any side!

However, Ibrahimovic took a step sideways on the spot and shot directly with his feet!

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