Chapter 317: Champions Cup Final (8)
Ajax launched a frantic attack after the restart, while Fiorentina began to shrink their defence, but their front trident did not choose to defend back, but kept cruising around Ajax's backline, like a sword ready to unsheath, ready to give Ajax a fatal blow at any time.
It is precisely because of the threat of these three forwards that Ajax launched a fierce attack in the subsequent time, but several players in the back line did not dare to take a step beyond the thunder pool - what are you kidding, there were only three defenders on Ajax's side, and it was barely okay if they were to mark people, if one more was sent to participate in the attack, in case Fiorentina broke the ball and counterattacked with a long pass, it would be three against two in the front......
However, despite the fact that the backline is not very safe and the tactics on their side are more like drinking to quench their thirst, the Ajax players have no choice but to keep attacking at this time. After all, they are now behind the score, and if they don't find a way to equalize as soon as possible and play defensive counterattacks like they did in the first half, with the level of undisciplined behavior that these Italian teams have always shown, they may really watch their own stupid defense until the end of the game.
The Ajax players did not dare to bet on this possibility, after all, there is only one final of the European Champions Cup, and a loss is a loss, and there is no room for a comeback.
Littmannen received a pass from Collini to break straight through the middle, but was unceremoniously brought down by Effenberg, and the Finn didn't even have room to counter-attack...... After all, the Germans are much stronger physically than him.
Ajax won a set-piece in front of Collini, only to have the ball hit the wall and Ronald de Boer, who was on his heel, fired a long-range shot at the ball that flew straight into the anti-aircraft gun.
Three minutes later, Ovemas broke through Lanna's defence on the right and played the ball near the baseline, but Toldo stepped in time to get the ball away before Inzaghi Jr., who was following up in the middle, and Ajax's attack was again flawless.
In the 59th minute, Van Bronckorst crossed from the bottom, and Toldo once again grabbed the ball in the air - after the start of the second half, Fiorentina began to strengthen the wing defense, making it quite difficult for Ajax's wings to fly, the cross was either pushed out by Fiorentina's two central defenders or won by Toldo, who has an absolute advantage in height, and the ground cross is even more difficult, after all, Ferrara and Nesta are not top-heavy defenders, on the contrary, they are more experienced in dealing with ground balls.
However, no matter how difficult it is, the Ajax players can only continue to attack like this until they break through the door of Fiorentina, or they are extended by Fiorentina through counter-attacks - who is the one who makes the score behind now and not Fiorentina?
After attacking for a long time but not being able to equalize, the mentality of the Ajax players gradually changed somewhat, and the high morale began to gradually decline, in response to the old saying: one drum, then decline, three and exhaustion, the time for the highest morale of Ajax has passed, and no matter how hard they are encouraged, it is difficult for them to return to their previous mentality.
And the Fiorentina players immediately keenly seized this point in time and launched a ferocious counterattack!
In the 61st minute, Ronaldo beat Van Bronckhorst and Frank de Boer in quick succession on the counter-attack, and then took a shot from the edge of the box and the ball grazed the post and flew off the line.
In the 64th minute, Djokaeff burst into the box after a beautiful ball on the left flank to get rid of Bogard's defence, but Blind stepped in in time to clear the ball before the Frenchman could get hold of it.
In the 67th minute, Bogard was a little hesitant to get the ball at the edge of the penalty area, but Batistuta stretched out his foot to cut off the ball, and after bursting into the penalty area with the ball, Batty volleyed under the interference of Blind, and the ball was saved by Van der Sar.
After Fiorentina seized the opportunity to play several attacks in a row and almost scored, the Ajax players temporarily stabilized their position under the loud shouts of captain Blind and continued to attack from the midfield.
However, as mentioned before, their momentum to continue to suppress their opponents with continuous attacks is tantamount to using the mantis arm as a car, and if they continue to do so, they will only be torn to pieces by Fiorentina's counterattack.
Van Gaal, who was standing on the sidelines, knew this very well, but he didn't have much to do to deal with it, after all, it was Fiorentina who was in the lead, and he had no choice but to try to equalise with a desperate attack.
After all, the current Ajax team is still too fragile, fragile
The opportunity for Florence was not long in coming.
In the 82nd minute, Collini had just received the ball near the centre circle and was going to observe the position of the Fiorentina players.
However, at this time, he made a mistake that was not wrong, and that was that he stopped the ball and observed the opponent's position.
In this era when defensive midfielders were not yet popular, the general team was not particularly fierce in pressing near the center circle, so many playmaking midfielders had the habit of stopping the ball and then observing the position of the opponent's players, so Collini's approach is understandable.
Unfortunately, Ajax's opponents in this game are an alternative and they will not waste any opportunity to break the ball and counter-attack, even if you have the ball in the centre circle......
So Collini, who had just stopped, was immediately blocked by Davis and Effenberg, and behind him, there was a Djokaeff eyeing him on the side, under such a three-person attack, it was impossible for Collini to speed up even if he wanted to, and there was no way to find a line that could get out of the ball in an instant, so he could only choose to control the ball in place.
However, there is a limit to this kind of ball control, and after Collini dodged a few tackles on the spot, the ball was finally broken by Davies's outstretched foot!
After the break, Davies immediately passed the ball to Effenberg on the other side, and he was able to avoid Collini's on-the-spot counter-attack, and the German sent a beautiful through ball directly in front of Ronaldo!
"Ronaldo has the ball! Fiorentina's counterattack! Rao shouted excitedly.
Ronaldo sprinted with the ball, looked at the Ajax backline in front of him who didn't know how many times he had passed in this game, and accelerated and broke through Frank de Boer who was defending him from the front!
After breaking through De Boer's defense, the alien took the opportunity to enter the penalty area, and then shot directly on the run before Van der Sar attacked!
Van der Sar made a save, but the ball was too fast and flew under his armpit and into the gate behind him!
Two to zero! Fiorentina extend their lead! One step closer to the first European Champions Cup trophy in the team's history!