super storm

Chapter 1425 Oligarch Era
Real Madrid beat Naples five-to-one away. The next day, the media around the world were scrambling to report the Champions League knockout match.

This year's UEFA Champions League round of [-] knockout rounds was full of surprises and exciting.

A week ago, Paris Saint-Germain beat Barcelona [-]-[-] at home, breaking out the number one upset in the UEFA Champions League this season, which shocked the media and fans all over the world. Benfica also played at home and beat Dortmund [-]-[-], which is also considered a big upset.

The Bumblebee, who performed poorly in the Bundesliga this season, also did not show good results after entering the Champions League knockout round.

In contrast, Manchester City's [-]-[-] home victory over Monaco seems relatively normal.

By the way, the French teenager Mbappe, whom Real Madrid is closely watching, started this game and played for 10 minutes. He contributed a key goal for Monaco and helped the French team reverse Manchester City [-]-[-] in the first half. Unfortunately, Manchester City adjusted in the second half, scored consecutive goals, and finally defeated the opponent [-]-[-].

But Mbappe's performance has been unanimously recognized by the outside world. Compared with Dortmund teenager Dembele's sluggishness, Mbappe has received more appreciation and affirmation. After all, the gold content of the Champions League knockout is still quite high.

Now, a week later, Real Madrid beat Naples [-]-[-] in an away game. It can basically be said that they have advanced to the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The media all over the world are shocked by Real Madrid's dominance, especially in the second half of the game. Real Madrid almost completely suppressed Naples.

The adjustments made by Yang Yang and Zidane during the intermission are regarded as the key factors for the reversal of the game. Even Naples coach Sarri said in the post-match press conference that the team played extremely passively in the second half.

"Facing Real Madrid, we have nothing to do." The Naples coach frankly said he was frustrated.

If Real Madrid's victory over Naples is surprising, then Bayern Munich's [-]-[-] victory over Arsenal at home is also shocking, because no one expected that the originally expected peak matchup turned into a one-sided massacre, especially the defeat of the Gunners.

Just like Real Madrid slaughtered Naples, Bayern Munich played Arsenal one to one in the first half, but in the second half Bayern Munich relied on Tiago's brace, Lewandowski and Thomas Muller's goals, and finally beat Arsenal [-]-[-].

Coincidentally, Atletico Madrid defeated Leverkusen [-]-[-] away and basically advanced to the quarterfinals.

The next day after the game, all the major media around the world were scrambling to report on these games. Everyone basically believed that Real Madrid’s [-]-[-] away game against Naples was the most difficult, and the promotion was already a certainty.

L’Equipe also made an in-depth analysis of several games in the UEFA Champions League knockout round this season, including Paris Saint-Germain’s [-]-[-] win over Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid’s [-]-[-] win over Naples, and Bayern Munich’s [-]-[-] win over Arsenal. These major victories aroused their interest, and a special topic was made.

At the end of the topic, L’Equipe came to a consensus, that is, European football is ushering in the era of oligarchy, the stronger the stronger, the weaker the weaker, and among the top giants that were expected to be high, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are still leading, while Barcelona is starting to fall behind.

The Catalan media also criticized Barcelona's performance after Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid won their opponents successively.

It is also an away game, although Barcelona is facing Paris Saint-Germain, but Real Madrid is facing Naples, and Atletico Madrid is facing Leverkusen.
An away loss is not terrible. What is terrible is that they lost [-]-[-] without even a single away goal. How can Barcelona turn the situation around when they return to home?
Even the most die-hard Barcelona fans believe that after returning to Camp Nou, the possibility of Barcelona reversing Paris Saint-Germain is almost zero, and many people even worry that Barcelona may suffer another humiliating defeat at home.

On the other hand, Real Madrid, whether it is the French newspaper L'Equipe or the Catalan media, have to admit that the Galactico is still a champion, and it is still the most competitive top team in European football.

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While Real Madrid are advancing side by side in the Champions League and La Liga, Ajax also ushered in a breakthrough in the Europa League.

This team, which is already five points behind Feyenoord in the Eredivisie, is very difficult to hit the Eredivisie championship in the current situation. However, in the Europa League, Ajax relied on Wilheffer's goal. A narrow home victory over Poland's Legia Warsaw [-]-[-].

Throughout the game, Ajax had a ball possession rate of 60.00%. The advantage in pass and possession was obvious. All statistics were better than Legia Warsaw. In the first leg away game with a [-]-[-] draw with their opponents, Ajax won a small victory at home and successfully advanced to the top [-] of the Europa League.

This is not bad news for Ajax, which has suffered repeated setbacks in European wars in recent years.

But what really satisfied Yang Yang and Van Gaal was that Peter Boss' team finally stabilized their defense. In the past seven games, they have not conceded a single goal. This is a very rare statistic, especially for Ajax, which advocates offensive football.

Van Gaal had a phone call with Yang Yang immediately after the game. Since the Europa League match was one day later than the Champions League knockout match, Yang Yang watched the match at home. Both of them were satisfied with the team's current transformation on the phone.

Verheffer was the best player in this game and the key to Ajax's victory. He can play as left back and left center back, and his partner is Davidson Sanchez from Colombia.

The 20-year-old Colombian central defender was transferred to Ajax from Colombia's strong national team Athletic last summer. He is part of Ajax's younger lineup, but he is different from Ajax's past central defenders.

Sanchez, who is 1.8 meters [-] in height, is not very capable of playing the ball, but his air defense ability is very good. Physical confrontation is his advantage, which makes him quickly become a strong point of Ajax's defense line, and he quickly established himself as the main force and performed well.

It is precisely because of Davidson Sanchez, Verheffer, and the young player De Ligt who has gradually emerged in the first team since the second half of the season, Ajax's central defender position has begun to stabilize.

Everyone knows that the four-three-three tactic is Ajax's tradition, and the single midfielder is in the same line. However, in the past, Ajax's defense line had many problems, which led to the use of double midfielders in the midfield.

Well now, Davidson Sanchez is firmly established as the main force, Wilheffer and De Ligt are beginning to emerge, the defense is stable, and the midfield has become more courageous.

With Schone in the midfielder, Klaassen and others can invest more in organization and offense.

It can be said that Ajax has really developed a stable style of play so far, and the next step is to see how far this set of play can lead the team, and what kind of level this group of players can play.

Both Yang Yang and Van Gaal are very clear that Klaassen has performed so well this season and refuses to renew his contract with the team. It is estimated that he will leave the team this summer. Although there are young players such as Ndombele, Van der Beek and Frankie de Jong in the team, they are still relatively young to replace Klaassen.

"I'm thinking, if it goes well, the team has the strength to enter the quarter-finals of the Europa League, but if we want to enter the semi-finals, I guess we need a little luck." Van Gaal said with some sighs.

The current fans have a high vision and focus on the Champions League, but they don’t know that after the reform of the Europa League last season, the Europa League champions can directly enter the Champions League group stage.

In the current Europa League, there are teams from the five major leagues including Premier League Manchester United, Bundesliga Schalke [-] and Borussia Mönchengladbach, Serie A Roma, La Liga Celta Vigo, and Ligue [-] Lyon, not to mention Copenhagen, Olympiakos, Besiktas, Anderlecht and other European prestigious Champions League teams.

Van Gaal assessed that the team has the strength of the Europa League quarter-finals. This is already a very good improvement, and it also proves that the team's changes in the past year have been effective, especially in the case of vigorously promoting the youth reform.

As for, if you want to go further, it is purely fate.

Sometimes, the knockout game also requires some luck and the state of the team at that time.

"This is a good start. The technical team still needs to seize the time to analyze and summarize the team's experience and lessons this season. We need to further improve the team's strength this summer. We must at least keep the top two in the league. Next season, we must strive to reach the Champions League group stage. This is our most important top priority." Yang Yang said.

Hitting the Champions League is not just fame for Ajax, but also a huge benefit.

Not only the game rewards from UEFA, and the attractive broadcast share, but also the increase in the value of players after playing in the Champions League. It can be said that in European football, only players who have experienced the baptism of the Champions League are eligible to sell at high prices.

Ajax must make a living by selling people, and playing in the Champions League is very important.

Van Gaal also agrees with Yang Yang's judgment that building a strong team does not happen overnight, especially for a team like Ajax, which has no financial resources and cannot recruit, so it can only rely on accumulation step by step.

If they can reach the quarter-finals of the Europa League this season and build on this foundation next season, laying a solid foundation and improving the team's strength, then it is not impossible to enter the UEFA Champions League group stage.

Of course, the premise is that things can really change as smoothly as outlined by Yang Yang and Van Gaal.

(End of this chapter)