Chapter 164 - 157: Fight to the Bitter End

In the morning, in Beg Park on the northern outskirts of Gelsenkirchen, Germany, Yang Yang began his daily morning workout.

For more than ten consecutive days, he had been struggling in the Super Training ground against Porto’s left-back, Nuno Valente, and the Portuguese Super League team’s iron-clad defense, but the results were far from satisfactory.

José Mourinho had built a team with outstanding defensive strength. Moreover, Porto’s players possessed a high level of tactical discipline, meticulously executing Mourinho’s instructions. This made their defense virtually impenetrable, especially in the Champions League knockout stages.

Sometimes, confidence is built one match at a time.

Both teams that reached this season’s Champions League final had underperformed in the group stage. Ajax advanced by the skin of their teeth, while Porto suffered a painful 3-1 home loss to Real Madrid. In the end, both qualified as group runners-up.

In the round of sixteen, both teams faced Premier League opponents. Ajax eliminated Arsenal, and Porto, not to be outdone, knocked out Ferguson’s Manchester United. Both results sent shockwaves through European Football.

In the quarterfinals, Ajax had worse luck, drawing Real Madrid, while Porto faced Lyon. The former pulled off an epic comeback, while the latter advanced without any major scares.

But the semifinals were the opposite. Ajax defeated Monaco safely, but Porto narrowly eliminated Deportivo La Coruña away from home. Both teams advanced to the final together.

Goalkeeper Baia, and the defensive line of Valente, Carvalho, Jorge Costa, and Paulo Ferreira. This was arguably the most unbreakable defense in European Football this season, and also the best-performing one in the Champions League.

But one defensive line was clearly not enough. Mourinho deployed a three-man defensive midfield of Maniche, Costinha, and Mendes. In front of the backline, these three midfielders formed another impenetrable defensive wall for Porto, acting as a second layer of security for their goal.

Porto’s midfield core was Deco. He was Brazilian, but not a typical Brazilian player. His style of play wasn’t flashy at all; instead, it was extremely practical. His skill was outstanding, and there were rumors that multiple teams, including Barcelona, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, and Chelsea, were trying to sign him.

As if cut from the same cloth, Porto’s forward line wasn’t particularly sharp, but it was incredibly mobile. The two strikers were like rangers up front, constantly sweeping the field. They pressed and pressured the opponent’s defense while also diligently tracking back to defend, plugging any holes that appeared.

The front, middle, and back lines were seamlessly integrated. Porto was like a curled-up hedgehog, leaving no opening to attack.

What was even more dangerous was that when you couldn’t break through and accidentally exposed a weakness, it would suddenly strike, pricking you all over.

Even Ajax’s head coach, Ronald Koeman, had to admit that this was a team with no obvious weaknesses.

Faced with such a team, there was generally only one way: a grueling battle of attrition.

Just as Ajax had to grind it out against Arsenal, they had to do the same against Porto. They had to forcefully chisel out an opening in a defense that had none, while simultaneously guarding against the opponent’s counter-attacks to avoid conceding.

Against a team like Porto, if you conceded first, the match was already half-lost.

...

Yang Yang juggled the ball, running and thinking as he went.

This was all information that assistant coach Luther Carroll had drilled into the players during a meeting the coaching staff had called as soon as the team arrived at their hotel in Gelsenkirchen the day before.

For the past ten-plus days, the Ajax players had been relentlessly studying Porto, analyzing the players they would be matched up against. It was no exaggeration to say that Ajax’s preparation was more meticulous than ever, but they still couldn’t find any obvious weaknesses in Porto.

Gelsenkirchen is in western Germany, very close to the Netherlands. Still, Ajax flew from Amsterdam to Germany two days early and borrowed Schalke 04’s training ground, a clear sign of how seriously the club was taking this match.

And when Yang Yang simulated Porto’s defense in the Super Training ground, he still lost more often than he won.

At this thought, Yang Yang grew frustrated. With a small shout, he booted the ball far ahead and sprinted after it at top speed. After catching up, he kicked it forward again and gave chase once more.

Yang Yang only stopped when he was completely out of breath.

For the better part of the last month, he had been doing three things in the Super Training ground: practicing against a simulation of Porto’s defense, continuing to polish the two Star Skills, [Ronaldo’s Rush] and [Beckham’s Crossing], and training [Bergkamp’s First Touch].

’How much I’ve really improved will have to be tested in the match.’ But one thing he knew for sure: the battle against Porto would be the toughest, and also the most important, match of his career so far.

He felt the same way as everyone else on the team. They had fought so hard to get to the Champions League final. With the Eredivisie title and the Dutch Cup already secured, they were just one Champions League trophy away from legendary status. No one was willing to give up easily.

Everyone on the team was prepared to fight to the death, just waiting for the match to begin.

The venue for the Champions League final, AufSchalke, was in the northern suburbs of Gelsenkirchen. The hotel Ajax was staying at, the Slousberg Hotel, was even further north, situated within Beg Park.

The hotel was surrounded by three lakes in a triangular formation, the largest of which was Lake Beg. There was a sports center and a tennis club nearby, and next to the hotel was a famous beer garden, but the entire hotel had now been booked out by Ajax.

As the hotel wasn’t large, it could only accommodate the first team and the coaching staff. Therefore, the players’ families had to stay in the city proper. The club made special arrangements for this to ensure the players could prepare for and play the match without any distractions.

As Yang Yang was returning to the hotel from the park, he happened to run into Luther Carroll.

The moment the assistant coach saw Yang Yang, he immediately guessed that he must have been out for his morning workout again.

"Good thing we’re in the suburbs with no Porto fans around, or you might not have made it back," Luther Carroll joked.

Yang Yang smiled. "If there really were Porto fans here, I wouldn’t have gone out."

The assistant coach laughed and told Yang Yang to hurry back, shower, and change. "We have a meeting after breakfast."

Yang Yang didn’t dare to dawdle. He returned to his room and saw Sneijder just getting out of bed. He greeted him and ducked straight into the shower.

Ajax’s management was very strict. For example, meals had to be eaten at a set time, and anyone who was late would be punished. Plus, there was another meeting after breakfast, which suggested the coaching staff had definitely come up with something new last night.

The first meeting after the team’s arrival yesterday had focused on analyzing the opponent with video footage. The footage included highlights from all of Porto’s UEFA Champions League matches this season, with each clip carefully selected by the coaching staff as being most representative of Porto.

Today’s meeting, however, was mainly about setting out the match strategy.

There was also a training session in the afternoon, and the coaching staff would plan specific drills for it based on the strategy laid out in this morning’s tactical meeting. So, this morning meeting was very important.

Having played this far into the season, both sides had pretty much shown all their cards. There were no secrets between them. The most important thing was how each side would play their hand and how they would react.

Ronald Koeman believed that Porto would definitely play a defensive, counter-attacking game. This was both an opportunity and a challenge for Ajax. If they could seize the chance to score first, Porto would be forced to push forward and attack. Then, Ajax could use a defensive, counter-attacking strategy against them.

For Ajax, this was absolutely the ideal scenario.

The worst-case scenario would be Ajax failing to score after a prolonged attack, making a serious mistake, and getting scored on by a Porto counter-attack. At that point, Porto’s defensive counter-attacks would become even more resolute, and Ajax’s situation would become even more difficult.

Of course, there was another possibility: both sides could play conservatively, with neither taking risks nor giving the opponent an opening. In that case, it would all come down to the players’ on-field performance.

As the saying goes, big finals rarely make for exciting games. Last year’s Champions League final was a clash between two Serie A teams, and it ended 0-0 after 120 minutes. On one hand, you could say both teams had strong, specific tactics and high tactical discipline. On the other, you could say both were extremely conservative, prioritizing not taking risks and not making mistakes.

Mourinho’s Porto would surely do the same. Their defense and midfield were stronger than Ajax’s, but their attack was weaker. Mourinho would definitely position his team to avoid mistakes and concessions, even if it meant dragging the match into extra time and a penalty shootout.

Ajax’s biggest problem was that their players were too young. Ronald Koeman and Van Gaal were both very worried that the players would be too rash during the match, making unforced errors and giving the opponent an opening. That could be fatal.

Therefore, in the pre-match meeting, the point the coaching staff emphasized the most was that their mentality had to be steady.

"During the match, anything can happen. We might score first, but that’s not enough reason for us to get complacent. We might also concede first, but there’s no need for us to be discouraged, because it’s not like we haven’t been behind before. We’ve equalized and mounted comebacks time and time again. We have that strength."

At the end of the meeting, Ronald Koeman was still repeatedly reminding the players to maintain a stable mentality.

"In my career, I’ve played in three Champions League finals. The first was at Eindhoven. We were facing Benfica from the Portuguese Super League. The result was a zero-zero draw, and we won on penalties. That time, we relied on our impenetrable defense and our tough, unyielding will."

"The second time I reached the Champions League final was with Barcelona. We faced Sampdoria from Serie A. It was an incredibly difficult match. That was the peak era of the Seven Sisters of Serie A, so you can imagine how solid their defense was. During the game, both sides had golden opportunities but failed to convert them. In the end, we scored the winning goal in extra time."

"The last time, the one you all know well, we faced Capello’s AC Milan in the final, and we lost zero to four. The main reason for that match was that our mentality was completely off-balance, which is why we suffered such a crushing defeat."

Ronald Koeman used his own personal experience to remind every player in the meeting room.