Chapter 247 240: Internal Troubles and External Threats

Late November brought the first chill of winter to Turin in northern Italy.

Riding a hot streak of six straight wins in the Eredivisie and two in the Champions League, Ajax traveled south from the cold of Amsterdam, looking to sweep through Turin City with their momentum.

But when the Austrian referee, Konrad Plautz, blew the final whistle after ninety minutes, Yang Yang could only lift his head in helplessness, feeling a bone-deep chill.

Juventus, who had already won four consecutive group stage matches, didn't field their strongest lineup, but it was still more than powerful enough.

Goalkeeper Buffon; a back line of Zambrotta, Cannavaro, Tulam, and Talabesi; a midfield of Nedved, Tachinetti, Emerson, and Camoranesi; and a strike partnership of Ibrahimovic and Saliyeta.

Even before the match began, Ajax was already in an awkward, passive position.

In the first two rounds of the group stage, they had lost 1-0 at home to Juventus and 4-0 away to Bayern Munich. These two defeats had pushed Ajax to the brink, forcing the Eredivisie team to go on the offensive in their subsequent matches.

Capello had anticipated this and focused on a defensive counter-attacking strategy.

Ajax launched an aggressive attack from the start. Yang Yang, on the right wing, frequently created threats. On one occasion, Yang Yang sent a cross to the far post, where Wesley Sonck headed it from close range, the ball grazing the post before going out for a goal kick.

But in the fifteenth minute, Juventus seized a counter-attack opportunity. It was their first time entering the Ajax penalty area all match. Camoranesi crossed from the right, and Saliyeta out-jumped Heitinga to score with a header.

It would be the only goal of the match.

After conceding, Juventus defended with even greater resolve, and Ajax found it difficult to break through their back line.

For the first time, Yang Yang was completely shut down for an entire game. Aside from the pass to Wesley Sonck, he failed to produce any other threatening offensive highlights.

In this match, he was up against Zambrotta and Nedved's combination on the left flank, while the two defensive midfielders were Tachinetti and Emerson, and the center-backs were Cannavaro and Tulam.

After Saliyeta scored, Juventus hunkered down defensively. Trapped within this iron wall, Yang Yang could hardly find a single crack; he got no chances whatsoever.

The Juventus defense was simply terrifying!

So terrifying it drove one to despair!

This was the world-class defensive formation crafted by the world-class master of defense, Capello, using a squad of world-class defensive players!

Yang Yang was utterly convinced of his defeat!

Even though this loss meant Ajax would be eliminated from the UEFA Champions League.

...

...

"Hey, man, you okay?"

Ibrahimovic walked over, looking at Yang Yang with concern.

This was the first time Yang Yang had seen the Swedish Striker since he'd left the Netherlands. He never expected it would be under these circumstances.

"I'm fine," Yang Yang said, shaking his head.

'How could I be fine?'

Ibrahimovic knew perfectly well that the taste of defeat was bitter. What's more, Ajax was now set to be knocked out of the Champions League, which made it even harder to swallow.

Although they had only known each other for a short year, he and Yang Yang got along very well. He understood Yang Yang, knowing that while he appeared humble and low-key on the surface, he was actually incredibly strong-willed on the inside—one might even say fiercely competitive.

"Bro, it's not your fault. You did your best," Ibrahimovic said, trying to console him.

"I know," Yang Yang nodded.

Whether in terms of individual player quality or the team's overall strength, Ajax was nowhere near Juventus's level.

Last season, they might have stood a chance, but this season was a completely different story.

This wasn't something Yang Yang could change on his own; it was a gap in the entire team's collective strength.

But even understanding this, Yang Yang still felt awful.

He didn't like losing. In fact, he hated it. He wanted to win.

The more naturally Yang Yang acted, the more Ibrahimovic could sense the heavy burden and suppression in his heart. But there was nothing he could do to help with this; Yang Yang would have to adjust and resolve it on his own.

Talabesi also came over to comfort Yang Yang.

The two of them hadn't been particularly close at Ajax, but they had been partners on the right flank and had coordinated well with each other.

After coming to Serie A, Ibrahimovic was immediately put to use by Juventus, becoming their starting striker. His goal-scoring efficiency wasn't high, but his performance was excellent, and his overall skill level was steadily improving.

Talabesi's situation was less fortunate; he was mostly a rotation player and a substitute.

Capello was a coach who leaned toward conservatism. A "1-0" philosophy was his coaching style, so on the right side, he preferred to use Tulam. The more attack-minded Talabesi was not to his liking.

Sometimes, that's just how it was for professional players.

Last season, five core starters left the Champions League-winning Ajax squad. So far, the one doing the best was ironically Robbent, who had joined Florence and had been an undisputed starter ever since.

Ibrahimovic was next in line. As for Talabesi, Van der Vaart, and Escude, they were all struggling to secure starting positions at Juventus and Real Madrid, especially Van der Vaart.

It couldn't be helped; Real Madrid's midfield and forward lineup was just too powerful.

The vastly different experiences of the five players further showed Yang Yang that while leaving Ajax was easy, establishing oneself at a team better than Ajax was very difficult.

If even players like Van der Vaart and Talabesi were struggling, then he needed to work even harder.

...

...

Good friends met again, only to battle fiercely against each other on the pitch.

Having lost the game, Yang Yang was in no mood to catch up with Ibrahimovic and Talabesi.

He saw that many of the Ajax players were extremely dejected.

Losing this match was a painful blow for Ajax, as it essentially meant the team would be eliminated from the Champions League and would enter the UEFA Cup in third place.

Failing to advance from the group stage meant the club lost out on a significant amount of money, and the players themselves felt terrible.

A 1-0 loss to Juventus, on top of the previous 4-0 thrashing away to Bayern Munich, meant that Ajax would have to beat Bayern Munich 4-0 at home just to have a chance of advancing.

But everyone knew that was simply impossible.

If Ajax had that kind of strength, would they have been beaten 4-0 on the road?

Yang Yang was also deeply frustrated. He hated losing more than anyone, but he had to accept this reality.

"Alright, don't be so down," Yang Yang said, walking over and extending a hand to Vermaelen, who was sitting on the ground.

In this match, the Belgian center-back had been responsible for marking Ibrahimovic and had done a good job; the Swedish Striker had barely had any good chances. Unexpectedly, however, Heitinga had failed to shut down Saliyeta.

Vermaelen grabbed Yang Yang's hand and pulled himself up from the ground, his eyes red.

"Stay strong. Losing isn't the end of the world. The most important thing is to learn from it. If we're not skilled enough, we'll train harder and come back for revenge next year," Yang Yang encouraged.

Vermaelen nodded forcefully.

Yang Yang turned his head and saw a crestfallen Maxwell.

The resident nice guy of the locker room had to bear some responsibility for the goal. He had pushed too far up the pitch, so when Camoranesi launched the counter-attack, he couldn't get back to his position in time, giving the Juventus right-winger the chance to cross.

At this moment, the Brazilian left-back's face held none of its usual easy smile. It was replaced by shame and guilt.

"Don't be like that. It's not the first time we've lost," Yang Yang said, forcing a relaxed smile.

Last season, Ajax had suffered a miserable defeat at Bernabéu Stadium, after all.

"Actually... I got a little too eager. I..." Maxwell's voice choked up, and he couldn't continue.

He wasn't crying, but he looked to be in agony.

It was easy to imagine he would be blamed by a lot of the media and fans after the match.

Yang Yang clapped him firmly on the shoulder. "It's alright. We didn't get it right this time, so we'll just have to try harder. The most important thing right now isn't pain and suffering. We don't have time to stop and lick our wounds."

After hearing this, Maxwell took a deep breath and nodded heavily.

'The league match is coming up soon.'

Ajax was currently fourth in the league, not even in a qualifying position for next season's Champions League.

So, words were useless now. The only practical thing to do was to pull themselves together and focus on the games ahead.

Yang Yang turned and walked toward Heitinga, Sneijder, and the others.

If Maxwell being out of position was mainly because he pushed up to attack, then Heitinga being completely suppressed by Saliyeta could only be attributed to a gap in individual ability.

Sneijder also couldn't perform at his usual level for the whole match. Juventus's two central midfielders, Emerson and Tachinetti, played with incredible stability, essentially pinning down the Ajax midfield and giving the Eredivisie team no chances at all.

Yang Yang went over to console his teammates.

...

...

On the sidelines, Ronald Koeman silently watched the scene unfolding on the pitch.

Like Luther Carroll, he was very happy to see Yang Yang's maturity.

They both understood Yang Yang's personality. They knew that right now, Yang Yang was surely in a worse mood than any other Ajax player on the field. Yet, he was still able to suppress his own pain and console his teammates one by one. This was a sign of progress.

You could say that in this match, Juventus had taught Ajax a valuable lesson.

Professional football is a battle of investment. Last season, the club sold five key players for nearly a hundred million Euros, all of which went to paying off debts. The investment in the transfer market was not significant, which caused the team's overall strength to plummet.

The 4-0 thrashing away to Bayern Munich at the start of the season was the best proof of this.

If not for Yang Yang's rapid development this season, combined with the improvement of young players like Sneijder and Vermaelen, Ajax's performance would have been even worse.

Their luck in the Champions League group stage draw was terrible, landing them with both Juventus and Bayern Munich. Failing to advance was understandable.

But what worried Ronald Koeman more was whether this blow would affect the team's upcoming matches.

Could this group of young men, with an average age of just over twenty, quickly emerge from the shadow of defeat?

They had lost in the Champions League abroad, while at home, Eindhoven was terrifyingly consistent. The team was truly facing troubles both at home and abroad.

Ajax was truly out of time.