Chapter 1 Dortmund vs. Ajax

On paper, Borussia Dortmund's opponent in this match, Ajax, is weaker than the Ajax team that won the league title last season.

In the transfer market, captain Jan Vertonghen transferred to Tottenham Hotspur, and veteran Oleguer retired, reducing the experience in the defense. At the same time, the departure of versatile midfielder Eyong Enoh, striker Mitchell Dijks, who played as a makeshift member last season, and even Ismaïl Aissati, who saved the team in the crucial championship game, also reduced the team's roster depth. Other players, such as Jody Lukoki, Ruben Ligeon, and Goran Slavkovski, who were loaned out, were permanently transferred, and the bench depth was not strengthened.

In terms of signings, Ajax seems to lack sufficient sincerity to attract outstanding players from within the Netherlands. Nacer Chadli, the Eredivisie assist king and newly capped international, who was once very close to the club, was eventually snatched away by PSV Eindhoven. The arch-rival only spent a little over four million euros, which is a very failed signing case for Ajax, who once spent sixteen million euros to buy Miralem Sulejmani.

In terms of strength, Ajax is indeed the weakest team in this group, and not just relatively weak. Among the thirty-two teams in the entire Champions League main draw, Ajax's strength can only be ranked in the lower-middle tier. They might not be able to qualify for the knockout stage even if they were placed in another group.

Yes, they are the champions of the Eredivisie last season. However, the quality of this Eredivisie title is not very high.

Last season, they defended their league title, but their total points did not reach eighty or more, and the team once collapsed in the middle of the season. They were able to win the league title not only because they achieved a fourteen-game winning streak after trailing in the league standings by nearly ten points, but also because their main competitors withdrew from the title race too early. The attraction and competitiveness of the current Eredivisie have declined significantly, which is the current situation of many second-tier European leagues.

However, unconvincing performance in the domestic league does not mean that their performance in the Champions League is also unsatisfactory.

Last season, if Zagreb hadn't let Lyon off the hook, Ajax would have been able to advance to the round of sixteen in the Champions League group stage. After going to the Europa League, they also had a highlight moment of defeating Manchester United away from home.

So, if you underestimate this team because Ajax is weak on paper and their performance in the league is unconvincing, you will probably be in trouble.

After all, Ajax has won the Champions League four times in history, and they have the Champions League gene in their bones. This is tradition, and tradition often plays a vital role at some very crucial moments.

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At 7:45 p.m. on September 18th, the Champions League group stage match between Borussia Dortmund and Ajax kicked off at Dortmund's home stadium. At the same time, the match between Real Madrid and Manchester City also started at Real Madrid's home stadium.

Everyone is actually more concerned about the match between Real Madrid and Manchester City, after all, that is a strong clash in this group. Manchester City won the Premier League title last season, and with the help of oil money, they have become a Premier League upstart. Now what they want to do is become a Champions League upstart. Real Madrid, as the representative of the traditional Champions League forces, has a record of nine Champions League titles, the most in Europe.

The collision of these two teams is obviously more interesting.

However, in China, the match between Borussia Dortmund and Ajax was broadcast live on the free CCTV5 sports channel, while the match between Real Madrid and Manchester City was broadcast on the paid Fengyun Football channel.

Obviously, CCTV knows which game is the most attractive in China. The clash between Real Madrid and Manchester City, the old and new forces of the Champions League, is certainly full of hype, but there is no Chinese player in this hyped-up showdown.

Zhou Yi, who didn't even make the match roster in the previous league game, appeared in the starting lineup this time.

After the game started, Ajax's tenacity was a bit beyond everyone's expectations.

Frank de Boer's team did not choose to attack Dortmund head-on. Away from home, they chose a more pragmatic approach - to defend desperately.

They didn't bother to mark Zhou Yi, Dortmund's core, closely, but instead withdrew all their players to the thirty-meter area to park the bus. No matter how Dortmund passed and dribbled the ball outside, their defense was like a wall, standing still.

This was really unexpected for Dortmund before the game. Both coach Klopp and the players felt that even if Ajax wanted to play a counter-attack, they wouldn't defend so thoroughly, right?

Generally speaking, this kind of desperate defense tactic is either used when the team is outnumbered in the game, or when the strength gap is really too big. But the game had just started, and no one from Ajax had been sent off, and with Ajax's strength, they shouldn't be so weak, after all, they are the champions of a national league, and a traditional European powerhouse.

So who would have thought that Frank de Boer would do it so thoroughly?

After De Boer made bold claims before, Klopp did make some preparations, but he never expected that Frank de Boer's so-called "hard time" was to make Dortmund play against a wall...

Zhou Yi was constantly passing the ball outside Ajax's thirty-meter area, while observing the changes in Ajax's defense.

No matter how he passed, Ajax's defense was very complete, with no blind spots.

Zhou Yi occasionally chose a more risky direct pass, but the effect was not good. Ajax's penalty area was full of people, and it was difficult for both Lewandowski, Reus, and Götze to get any good shooting opportunities in a man-to-man situation.

And because Ajax put too much effort into defense, they made no achievements in attack, and could not even threaten Dortmund.

So until the end of the first half, the score was 0:0.

Not to mention that there were no goals, the scene was really not exciting enough, which made the Chinese fans who stayed up late to watch the game very tired.

He Ping and Xu Yang also mentioned this point in the studio behind the scenes during the halftime break: "Every game in the group of death is very crucial and important, and points cannot be easily lost, so it is right to pay so much attention to the result of the game from the beginning of the group stage. Looking at Ajax's posture, they must be hoping to force a draw with Dortmund away from home. This is a very pragmatic result. So the scene looks not intense enough, and there is nothing to watch. But this is the norm in the group of death, and you can't simply think that the strong clash means an exciting game, in fact, it may be the complete opposite..."

Xu Yang also expressed his agreement: "Yes, for example, the finals of any major competition are strong clashes, but they are often not played beautifully. Finals have never been classics."

"That's right. In the other game in this group, Real Madrid and Manchester City also drew 0:0 at home. Two games in the group of death, neither produced a goal, and they both looked evenly matched. I think this is enough to show how deadly this group is..."

The TV broadcast entered the advertising time, Xu Yang and He Ping turned off their microphones, and He Ping stood up: "Going to the toilet."

After speaking, he yawned.

Xu Yang also got up: "I'll go too."

In fact, commentators are very hard, staying up late to commentate on games is very harmful to the body, even if the commentators can sleep during the day and get up to work at night, this kind of day and night reversal of life will still have a great impact on the body.

In fact, competitions such as the World Cup and the European Cup are still good. Because for such competitions, the broadcasting organizations in China will definitely let the commentators go to the front line to commentate on the games, without having to stay up late.

In the toilet, the two people stood in front of the urinal, relieving themselves side by side, while talking about the first half that had just ended. Unlike what they said in front of the camera, the private exchanges were a bit personal and complained a little.

"I feel like this game is going to be 0:0, Ajax is defending too thoroughly, they really don't want to attack at all!" He Ping said. "I don't know how many people will fall asleep watching..."

"There's no way, there is still a gap in strength. The game next door is also 0:0, this group of death is not easy to play."

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The halftime break passed quickly, and the players from both sides changed sides to fight again, and no one made any personnel adjustments.

The game was not much different from the first half, Dortmund just strengthened their long shots.

Obviously, the number of long shots from the players has increased.

Long shots are indeed a way to deal with dense defenses.

But not necessarily the most effective method.

By the seventieth minute, the score had not changed at all. Dortmund's number of shots had increased to thirteen, while Ajax had only four. The number of shots on goal from both sides was also completely different. Dortmund had eight shots on target out of these thirteen shots, while Ajax had only one.

The gap is very obvious.

But Dortmund, who had eight shots on target, were unable to score a goal, so it has to be said that Ajax's goalkeeper Vermeer performed very well in this game.

In the seventy-third minute, Klopp made the first substitution adjustment of the half, replacing Kuba with Croatian midfielder Ivan Perišić.

Ten minutes of the game passed quickly again, Dortmund's number of shots rose to nineteen, and Ajax's number of shots increased by one. But the score was still 0:0, and Dortmund's bombardment around Ajax's goal failed to change the score.

After the game entered the eightieth minute, it was not far from the end of the game, and the players' mentality also changed somewhat.

Dortmund became a little anxious, while Ajax saw the hope of forcing a draw with Dortmund away from home.

Frank de Boer made his substitution in this game just as the game entered the eightieth minute, replacing striker Babel with a young defender Joël Veltman. This was to further strengthen the defense, to repair and reinforce the wall that had withstood Dortmund's fire for eighty minutes, to avoid a sudden collapse at the last moment. It has to be said that Frank de Boer was well prepared, and planned to defend to the end in this game.

Marcel Reif didn't expect that Dortmund would not be able to win against Ajax at their home stadium, and he couldn't help but sigh that this is the group of death. A real group of death, no team can be underestimated.

"Ajax is the weakest team in this group, but looking at their performance in this game, who would dare to think that they are just the ones to get points from?"