Super Wingstorm

On the evening of March 10th, at London Highbury Stadium.

In the thirty-fourth minute of the match, Arsenal launched another wave of attacks.

Pires pulled back toward the left side of the halfway line to receive the ball, then suddenly launched a long pass, sending it out to the left flank.

Bergkamp, starting in place of Reyes, had been active on the right wing since kickoff, but this time he suddenly switched over to the left. Upon receiving Pires’s pass, he opted not to take on the defense himself. Instead, he waited for Ashley Cole to make an overlapping run before threading the ball behind the defensive line. The Arsenal left-back latched onto it and delivered a cross into the penalty area, finding Henry.

Henry, having found an open space, would never miss such a golden opportunity. He slotted the ball home, sending it into the goal guarded by Robbent and scoring Arsenal’s first goal of the match.

One-nil!

The home team, Arsenal, had taken the lead.

Ajax was well-prepared for the scenario of conceding a goal and falling behind on the road. Although the players were a bit anxious, they didn’t fall apart. They stuck to their own tempo, methodically organizing their defense and applying pressure and challenges as needed.

As a result, when Arsenal created another threatening attack four minutes later, they failed to score.

Arsenal’s overall strength was far superior to Ajax’s, and they soon created more chances. On the right flank, Lars Engberri and Bergkamp were very active, creating two consecutive threats by breaking into the penalty area, but Ajax stubbornly held them off and protected the scoreline.

Especially in stoppage time, Lars Engberri played a deadly through ball. Pires beat the offside trap and charged towards the goal, but his first touch was poor. This allowed Escude to interfere, preventing him from getting a clean shot off. He was forced to pass to Henry instead.

But Goalkeeper Robbent charged out decisively, nipping Henry’s shot in the bud.

The relentless, ferocious attacks left Ajax’s goal in a state of panic, their defensive line teetering on the verge of collapse. Watching from the substitutes’ bench, Yang Yang, Van der Vaart, and the others felt their hearts pound with unbearable tension.

This feeling of watching your teammates fight for their lives on the pitch while you sat on the sidelines was not pleasant at all.

During the halftime break, Head Coach Ronald Koeman didn’t criticize the players for their mistakes. Instead, he lavished praise on the team’s fighting spirit and tenacious defense in the first half, hoping they would keep up the effort.

"If we can hold this scoreline, we still have hope," Ronald Koeman said with conviction.

Everyone on the team knew he was pinning his hopes on Yang Yang and Van der Vaart, who were on the bench.

After switching sides for the second half, Arsenal deliberately slowed their tempo. In the first ten minutes, they managed only a single, non-threatening shot—a stark contrast to their torrential onslaught in the first half.

It wasn’t until the sixty-fourth minute that Bergkamp received a pass from Vieira and attempted a chip shot from inside the box, but it went too high.

The match settled into a slower pace, with both teams locked in a stalemate.

Yang Yang sat on the visitor’s bench at Highbury Stadium. Aside from occasionally jogging out to warm up, he spent the rest of his time observing the match. The more he watched, the more he appreciated the benefits of meticulous preparation.

Ajax’s research on Arsenal was undoubtedly thorough. The coaching staff’s pre-match analysis had also been quite successful; they had accurately predicted not only Arsenal’s starting lineup but also the Gunners’ formation and match strategy.

Of course, accurate intelligence and analysis didn’t guarantee they wouldn’t lose.

Just like that time in the first half when Bergkamp suddenly drifted from the right wing to the left—it had caught Ajax completely by surprise and directly led to them conceding a goal.

And in the first leg, the second goal resulting from Henry and Pires’s series of one-twos was also impossible to predict beforehand.

But as the match stood now, Ajax was down one-nil, but the situation wasn’t yet out of their control.

In the Ajax coaching staff’s analysis, an Arsenal match was like a person’s life: they start out stunningly, full of creativity, imagination, and sharp intensity. Then comes a period of maturity where they are stable and perform at their full potential. But after that, they enter a period of decline.

This was the final twenty minutes of the game.

According to the coaching staff’s projections, if Ajax could just hold on until the seventieth minute, they had a real chance of pulling off an upset on the road. This was because during that period, Arsenal would start to reveal many weaknesses that had been concealed during the first seventy minutes.

For example, their stamina, and Wenger’s often somewhat conservative substitutions.

As it turned out, Arsenal did indeed slow down their attack after the second half began.

"When will Wenger bring on Gilberto Silva?" Yang Yang mumbled to himself.

"Who knows?" Van der Vaart, sitting next to him, shook his head.

Arsenal’s two central midfielders, Vieira and Edu, both had a habit of pushing forward. This left the area in front of Arsenal’s defense vulnerable on the counter-attack. If Ajax could quickly advance the ball to the edge of the penalty area, the zone around the D would be very dangerous for Arsenal.

But if Gilberto Silva were to come on, that problem would disappear.

"Our right flank is still giving them too much space. Scola can’t contain Ashley Cole, which has allowed Arsenal’s entire left side to be far too active. Add to that the combination of Lars Engberri and Bergkamp on the right, and Arsenal were flying down both wings in the first half."

At this point, Van der Vaart turned to look at his young teammate beside him and asked with a smile, "Have you figured out how you’re going to play when you get on?"

Yang Yang shook his head. "Does that even need thinking about?"

So far, Yang Yang had only one role on the team: to open up the channel on the right flank.

It had to be said that since joining the first team, he had always done an excellent job at this, even getting better and better.

But this time, he was facing one of the world’s top left-backs, Ashley Cole.

As the match entered the seventieth minute, Ajax Head Coach Ronald Koeman finally called over Yang Yang and Van der Vaart, who were warming up. They came and stood on either side of him.

"The right wing is yours!" Ronald Koeman said forcefully, pointing at Yang Yang. "I don’t care what method you use, you have to open up that right flank for me. Ashley Cole has used up a lot of energy, and I believe you can still create a threat if you go on now."

Yang Yang nodded firmly, his expression grave as he stared at the left-back on the pitch, a man slightly shorter than himself.

"The area in front of the box is yours, Rafael," Ronald Koeman said, pointing at Van der Vaart. "You’ll replace De Jong. I need you to support Sneijder in the midfield and also be a threat with your scoring ability from the edge of the box and your late runs."

Van der Vaart also nodded with a solemn expression.

Starting defensive midfielder De Jong was already on a yellow card, which restricted his play on the pitch, so substituting him was a logical move.

"You two are my last trump cards, and the team’s last hope. If we can’t equalize, our UEFA Champions League campaign for this season is over. Understand?"

According to the UEFA Champions League knockout stage rules, the current aggregate score over two legs was three-all. However, Arsenal had two away goals. If the aggregate score was tied, the team with more away goals would win. As it stood, Ajax would be eliminated.

Therefore, to advance, they had to score.

Carrying the head coach’s latest instructions, the two of them stood on the sideline, waiting for a dead ball situation to be substituted on.

Everyone in Highbury Stadium noticed the activity in front of the away team’s dugout. Wenger, of course, also saw that Yang Yang and Van der Vaart were about to come on, but this was likely within his expectations.

So, very quickly, Arsenal also prepared a substitution. The Brazilian defensive midfielder, Gilberto Silva, was also getting ready to enter the game.

"Both teams are making adjustments at almost the same time. Ajax is making a double substitution, bringing off midfielder De Jong, who has had a decent game, for captain Van der Vaart. This is a move to strengthen their attack."

"The other substitution is on the right wing, with number ninety-nine, Yang Yang, replacing Victor Skora. This is a like-for-like swap."

"I’m sure any fans who watched the first leg won’t have forgotten this number ninety-nine. He started that match, scored the opening goal for Ajax, and set the record for the youngest goalscorer in the history of the Champions League. Afterward, he orchestrated two more of Ajax’s goals, making him the most eye-catching player of the first leg."

"More importantly, he’s only seventeen years old."

"Arsenal’s substitution is also positional, with Gilberto Silva replacing his fellow Brazilian, Edu. This is a defensive reinforcement. It seems Wenger finally wants to patch up that defensive vulnerability in front of his team’s penalty area."

"The two head coaches are going head-to-head, and they know each other very well. It’s move for move. Ronald Koeman wants to exploit Arsenal’s weak spot, but Arsenal immediately makes a substitution to plug the gap."

"After bringing on the two substitutes, Ajax’s attack has begun to lean more toward the right flank. They still want to attack down Yang Yang’s side, but Arsenal is well-prepared for this, with Ashley Cole focusing even more on his defensive duties."

"After a few touches since coming on, Yang Yang still seems a bit reserved and hesitant, unable to find any one-on-one opportunities."

"And we see Arsenal on the sideline making their second substitution."

"Wenger makes another change just three minutes later. This time, the young Spanish talent Reyes comes on for Pires."

"It looks like Wenger wants to use Reyes’s speed and impact to pressure Ajax’s right flank. After all, a one-nil lead isn’t secure for Arsenal."

"So far, both sides have made two substitutions, but neither has had a visible effect just yet."

***

After coming on as a substitute, Yang Yang did indeed feel a bit reserved.

This time, he was facing a world-class left-back. Even though Ashley Cole had already played for over seventy minutes, his intimidating presence remained, and Yang Yang didn’t dare underestimate him in the slightest.

He hadn’t gained much of an advantage against Kerri before, and last night in the Super Training field, he had specifically simulated playing against Ashley Cole, but still couldn’t get the better of the Arsenal left-back at all.

This made it very clear to him that it would be difficult to succeed by relying on individual skill alone.

He needed help, but Ibrahimovic wasn’t an option; he had to stay up top as the main striker.

Talabesi wasn’t an option either. He needed to focus on defense, as Ajax absolutely could not afford to concede another goal.

That left only one person: Sneijder.