Chapter 11: 11
With the end of the second round of the league, come the second leg of the champion league.
This time Ajax will play at home. And again, Ravier was on the starting list.
Lebont, who originally thought Ravier was no threat, once again sensed the danger. Although Stekelenburg was still unhappy with Ravier, he admired Ravier's efforts and abilities in his heart.
Ravier worked hard, day in and day out, waiting for his own opportunity, his stats also improved as a result of his efforts.
The day of Champions' League elimination tour begins at Amsterdam Arena. Amsterdam arena is a very large stadium. It is bigger than all the other stadiums. It can hold more than a thousand spectators. So, when the Champions League game arrived, it showed a different league atmosphere at home.
Before the game, the stadium was filled with deafening noise when the Champions League theme song rang through the stadium. As a player, It was the second time he had participated in this kind of event and the spectacle before him was great.
The opponent today is still Grazer. In the first round they put up a very strict defense and FC Ajax could only score one goal.
27 august 2011 Amsterdam Arena.
- Both teams were already ready and awaiting the referee's signal. In the meantime let's see the composition of the two teams.
AFC Ajax
Goalkeeper: Ravier.
Defender: Pasanen, Escude, J Van Damme, Maxwell, Grygera.
Midfield: Galásek, Pienaar, Van Der Vaart.
Forwards: Ibrahimović, Sikora.
Grazer started with:
Goalkeeper: Andreas.
Defender: Gregor, Mario, Ehmann, Pogatetz, Ramusch, Aufhauser.
Midfield: Dollinger Matthias.
Attacker: Milinkovic, Naumoski, Roland.
- We can see from the side of the Ajax squad there is some change while Grazer has kept the same formation. Ravier is playing again in this match. The last game, his performance wasn't too bad. We will see if he can continue doing the same thing in this match.
Its already ten minutes since the game began. After receiving the ball, Ibrahim broke through frequently, and the opposing full-back had no choice but to take him.
Ibrahim's personal ability makes the opposing full-back extremely passive in the game.
At this time, Pienaar took the ball outside the penalty area, saw Sikora on the right, and directly assigned the football to him.
Sikora received the ball and led it into the penalty area, and made the opponent wary of him. Two defensive players soon came over, but Sikora had no idea of hitting the goal.
They just saw him kick the football with his right foot and swept it towards the goal. Because two defensive players, came to defend him, Grazer, who was originally a five-back, has a lot of holes in the defense. The ball came to Galásek, and with his right foot, pushed it towards the rolling ball.
This is a great opportunity and Galásek didn't let it pass. The goalkeeper can only look at the ball hitting his goal.
Goalllll
- Its the first goal of the game.
The players are very happy, because with a dense defense like that they are the first to open the score. The audience on the sidelines celebrated, and Galásek who was just scoring celebrated it too with his teammates.
The game continue.
Ajax was passing the ball in his own half, but was successfully intercepted by Grazer's player.
Van Der Vaart want to take the ball back but the ball was immediately handed over to Matthias's feet.
After he stepped on the football, he observed for a while.
He directly passed it into the penalty area. This 45-degree cross is of good quality.
He is still looking for forward Roland, this forward speed is not bad. And faced with the falling ball, with his left foot stopped it firmly, and then hit the goal directly.
It could have been a goal but Ravier very concentrated in this match made another spectacular save and pushed the ball away for a corner.
- Wonderful save of the number 20.
After this action without hesitation the referee put an end to the first part of the game.
In the locker room Koeman congratulated the players and then gave them some instructions and some precautions to take in the second half.
The game progressed to the second half and the two sides changed sides.
Van Der Var received a pass at the 45-degree right side of the penalty area.
The opposing full-back hurried forward, suddenly Van Der Var cut inward.
At the same time, his teammates were running, and he saw Ibrahim running in the right position.
So, he pushed his foot towards the ball and stuffed it into the penalty area. Ibrahim didn't waste this chance an score the second goal with a header.
The fans at the scene applauded and were happy for the team's performance.
75th minute in the game, after successfully preventing the attack of AFC Ajax, Grazer then immediately launched a counterattack. And the first point they found was Milinkovic.
Just when Milinkovic received the pass, he turn around and run forward.
At this time he saw that forward Roland was in a good position.
Although he wasted a good pass, he still chose to trust his teammates.
So, he decisively sent the forward a pass, and Roland saw him passing the ball and run with his fastest speed. He ran forward frantically, to receive this accurate pass.
Without hesitation Roland pushed the ball towards the goal. This time he was sure he was going to score.
Ravier saw Roland stopped the ball and led it into the penalty area. He was not panicked at all. If he panic in front of this kind of attack, he would not make the best decisions. As a goalkeeper you always have to be calm even though this is a very difficult thing to do in most cases.
As soon as the ball left Roland's feet, for a few seconds everything seemed to be in slow motion. Ravier knew this situation well. Now that he knew the trajectory of the ball, the last thing he has to do is to move.
So he took a few steps horizontally and caught the ball in his hands tightly. The shot wasn't too heavy but strong enough for an ordinary keeper to be unable to stop it.
The public couldn't help but stand up excitedly when they saw the ball isn't scored again. They shouted loudly, they was excited to see this kind of action.
Roland was already starting to run towards the public to celebrate the goal, but what he saw left him in despair.
Some teammates comes to Ravier and pat his shoulder. Koeman was there too watching everything. He has a pensive face. Nobody can tell what he was thinking.
After some time, the game was over. After the match, the players applauded with the public to thanks them and went to the locker room. The Champion's League game was over for now. Next, the players must focus on the upcoming matches. Ajax also want to advanced step by step to win.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone