After finishing lunch in Dubai, Yang Yang boarded an Emirates Airline flight to Madrid.
During the five hours at cruising altitude, he spent half his time watching Bayern Munich's two-legged tie against Arsenal. It gave him a deeper understanding of Bayern Munich under Ancelotti.
For the rest of the time, he watched Ajax's two-legged Europa League Round of 16 tie, which left him deep in thought.
In the Europa League Round of 16, Ajax's opponents were Copenhagen from Denmark.
The first leg was away. Center-back Davinson Sánchez was suspended due to yellow card accumulation, so Piet de Boer deployed the young pairing of De Ligt and Viergever at center-back. Their performance was acceptable, but they conceded two goals away from home, with the biggest problem being that they conceded right at the start.
Ultimately, they were still young and lacking in experience.
De Ligt, Van de Beek, and several other youngsters, including David Neres, all played in this match.
In the end, Klaassen assisted Dolberg's goal. Although they ultimately lost 2–1, they had secured an away goal.
Back at home, Davinson Sánchez returned and partnered De Ligt, but midfielder Klaassen was suspended due to yellow card accumulation. In the end, Neres scored a goal, and Dolberg converted a penalty for Ajax before halftime. He also hit the post once, and Ajax ultimately defeated their opponents 2–0 at home.
They advanced to the quarterfinals with a 3–2 aggregate victory, confirming Van Gaal's earlier prediction.
Looking at the two matches, along with the other games Yang Yang had watched before, he began considering a very important question: how should Ajax continue moving forward?
Reaching the Europa League quarterfinals had already met Yang Yang and Van Gaal's expectations. From this point on, the result no longer mattered much, unless they could win the