Facing Bayern Munich, Ajax showed no fear. Instead, they bravely persisted with their high press.
This tactical approach clearly restricted Bayern Munich, especially with the young players full of energy and vitality, willing to fight hard. They often clashed with Bayern Munich's players on the pitch, sending them sprawling.
Jović and Boateng, Van de Beek and Tiago—accidents kept happening around the edge of Bayern Munich's penalty area. But Ajax's players were solely focused on winning the ball and made no unnecessary movements, so none of them received cards.
Against Ajax's organized and purposeful high press, Bayern Munich truly had no effective answer.
On the one hand, they wanted to control the ball before trying to exploit the space behind Ajax. On the other hand, they had no effective way to play through midfield, leaving them to repeatedly send long passes toward the center and both wings.
On this side of their own half, Yang Yang decisively adjusted the team's defensive strategy. Against Ribery and Robben, he had only Achraf and Tagliafico, the two fullbacks, mark them. But De Ligt stayed glued to Lewandowski.
Ajax's strategy was simple: avoid contesting the first ball whenever possible and work hard to control the second ball.
When Ribery or Robben got the ball, Achraf and Tagliafico followed them, but the real defensive focus was on the other players around them.
The two superstars had already lost the ability to take on an entire defense by themselves. They needed their teammates' support. Restricting their teammates meant weakening their threat as much as possible.
The same applied to Lewandowski. He was extremely difficult to deal with, and Ajax often had to use two center-backs to double-team him.
Just like in the twelfth minute, when Thomas Muller moved to the right flank to support Robben, who then