As the first leg of this season’s Champions League
quarterfinal ties commenced, one could be forgiven for overlooking the
Ajax-Juventus match, as it was one expected to be very one-sided in Juventus’
favour. This was despite the fact that Ajax had just recorded an astonishing
victory over Real Madrid to send Los Merengues packing in the round of 16.
However, the Amsterdam club once again defied the odds,
holding the Bianconeri to a 1-1 draw, with David Neres equalizing after
Cristiano Ronaldo had opened the scoring for Juve. Even more impressive was the
fact that statistically speaking, Ajax outplayed Juve for large portions of the
game. They had more shots on target, corners, possession, and completed passes.
Ajax’s passing accuracy was also 10 percentage points higher than Juve’s.
It was a steady, assured performance from Ajax, with players
such as Hakim Ziyech, Frenkie de Jong, Neres, and Daley Blind causing major
problems for their favoured opponents.
Even though Ajax only began appearing on most people’s
radars after their stunning win over Real, this team is actually much better than
these people assume. Their core of de Jong, Ziyech, Matthijs de Ligt, Lasse
Schöne, Dušan Tadić, and Nicolás Tagliafico is good enough to worry any top
team in Europe. Despite their lack of a bona fide superstar, Ajax clearly have
a formidable starting 11 and a generally deep roster.
Like many underdog teams that have found success, Ajax
have often had to resort to unconventional tactics when playing against more
fancied opponents, and these tactics seem to have worked very well indeed.
Against Juve, attacking midfielder Tadić started at centre-forward, something
he seldom does in Eredivisie matches against weaker teams, but usually does in
Champions League matches, especially when Ajax is the underdog. Just as he did
in the round of 16 match against Real, the Serbian thrived in the “false nine”
role, picking up where he left off and having another excellent game against
the Turin club’s much-vaunted defense. Ajax also typically field a 4-3-3
formation in domestic league play but adjust to tough Champions League
opponents by fielding a 4-2-3-1 formation. This tactical switch has obviously
paid off up to this point.
In this regard, Ajax head coach Erik ten Hag deserves a
tremendous amount of credit. When he took over in December 2017, Ajax were a
team in disarray. They had failed to qualify for the Europa League, had been
knocked out of the KNVB Cup, and were on their way to once again failing to win
the Eredivisie title; PSV would go on to take it by four points. However, had
ten Hag not taken over from Marcel Keizer when he did, it could easily have
been so much worse. Ten Hag’s appointment put new life into the team, as unlike
Keizer, he was able to get the best out of what many would consider to be a
team which was relatively financially constrained. This momentum carried over
into the current season, reaching its high point with the victory over Real.
Ajax has always prioritized the development of its young
players. This mentality has undoubtedly been facilitated by its iconic youth
academy. In their current squad, de Ligt, de Jong, Neres, Donny van den Beek,
and André Onana are all regular starters who are 23 years old or younger; all
five are products of Ajax’s youth academy and played for Ajax’s youth team Jong
Ajax. This young core has formed a formidable, home-grown nucleus throughout
this season.
Considering what European club football today has become,
this season could represent Ajax’s best chance to reach the Champions League semifinals
for the first time since 1997 when coincidentally, they were knocked out by
Juve. De Jong is already Barcelona-bound, and after Ajax’s impressive run this
season, there will surely be no shortage of elite clubs chasing their other key
players in the coming off-season.
With this in mind, Ajax really have nothing to lose as
they enter the second leg in Turin. They have already surpassed expectations by
reaching the quarterfinals and are once again expected to lose, so the pressure
is off.
Having said that, if Ajax were to record another upset
victory, it would write another chapter to what has become a breakout season.
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