They were visibly acclimatized to the continental games scheduled for Tuesday or Wednesday. Authors of a resounding course in the Champions League last year, eliminating blow by blow Real Madrid then Juventus before failing at the gates of the final for a minute against Tottenham, the Ajacides are this time out in group phase and it’s good this Thursday that they’re going back to European football. Not enough to question their ambitions.
A small exodus big consequences
We thought the summer loss was limited in view of the lusts from all over Europe, elimination in the group phase phase came to sound like a stinging reminder. Ajax Amsterdam defeated on its own ground on the sixth and final day by Valencia (0-1), failed a short point from the round of 16, the stage of the competition in which it was revealed to the world last year, at the cost of a spectacular victory on the lawn of Real Madrid (1-4). Of this glorious evening, most of the heroes stayed. Most of them only. In addition to Lasse Schöne (33), the author of a sublime free kick that evening and went to Genoa, Ajax mainly lost his captain Matthijs De Ligt (20) and his playing master Frenkie De Jong (22 years). Both members of the team of the year in Europe, they left to satisfy their desire for continental triumph respectively at Juventus and Barça. The offensive quartet remained, as did André Onana in the cages and Erik Ten Hag on the bench, yet they were also very courted.
An always ambitious team
However, the elimination in the group of Valence, Chelsea and Lille is not an end in itself. Coach Erik ten Hag hammered him after the game against Valencia (0-1): "We must keep moving." And its players, well helped by the arrival last summer of Quincy Promes, are capable of it. Unbeaten in the championship until the beginning of December, the happy Ajax team seems to be well on the way to keeping its title in Eredivisie while it still has a 6 point lead over AZ Alkmaar, its first pursuer. In the European Cup, performances in Valence (0-3), Lille (0-2) and Chelsea (4-4) came to remind the good memories of a team still as playful and enterprising especially outside its basics. As a perfect conductor, the “magician” Hakim Ziyech shines in the middle of 4-3-3 dear to Erik Ten Hag, disciple of Pep Guardiola and admirer of Johan Cruyff. His left foot as silky as surgical makes it one of the attractions on each outing with his partners.
Go to the end with this group
An attraction that also rhymes with lusts. Already in high demand last summer, the Moroccan (26 years old) will not derogate from the rule established by his ex-partners while his transfer to Chelsea next summer, for an amount of around 45 million euros, was formalized a week ago. In all likelihood, Donny van de Beek (22) should imitate him. We say Real Madrid (like last summer) and Manchester United very interested. Brazilian David Neres (22) and Cameroonian André Onana (23) could do the same. Like coach Erik ten Hag, announced very close to Bayern last summer.
Hey @ChelseaFC, you have to believe in his magic.
And great things will happen.
# pic.twitter.com/XMYCtuYR2e
A new exile is announced. Like the end of a cycle, in short. For beauty, Ajax would surely like to go all the way this time and wipe away the tears that flowed on the evening of May 8, 2019 when Tottenham's Brazilian Lucas Moura turned the evening into the unreal, as he was passing everything the people of Amsterdam from drunkenness to distress. So close to the goal last year, the Dutch still have a long way to go and the move on the lawn of the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez de Getafe looks very dangerous. Very solid 3rd in Liga, the surprising Getafe team has lost only twice on its field in the league, against Real and Barça. But the appetite for matches outside Ajax in the European Cup is known, and while they record the return of Hakim Ziyech, the promise of a beautiful continental course takes root this Thursday in Spain . The last time it played in the Europa League (2017), Ajax had also reached the final.
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