Tottenham: Ajax made good of the injury-prone Tottenham as they went on to win by a solitary goal in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League, at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Tuesday night. Ajax closed in on a first Champions League final for 23 years as Donny van de Beek’s early goal beat an injury-hit Tottenham. Ajax is four-time European champions with a rich history of producing some of the continent’s finest players and, on the evidence of this mature display, their latest crop of wonderkids are worthy successors to Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten, Patrick Kluivert and Dennis Bergkamp.
The average age of Ajax’s starting eleven in the Champions League this season has been 24 years and 257 days, with their line-up against Tottenham the youngest of any Champions League semi-finalist for the last six years. But any thoughts that the Dutch club might be gripped by stage-fright in their first Champions League semi-final since 1997 were quickly erased. Surprise wins over Real Madrid and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus in the knockout stages had announced Ajax’s like Europe’s most coveted rising stars.
Once again they rose to the challenge, capping a superb start by taking the lead in the 15th minute when Donny van de Beek’s cool finish survived a VAR review. Van de Beek’s opener on 15 minutes was just rewarded for the Dutch side’s first-half dominance as Tottenham badly missed the presence of the injured Harry Kane and suspended Son Heung-min. Tottenham improved after the break despite another injury blow as Jan Vertonghen had to be helped down the tunnel after a sickening head knock, but lacked the inspiration needed to get back on level terms without their two top scorers.
And Ajax could easily have had an even greater lead to take back to the Johan Cruyff Arena for the second leg next week when David Neres hit the post 10 minutes from time. Spurs were happy to sit deep and wait for their chances to counter-attack, but that gameplan was undone when Hakim Ziyech’s through ball picked out midfielder Van de Beek who took his time to leave Hugo Lloris prone before slotting into the bottom corner. Lloris kept his side in the game 10 minutes later from another Van de Beek effort as Ajax threatened to run riot.
Fernando Llorente was the hero with the decisive goal as Mauricio Pochettino’s men upset the odds to end Manchester City’s quest for a quadruple of trophies in the quarter-finals. Son will be back for the trip to Amsterdam next Wednesday. and Spurs will hope the South Korean can repeat his double away to City in the last eight, but Ajax are in pole position for a final against Barcelona or Liverpool come June 1 in Madrid.
HIGHLIGHTS
English sides have lost just three of their last 30 home matches versus Dutch opposition in European competition (W19 D8 L3), with Spurs accounting for two of those defeats (also in March 2008 vs PSV).
Ajax have scored in nine consecutive Champions League away games for the first time in their club history.
Tottenham had scored in each of their previous 20 Champions League games prior to tonight, with Ajax the first side to stop them scoring since Bayer 04 Leverkusen in November 2016 (0-1).
Van de Beek (22y 12d) became the third youngest Ajax goalscorer in a Champions League semi-final after Nordin Wooter (19y 237d) and Mario Melchiot (20y 170d).
Ajax’s Dusan Tadic has created 32 chances in the Champions League this season, the most of any player.