Amsterdam's "Ajax" team will not repeat last season's journey - the Dutch champions were eliminated from the UEFA Champions League.
Failure at home against "Valencia" and defeats against "Chelsea" and "Lille" determined that "Ajax" remained in third place and will continue their journey in the Europa League.
It is remarkable that "Ajax" led the group standings from the first to the penultimate round. However, the closing of the group stage was disastrous for the Dutch.
After the match, both players and the team's coach carefully chose their words.
"We feel a great disappointment," said Erik ten Hag. "We had a really good performance in the group stage - we earned 10 points. We definitely deserved to go further, but it did not happen in any way."
Instead of preparing for the Champions League quarterfinals in February, "Ajax" will face the knockout stage in the Europa League.
From E. ten Hag's interview with the country's media, it can be understood that participation in the Europa League does not bring great joy.
"I don't think now is the right time to talk about it," answered the coach when asked if he felt they would have a better chance of winning trophies in the Europa League.
Dusan Tadic also struggled with such an exit: "It's hard to talk about. We collected 10 points, and now we are leaving the tournament. The disappointment is indescribable."
"Ajax" reached the semi-finals of the Champions League last season and was just a hairsbreadth away from reaching the final.
- Salzburg ???? - Ajax ???? - Inter ???? The Europa League got a lot more difficult after Tuesday's Champions League results ???? pic.twitter.com/nQKWkLM7OY - B/R Football (@brfootball) December 11, 2019
