This week marks the crucial stage of the UEFA Champions League. After the quarter-final matches, football fans found out that this year's final will definitely have a "dark horse". In the first semifinal, London's "Tottenham" will meet Amsterdam's "Ajax". If Tottenham's journey in the Champions League does not equal a sensation, then the Dutch team has quite a different story, which has defeated both the tournament champion and one of the favorites to win it to reach the semifinals. The first semifinal match will take place at the newly opened Tottenham stadium. For Ajax, this experience is somewhat new - until now, they started knockout stage matches at home. The highly anticipated showdown will begin at 22:00. Here is an overview of the match:
Teams' results
These matches generate great interest not only because it is the Champions League semi-finals, but also because both teams play attractive football. Ajax went through their "total football" school long ago, but Mauricio Pochettino's team, which creates chaos in opponents' penalty area even without much control, is no less impressive.
Tottenham's team does not enter these matches in the best mood - they suffered a defeat in the English Premier League over the weekend, which was their first in their new stadium. Just before the semifinals, Spurs were penalized by a win by West Ham, who defeated them by a narrow margin.
Assessing Tottenham's form in the last few matches, it can be concluded that Ajax is the favorite. The London team won two out of their last five matches and suffered three defeats.
One of the defeats was quite bitter - it was the memorable second-leg quarter-final match against Manchester City. The Cityzens won 4-3, but thanks to the away goal rule, Tottenham secured a ticket to the semifinals.
Prior to that, they easily dealt with Dortmund's Borussia in the Champions League. In total, in their last ten matches, Tottenham has suffered five defeats and showed superiority over opponents the same number of times.
Ajax can boast of a much better form - they have won four consecutive matches and are unbeaten in eight. Interestingly, in the Champions League, Ajax has lost only one match this season, but even after that, the Dutch belief did not fade - following a defeat to Real Madrid, they rose in the return leg and achieved a sensational 4-1 victory in the Spanish capital.
In the quarterfinals, Ajax faced Juventus in Turin. Even two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo did not help the Italians - after a draw at home, Ajax players calmly secured a 2-1 victory and progressed.
Few people could imagine that these two teams would fight for a place in the final, but that's how it turned out, and these clubs will meet for the first time in the history of the Champions League tournament.
Teams' news
Tottenham's team continues to struggle with injuries at the most crucial stage of the season. In this match, Tottenham will be without Harry Kane, Erik Lamela, Serge Aurier, Harry Winks, and the suspended Heung-min Son.
It is still uncertain whether Moussa Sissoko and Jan Vertonghen will be able to play, further complicating the situation for the London team.
If Vertonghen doesn't recover in time, it is believed that Pochettino will play with a four-defender scheme - 4-3-2-1. The attacking trio will most likely consist of Lucas Moura, Dele Alli, and Fernando Llorente.
Ajax's team has far fewer problems, as practically all key players of the starting lineup are fit. Right-back Noussair Mazraoui has been recovering from an injury lately, but it is highly likely that he will play.
There are absolutely no surprises expected in Ajax's team - they should play with the usual eleven, which schematically does not differ much from the opponents from London.
Predicted starting line-ups:
Tottenham: (4-3-2-1) Hugo Lloris; Kieran Trippier, Toby Alderweireld, Davinson Sanchez, Danny Rose; Eric Dier, Victor Wanyama, Christian Eriksen; Dele Alli, Lucas Moura; Fernando Llorente.
Ajax: (4-3-3) Andre Onana; Noussair Mazraoui, Matthjis de Ligt, Daley Blind, Nicolas Tagliafico; Frenkie de Jong, Donny van de Beek, Lars Schone; David Neres, Dušan Tadić, Hakim Ziyech.
Interesting facts
Tottenham and Ajax have not met in the modern era of football. The only match between these clubs took place in the first round of the 1981-82 European Cup, where Tottenham triumphed over Ajax with a combined score of 6-1.
This is only the second appearance of Tottenham in the semifinals throughout their history. The last time they played was in the 1961-62 season when they were defeated by Benfica with a combined score of 3-4.
Tottenham became the seventh English team to reach the Champions League semifinals in the modern era. Following this Tottenham journey, England became the absolute record holder in this indicator.
Tottenham is the only one of the four teams playing in the semifinals who have never reached the final or won the tournament trophy.
While Ajax was playing in the old European Cup, they played a total of eight matches in the semifinals - two wins, as many draws, and four defeats.
The last time Ajax played against an English team in Europe was in 2017 when they lost to Manchester United in the Europa League final. It was their first defeat against an English team in the three matches played before that.
