Erik ten Hag will change his team in no less than five places for the last group match in the Champions League against Sporting Portugal, compared to the home game that Willem II won 5-0 last Thursday. The team from Amsterdam will probably have to do without Dusan Tadic in the meeting with the reigning champion of Portugal, who is struggling with back problems. Jurriën Timber is also on edge, a reason to keep him out of the starting eleven.
“We will make some changes again, but not as rigorously as against Besiktas. Whether André Onana defends the goal? You will see that on Tuesday,” Ten Hag said at the press conference on Monday. Against Besiktas, the coach had to make some repairs at half time by bringing Sébastien Haller, who was initially left out of the starting eleven, in front of Mohamed Daramy. Partly due to two goals from Haller, Ajax won 1-2 in Istanbul.
It General Newspaper predicts that Ten Hag will opt for the same defense as against Besiktas: André Onana again defends the goal and finds Noussair Mazraoui, Perr Schuurs, Lisandro Martínez and Nicolás Tagliafico in front of him. However, it does mean three changes compared to the duel with Willem II. Onana, Schuurs and Tagliafico are preferred by Ten Hag over Remko Pasveer, Jurriën Timber and Daley Blind.
Timber is on edge and would therefore be left out of the starting eleven as a precaution. “I am very aware of his card burden, but I will not say whether I take that into account yet,” Ten Hag said during the press conference. In midfield, he probably opts for the familiar trio of Edson Álvarez, Ryan Gravenberch and Steven Berghuis, at the expense of Davy Klaassen. He still had a basic place against Besiktas and Willem II in the last Eredivisie match because Berghuis had become a father a few days earlier.
The front line of Ajax against Sporting probably consists of David Neres, Haller and Antony. Tadic will probably have to miss a European match for the first time since coming to Ajax in 2018, as he is struggling with a back injury. Ten Hag: “Since the match against Heracles Almelo, he has had back problems. On artificial grass against Heracles…”
There are still a match premium and points for the UEFA coefficient ranking at stake in the Johan Cruijff ArenA on Tuesday evening. Both Ajax and Sporting are already certain of wintering in the Champions League and the current position in the group cannot change, although Ajax can still close with a perfect score of six victories. The duel between the champions of the Netherlands and Portugal will kick off on Tuesday evening at 9 p.m. and can be followed live from 7:53 p.m. via RTL7.
Probable position of Ajax: Onana, Mazraoui, Schuurs, Martínez, Tagliafico; Gravenberch, Álvarez, Berghuis; Anthony, Haller and Neres.