Borussia Dortmund is more than just Erling Braut Haaland, Erik ten Hag emphasizes on Monday afternoon. At the press conference prior to the Champions League match between Ajax and Borussia Dortmund, the trainer is the first to be asked about the qualities of the striker. “We don’t play against Haaland, we play against Borussia Dortmund,” Ten Hag makes clear.
He therefore does not seem happy with the questions from Joep Schreuder, who starts the press conference by asking Jurriën Timber whether Ajax is ready for ‘the phenomenon’, after which he asks Ten Hag whether Haaland can be stopped. “It’s an insult to those other players how you, how you talk about Haaland. Dortmund is an excellent team with a very good striker. There is not one player with us who is going to specifically stop him. We have to stop him as a team. we are going to approach him. That is how we are going to play against Dortmund.”
Haaland and Dortmund ready for Ajax | Dortmund – Mainz | Highlights
More videos
When asked, Timber confirms that he will go through the qualities of Haaland together with Ten Hag. “Yes, but that happens with several strikers, not just with Haaland. I do think he is the best striker I have faced. That will certainly be a challenge,” says the defender, who calls Haaland a ‘world striker’. He played on September 1 with the the Dutch squad as a right back against Norway, with Haaland as the striker. Then Timber realized that Haaland was even better than he thought.
“I have to say yes, but I was already able to watch Virgil van Dijk and Stefan de Vrij. They did quite well then, but you still saw that he created opportunities for himself. That says enough, I think “, he indicates. When asked, Ten Hag indicates that he attributes a favorite role to Dortmund in the group. “I already said after the draw that Dortmund is the favorite in this group. We as the Netherlands need to know our position. But to be honest, no team in Europe likes to play against Ajax.”