For the second time in history, Ajax and Liverpool will meet in a European main tournament. Both clubs were classified in Group D of the Champions League on Thursday and will face each other in a European context for the first time since the 1966/67 season. Following the draw, Liverpool supporters are targeting Dusan Tadic, who made a statement earlier this year that was not appreciated by fans of the Reds.

In March of this year, Tadic talked to the Serbian broadcaster B92 back to the 2018/19 year with Ajax. The team from Amsterdam were eliminated in the semi-final of the Champions League by Tottenham Hotspur, which then lost the final to Liverpool. According to the attacker, Ajax would have won a possible final against Liverpool. “If Ajax had gotten what it deserved against Tottenham, we would have beaten Liverpool in the final,” said Tadic with conviction.

“We would not play as bad as Tottenham and much more inspired than Liverpool. The confidence of the Ajax players was so strong that Liverpool would not be able to cope with that, period,” he added. The pronunciation is stirred up by the Liverpool Echo. “Time to put your money where your mouth is …”, the newspaper writes, in other words: time to live up to your words. In addition, multiple Liverpool supporters tweet about the Serbian’s statement.

“We can finally shut that big mouth of Tadic,” reads one of the tweets. “Wasn’t it Tadic who said that Ajax would have beat us if they had reached the final?” Other twitterers write things like: “I can’t wait to teach Tadic some humility”, “Tadic went too far when he said that Ajax would have finished Liverpool. Not words, but deeds” and “Hi Tadic, your wish comes true. … wait to get an ass whooping.

At a specially added press conference after the draw, trainer Erik ten Hag admits that after the draw he thought that Ajax – Liverpool should have been the final in 2019. “That went through my mind for a while, yes. That was actually my first thought”, said the trainer, who, however, has dealt with the painful elimination. “I’ve gotten over it for a long time now. You can’t keep busy with it. It’s great to play against Liverpool. Against the club, but also against this team.”