Ryan Babel is not surprised by Ajax’s success in the Champions League. The Galatasaray attacker looks ahead on Tuesday at the match between Ajax and Besiktas, two of his old employers, and predicts a ‘cauldron’ in Istanbul. He advises Ajax to remain calm in the opening phase and sees opportunities to strike afterwards. The team from Amsterdam is already certain of wintering, while Besiktas still has a small chance of finishing third in the group.
Babel thinks that Besiktas gains strength from the support of the public, especially in the first fifteen minutes. “Often teams have problems with this and Besiktas can take advantage of that. If Ajax remains calm, it will fade very slowly. If Ajax can come out of that playing football, I expect many opportunities,” says the 34-year-old attacker in return for Ajax TV. He was loaned to Ajax in the second half of the 2019/20 season. At the time, the club was eliminated by Getafe in the sixteenth finals of the Europa League. In the current season, Ajax has not lost a single point in the Champions League.
“You can say ‘bizarre’, but you can also say: it was to be expected. If you look at the quality they deliver and you compare it with the teams they played against, they are just much better. not very surprised. It was just a confirmation,” says Babel, who reflects on the role of trainer Erik ten Hag in the success. “It is important that you provide clarity as a coaching staff. Ten Hag does that and he did that when I was allowed to participate. You see that again, also with the new players. They have to adapt as quickly as possible, because Ten Hag has a clear vision of how he wants to play. If everyone can execute that, you can achieve very nice things.”
Babel particularly enjoys Dusan Tadic. “He is already at a certain age (33 years, ed.), but when you see how fit he is and how much influence he still has on the team, I can enjoy that,” he says. “I know what we have to do to stay at the level. I have a lot of respect for that. I also see a good development with Ryan Gravenberch. I have been able to experience him up close. It is a world of difference compared to then He plays much more stable now. Of course he can improve a lot of things, but he is still young and doing well.”