Erik ten Hag will deviate from Ajax’s permanent line-up in the Champions League against Besiktas on Wednesday, but Ronald de Boer does not hope that the trainer ‘turns the whole team upside down’. The club is already almost certain of group victory in the million-dollar ball and, according to the General Newspaper appear on the pitch in Istanbul with four changes.
“I wouldn’t turn the whole team upside down, but I would understand a number of changes,” De Boer said on Wednesday The Telegraph. “For the group process it is important that a certain atmosphere and energy is created and that boys who can become important later in the season get playing minutes. The match against Besiktas is suitable for that.” The former player of Ajax, among others, also points out that the Ten Hag team can write history by winning the remaining two group matches. The team from Amsterdam will close the group stage against Sporting Portugal in two weeks.
After all, Ajax won the first four group matches. The record number of points of a Dutch club in the group stage of the Champions League is already in the name of the team from Amsterdam: sixteen points in a group with Real Madrid, Ferencvaros and Grasshoppers in 1995. surpassed by a Dutch club”, laughs De Boer. “But Ajax is still clear at the moment and has the chance to get eighteen points. I would write that on the big board if I were Ajax’s trainer: you can write history!”
Former treasurer Arie van Os believes that Ajax should also go for the win from a financial point of view. A draw is good for nine tons, but a win in Istanbul once again yields the cash of Ajax 2.8 million euros. Plus a win is good for the coefficient list, on which the Netherlands is close behind numbers five and six France and Portugal. “If the Netherlands overtake one of the two, the numbers one and two of the Eredivisie will qualify directly for the group stage of the Champions League in the 2023/24 season and that would be great for PSV and Ajax in particular,” said Van Os.
“Because then you are more or less assured of forty million euros and can really budget for that tournament. That is still a bit of a link now.” It should encourage Ajax in Istanbul. “The club can create its own financial safety net, so that not becoming a champion doesn’t have to be annoying.” Sports marketer Chris Woerts hopes from a commercial point of view that Ajax will also win the fifth group match. “Ajax would destroy the resounding victories over Borussia Dortmund and the previous victories against Sporting and Besiktas by a defeat at Besiktas, because you are only as good as your last game.”