Ajax is working with a fully fit selection towards the Champions League match against Benfica on Tuesday, Erik ten Hag said at the forward-looking press conference. The trainer is happy to have Jurriën Timber, Lisandro Martínez and Edson Álvarez again, normally the defensive central block at Ajax. “They are attuned to each other, complement each other and have the qualities to reinforce each other,” said Ten Hag.
lvarez dropped the league match against SC Cambuur (2-3 win) due to minor complaints, but the Mexican midfielder is fully fit again. That also applies to Timber, who briefly came in in Friesland, after missing the game with RKC Waalwijk. Furthermore, Lisandro Martínez returns from suspension. During the absence of the three players, Ajax conceded a striking number of goals in recent weeks. “I don’t know the statistics exactly,” Ten Hag responded. “We have played with a permanent team for a long time and I don’t know whether it is because of those three that we get few goals against, because there are more factors.”
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Ten Hag emphasized that it is not certain that Álvarez will also start in the base. “On Friday there was someone on 6 … by far the best of all”, the coach refers to Ryan Gravenberch, who scored the late winning goal from enormous distance and who stood out with frivolous play. In midfield, Ten Hag will probably opt for Steven Berghuis next to Gravenberch and Álvarez on Tuesday. In that case, Davy Klaassen would move back to the bank.
Ajax handed over a 2-0 victory in Lisbon (2-2) and the battle in the Johan Cruijff ArenA is therefore open. Ten Hag does not want to know anything about a dip in form after the defeat against Go Ahead Eagles (2-1) and the difficult victories against RKC (3-2) and Cambuur (2-3). “If you look from January, we are the best performing team in the Netherlands,” said the coach. “We dominated in the cup against AZ and also eliminated them. We achieved a good result in Lisbon. If we do a few percent better tomorrow, I am confident that we will reach the next round.”
Ten Hag has not specially prepared his team for possible penalties. “We practice that all the way through. A list of names? I already have that, yes.” Ajax only misses the long-term injured Remko Pasveer, Jay Gorter, Maarten Stekelenburg and Sean Klaiber in the Johan Cruijff ArenA. The team from Amsterdam has registered the transfer-free Przemyslaw Tyton for the Champions League. The Pole is the stand-in for André Onana on Tuesday.