The day after the resounding victory of Ajax in the Champions League against Borussia Dortmund (4-0) a lot is said and written about the game of the team from Amsterdam. Youri Mulder was also impressed by what he saw on Tuesday evening in the Johan Cruijff ArenA. The former football player praises Jurriën Timber and Erik ten Hag and estimates the current team higher than the team that reached the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2019.
“I think the current team is even better, it’s even more of a collective”, Mulder looks back at sporza. “At the time, the team still relied a lot on the individual class of boys such as Hakim Ziyech, Frenkie de Jong and Matthijs de Ligt, the central axis. Now the quality is more balanced. Timber, barely twenty years old, just eliminated Haaland yesterday. With Lisandro Martínez and Edson Álvarez you have two South Americans who provide intransigence, but are also very good technically. And Dusan Tadic and Daley Blind have tons of experience.”
Mulder emphasizes that he has rarely seen a team play as well as Ajax on Tuesday. The team from Amsterdam closed Dortmund the biggest defeat in the Champions League and broke several records. “Performances like that of Ajax, with such quality of play, speed, technique… I can count them on one hand,” says Mulder. “What Ajax showed was very rare, an absolute pleasure to experience. The passing was also very concentrated at Ajax, it went so quickly. Everything fit together. And Dortmund is not just a team, is it. But Haaland was simply neutralized by the Ajax defense.”
Ten Hag also receives praise from Mulder. “His hand has been visible since the success campaign in the Champions League, when Ajax stranded in the semi-finals,” said the former player of Schalke 04 and FC Twente. “After that, a lot of players left, but Erik really makes players better. In the Netherlands you have a group of trainers that are trained in a certain way. Fred Rutten played a central role in this. Ten Hag has expanded that game vision into the current success. He built his success team at Ajax in the same way as his current team in 2019. You see similar elements that come back. That shows the strength of the coach.”
And so, according to Mulder, it is not inconceivable that Ajax can also go far this year in the largest European club tournament. “If they want to do better than in 2019, they will have to reach the final with this generation of players,” said Mulder. “But nowadays Ajax has enough money to keep their good players longer, they no longer have to succumb to the money of European sub-top players. At the beginning of this season, Pierre van Hooijdonk said that Ajax could make it to the final. laughed at the time, but Pierre will now gradually laugh himself. If you see what Ajax did yesterday – and if it continues to this level – then it can beat anyone.”