Seldom will Ajax have looked forward to a Champions League match as relaxed as this week. After four group matches, the team from Amsterdam has already qualified for the next round, while even the first place already seems almost certain. Moreover, Besiktas has an opponent on the program that suits Ajax well. In collaboration with TOTO, we look ahead to the fifth round of the Champions League.
All Dutch teams can spend the winter in Europe this year, which is why TOTO has a nice promotion ready. Play €5 on European football and receive €5 as a gift! Sign up here and play along!
Leafing through the history books, we see that Ajax and Besiktas met each other for the first time in 1966 in a European Cup match that Ajax won 2-0 in De Meer. It would turn out to be a harbinger for the coming 55 years, as in all encounters that followed, the team from Amsterdam stepped off the field as the winner. In total, Ajax won all five duels with Besiktas in European competitions, with which the Turks have become the favorite opponent for the team from Amsterdam. Ajax has played against no other team so often without ever spilling points. With a sixth victory, Besiktas even became the team that Ajax most often defeated in Europe – Ajax has also won five times against Real Madrid, AC Milan and Dinamo Zagreb.
Will Ajax book a sixth consecutive victory over Besiktas? View the odds for a victory for the team from Amsterdam here.
Besides the sporting honor and the money that a win in the Champions League brings, there is also something else at stake for Ajax; Erik ten Hag’s team can set a historic European performance by winning each of the first five group matches of a Champions League season. That would be a rarity, as in the past only one other Dutch club managed to win the first five group matches of a European Cup or Champions League season: Feyenoord in 1971/72, exactly fifty seasons ago.
Can Besiktas prevent Ajax from equaling this ancient performance of Feyenoord? Check the quote here.
At Ajax, the attention will go to Antony, among other things. The Brazilian winger has emerged as one of the absolute trendsetters of this Ajax, especially in the Champions League. After already good for two assists against Sporting Portugal, he repeated this trick against Dortmund. This brings a record in sight for the Ajax dribbler. Since assist data has been kept (2003/04), no player has managed to provide at least two assists in three different Champions League matches in the same season. Besiktas left-back Umut Meras seems to be able to get his chest wet.
Will Antony be able to report an Amsterdam goal in the Champions League again? View the quote here.
Note: play consciously, 18+