Champions League quarterfinals
Ajax Amsterdam are in the Champions League semifinals. They eliminated one of the favorites, Juventus, coming from behind to win 2-1 in Turin. After knocking out the champions Real Madrid in the round of 16, the Dutch young team prevented Cristiano Ronaldo from winning a potential fourth consecutive European Cup title.
The Dutch sensational team has played the most attractive football in Europe this season. Similar to AS Monaco a few years back with the likes of Mbappé, Mendy, Lemar, Bernardo Silva and Co, Ajax Amsterdam have a nucleus of young talents portrayed by De Jong, De Ligt, De Beek, Neres. Likewise, the young players will likely play for the biggest clubs next or in a couple more years. They will have to face another powerhouse of European football in the semis in hopes to reach the Final in Madrid on June 1st.
Juventus coach Allegri on the huge disappointment:
“They deserved to progress to the next round. And also the result of this evening. They are in the Champions League semi-finals, and it is no coincidence, because they have already done well in the Europa League. These teams are made up of strong players, and Ajax have them.
In the first half we put our opponents in difficulty, we also played a good match, but football is crazy: we conceded a fairly fortuitous goal, after we got stretched out in the second half and should’ve had a different approach.
We should have played a different game, but they deserved it. In the second half we broke up, we often threw the ball away, which favoured Ajax with his technique. We tried to have more depth, but with the result that we were less compact; moreover, we gifted some actions, such as that of the second goal: in a quarter-final, it cannot be done.”
