Tottenham have to beat Ajax in their own back yard to get to Champions League final

With a Champions League final space up against either FC Barcelona or Liverpool, Spurs will need to win at the Johan Cruijff ArenA by two goals to progress to their first ever final in this competition.

This comes after they lost 1-0 in London to Dutch side Ajax as their academy product Donny van de Beek scored the winner and in doing so became the third-youngest player to score in a Champions League semi-final. It was also his 30th goal in a De Godenzonen shirt.

The last two times that Tottenham have travelled abroad to Holland they haven’t come back with anything more than a draw. Earlier on in the season, they drew 2-2 with PSV Eindhoven in the group stages, while also drawing with FC Twente back in the 2010-2011 season, that game ended 3-3.

Hosts Ajax have to overcome the problem that has seen them not win any of their last three home matches in Europe. Those ended 3-3 against Bayern Munich; 2-1 when Real Madrid came to town and 1-1 most recently when they hosted Juventus.

Last season’s Eredivisie runner-ups have a fantastic record when welcoming teams from England over in Europe, winning six out of nine matches against English teams. Their only loss to date was a 2-1 defeat to Arsenal back in the 2005-2006 season.

Ajax won their first trophy of the season on Sunday after they beat Willem II 4-0 in the KNVB Beker Final with a double from Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. Daley Blind and Rasmus Kristensen got the other two goals while Dusan Tadic continued his fine form by getting an assist.

Tottenham lost 1-0 to AFC Bournemouth in the league which leaves their Champions League status for next season in the balance after two players (Heung-Min Son and Juan Foyth) got sent off. Now Spurs have to beat Everton in their final league game of the season to ensure playing in this competition next campaign.

Erik ten Hag spoke about the importance of the first leg:

“We have to win the match tomorrow and we’ll play to our strengths. We have to win. It’s a new game we have to play.

“The away goal was important last week. We will play in an arena with an incredible atmosphere and we hope that will help us.

“During the last hour we did good things, the organisation of the team in defence was excellent. We need to do more in an attacking senses. It depends on the opponent. We have to read the game and see what’s required and that’s the challenge for tomorrow.”

Mauricio Pochettino said it was still possible to win the two-legged tie:

“It’s possible if you play bravely and play with a winning mentality. That is the most important thing.

“I think you, the fans, mostly the players – we feel all disappointed because we didn’t start the game, playing a semi-final of the Champions League.

“We didn’t translate the emotion or the image that we were playing in a Champions League semi-final.

Hosts Ajax will possibly have two players missing as Hassane Bande (calf) and David Neres could be out. The later picked up a slight knock and could yet overcome the problem to play.

Spurs will be without Harry Kane (ankle); Erik Lamela (hamstring) and Harry Winks (hip)

Though could possibly welcome two players back with Jan Vertonghen (head) and Serge Aurier (hamstring) as both look likely to overcome there respective injuries.

Winger turned striker Son will also make his European return for the English side as he missed the first leg through suspension.

Once again Dusan Tadic was amongst the goals as the former Southampton player has been involved in 56 goals. This season the Serbian has scored 34 times including six in the Champions League.

While Kane is Tottenham’s top scorer he is ruled out of the tie so next best scorer Son is the second top scorer for the Premier League side. The South Korean has netted 20 goals which is four off first place.

[columns]

[column size=”1/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”62″ heading=”Champions League” heading_type=”timeline” /][/column]
[column size=”1/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”79″ heading=”Tottenham Hotspur” heading_type=”timeline” /][/column]
[/columns]