Can the Lilywhites turn it around?
Ajax travelled back to Amsterdam with a 0-1 win after another highly impressive display during the first leg of this semi-final matchup. Tottenham have their backs against the wall and will have to conjure up something special in order to turn this tie around. Who will prevail?
Ajax
This is turning out to be quite the fairytale season for the men in red and white, they recently won the Dutch cup with a dominating 4-0 display against Willem II and lead the Eredivisie on a superior goal difference ahead of PSV with two rather easy games left to play. But firstly, the second leg of this Champions League semi-final. Their first leg win at the new Tottenham Hotspur Arena was fully deserved and they could even have gotten away with more had they not been so wasteful which ultimately means that this tie is still very much alive and kicking.
The team from Amsterdam honestly have so many players performing at a top, top level i've had a very hard time singling out just a couple, should we focus on the freakishly young captain de Ligt, midfield dynamo de Jong, ridiculously skilful wingers Ziyech and Neres or perhaps Dusan Tadic who has so far scored 31 goals in all competitions? I even left out Donny Van de Beek which is basically blasphemy seeing how good he was during the last leg.
There is an incredible "go" in the team at the moment and nobody should be doubting the young'uns after all they've achieved thus far. The fairytale treble is still alive.
Notable absentees
Bande, Cerny and Eiting.
Tottenham
Spurs were outplayed for a very large portion of the game last time out and should honestly have lost with more than 1 goal, however, NEVER count a team out at this stage of this tournament. The sheer skill and ability these players posses means that anything is possible, they have a great backline and are even boosted by Vertonghen's quick recovery. Eriksen is capable of firing in one from long range or if given the slightest of time, send in wicked, ridiculously accurate crosses which will cause major problems for an Ajax backline that is stable, but not world-class.
Another hugely positive aspect in an otherwise doom and gloom list of unavailable players is that Son Heung-Min is eligible to play again having missed the first leg due to suspension. The South Korean adds another dimension to a Spurs side that obviously lacked a break-through force with Lucas Moura being the only player in white that was capable of running over 7 miles an hour, bar Danny Rose who's touch let him down more times than i would like to count.
After heaping so much praise on the Lilywhites i obviously have to bash them a bit. Tottenham have in recent times been quite horrible on the road, the loss to Bournemouth might be a bad example due to the 2 red cards (which also means that some of the players will be fatigued after having defended with 9 men for half the game) but is also quite typical of a Spurs side that have a nasty habit of bottling it every time they get close to really achieving something. The injury to Harry Kane does them no favours either and since his injury they have been pretty darn blunt in the final 3rd.
HOWEVER, they have despite it all secured a spot in next years Champions League which will have released some of the tension and as i mentioned above, anything is possible in this beautiful sport.
Notable absentees
Kane, Aurier, Lamela, Winks and Janssen.
Betting tip
Having witnessed Ajax's brilliance through every stage of the tournament i don't really think Tottenham can match them, especially at the Johan Cruijff Arena which is why i am backing an Ajax win at 5/4 with Bet365.
