Ajax have been winning hearts in the Champions League this season and the young Dutch side have already caused a number of upsets.
In the Round of 16, Ajax knocked out Real Madrid from the tournament and just when everyone was starting to think that it might have been a fluke, they have now knocked out Juventus.
Next up, Ajax will take on Tottenham Hotspur in the semi-finals, the first leg of which will be played at the news Spurs stadium next month.
But now the million dollar question is whether Pochettino’s men will become the third big-name victim for the Amsterdam outfit?
Well, not if they listened to what Jose Mourinho had to say.
After the Juventus vs Ajax game, the former Man United manager revealed the tactics that he had used when Man United beat Ajax in the Europa League a couple of years ago.
Speaking On the Touchline with José Mourinho, the Portuguese manager said:
“In my opinion, [Juventus are] another team that let Ajax play with their strength,” he said.
“Until this moment, nobody really respect them, and they let them play with the qualities they have.
“They have fantastic young players with a little bit of the experience they didn’t have a couple of years ago when I played them in the Europa Cup final.
“We gave them the game that they didn’t want to have,
“They complained [after the game] about the long build-up, they complained about [Marouane] Fellaini, about physicality, they complained because they couldn’t cope.
“If you play against Ajax in the way they want to play, you have the risk that they are better than you.
“If I see, for example, Ajax play Barcelona or Liverpool in the final, if they reach the final, I think Barcelona and Liverpool can beat them playing their own strength, but when your quality is not, you have to go to the strategic point of view and give them what they don’t want.”
Spurs obviously will be thinking that they will be able to overcome the Ajax test in the semis but the reality is that Pochettino is without Harry Kane and if the Man City game is anything to go by then Ajax surely have the talent to carve open the Lilywhites defence at will.
So we think, Poch to take the Jose Mourinho route in order to ensure that Spurs do not get anything out of the first leg in London and they themselves manage to score atleast two goals in order to tip the balance of the tie in their favour.
