Wednesday evening sees the first Uefa club competition final of this season take place.
Ajax and Manchester United square off against each other in Stockholm with both aiming to make history.
A win for the Dutch giants, who are in their first European final since 1996, will see them collect an 11th major international title while victory for United puts the record English champions in a select group.
To date, only four clubs have managed to win all three of Uefa’s club competitions – the Champions League (formerly European Cup), Cup Winners’ Cup (now defunct) and Europa League (formerly Uefa Cup); they are Juventus, aforementioned Ajax, Bayern Munich and Chelsea.
The meeting between two of Europe’s footballing royalty is also a clash of cultures. Although both have an exemplary history of promoting from within, it’s fair to say United – with their extraordinary wealth – belong to the group of uber-wealthy clubs that dominate the transfer window.
You just have to look at the respective squads and how much they cost to assemble.
But, of course, football is never played on paper. Ultimately, it’s 11 vs 11, and the Amsterdammers have as good a chance as any.
Bosz, the architect
This is down to the brand of football they propagate, harking back to their halcyon days of the early 70s and mid 90s, which has been explicitly displayed in the Europa League so far.
His reputation as a forward-thinking and proactive coach, fully committed to daring football, was built at at Heracles and then Vitesse, which attracted him to the Ajax hierarchy.
Bosz, who also coached in Israel, is notable as being one of the few Dutch coaches whose footballing vision is in line with that of Johan Cruyff, the source of Ajax’s modern footballing philosophy, and Cruyff’s spirit has been for all to see.
Even with a young team, who have all brought into his methods, they can hurt United.
Ajax’s strengths…
They will most certainly line up in their favoured 4-3-3 formation, with a holding midfielder (Lasse Schone) sitting in front of the back-four and two attacking midfielders (Hakim Ziyech and Davy Klaassen) in front of him, although in possession it’s effectively a 3-4-3 diamond as one of the centre-backs steps into midfield.
Ajax’s system facilitates their possession-based approach. Keeping possession not only conserves energy, but can also be utilised as a defensive weapon, as without it the opponent (in this case United) cannot harm you, and once they do regain it they should be tired after all the chasing.
Every pass made is geared towards creating a goal scoring opportunity, the desire is to finish with a sweeping move, and it’s notable the wingers – or wide-forwards – seldom cross the ball instead encouraged to cut inside.
…and weakness
It goes without saying what their biggest weakness is. The average age of Ajax’s starting line-up in Europe this season has been 22. It’s a team that lacks experience, and that can be exploited by a battle-hardened United team, who play regularly in a much more demanding league.
On the flip side, exuberance is often linked with fearlessness, and away to Schalke and Lyon they’ve shown they can handle setback during a game.
But a major European final is a completely different kettle of fish and it will also be felt on the dugout.
Jose Mourinho, one of the many supercoaches managing across Europe, will be taking part in his fourth European final – and yet to lose – having previously won this competition with FC Porto in 2003.
Bosz, to date, has contested two finals losing both and has no major piece of silverware to his name. Mourinho’s gamesmanship will be a test for the Dutchman.
Ajax’s vulnerability, unsurprisingly given their emphasis on attack, is defending and they’ve shown to be susceptible in Europe this season. As talented as both centre-backs Davinson Sánchez, 20, and Matthijs de Ligt, 17, are they’re prone to mistakes under pressure.
Schone, who as mentioned operates in front of Ajax’s defence, will play a key role and if he is subdued then United will cause trouble.
There is no question the Red Devils, in stretches, will be on top and it’s imperative Ajax weather the storm if they are to be successful.
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