The remarkable club journeys of 3 Ajax heroes from their 4-1 win over Real Madrid

#3 Eric ten Hag - The masterplanner

Eric ten Hag

What Ajax displayed on the pitch against Real Madrid was a pure masterclass. But much of the credit should go to their manager Eric ten Hag, who devised and effectively employed a perfect tactics to inflict the biggest home defeat in the Champions League on the defending champions.

Born in Haaksbergen, Netherlands, he played as a centre back during his playing career. He played in various Dutch clubs such as De Graafschap, RKC Waalwijk, FC Utrecht and FC Twente, having three stints with the last club.

His first managerial stint came when he was appointed the manager of Go Ahead Eagles in the Eerste Divisie in 2012. After just one season with the club, in which guided the team to 18 wins and 11 draws in 39 matches, he became the coach of Bayern Munich II and remained with them for two seasons before being replaced by Heiko Vogel.

He became the manager and sporting director of Dutch club FC Utrecht and guided them to a fifth placed finish in his very first season. In the next season, he improved their standing to fourth position, earning them qualification to the Europa League.

On December 21, 2017 he was appointed the coach of Ajax and he began working on a world class team, by combining the synergy of young and exciting talent from their academy like Frankie de Jong and Matthijs de Ligt and veteran stars such as Daley Blind and Schöne.

Currently, Ajax are five points behind league leaders PSV, and have now progressed to the quarter finals of the Champions League by thrashing Real Madrid with a world class performance.