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Tottenham Hotspur welcome Ajax in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final tie on Tuesday evening.
The hosts scraped into the last four courtesy of a last-gasp triumph over Manchester City. After winning the first leg 1-0, the Lilywhites lost the second leg 4-3, but went through on the away goals rule.
Ajax, on the other hand, swept aside Juventus’ challenge with a commanding 3-2 aggregate victory over the Old Lady. The Dutch club drew the first leg 1-1 at home, but proceeded to outwit the Italian club in Turin to record a 3-2 aggregate success.
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Thus, both teams come into the encounter having dispatched more fancied opposition in the previous round.
Moreover, the visitors arrive at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on an eight-game unbeaten run. In those eight matches, Ajax have racked up 26 goals while they’ve let in only 10.
Spurs, meanwhile, would want to recover from the patchy form they’ve endured recently. At the weekend, West Ham inflicted the first cut on an otherwise pristine home record.
Thus, the outcome of the first leg could well boil down to how the Lilywhites cope with the disappointment of having lost their first game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Kick-off Information
Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Date: 30th April, 2019
Time: 20:00 (Local Time), 00:30 (IST) on 1st May, 2019
Referee: Mateu Lahoz
Where to watch: Sony Network
Form Guide
Last five competitive matches (Most recent first)
Tottenham: L-W-L-L-W
Ajax: W-W-W-W-D
Head to Head
Tottenham: 2 wins
Ajax: 0 wins
Draw: 0 Draws
Stat of the Day
Ajax knocked out Juventus and Real Madrid in the quarter-finals and the Round of 16 respectively this season, despite not winning the first leg. In the process, they became the first side to do so in the history of the European Cup/Champions League.
Player to watch out for
Dusan Tadic
The summer of 2018 saw Dusan Tadic swap England for Netherlands when he moved from Southampton to Ajax. At the time, many felt that the Serb’s best years were past him, and the switch was a result of him wanting to play in a less competitive environment.
However, courtesy his displays this term, the forward has silenced every doubter emphatically.
In the league, he has amassed 24 goals, and he has also made the net bulge on 6 occasions in the Champions League. Additionally, he has bagged 15 assists, with 3 of them coming in Europe.
Moreover, the Serbian was sensational as Ajax thrashed Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu. The said performance earned Tadic a rare 10/10 rating from French publication, L’Equipe, becoming only the ninth player ever to garner the accolade.
Thus, the forward arrives in North London in red-hot form and with something to prove. After all, his time on the English south coast wasn’t remembered too fondly, and on Tuesday, Tadic has the opportunity to set things right and remind those in England what he is truly capable of conjuring.
