I’ve often seen people talk about how Ajax reached the UCL semis in the 18/19 season and had a great season,but no one talks about Villarreal , they also had a great run to the UCL semi finals in 21/22 , teams like lyon also reached the semi finals in 19/20 ,yet no one talks about these teams.what was so great about Ajax’s run that season ?
Ajax was a legit threat to win and should have been in the final. Lyon bring during the covid bubble probably does not help on their side.
It has been a while since they got so close, and the team was super young. And they beat teams with pretty neat scores.
In my opinion, it was probably a combination of them defeating the reigning 3 time champions Real Madrid, who are also the most prestigious club of all time as well as defeating Ronaldo’s Juventus in their first season, the most popular player in the world. They also had great exciting young players such as De Ligt, De Jong & David Neres, whereas Villareal & Lyon did have great players, I feel as though people viewed them more so as amazing well functioning “units”. Finally, Ajax is a far more prestigious club historically than either of the other 2 so that probably played a part in it, people loved seeing Ajax back at the top of European football.
Van De Beek as well! He’s become a bit of a meme now but at Ajax he was fucking brilliant to watch! United fan so still hoping it happens for him but it doesn’t look likely, I hope he gets a move maybe even back to Ajax and recovers his form from that season because he was excellent.
Omg yes, such a shame what’s happened to him I completely forgot he existed lol. Hope he turns hid career around :/
Real Madrid pulled back their bid for Vd Beek, he really only played a handful of good games and was already in poor form when he left Ajax. He was incredibly hyped in England but many in the Netherlands questioned his talent. Vd Beek generally worked hard but the likes of De Jong, De Ligt, Onana and Ziyech were the much bigger talents.
As a Spurs fan, thought Ziyech and Tadic were great in that leg.
Tadic was one of the best players in the world that season and there’s nothing that convinces me otherwise.
What about the good old Deportivo de La Coruña 03/04 run. Got beat by the winners Porto in the semi by a penalty.
After that turnaround vs AC they should have won it is probably why.
Meh I think Villarreal in 2006 had a bigger chance
Valeron, Luque, Pandiani, Scaloni, Manuel Pablo, Munitis… What a team
Depor getting to the semis in 2003-04 wasn’t much of a shock though. They’d been one of the best teams in Europe for quite a while by then.
Or Valencia losing the final two years in a row, 2000 and 2001.
Oh yeah, they are a good shout as well. I just had a soft spot for that Depo team
Their play style .team filled up with talents , young talents and the way they defeated their opposition .they had it difficult from the start but they had strong mentality playing the likes of bayern defeated juventus defending champions real madrid(4-1 trashing in their OWN stadium) and just missing it out due to a comeback from lucas moura going out with a heart break .All in all that season was memorable and also one small factor adding to that was it war probably the best ucl season ever excluding the final.messi carryjob for barcelona liverpool comeback ajax trashing real spurs vs city drama spurs comeback against ajax makes people remeber that side even more
Villareal getting there wasn’t exactly a great watch. Lyon actually was.
I wonder if the Ajax one was because so many players went off to top tier clubs soon after, so the story kept getting told during each move.
Because the football they played was much better than Villarreal and Lyon. Take out a major bottle job they would have been rightfully champions league finalists
Take out a major bottle job
That shouldn’t be ignored though, blowing a three goal lead to the team traditionally known for big bottle jobs doesn’t get talked about enough.
Worth mentioning that Villarreal also had their own bottlejob. Before that they weren’t far away from being finalists themselves.
Villarreal beat an out of form Juve and scraped past Bayern
Lyon beat out of form Juve and City
Ajax beat back-to-back-to-back holders Madrid 4-1 at their own home and beat CR7’s “unstoppable” Juve convincingly
Ajax had good young players like De Jong, De Ligt and more experienced ones like Tadic and Onana
Villarreal and Lyon didn’t have many noteworthy players
Sorry to say but ajax beat out of form madrid, not taking anything away from them though…
Madrid lost 18 games that season. Incredible really.
Probably the worst Madrid side we have seen in a long time.
Courtois was leaking goals for fun, Ronaldo had just left, Vini hadn’t gotten into form, Bale’s heart wasn’t in it anymore, Rodrygo hadn’t arrived.
It shouldn’t take away from Ajax but neither should anything from Villareal or Lyon.
Lyon’s run also came in the abridged 2019-20 season so it didn’t feel like a “proper” CL either.
Pau Torres, Gerard Moreno and Parejo are pretty noteworthy
They played really good football.
Today no one even talks about porto 's underdog ucl win as well . If GOATmourinho had a certain cruyff 's pr and obsession with the borring " pass passs possession" attacking style of play , 9M of jobless internet users would have posted about it with their gummy fingers daily .
Ajax’s underdog bottling run to ucl semis is talked more is because of their attacking style of play and cancerous Cruyff PR compared to the other 2 ( lyon’s run and Villarreal 's run ) . I feel bad for their fans atm and i wish they had their Godfather to witness it with them , it would have add a sweetness to their tears .
Also that Porto had won Europa league the year before. 2003 Porto was a delight to see. 2004 Porto was more cynical. A killing machine with what they had. And Deco… man he carried that team.
Because unlike the other 2 Ajax belonged not just in the semi but also the final. They lost an upset to spurs and could’ve genuinely won the UCL based off just how strong they were. All of those players that went to big clubs never llayed that good again. I really wanted a barca vs Ajax finals and it would’ve been a dream. Ajax were genuine top 2 favs for the UCL. It wasn’t a freak run as supposed to Lyon and Villareal, all though villareal was better than Lyon imo.
Did you watch the football they played? They schooled Madrid in their own backyard when they had won the CL thrice. Went 4-4 against bayern and with chelsea with 9 men
Because all of their players were like 23 or less
In my opinion Villareal and Lyon easily lost the semis and everyone expected that to happen, unlike Ajax who were in the finals right till the end. Maybe because of the style Ajax played, more attacking football and more attractive opponents they faced on their way. Just my opinion…
Ajax didn’t just beat Madrid they completely outplayed them. They also went toe to toe with Bayern who won it a year later. And were very unlucky not to be in the final and maybe could have won it.