UEFA Champions League – Match Preview: Ajax Amsterdam verus A.C Milan
Milan make a long journey to Northern Europe as they face Ajax in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Given the amount of business that Milan have done in the summer transfer window, they are expected to rise to their traditional heights in
the UEFA Champions League competition once again. Against Amsterdam, the Milanese giants will be looking to get their second win of the competition as their first one came against Auxerre in their first group stage match of the competition.
It has been an interesting start to the season for Milan, who have in short been horrible when it comes to their away matches. At home, Milan have been impressive to say the least they have looked like a solid defensive unit when
playing at San Siro with an attacking line up that can rival anyone in club football. In the summer transfer window, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was brought on loan to the Italian giants after he fell out of favour with Pep Guardiola at Barcelona. Ever since his arrival
in Milan, the ex-Inter Milan and Juventus striker has become a fan favourite as he has scored in almost every match that he has started.
Other arrivals at Milan include the Brazilian trickster, Robinho alongside the Ghanaian national team midfielder, Kevin Prince Boateng. The trio of Ibrahimovic, Robinho and Boateng has been touted as the future of Milan and considering
that their older stars are set to retire sooner rather than later, these buys can prove to be decisive as far as the future of the club is concerned.
In the UEFA Champions League, A.C Milan has been quite a strong team over the past few years. In the last twenty years, Milan have won the competition twice and in doing so they have become the second most successful team in the
tournament after Real Madrid with seven European cup titles to their name.
Since 2000, Milan has been effective in European football but weak when it comes to Serie A. The club has only won the Serie A once in the past ten years, that historic win came in the 2003-2004 season. Last season, Milan finished
as the third best team in Italy after losing out to Roma and Inter Milan as far as the top two spots in the Serie A table for the 2009-2010 season are concerned. A.C Milan have had a good start to their 2010-2011 season, in their first league match they defeated
Leece by four goals to nil at San Siro, Milan also won their latest Serie A match against Genoa as Ibrahimovic fired them to a one goal win over their rival Italian club.
Conversely, Ajax have also been on top form. Despite losing their first group stage match of the UEFA Champions League to Real Madrid, in their domestic league the Amsterdam giants have been liquid hot as their biggest win of the
season came against MVV Maastricht. Ajax’s fans will be joyous about the fact that their star striker, Luis Suarez will be back for this match against Milan. Suarez has been Ajax’s top goalscorer for the past two season and the Uruguayan forward has been scoring
goals for fun in the Eredivisie.
Ajax last met Milan in the UEFA Champions’ League group stages of 2003. Back then, Milan won both the home leg as well as the away leg by a single goal on both occasions. In their last four meetings with A.C Milan, Ajax have failed
to score more than two goals and have conceded five goals in the process. Ajax’s best chance of progression to the round of sixteen lies in attachment to their performances at their home stadium in Amsterdam. Milan have shown this season in their domestic
league that they are susceptible to conceding cheap goals when playing away from home. Therefore, Ajax do have a chance to come away with a draw from this encounter.
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