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Ajax produced one of the finest performances of the UEFA Champions League this season to dump 13 times champions Real Madrid out of the competition. Their quality of play and attacking football mesmerized football fans from all over the world.
The team fielded by Eric ten Hag is an exceptional mix of experience and youth and left the defending champions in tatters. While most of the players were a product of their famed youth academy, others who had played in a number of clubs before becoming part of this thrilling mix.
Let's look at the club careers of two of them and their manager.
#1 Dušan Tadić - The Creator of Magic
He created chances, dribbled around Madrid's defenders like they were dolls, assisted two goals and topped it all with an astonishing screamer. Dusan Tadić was an absolute pleasure to watch in the false nine role and looked completely different from his time at Southampton.
Born in Serbia, he started playing for local club AIK Bačka Topola and later on joined FK Vojvodina, where he had the chance to play against some of the heavyweights of European football such as Atlético Madrid. He showed glimpses of his enormous potential when he scored in 2009-2010 UEFA Europa League qualifying phase against Austria Wien when he only 20 years old.
In 2010 he transferred to FC Groningen, and ironically, his debut was against his current club Ajax in which he provided an assist in a 2-2 draw. He finished that season with 22 assists, third highest in whole Europe, behind only Lionel Messi and Mesut Ozil. In 2012, he transferred to FC Twente, where again his debut was against his previous club, where he scored two goals.
He moved to Southampton in 2014 under manger Ronald Koeman and had a decent career with the Saints where he scored 20 goals in 134 appearances. His playmaking abilities were on full display as he equaled the Premier League record for providing four assists in a single game. He would later on became only the fourth player to provide three or more assists in more than one Premier League game.
His impressive displays earned him a transfer to Ajax where he got the chance to dismantle Real Madrid in front of the whole world.
#2 Lasse Schöne - The veteran soldier
The whole world is still drooling over the 72nd minute free kick goal scored by Lasse Schöne. With 191 appearances, he is the international player with the most games played for Ajax.
He was born in Glostrup, Denmark and primarily a central midfielder, he started his footballing career with local club Himmelev-Veddelev BK and then moved on to B70 and then Lyngby.
He finally joined the youth system of Eredivisie club Heerenveen but didn't make any league appearances in his four years with the club. He moved to Eerste Divisie club De Graafschap in 2006 and in his first season helped the club earn promotion to the Eredivisie. He was also named Player of the Year by the club fans in his debut season.
He moved to Dutch club NEC in the summer of 2008 and was quite successful in his four years with the club, and was even named the NEC player of the year in 2008 by the fans.
After scoring a decent 24 goals during his tenure, in which he efficiently controlled the midfield of the club, he moved to Ajax in 2012, and has since amassed a massive 191 appearances and become an integral part of the team under Erik ten Hag.
#3 Eric ten Hag - The masterplanner
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.
