Erik ten Hag has reacted for the first time to Ajax’s draw in the eighth finals of the Champions League. The team from Amsterdam is linked to the Portuguese Benfica.
“This is another very nice poster”, Ten Hag opens on the Ajax website. The coach still remembers the double meeting with Benfica from 2018. Ajax took four points against the Portuguese top club and eventually made it to the semi-finals of the billion-dollar ball. “We know them well from two years ago, of course. That was very close at the time. I look back on those encounters with a good feeling. It was from a real fighting match, which we brought to us thanks to a goal from Dusan Tadic. “
PSV was eliminated by Benfica in the preliminary rounds of the Champions League. Then the team of trainer Jorge Jesus was tactically strong and even remained standing with ten men in the Philips Stadium. Ten Hag: “As a rule, Portuguese football is not for Dutch teams, but we have proven the opposite. First against Benfica and this season against Sporting CP.”
At Benfica, Ajax meets an old acquaintance with Jan Vertonghen. Ten Hag himself never worked with the Belgian defender, but of course knows what value he has had for the club from the capital. “He is an Ajax player, but he will want to perform. He has made friends here, including Daley Blind. But once on the field it is eat or be eaten.”
Benfica is no surprise for Ten Hag, who now knows something about the team that plays in the impressive Estadio Da Luz. He sees opportunities against the team from Lisbon. “The most important thing is the mentality we have ourselves. Our good group stage is no guarantee. You have self-confidence, but you start again from zero. We have to do everything we can to get to the next round.
