London: When the Champions League season 2018-19 kicked off, nobody gave the young Ajax Amsterdam a chance - no one expected them to go beyond their group, the semi-finals were a far-fetched dream. However, Ajax reached the semi-finals capturing the hearts of millions and once again stamped their class at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.
Ajax registered a crucial 1-0 win over Tottenham in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final on Tuesday and when they host the Spurs next week, they will lead in the aggregate and will have an away goal advantage, all thanks to a goal from Donny van de Beek.
Spurs didn't put up the best of their shows as they were completely outplayed in the first 30 minutes of the match, which is one Ajax had struck. They eventually grew into the match and even challenged Ajax throughout the second half but their finishing and final passing let them down.
Tottenham were without their stars Harry Kane and Son Heung-min - the ones who are usually at the end of those big chances. However, Christian Eriksen admitted that the London club played "below-par".
Ajax absolutely ran them over initially and even after they gained control, Ajax could quite easily hold them off.
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino is still optimistic considering the slender advantage Ajax have. On the other hand, Ajax manager Erik ten Hag was all praise for the work rate and attitude shown by his boys.
Here are all the statistics from one of the biggest nights in the history of both Tottenham and Ajax:
When van de Beek scored against Tottenham on Tuesday, Ajax found the back of the net for their ninth consecutive away game in the Champions League for the first time in the club's history.
van de Beek, at 22 years and 12 days, is the third youngest goalscorer for Ajax in a Champions League semi-final. Mario Melchiot (20 years 170 days) and Nordin Wooter (19 years 237 days) were the younger goalscorers than him.
Ajax are only the third team to win away games in their last 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals in a single Champions League season. FC Bayern did it in 2012-13 and Real Madrid in their title winning 2017-18 season.
Dusan Tadic has created most chances than any other player in this season's Champions League - he went over the 30-mark against Tottenham.
Ajax have registered a victory in a sem-final match in Champions League for the first time since April 17, 1996.
Ajax (1995-96) is the only team out of 17 previous teams to have made it to the final after losing the first leg of a European semi-final at home.
Tottenham Hotspur matched their lowest number of shots on target in a Champions League match after managing just one against Ajax at home on Tuesday.
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