Manchester United vs. Ajax Amsterdam UEFA Europa League preview
Two of European football’s most famous names meet in a UEFA Europa League round of 32 decider, with Manchester United 2-0 up from the away leg of their tie against AFC Ajax.
Ashley Young (59) and Javier Hernández (85) struck at the Amsterdam ArenA as United claimed their biggest away win in the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League.
Prior to this season, the teams had met once before in UEFA competition, Tommy Docherty’s United prevailing 2-1 on aggregate against Tomislav Ivi?’s Ajax in the 1976/77 UEFA Cup first round. Ruud Krol scored the only goal in Amsterdam, but Lou Macari and Sammy McIlroy turned the tie around at Old Trafford.
The teams for that second leg in Manchester on 29 September 1976 were:
United: Stepney, Nicholl, Houston, Daly (Albiston 60), Greenhoff, Buchan, Coppell, McIlroy, McCreery, Macari, Hill (Paterson 70).
Ajax: Schrijvers, Van Dord, Glui?, Dusbaba, Krol, Notten, Hulshoff, Geels, Erkens, Arnesen (Meijer 70), Ling.
Ajax have won all three of Europe’s top club trophies – the European Champion Clubs’ Cup/UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup. United, missing the middle prize, could complete the clean sweep themselves by winning this competition.
United’s record against Dutch teams reads W7 D2 L2 (W5 D0 L0 at home).
Ajax’s record in 18 games against English sides is W5 D6 L7 (W1 D4 L4 away).
United are absent from the UEFA Champions League round of 16 for the first time since 2005/06. Their last taste of this competition came when losing to SC Rotor Volgograd on away goals in the 1995/96 first round.
Going into the first leg, all four of United’s UEFA Cup games under Sir Alex Ferguson had ended in draws: two 0-0s followed by a shoot-out defeat against FC Torpedo Moskva in 1992/93, and a 0-0 and a 2-2 against Rotor two years later.
Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes are the only current United players to have represented the club in the UEFA Cup, featuring in both Rotor fixtures.
The Amsterdam club have not won in eight matches against English opposition (three draws, five defeats). Their last victory was against Nottingham Forest FC in the 1980/81 European Cup semi-finals, although the 1-0 scoreline still spelled aggregate defeat for Ajax.
Ajax are in the last 32 for the fourth season running. They beat ACF Fiorentina in 2008/09, but bowed out in the next round; in 2009/10 they lost to Juventus while last term they overcame RSC Anderlecht, but fell to FC Spartak Moskva at the next hurdle.
Ajax have not reached the last eight of a UEFA competition since 2002/03, when they lost to AC Milan in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.