This week, Ajax had to face Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League. Ajax reached the knockout stages for the first time since 2006 two weeks ago. All they had to do this week is fight for pole position against the Germans.
Robert Lewandowski gave Bayern the lead but Dusan Tadic equalised. Maximilian Wober was sent off for Ajax, with Bayerns Thomas Muller dismissed for kicking Nicolas Tagliaficos head. Tadic then put Ajax ahead with an 82nd-minute penalty, but there were three goals to come. Lewandowski scored a spot-kick with Bayerns Kingsley Coman netting before Niklas Sules own goal.
Team news
Ajax lined up largely as expected, however, there was one big surprise. For the first time this year, Erik Ten Hag decided to use Dusan Tadic as a ‘false 9’ and not go with either Dolberg or Huntelaar. He decided to do this in order to be able to ‘break’ Bayern’s strong defence by playing quickly and vertically.
Moreover, another reason Ten Hag decided to play Tadic as a ‘false 9’ is because he would always drop and take a defender with him and then cut quickly out wide, creating a 3 v 1 situation on the left when Tagliafico would also come high up the pitch. However, the main reason Ten Hag did this is because, as mentioned before, Tadic moved from the far side to the near side of the attacking line across two Bayern players. This movement created the passing lane for Tagliafico to play the vertical pass through that Tadic or even Donny Van de Beek collected and played on from. Bayern lined-up as expected and with no surprises.
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