Massimiliano Allegri, Juventus head coach has concluded that Ajax has been simply lucky in the Champions League this season and that there have been “moments when everything goes right”.
Ajax, the Dutch side has been a huge surprise in Europe’s premier club competition this season, first eliminating Real Madrid at the last-16 stage before shockingly defeating Juventus in the quarter-finals.
That saw them gifted with a semi-final clash against Tottenham, with the victor of that tie to face either the Catalan giants, Barcelona or the Reds, Liverpool in the final in Madrid on June 1.
Ajax, however, are in a very commanding position right after the first leg against Tottenham as van de Beek’s composed finish past Hugo Lloris clearly means that the side has a one-goal advantage going into the second leg in their home stadium at Amsterdam.
Allegri, Juventus head coach thinks they’ve been sometimes lucky in this season’s competition, however, stating that some of the players were absent from his first eleven for the 2-1 defeat to the Dutch side on April 16.
With Allegri also discussing how both Kane and Son were missing in Tottenham on Tuesday night, the likes of Giorgio Chiellini missed out on that occasion.
Vertonghen also had to be replaced after a terrible clash of heads with Alderweireld and former AC Milan boss Allegri believes that there have been moments in the Champions League where everything’s gone right for Ajax.
“In the Champions League there are moments when everything goes right, Ajax faced us without us having five players,” He told Sky Sports Italia.
He added, “Then they go to London and they [Tottenham] were missing the [main] striker [Kane], and the other striker [Son] is banned. After 15 minutes the central defender [Vertonghen] gets injured…”
He also discussed Liverpool’s 3-0 defeat to Barca, believing that the Catalans have better players than their opponents that ultimately made the difference on the night.
He added, too: “Liverpool had three big scoring chances [against Barcelona], but Barcelona had four and scored three. Why? Because their players are of a higher level and make the difference in certain situations.
“Barcelona has players accustomed to that level and they proved it on the night, regardless of whether Liverpool had a good game or not. It’s like a race. Everyone can run the first 900 metres but very few can run the final 100.”