Europa League: History Old and New Meet in Berlin

Union Berlin vs Ajax

Ask any general football fan and the chances are they will know of Ajax.

Whether through famous European Cup or UEFA Cup (now Europa League) highlights, mere mention of the Dutch masters led by two greats, Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff, sparks a misty-eyed look – igniting the memory of the ‘total football’ played by both the Amsterdam club and national team.

With the greatest of respects to Union Berlin, ask any general football fan and there will be a fair few who have not even heard of a club which, until four years ago, had never graced the German top flight.

After becoming the first club from the former East Berlin and the sixth from the former East Germany to reach the top tier, they have barely looked back.

So much so, in fact, they probably begin the second leg of their Europa League play-off tie on Thursday night as slight favourites.

Talking Points

For a start they are currently joint top of the Bundesliga, level on points with Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund who have been the established top two for more than a decade.

In fact, but for a frustrating goalless draw at home to bottom club Schalke on Sunday, they would be out on their own at the summit, putting two heavy pre-World Cup defeats firmly behind them.

By contrast, Ajax are struggling to keep pace domestically and in Europe.

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Now this should hardly be a surprise.

They have spent several summers losing their best players to some of the elite European clubs and, financially, that doesn’t seem like it will change anytime soon.

I remember reading in 2019, the year in which they came within seconds of reaching the Champions League Final (they eventually went out on away goals), that their prize money for winning the Dutch Eredvisie was a fraction of that received by clubs who were relegated from the English Premier League.

And there you have it.

It is against that backdrop that Ajax are competing and it is little wonder they have said farewell to key men summer after summer.

Last year was a case in point as winger Antony and defender Lisandro Martinez followed manager Erik ten Hag to Manchester United, German champions Bayern Munich recruited midfielder Ryan Gravenberch and Noussair Mazraoui, Borussia Dortmund snapped up striker Sebastien Haller and left-back Nicolas Tagliafico moved to Lyon.

Experienced international defender Daley Blind has also since moved onto Bayern.

Perhaps then it should be no great shock that the likes of Alfred Schreuder struggled and he and the club parted company a couple of weeks ago after seven league games without a win. – they have since recovered to win four of their last five and are three points off the summit under caretaker boss Johnny Heitinga.

Fresh from rolling over Sparta Rotterdam 4-0 at the weekend, with captain Dusan Tadic producing one of his best performances of the seasons, they will be hopeful of ending Union Berlin’s fine home record in a tie which is evenly poised after a goalless first leg.

To put that into context, that match was Ajax’s 150th in the UEFA Cup/Europa League, while Union were making their debut in the knockout stages of the competition.

This season they have put together a bizarre run of results in the Europa games.

Europa League: Dusan Tadic has now scored 100 goals for Ajax — Ajax Amsterdam’s Francisco Conceicao celebrates scoring their third goal with Dusan Tadic

After losing the first two matches to Union SG and Braga, the German outfit recorded four wins, all by a 1-0 scoreline, two of the triumphs coming versus Malmo.

Now another such win will send them through to the last 16.

Manager Urs Fischer will have ambitions to go as far as possible in Europe but he will also have one eye on ensuring that his team do not lose any momentum domestically.

After all, Union are the team which has made the Bundesliga sit up and take notice.

They have lost just one of 15 home matches this term, and one of 22 dating back to last season, and no team has managed as many as their five clean sheets in the Europa League so far this season.

They are also a threat in attack where Sheraldo Becker – another Ajax youth product who has ended up elsewhere – has registered a single-season personal best eight goals and seven assists in all competitions so far.

Could they be about to claim a European scalp as history old and new meet in Berlin.