I’ve often seen people talk about how Ajax reached the UCL semis in the 18/19 season and had a great season,but no one talks about Villarreal , they also had a great run to the UCL semi finals in 21/22 , teams like lyon also reached the semi finals in 19/20 ,yet no one talks about these teams.what was so great about Ajax’s run that season ?

  • Goondal@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Ajax was a legit threat to win and should have been in the final. Lyon bring during the covid bubble probably does not help on their side.

  • ivandemidov1@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Lol you’re right. I already forgot about Villarreal and Lyon semifinals despite it was after Ajax semifinal!

  • TheJuniorboy@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Their play style .team filled up with talents , young talents and the way they defeated their opposition .they had it difficult from the start but they had strong mentality playing the likes of bayern defeated juventus defending champions real madrid(4-1 trashing in their OWN stadium) and just missing it out due to a comeback from lucas moura going out with a heart break .All in all that season was memorable and also one small factor adding to that was it war probably the best ucl season ever excluding the final.messi carryjob for barcelona liverpool comeback ajax trashing real spurs vs city drama spurs comeback against ajax makes people remeber that side even more

  • Mboopi_11@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    In my opinion, it was probably a combination of them defeating the reigning 3 time champions Real Madrid, who are also the most prestigious club of all time as well as defeating Ronaldo’s Juventus in their first season, the most popular player in the world. They also had great exciting young players such as De Ligt, De Jong & David Neres, whereas Villareal & Lyon did have great players, I feel as though people viewed them more so as amazing well functioning “units”. Finally, Ajax is a far more prestigious club historically than either of the other 2 so that probably played a part in it, people loved seeing Ajax back at the top of European football.

    • OkAnnual4585@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      Van De Beek as well! He’s become a bit of a meme now but at Ajax he was fucking brilliant to watch! United fan so still hoping it happens for him but it doesn’t look likely, I hope he gets a move maybe even back to Ajax and recovers his form from that season because he was excellent.

      • ph4ge_@alien.topB
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        1 year ago

        Real Madrid pulled back their bid for Vd Beek, he really only played a handful of good games and was already in poor form when he left Ajax. He was incredibly hyped in England but many in the Netherlands questioned his talent. Vd Beek generally worked hard but the likes of De Jong, De Ligt, Onana and Ziyech were the much bigger talents.

      • Mboopi_11@alien.topB
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        1 year ago

        Omg yes, such a shame what’s happened to him I completely forgot he existed lol. Hope he turns hid career around :/

        • Theumaz@alien.topB
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          1 year ago

          Tadic was one of the best players in the world that season and there’s nothing that convinces me otherwise.

    • 86pacfan86@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      The manner in which they were beating teams was incredible. L’Équipe gave Tadic a perfect rating for his performance against Madrid. Tadic was a player who ‘didn’t make it’ in the EPL.

  • jaytee158@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Villareal getting there wasn’t exactly a great watch. Lyon actually was.

    I wonder if the Ajax one was because so many players went off to top tier clubs soon after, so the story kept getting told during each move.

  • 11011-1000-1100001@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Because the football they played was much better than Villarreal and Lyon. Take out a major bottle job they would have been rightfully champions league finalists

    • StandardConnect@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      Take out a major bottle job

      That shouldn’t be ignored though, blowing a three goal lead to the team traditionally known for big bottle jobs doesn’t get talked about enough.

    • yajtraus@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      Worth mentioning that Villarreal also had their own bottlejob. Before that they weren’t far away from being finalists themselves.

  • MrVedu_FIFA@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Villarreal beat an out of form Juve and scraped past Bayern

    Lyon beat out of form Juve and City

    Ajax beat back-to-back-to-back holders Madrid 4-1 at their own home and beat CR7’s “unstoppable” Juve convincingly

    Ajax had good young players like De Jong, De Ligt and more experienced ones like Tadic and Onana

    Villarreal and Lyon didn’t have many noteworthy players

    • rashmu@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      Sorry to say but ajax beat out of form madrid, not taking anything away from them though…

      • VinCatBlessed@alien.topB
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        1 year ago

        Probably the worst Madrid side we have seen in a long time.

        Courtois was leaking goals for fun, Ronaldo had just left, Vini hadn’t gotten into form, Bale’s heart wasn’t in it anymore, Rodrygo hadn’t arrived.

        It shouldn’t take away from Ajax but neither should anything from Villareal or Lyon.

  • AMessiLeonard@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Ajax didn’t just beat Madrid they completely outplayed them. They also went toe to toe with Bayern who won it a year later. And were very unlucky not to be in the final and maybe could have won it.

  • New_North4761@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    It has been a while since they got so close, and the team was super young. And they beat teams with pretty neat scores.

  • Sir-Turd-Ferguson@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Monaco was the most entertaining imo, several were younger players, you knew the team was gonna get ripped apart but what a fun team to watch

    I think they made it to semis, maybe just quarterfinals

  • FuckRSIashSoccerMods@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Probably because Ajax beat the greatest Real Madrid that came from winning the threepeat in the UCL and Ronaldo’s Juventus. Meanwhile Lyon and Villarreal lucked their way into the semifinals. While yes, Villarreal beating Bayern was impressive on its own right (take notes Barca), their collapse against Liverpool was less to be desired. Especially from goalkeeper Rulli who pulled a Karius and conceded two of the dumbest goals of all time when it looked like a possible comeback against Liverpool was real.

    I honestly have no recollection of Lyon’s run mostly because of the sad state the club is in right now seeing them last in Ligue 1. But if I were to rank these teams in terms of underdog status it would be:

    Ajax >>>>>>>>>>> Villarreal > Lyon

  • PrimitiveSpecialist@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Probably has something to do with the fact that Ajax side had some notable individuals with significant staying power since - most importantly it was their breakthrough season in European football

    I mean De Ligt, De Jong, Onana, Ziyech, Mazraoui all went to some of the biggest teams in world football shortly after.

    By comparison, Lyon in 19/20 for instance couldn’t offer any better by way of posterity than Depay. Nobody in that team has since been at a huge club, ergo less people talk about it.

    The Villarreal side in the semis, are you talking about 06 or 2022? 22 just doesn’t have much by way of staying power for players involved. 06 team’s achievement just suffers from not being as recent.

  • GarryMc123@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Ajax are a European superpower who have in recent years been hamstrung and left behind by the TV money brought in by the top leagues.

    People want to see Ajax back amongst the top teams and are rooting for them to return to what they once were. Villarreal and others are good underdog stories, but nobody really thinks it’s possible for them to be at the top table of European football.