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 ?
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
Sorry to say but ajax beat out of form madrid, not taking anything away from them though…
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.
Madrid lost 18 games that season. Incredible really.
Pau Torres, Gerard Moreno and Parejo are pretty noteworthy
Lyon’s run also came in the abridged 2019-20 season so it didn’t feel like a “proper” CL either.