Ajax vs Manchester United Preview

Ajax meet Manchester United at the Friends Arena this Wednesday evening in the Europa League final.

Ajax won the first leg of their semi-final tie against Lyon 4:1 and looked all but in the final until Lyon staged a late rally at the Parc OL where the game ended 3:1.

Manchester United also had a nervy end to their second leg tie at Old Trafford after Celta Vigo scored late and almost scored with the very last kick which would have sent them to the final.

The full road to the final is below:

Ajax:

Group Stage

Panathinaikos 1-2 Ajax
Ajax 1-0 Standard Liege
Celta 2-2 Ajax
Ajax 2-0 Panathinaikos
Standard Liege 1-1 Ajax

Knockout Stage

Legia 0-0 Ajax (Round of 32, 1st leg)
Ajax 1-0 Legia (Round of 32, 2nd leg)
Copenhagen 2-1 Ajax (Round of 16, 1st leg)
Ajax 2-0 Copenhagen (Round of 16, 2nd leg)
Ajax 2-0 Schalke (QF, 1st leg)
Schalke 3-2 Ajax (QF, 2nd leg)
Ajax 4-1 Lyon (SF, 1st leg)
Lyon 3-1 Ajax (SF, 2nd leg)

Manchester United

Group Stage

Feyenoord 1-0 Manchester United
Manchester United 1-0 Zorya
Manchester United 4-1 Fenerbahce
Fenerbahce 2-1 Manchester United
Manchester United 4-0 Feyenoord
Zorya 0-2 Manchester United

Knockout Stage

Man United 3-0 St-Etienne (Round of 32, 1st leg)
St-Etienne 0-1 Man United (Round of 32, 2nd leg)
Rostov 1-1 Man United (Round of 16, 1st leg)
Man United 1-0 Rostov (Round of 32, 2nd leg)
Anderlecht 1-1 Man United (QF, 1st leg)
Man United 2-1 Anderlecht (QF, 2nd leg)
Celta Vigo 0-1 Man United (SF, 1st leg)
Man United 1-1 Celta Vigo (SF, 2nd leg)

Interesting statistics:

Manchester United have reached the final of the Europa League/ Cup for the first time in their history.

This game will be the 56th official game for Ajax this season, a new club record for the Amsterdam side.

Injuries:

Marcos Rojo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Luke Shaw and Ashley Young will all miss out because of injury.

Chris Smalling, Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Marouane Fellaini are injury doubts.

Eric Bailly is suspended.

Ajax Left-back Daley Sinkgraven is the only absentee for the Dutch side due to injury.

Defender Nick Viergever is suspended after being dismissed in the second leg of their match against Lyon.

Betting odds:

Bookmakers make Manchester United odds-on favourites to come out on top in this tie.

They are currently trading at odds of 1.83 while Ajax are 5.0 which will attract many punters given that this is a final and like many finals, upsets happen.

Stockholm will be hosting an excellent final, a fitting final – two giant teams in their own right with plenty of European history.

Ajax ended the Eredivisie season in second after losing out to Feyenoord on the final day of the season but the Amsterdam side are already guaranteed a spot in the Champions League next season.

Manchester United did not qualify for the Champions League via their domestic season so a win here will give them a golden ticket into the tournament they have even more history in.

Possible Starting Line-Ups:

Ajax (4-3-3): Andre Onana; Kenny Tete, Joel Veltman, Davinson Sanchez, Jairo Riedewald; Davy Klaassen, Lasse Schone, Hakim Ziyech; Bertrand Traore, Kasper Dolberg, Amin Younes;

Manchester United (4-3-3): Sergio Romero; Antonio Valencia, Phil Jones, Daley Blind, Matteo Darmian; Marouane Fellaini, Ander Herrera, Paul Pogba; Jesse Lingard, Marcus Rashford, Henrikh Mkhitaryan;

Results of each team’s last 5 matches across all leagues and competitions

Ajax last 5 matches (most recent first):
14/05/17	(a)Willem II	1-3	W
11/05/17	(a)Lyon	3-1	L
07/05/17	(h)Go Ahead Eagles	4-0	W
03/05/17	(h)Lyon	4-1	W
23/04/17	(a)PSV Eindhoven	1-0	L

Manchester United last 5 matches (most recent first):
21/05/17	(h)Crystal Palace	2-0	W
17/05/17	(a)Southampton	0-0	D
14/05/17	(a)Tottenham Hotspur	2-1	L
11/05/17	(h)Celta Vigo	1-1	D
07/05/17	(a)Arsenal	2-0	L