Europa League: Ajax look to restore a bit of their former glory against Schalke

Ajax's Hakim Ziyech celebrates after scoring a goal during the eredivisie match between NEC Nijmegen and Ajax on April 8, 2017 in Nijmegen, Netherlands. Olaf Kraak / AFP

Twenty years ago this week, Ajax Amsterdam played in a Uefa Champions League semi-final. That they were eliminated by Juventus over two legs seemed like a hint of disturbing, incremental decline.

It was.

The club had won the European Cup less than two years earlier. Juve had beaten them in the subsequent final. Gold, silver, and now bronze read the step by step record, from 1995 to 1997.

The brutal economic reality of the modern game has marginalised a once-stellar club — four times European Cup winners, no less — and confined their 21st century ambitions because of the modest dimensions of their domestic league.

The Dutch Eredivisie remains a terrific shop window for talent, obliged to become a chief exporter of players to Europe’s wealthier leagues.

But down-sized Ajax have some reasons to cheer lately.

They have injected suspense into the Eredivisie’s title race, at a point off leaders Feyenoord with four games to go. Should Ajax collect their 34th domestic championship next month, their fifth in the last seven years, it would rank as less an achievement than returning to the last-four of a European competition.

It is a milestone within their grasp as they take on Schalke in the quarter-finals of the Europa League, starting in Amsterdam on Thursday.

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There are grounds for optimism. Ajax, perennials in the secondary continental tournament — into which they have dropped having stumbled in the Champions League preliminaries the past two seasons — have made the Amsterdam ArenA a small fortress.

They are unbeaten in 11 home games there in European competition.

If their progress to this stage has been more stealthy than headline-grabbing, manager Peter Bosz — who took over from Frank de Boer in the summer — has cultivated a healthy momentum going into the decisive period of the campaign.

Ajax have lost one competitive match in 2017, the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie at Copenhagen, a defeat they overturned at home.

Schalke’s 2016/17 season, by stark contrast, is a portrait of bewildering inconsistency.

A poor start to the season, and five losses on the trot before they gained their first points in the Bundesliga, partly explains why they linger in the bottom half of the German top flight. The gains made during an autumn of improved form have been undone by later slumps.

The weekend’s 4-1 win over Wolfsburg will have buoyed them ahead of Thursday. But in making their way to the last eight of the Europa League, they have been a little stodgy. They have drawn their last three games in the competition.

Schalke, like Ajax, have a 20-year itch to scratch. Back in 1997, when Ajax were semi-finalists in the European Cup, Schalke were on their way to triumph in what was then the Uefa Cup, winners on penalties against a star-studded Inter Milan.

The decades since have kept a club with a vast support base and a splendid stadium without major continental finals, although the Schalke of Manuel Neuer, Raul and a young Julian Draxler did reach the semi-finals of the Champions League six years ago, beaten there comfortably by Manchester United.

The mix of experience, including the likes of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Benedikt Howedes, and youthful talent, such as Leon Goretzka, ought to be a blend powerful enough to push into the top four of the German league and indeed the Europa League.

But Huntelaar, approaching the end of his seven years at Schalke, acknowledges that he has known better times there.

“Where we used to be in the Champions League, we are now in the Europa,” he said.

For the Dutch striker, now 33 and once of Real Madrid and AC Milan, the tie is emotionally resonant, not least because he has felt frustrated at his recent lack of starts. He emerged as one of the game’s most reliable finishers while at Ajax, and, like so many players in the past 20 years, was exported for high profit.

“It is a bittersweet game for me because Ajax and Schalke are the clubs where I have spent the longest times in my career,” Huntelaar said. “So I really want to play.

“From what I hear, Ajax feel very positive about the tie.”

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