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Amsterdam (AFP)
Following Ajax's vivid victory against Real Madrid in the Champions League last 16, the headlines in Europe mainly concerned the emerging new generation of gold in Amsterdam.
The club Johan Cruyff and the team of Louis van Gaal who won the trophy in 1995 enter their first quarter-final of the Champions League since 2003 with a team packed with products from their famous youth system .
Midfielder Frenkie de Jong, 21, made his way to Barcelona at the end of the season. Defender Matthijs de Ligt, 19, is one of the brightest young stars in the group who triumphed 4-1 at Santiago Bernabeu.
However, the most decisive player in this Champions League campaign for Ajax – which will continue until the first leg in the quarter-final against Juventus on Wednesday – is a grizzled veteran in comparison.
Dusan Tadic, at 30, was the eldest member of coach Erik ten Hag's squad in Madrid, with the sole exception of Dane Lbade Schoene, 32.
The Serbian international striker scored one of his goals in Spain and now has nine in a continental campaign that started with a second playoff victory against Sturm Graz.
Apart from the goal, Tadic's display in Madrid will remain the best memory of that moment of the first period, when it will escape Casemiro with a sensational turn.
"Over time, we will achieve what we have done, but now we just want to enjoy our football and these things will come in. It's really special," Tadic said after the match.
Formerly of Groningen and FC Twente, Tadic returned to the Netherlands in a move of 11.4 million euros (£ 10 million) from the Premier League wrestlers, Southampton, last year.
– Big fish in a small pond & # 39; –
His signing and that of Daley Blind, the defender who joined Manchester United, have highlighted part of the strategy of the Johan Cruyff Arena.
The decision makers of the club, with former players Edwin van der Sar and Marc Overmars, respective respectively general manager and technical director, needed experience to surround young people.
The main objective of Ajax was to win back the Dutch title won for the last time in 2014. The Dix Hag team is tied with PSV Eindhoven at the top of the table with five games to play, having recently defeated their rivals 3 to 1 in Amsterdam. They also participate in the final of the Netherlands Cup.
Tadic scored 20 goals in the league and added 9, making him the most decisive player in the Netherlands since Luis Suarez with Ajax in 2009/10.
"When he signed, he was to replace Hakim Ziyech, but with the Moroccan playmaker still at the club, the two have forged an endless partnership in terms of creativity," said Michiel Jongsma, a journalist and publisher with sports badysts Opta, covering the Dutch league.
"It seems that he has become a big fish in a smaller pond when returning to Eredivisie, but with rumors circulating that AC Milan and Manchester City are interested, his head could be returned," he said. adds Jongsma de Tadic.
Another star trick against Juventus will only increase the chances of receiving very expensive offers.
Van der Sar insists that Ajax would not need to sell anyway, although the figures are telling – the club's accounts for last year, without a European race, have showed a turnover of 92 million euros ($ 104 million).
In contrast, Real Madrid dominated the latest edition of the Deloitte Football Money League with 750.9 million euros. The turnover of Juventus rose to nearly 400 million euros. Winning a fifth European Cup would be really remarkable for Ajax.
"I've always said it probably would not happen anymore, but yes, we're now in the quarterfinals," Van der Sar told the Sunday Times.
If Tadic continues its current form, anything is possible.
? AFP 2019
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