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Crucial match for Arsenal and Ajax today
Amsterdam, Feb 26: Arsenal will put their good away record to test when they meet Ajax on Wednesday (February 26), with both teams looking for a win in their bid to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Amsterdam, Feb 26: Arsenal will put their good away record to test when they meet Ajax on Wednesday (February 26), with both teams looking for a win in their bid to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Ajax Amsterdam coach Ronald Koeman has included top scorer Mido in his squad for the Champions League match against Arsenal on Wednesday (February 26) after the banned player apologised to him and the rest of the squad.
Koeman said a meeting had taken place at the request of technical director Leo Beenhakker and the entire squad about the 19-year-old striker, who had been relegated to the youth team because of his poor attitude.
Mido, who has scored 18 goals in 36 matches for Ajax this season, missed last Tuesday's 1-1 draw with Arsenal at Highbury, but with the Dutch side depleted by illness and injury, Koeman can ill afford to be without his top striker.
With Mido back in contention for a strike role, Koeman has no need to risk striker Rafael van der Vaart, who has not fully recovered from a thigh injury.
The Dutchman said Ajax will have no chance to win the Champions League but added his young squad has a lot to learn from playing teams like their English opponents.
"Actually, the pressure is higher on Arsenal because they are one of the favourites to win the Champions League," Koeman said on Tuesday (February 25).
Christian Chivu would be providing protection at the back. The Romanian international expects Ajax can do better than the 1-1 in the first match at Arsenal. "I just hope that everything will end good for Ajax, it's really important for us because we come from a draw in England in Highbury so everybody expect us to do better here in the Arena," Chivu said.
Nigel de Jong, who was rested for Sunday's 1-0 league defeat at Utrecht, is a typical product of the new emphasis Ajax are putting at finding new talent at home.
The 18 year-old Dutchman will follow Koeman's advice when he joins South African Steven Piennar in midfield. "The manager said: play without fear and you will play the best," de Jong said.
Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahmimovic will be looking to transform the chances created by de Jon and Pienaar into goals: "How difficult ? It is always difficult to win in the Champions League," he said. "I think if we play our own game and create chances and only and then we only have to score," Ibrahmimovic said.
Hatem Trabelsi, Tomas Galasek and Petri Pasanen missed training at the beginning of the week but all three will be ready for Wednesday's game.
Arsenal, who have never won Europe's premier club competition, were disappointed with the 1-1 draw at Highbury last week but rediscovered their goal touch on Saturday with a 5-1 romp at Manchester City.
Manager Arsene Wenger hopes to have goalkeeper David Seaman (hip) and left back Ashley Cole (groin) available again. Ukrainian defender Oleg Luzhny (calf) and Nigerian striker Nwankwo Kanu (thigh), a former Ajax player, are out.
The Frenchman was confident Arsenal can repeat the success of Ajax, who won the European Cup four times, three in the 1970's and the last time in 1995.
"Ajax is a big club, it's a big tradition and they've done it before. We want to do it. We think we are good and we think we are good enough to do it but we are not stupid. We normally play against a good team but Ajax is strong side but we know we can beat Ajax," Wenger said on Tuesday (February 25)
Defender Martin Kewon, who shared the stage with Wenger at Arsenal's pre-match news conference, added that the Champions League was "one of the most difficult competitions in the world to win."
Swedish midfielder Freddie Ljungberg, who has an Achilles problem, may be fit. Another ex-Ajax player, Dennis Bergkamp, has travelled and should lead the attack alongside in-form Frenchman Thierry Henry.
Ajax lead Champions League Group B, ahead of Arsenal and Valencia with all three teams on five points from three matches. The Dutch are ahead because direct results count ahead of goal difference to establish a team's advantage in case they are equal on points.
Bureau Report
The Dutchman said Ajax will have no chance to win the Champions League but added his young squad has a lot to learn from playing teams like their English opponents.
"Actually, the pressure is higher on Arsenal because they are one of the favourites to win the Champions League," Koeman said on Tuesday (February 25).
Christian Chivu would be providing protection at the back. The Romanian international expects Ajax can do better than the 1-1 in the first match at Arsenal. "I just hope that everything will end good for Ajax, it's really important for us because we come from a draw in England in Highbury so everybody expect us to do better here in the Arena," Chivu said.
Nigel de Jong, who was rested for Sunday's 1-0 league defeat at Utrecht, is a typical product of the new emphasis Ajax are putting at finding new talent at home.
The 18 year-old Dutchman will follow Koeman's advice when he joins South African Steven Piennar in midfield. "The manager said: play without fear and you will play the best," de Jong said.
Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahmimovic will be looking to transform the chances created by de Jon and Pienaar into goals: "How difficult ? It is always difficult to win in the Champions League," he said. "I think if we play our own game and create chances and only and then we only have to score," Ibrahmimovic said.
Hatem Trabelsi, Tomas Galasek and Petri Pasanen missed training at the beginning of the week but all three will be ready for Wednesday's game.
Arsenal, who have never won Europe's premier club competition, were disappointed with the 1-1 draw at Highbury last week but rediscovered their goal touch on Saturday with a 5-1 romp at Manchester City.
Manager Arsene Wenger hopes to have goalkeeper David Seaman (hip) and left back Ashley Cole (groin) available again. Ukrainian defender Oleg Luzhny (calf) and Nigerian striker Nwankwo Kanu (thigh), a former Ajax player, are out.
The Frenchman was confident Arsenal can repeat the success of Ajax, who won the European Cup four times, three in the 1970's and the last time in 1995.
"Ajax is a big club, it's a big tradition and they've done it before. We want to do it. We think we are good and we think we are good enough to do it but we are not stupid. We normally play against a good team but Ajax is strong side but we know we can beat Ajax," Wenger said on Tuesday (February 25)
Defender Martin Kewon, who shared the stage with Wenger at Arsenal's pre-match news conference, added that the Champions League was "one of the most difficult competitions in the world to win."
Swedish midfielder Freddie Ljungberg, who has an Achilles problem, may be fit. Another ex-Ajax player, Dennis Bergkamp, has travelled and should lead the attack alongside in-form Frenchman Thierry Henry.
Ajax lead Champions League Group B, ahead of Arsenal and Valencia with all three teams on five points from three matches. The Dutch are ahead because direct results count ahead of goal difference to establish a team's advantage in case they are equal on points.
Bureau Report