Tottenham Hotspur will hope their new stadium provides an intimidating setting for giant-killers Ajax in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final on Tuesday.
Click Here To Watch Now
==MATCH INFO==
Champions League
Team : Tottenham Hotspur vs Ajax Amsterdam
Date: Tuesday, April 30
Time: 3 p.m. ET
Live/Repeat:Live
Tottenham Hotspur vs Ajax Amsterdam Live
Ajax will arrive in north London having dispatched holders Real Madrid and Juventus in the last two knockout rounds. The Eredivisie outfit is loaded with young talent, who will challenge a Tottenham squad stretched thin while star striker Harry Kane remains injured and Heung-Min Son is suspended for the first leg.
Spurs don't have Kane but may consider Son's absence more costly given how he's been menacing defences regularly in this competition. Son, who is ruled out thanks to a booking in the last round, helped himself to three goals during the quarter-final tie with Manchester City, a tie eventually won on away goals with the scores level at 4-4: Replacing the South Korea international's pace will be vital, with the runs from out to in of winger Lucas Moura set to be key. Meanwhile, Dele Alli has the vision and flair to release the Brazilian in behind the Ajax back line.
What Alli and Moura need is the right focal point to play off and around. Fortunately, Manager Mauricio Pochettino can turn to Fernando Llorente, he of the decisive and disputed goal to beat City. No matter who starts through the middle, breaking down an Ajax defence led by precocious skipper Matthijs de Ligt won't be easy. The 19-year-old's header sent Cristiano Ronaldo and Juventus packing, adding yet another reason why so many of Europe's top clubs reportedly covet the teenage centre-back. There's much more to Ajax than De Ligt and a rock-solid defence, though. In fact, there are goals all throughout the team:
While youngsters have been filling their boots, 30-year-old Dusan Tadic has been the main man among the goals: The former Southampton winger is a player familiar to Tottenham, but some of the biggest names in the Champions League have struggled to stop Tadic. How Spurs fare will likely be the key to deciding this tie.
Ajax have proved capable of winning anywhere in Europe, but Tottenham's own run to the last four has been impressive. The team that saw off Borussia Dortmund and City on home soil should scrape a narrow advantage to take back to Amsterdam for the second leg on Wednesday, 8 May.
