Ajax vs Juventus: Matthijs de Ligt has 'belief' Dutch can make lightning strike twice in Champions League

Ajax dumped Real Madrid out in the last-16 and have a quiet confidence they have what it takes to send Juve the same way after an impressive first leg display

Ajax have already eliminated the reigning European champions in their backyard and now they believe they can do it again next week.

Juventus do not have quite the same relationship with the Champions League as Real Madrid but they did lose the final in 2015 and 2017.

And after signing Cristiano Ronaldo from Madrid last summer they have come to resemble Zinedine Zidane’s unprecedentedly successful side.

But if Ajax win at the Juventus Stadium next week, or get a high-scoring draw, then they will have knocked out another of the big favourites for the trophy.

As well as reaching their first Champions League semi-final since 1997 – which they lost to Juventus, in fact – just as their great team was being dismantled by the Bosman ruling.

Matthijs De Ligt was not even born when Ajax faced Juventus in the 1997 semis, or the 1996 final, but he has been at Ajax since he was eight years old and he understands what this club means as well as anyone.

Apart from anything else it means playing with a sense of fearlessness. Just like they did when they won in the Bernabeu last month. And like they did on Wednesday at home against Juventus, taking control from the start, conceding on the break but never letting it get to them.

They had chances to win it 2-1 and if they had done it would have fairly reflected the play.

So when De Ligt stopped to speak afterwards he was confident about his team’s ability to get a result in Turin next week. “Of course I’m positive,” he said. “It’s going to be difficult against Juventus, but we are hoping to get a good result.”

Asked whether the example they set in Bernabeu would inspire the team, De Ligt said that their confidence was more ingrained than that. “Of course we have belief, we always have belief,” De Ligt insisted.

“But in the end it’s all about the game in Turin, so I hope we can get the win. We feel like we play well and we can make it difficult for the biggest teams. I hope we can go like that."