Juventus vs Ajax: How Ajax's philosophy made them most exciting, impressive and important team of a generation

The Dutch side have beaten Real Madrid and Juventus in back-to-back rounds and now face Tottenham for a place in the Champions League final after an unthinkable run

It was a long 24 hours for Ajax to learn to that they will eventually play Tottenham in the Champions League semi-final, but in one sense it does not make a difference. Because when they do, there is no question that Ajax will continue to play their way.

This whole campaign, starting in the Second Qualifying Round all the way back in July and now in the semi-finals 16 games later, has been a thrilling lesson of the power of having a footballing philosophy. For Ajax their philosophy is not just about nostalgia or a link with the past, it is a way to play better, more effective and more attractive football than if they did not. Style is not an alternative to substance but a route to it.

Whether you call it philosophy or identity, it is the best way of getting players to overperform at any level. Without it Ajax would be a group of talented youngsters and Premier League cast-offs. With it, they are the most exciting, impressive, important team of their generation.

Lasse Schone is not an obvious fit for this way of playing, a stocky, scrappy, slow midfielder plucked from NEC in 2012. There have been doubts about him ever since he arrived in Holland. But he was magnificent across both legs of this tie, always in the right place, always there for the combinations and exchanges that are the fabric of this football. And when he spoke after Tuesday night’s win in Turin, he explained why their philosophy was Ajax’s oxygen.

“We have now beaten two of the biggest teams in the world, so it is incredible,” Schone said. “We did it our way. and we were true to the way we want to play football. Even at 2-1 we did the same.”

It take a lot of nerve to play this way. Speak to those who were part of the 1995 team and they keep talking about courage and “balls”, and that is what Ajax showed in Turin. It might have been tempting to sit back in the second half and wait, but they would only have been waiting for their own demise to an inevitable Ronaldo winner. So where does this faith come from? For Schone it is innate, it has been there ever since they were playing Sturm Graz and then Standard Liege and then Dynamo Kiev in the qualifying rounds, and it is the key to beating the best.

"It is something you create,” Schone said. “Don’t forget that we started three rounds before we even got to the group stage. We have believed in ourselves since then. We have our philosophy. You can see that when we play against the big teams, and it works. This was a great example of believing in yourself and being true to your way of playing.”

So there is certainly no question that, when they face Spurs, Ajax will play the same way. Schone and Dusan Tadic both promised as much afterwards. When Tadic was asked what made Ajax so good, he said it was faith in their plan. “We play our football, it doesn't matter who is our opponent,” Tadic said. “We play high pressing, try to dominate our opponents and this is the way.”

The power of Ajax’s philosophy is also clear in the obvious transformation of Tadic since he arrived last summer. A disaffected winger at Southampton, he has been playing as a “fake striker”, as he puts it, for Ajax. “I move everywhere, with a little bit of a free role,” he said. “It is very easy [to pick up] because we have similar way of thinking, and I understand with all of the players.”

Ajax are through to the final four (Reuters)

The fact that Tadic has got up to speed so fast means that he can link with Hakim Ziyech, David Neres, Donny van de Beek and the rest almost instantly, dropping deep, running in behind, causing damage all over the pitch. Just as they will try to do to against Spurs later this month.

“We have all players who play nice football, they understand football,” Tadic explained. “And then we make a lot of movements and difficulties for opponents. We just enjoy our football and that's it. We dominate most of the teams, and it is very nice to play.”

So can they go further than this? Of course they can. Real Madrid have won four Champions League finals in the last five years, and Juventus have lost two finals in the same time-span. But Ajax made both of them look ordinary and now less an opponent with far less European pedigree. Schone did not mind talking about the prospect of winning the whole thing in Madrid on June 1 either.

“Yes, why not? We are in the semi-final. We have just beaten Real Madrid and Juventus, two of the biggest teams in the world. So why not?”

Tadic sounded his own confident note too. “We should just be humble and believe in ourselves, and what we are doing now, and go step-by-step,” he said. “I think we showed we can play against anyone, and this is the most important thing.”

The sad thing about this story is that it will end in a matter of weeks. Frenkie De Jong, the precocious conductor of this team, is leaving for Barcelona in the summer, and the team will not be the same without him. Now Ajax must hope that Matthijs de Ligt, the 19-year-old captain who plays like a veteran, will not go the same way. Schone just wants the team to complete the treble first.

“We aren’t talking about that,” he said. “We still have three titles to go for and that’s what we’re focused on. We all know that a team like this, the big clubs are going to come with a big bag of money. It’s difficult for the club and I don’t think we can have the same team next year. I hope we do, of course, but that’s the way it goes."