Ajax hold a considerable advantage as they travel to Dynamo Kyiv for the second leg of their UEFA Champions League play-off with the Dutch side seeking to reach the group stage for the first time in four years.
• Goals from Donny van de Beek, Hakim Ziyech and Dušan Tadić earned Ajax a 3-1 win in Amsterdam on 22 August, although Tomasz KÄ™dziora’s goal which briefly levelled the score gives Dynamo hope of turning the tie around.
• Dynamo reached the group stage in 2016/17, but lost out in qualifying last season while four-time European champions Ajax have not featured in the group stage since 2014/15, their fifth successive appearance; the Dutch club’s last three UEFA Champions League campaigns have all ended in the qualifying rounds.
Previous meetings
• The teams have met in only one European tie prior to this one – in the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League play-offs. Ajax emerged victorious 3-2 on aggregate, drawing 1-1 away in the first leg before a 2-1 success in Amsterdam.
• Dynamo’s Denys Garmash was sent off in the Kyiv match and is one of three players involved in that tie who is still at their respective clubs. Daley Blind was an unused Ajax substitute in Amsterdam; Dynamo reserve goalkeeper Denys Boyko was on the bench for both games.
Form guide
Dynamo
• Ukrainian Premier League runners-up in 2017/18, Dynamo are bidding to play in the UEFA Champions League group stage for the 17th time, and the third in four seasons.
• The Kyiv club lost to Swiss side Young Boys on away goals in last season’s third qualifying round (3-1 home, 0-2 away). They moved into the UEFA Europa League, where they went on to the round of 16 before losing 4-2 on aggregate to Lazio.
• This is Dynamo’s third UEFA Champions League play-off; aside from that 2010 defeat by Ajax, they beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 4-3 on aggregate in 2012/13. They have won all three of their UEFA Europa League play-offs although this tie is the first in the play-offs in which they lost the first leg.
• Dynamo overcame Slavia Praha in this season’s third qualifying round (1-1 away, 2-0 home). That was a first home European victory in three matches for the Kyiv club.
• The home win against Slavia also ended a run of five European matches without a victory, home and away (D4 L1).
• Dynamo have won six of their last nine home European games (D2 L1).
• That 2010 draw with Ajax is the only one of Dynamo’s last four home games against Dutch clubs that the Ukrainian side have failed to win. They have lost only one of their eight home games against Eredivisie visitors (W5 D2).
• Dynamo won their only UEFA penalty shoot-out:
3-1 v Sparta Praha, 1998/99 UEFA Champions League second qualifying round
Ajax
• Second in the Eredivisie last season, the Amsterdammers have made 13 previous appearances in the UEFA Champions League group stage, although they have not progressed from their section since 2005/06.
• Ajax’s 2017/18 European campaign lasted only two ties, losing to Nice in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round before a 4-2 aggregate defeat against Rosenborg (0-1 home, 2-3 away) that extended their winless run in continental competition to six matches (D2 L4).
• However, Ajax are unbeaten in Europe in 2018/19, beating Sturm Graz home (2-0) and away (3-1) in the second qualifying round and Standard Liège 5-2 on aggregate in the third qualifying round (2-2 away, 3-0 home) before their first-leg defeat of Dynamo.
• That 2010/11 win against Dynamo is Ajax’s only aggregate victory in a UEFA Champions League play-off. Their sole other appearance at this stage ended in a 5-2 aggregate loss to Russian club Rostov in 2016/17.
• Ajax’s only other visit to Ukraine ended in a 1-0 defeat at Dnipro in the 2014/15 UEFA Europa League round of 16 first leg – they bowed out on away goals despite a 2-1 extra-time win in the home return.
• Ajax’s record in five UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W1 L5:
2-4 v Steaua BucureĹźti, 2012/13 UEFA Europa League round of 32
2-4 Juventus, 1995/96 UEFA Champions League final
4-3 v GrĂŞmio, 1995 European/South American Cup
2-4 v Bohemians Praha, 1984/85 UEFA Cup second round
0-3 v Juventus, 1977/78 European Champion Clubs’ Cup quarter-final
3-5 v Levski Sofia, 1975/76 UEFA Cup third round
Links and trivia
• Dynamo coach Aleksandr Khatskevich was in charge of Belarus for a 4-1 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying defeat away to the Netherlands.
• Dynamo’s Tamás Kádár played in the Eredivisie for Roda in 2012/13.
• Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored in the Netherlands’ 3-0 friendly defeat of Ukraine in 2008 in Rotterdam.
• Huntelaar also got two goals as the Netherlands beat Ukraine 3-0 in the 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final in Portugal.
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