Ajax number 10 thriving
in the Champions LeagueDusan Tadic
F
rench paper L’Equipe said
Dusan Tadic’s Champions
League performance
away to Real Madrid in
the Santiago Bernabeu
was “10, the perfect
match”, the Serbian
international becoming only the ninth
player in history to receive its top mark.
And what a well deserved 10 it was on
a night when Ajax dethroned the reigning
European champions with a stunning 4-1
victory, ending a reign that had lasted
1,012 days.
While most of the headlines about
Ajax these days focus on the potential
of Matthijs De Ligt, Andre Onana and
Frenkie De Jong, it is Tadic who is the
team’s real architect. Playing as a false
nine – or, as he calls it, a “fake striker”- the 30-year-old was simply irresistible
in Spain. Providing two assists, one of
which was after a brilliant pirouette, and
scoring the decisive third goal, there was
no doubt he was the man of the match.
“Nights like these are why I came
to Ajax,” Tadic said afterwards, expressing
both his and the club’s hunger for
European success. “It’s really special
because Zinedine Zidane has always
been my favourite player. I have always
been a Real Madrid fan because Predrag
Mijatovic played here.”
But despite the offers that are likely
to come from other clubs, he says: “I’m
going nowhere, I will stay at Ajax.”
That will certainly please director
Marc Overmars, who changed the
Dutch club’s policy by signing Tadic from
Southampton in the summer. Over the
years the Amsterdam club has scouted
the world’s brightest talents in order
to educate them before they left forEurope’s giants. It had been a noble
and successful policy, and one that was
probably suitable to the Eredivisie given
its size compared to the bigger leagues.
But it is also one of the main reasons
why Ajax have been lacking silverware,
even domestically, since 2014.
And with Ajax probably being Europe’s
most prosperous club – no debts and
circa €100million in the bank – the
pressure was on Overmars. And his
message was clear: let’s ignore the next
big talent in order to welcome more
experienced players.
While Danny Blind, now a supervisoryHeadliners
Loyal...Tadic (above)
makes Ajax tick and
is loving his time with
the Dutch side (left)Real finish...scoring
Ajax’s third goal
in Madrid“I’m going nowhere, I will stay at Ajax”