‘Baby Ajax’ Make Big Boys Cry With Daley Blind’s and Dusan Tadic’s Help

Ajax’s captain Matthijs de Ligt (centre) and his teammates celebrate after defeating Juventus 2-1 in their Champions League quarter-final second leg in Turin. Photograph: Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images
Ajax’s captain Matthijs de Ligt (centre) and his teammates celebrate after defeating Juventus 2-1 in their Champions League quarter-final second leg in Turin. Photograph: Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images
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‘Baby Ajax’ Make Big Boys Cry With Daley Blind’s and Dusan Tadic’s Help

Ajax’s captain Matthijs de Ligt (centre) and his teammates celebrate after defeating Juventus 2-1 in their Champions League quarter-final second leg in Turin. Photograph: Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images
Ajax’s captain Matthijs de Ligt (centre) and his teammates celebrate after defeating Juventus 2-1 in their Champions League quarter-final second leg in Turin. Photograph: Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images

Matthijs de Ligt was the first Ajax player back out on the pitch in Turin, shortly after 11pm, and then his teammates followed. A 19-year-old captain leading the way in every sense, scoring the winning goal with a towering header and now orchestrating a second round of celebrations in front of the Ajax supporters located in the far corner of the Allianz Stadium.

A little earlier, at the opposite end of the ground, a number of Juventus fans had stayed behind to applaud the Ajax players. All over the world people were doing likewise with praise and emojis on social media, from your regular football fan to World Cup winners. “Football, bravo,” tweeted France’s Antoine Griezmann.

Ajax did not just beat Juventus in Turin, they totally outplayed them. The same thing happened against Real Madrid at the Bernabéu in the previous round. Two of European football’s heavyweights given a bloody nose by a team with a 30-year-old former Southampton player up front and a wage budget that would not look out of place at the top end of the Championship.

Bold, fearless and exhilarating to watch, Ajax breezed into their first Champions League semi-final since 1997. “You could see Juventus were a little bit scared of us and so were Real Madrid,” said Erik ten Hag, the Ajax manager. “We were not favorites but with our philosophy we again exceeded our limits.”

A spotlight shines on Ajax’s youngsters for good reason. De Ligt (19), Donny van de Beek (21), Frenkie de Jong, David Neres (22) and André Onana (23) are exceptional talents. “Baby Ajax” gave Juventus a lesson was Gazzetta dello Sport’s take on the Italian champions’ 3-2 aggregate defeat, yet the influence and experience of a few older heads, in particular the two big signings the four-times European Cup winners made last summer, should not be overlooked.

Daley Blind, who turned 29 last month, rejoined Ajax from Manchester United for a club-record fee of £14.1m. On the face of it, Blind would appear to be ideal captain material, yet he is the sort of player who leads through actions rather than words. De Ligt, his central-defensive partner and 10 years his junior, is far more comfortable wearing the armband than Blind. Together, however, they are an excellent pairing and there was much to admire about the calm maturity Blind brought to Ajax’s defending in Turin.

The other major outlay – and a fee of £10m fits that description in Ajax’s world – went on Dusan Tadic. A penny for the thoughts of Southampton supporters every time they watch Tadic in an Ajax shirt. It is not that he was particularly poor during his four seasons with the Saints, more that no one would have had him down as a player who would run Real ragged and take the Champions League by storm at the age of 30.

Tadic’s numbers this season are staggering. He has been directly involved in 50 Ajax goals, scoring 32 and assisting 18. The Eredivisie may not be the Premier League but Tadic, in fairness to him, has scored six and set up another three in the Champions League, with four of his goals coming against Bayern Munich, Real, and Benfica.

Playing a for a new club in a new position, the Serb has been a revelation. “This is like a ‘fake striker,’” said Tadic, explaining his deployment as a false nine for Ajax. “I move everywhere, with a little bit of a free role, and I am very happy. But most important is the team, to try to help, and this team can do everything.”

The other regular starter in that older-age category is Lasse Schöne, who has been with Ajax since 2012 and will celebrate his 33rd birthday four days before the Champions League final. Converted to a holding midfielder over time, the Denmark international’s partnership with De Jong is another example of old and young working in tandem in this fascinating Ajax team.

De Jong will be gone in the summer, when he joins Barcelona, and the reality is that a number of others will follow, including De Ligt and probably Hakim Ziyech, who at 26 is something of a rarity in this Ajax squad.

“We aren’t talking about that [the team breaking up]. We still have three titles to go for and that’s what we’re focused on,” Schöne said. “We all know 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.”

Ajax know money talks and accept their place in the financial pecking order, yet their results and performances in the Champions League this season, which started in the second qualifying round in the last week of July, serve as a reminder that games are not always won on balance sheets. Ambition burns fiercely on the pitch among a team who are daring to dream.

“We play our football, it doesn’t matter who is our opponent,” Tadic said. “This is the feeling in our group – that we can hurt everyone.”

(The Guardian)



Verbeek and Siniakova Win Wimbledon Mixed Doubles Title

10 July 2025, United Kingdom, London: Dutch tennis player Sem Verbeek (L) and Czech Katerina Siniakova celebrate with their trophies after defeating British Joe Salisbury and Brazilian Luisa Stefani during their Mixed Doubles Final match on day eleven of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Photo: Mike Egerton/PA Wire/dpa
10 July 2025, United Kingdom, London: Dutch tennis player Sem Verbeek (L) and Czech Katerina Siniakova celebrate with their trophies after defeating British Joe Salisbury and Brazilian Luisa Stefani during their Mixed Doubles Final match on day eleven of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Photo: Mike Egerton/PA Wire/dpa
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Verbeek and Siniakova Win Wimbledon Mixed Doubles Title

10 July 2025, United Kingdom, London: Dutch tennis player Sem Verbeek (L) and Czech Katerina Siniakova celebrate with their trophies after defeating British Joe Salisbury and Brazilian Luisa Stefani during their Mixed Doubles Final match on day eleven of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Photo: Mike Egerton/PA Wire/dpa
10 July 2025, United Kingdom, London: Dutch tennis player Sem Verbeek (L) and Czech Katerina Siniakova celebrate with their trophies after defeating British Joe Salisbury and Brazilian Luisa Stefani during their Mixed Doubles Final match on day eleven of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Photo: Mike Egerton/PA Wire/dpa

Czech Katerina Siniakova and Sem Verbeek of the Netherlands claimed the Wimbledon mixed doubles title on Thursday, defeating Britain's Joe Salisbury and Brazilian Luisa Stefani 7-6(3) 7-6(3).

Facing home favorite Salisbury and Stefani on Centre Court, the Czech-Dutch duo held their nerve, while Stefani appeared to be hampered by a leg issue in the second set.

As Siniakova sealed victory with an overhead smash, the duo celebrated their first title together, Siniakova’s maiden mixed doubles Grand Slam and Verbeek’s first Grand Slam triumph of any kind.

"It’s very special, I mean it means a lot -- we had a lot of fun on the court and I really enjoyed it, it was a really amazing time here," Siniakova said after lifting the trophy.

For the 29-year-old Siniakova, the win added to her 10 Grand Slam women’s doubles titles, including the Australian Open crown with American Taylor Townsend in January.

"Katerina, thank you so much, it’s been an honor to compete next to such a great doubles legend, one of the best to ever do it and thank you for making this a Thursday I will remember for the rest of my life," Reuters quoted the 31-year-old Verbeek as saying.

Salisbury, who faced the disappointment of home fans hoping to see a British champion, said margins did not fall in his and Stefani’s favor.

"It's always tough to lose a final but they played amazing so congratulations. They were too good in the tie-breaks today," Salisbury said.