Europa League Final: How Ajax compare to their 'great' 1995 side

Ajax will be contesting a major European final for the first time in 22 years when they take on Manchester United in the Europa League on Wednesday night.

The last time the Dutch club experienced such an occasion was the 1995 Champions League final, in which Louis van Gaal’s side overcame reigning champions AC Milan thanks to a late goal by an 18-year-old Patrick Kluivert.

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Football Whispers have taken a look at the similarities between the Ajax team of 1995 and the current crop of talent at the Johan Cruyff Arena.

There will be a couple of notable connections to the last Champions League-winning Ajax team in Stockholm on Wednesday night, with Kluivert’s 18-year-old son, talented winger Justin, lining up for the Eredivisie side and hoping to emulate his father’s impact at the same age. United also have a similar link to van Gaal’s class of ’95, with defender Daley Blind’s father Danny the captain of the Amsterdam side of that era.

Van Gaal’s team were soon dismantled after their Champions League success, with star players such as Kluivert, Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf and Jari Litmanen all leaving for the riches and glamour of Serie A or La Liga within a couple of years.

It’s been a long couple of decades for Ajax supporters, who will had feared that their once-great club would never reach such heights again. But their current crop of young hopefuls, led by manager Peter Bosz, have brought new hope that the 33-time champions of Holland can again become a force on the continent.

Indeed, there have been many parallels drawn – aside from the family connection – between this current Ajax squad and the heroes of the mid-‘90s.

Faith in Youth

Primarily, the youthful exuberance of the current side conjures memories of van Gaal’s team, who, despite the presence of 33-year-old Blind and 32-year-old Frank Rijkaard, had an average age of just 23.5.

The current squad in even younger, with an average age of 22.7.

Davids, Seedorf, Kluivert, Michael Reizeger, Marc Overmars and Nwankwo Kanu were key members of van Gaal’s squad, and all were aged 22 or under at the time of their Champions League triumph.

This season, 19-year-old Kasper Dolberg has emerged as the new star, leading the way as the club’s top scorer in the Eredivisie – just as Kluivert had in 1995 – with 16 goals, and netting an impressive total of 23 in all competitions.

The Danish striker is supported by a cast of youthful and talented creators. Hakim Ziyech, 24, topped the Eredivisie assist charts this term. Winger Amin Younes, 23, has recently been named in Germany’s Confederations Cup squad. And Kluivert jnr. has thrilled fans with his dynamic dribbling skills since breaking into the first team.

At the back, Bosz has put his faith in 20-year-old Davinson Sanchez and 17-year-old Matthijs De Ligt in central defence. They pair have only recently come together to form a strong understanding as the Dutch side’s defensive bedrock, and both became full internationals this year for Colombia and Holland respectively.

Domestic Form

For the third season in a row, Ajax have come up short in the title race, missing out to PSV Eindhoven in the last two campaigns and pipped to the post by Feyenoord this term.

They managed to pick up a respectable 81 points from 34 games this season and were only defeated three times. However, this pales in comparison to the 1994/95 side, who went through the entire Eredivisie campaign unbeaten, winning 27 and drawing seven of their 34 games.

The Dutch top flight only awarded two points for a win at the time, meaning Ajax finished with 61 points. But in today’s system, they would have accumulated 88 points – six more than this season’s champions Feyenoord.

Furthermore, Ajax’s unbeaten league campaign was part of a longer run of 52 domestic games without defeat between 1994 and ’96. They also went through the entire Champions League season without suffering a loss.

Van Gaal’s Manchester United side were often criticised for their drab, possession-for-possession’s-sake attacking style, but no such accusation could be levelled at his Ajax team. The Amsterdam giants bagged a stunning 106 goals in the Eredivisie in 1994/95, conceding 28.

Bosz’s men are an exciting attacking outfit in their own right, but they cannot match the great side’s productivity in front of goal, finishing the 2016/17 Eredivisie season with 79 goals scored, but a better defensive record of only 23 conceded.

Style

Both Bosz’s and van Gaal’s teams stay true to many of the principles that have long-since been held dear at Ajax. Progression through possession, positional play and fluid, versatile players operating in multiple positions have been key tenets of the club’s philosophy for decades, and have been adhered to by the current and former incarnations of the side.

Bosz and van Gaal both used systems that are synonymous with great Dutch teams of the past too, with the 1995 side lining up in a 3-4-3 shape with a diamond midfield and the Europa League finalists using 4-3-3.

Although they vary in terms of basic shape, the two formations are more similar than they are different, offering a plethora of passing triangles and the option for the defence to augment midfield, the midfield to bolster the attack and vice-versa.

However, despite their impressive goals record, van Gaal’s side came in for criticism from Dutch football purists due to the manager’s overly-prescribed approach and apparent shackling of individuality.

For example, although his team boasted gifted dribblers such as Overmars and Finidi George in wide areas, van Gaal would instruct his wingers to turn back and look for a safe pass if faced by more than one opposing defender, rather than taking the risk of attempting to advance further by dribbling.

Bosz places no such restrictions on his charges and, as a result, has overseen some of the most expressive and free-flowing football the Europa League has seen this season. Indeed, during the 4-1 semi-final first-leg win over Lyon, Younes alone completed an impressive seven take-ons.

They may not yet be as refined as van Gaal’s great Champions League winners, but this Ajax side are exciting, young and have enough swagger about them to rise to the big occasion against United in the Europa League final.