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The Champions League semifinals are underway after a quarterfinal round that saw two of the favorites, Manchester City and Juventus, bow to Tottenham and Ajax, respectively. Now these two underdogs will battle it out for the chance to appear in the Champions League Final. The first of the two legs will be played on Tuesday, April 30th at 3pm EST.
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Dutch League Eredivisie where the competition is nowhere near the level of the Champions League. Nevertheless, this team lead by young midfielder Frenkie de Jong has plowed its way through some of the best competition in European Club football to earn a chance at the Champions League title. So far they have beaten Bayern Munich twice in the group stage and disposed of both Real Madrid and Juventus in the knockout rounds. The next step in their journey will be at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.
Despite being the underdog in most of their Champions League games, Ajax does not play like a typical underdog. They are aggressive on the attack and have a unique lineup that exploits the talents of younger players while depending on the veterans to hold down the fort.
Tottenham meanwhile has been one of the better Premier League teams this season, and they have done so while overcoming several injuries to key players. Their offensive leaders, Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Christian Eriksen, and Son Heung-min have all spent time in and out of the lineup due to injury. For the first leg of the semifinal, Kane will be out with an injury and Son is suspended.
If nothing else, the setbacks have forced Tottenham to be a team who is adept at adapting their game to whoever they face. They are still a slight favorite in this matchup, but without two of their primary strikers, they are a bit handicapped for this first leg.
As for the other matchup in the semis, Barcelona is taking on Liverpool on May 1st at Camp Nou. Both clubs are eying their sixth Champions League title, but although Barcelona is coming off a domestic league title, they have never knocked Liverpool out of the Champions League and have lost all of their games at home to the Reds.
To make matters more difficult for Barcelona, they are coming off a very shaky win against Manchester and do not match up well against Liverpool. Liverpool is a high tempo team that plays a 4-3-3 and relies on physicality, and that has been a formula to beat Barcelona dating back to 2013 when Bayern Munich defeated them with an aggregate 7-0 score over 2 legs in the semis.
Still, on paper Barca has the better squad and are staring down the possibility of a Treble, or three major cups within the same year. If they perform up to their capabilities, there are very few teams on this planet that can beat them.