Prior to Ajax’s visit to Real Madrid, Marc Overmars laid out in no uncertain terms the task facing his club:
“Our wage budget for the 1st, 2nd and youth team is 28 million. That's as much as Gareth Bale earns in a year. What Real Madrid pays for one player is used for our entire squad.”
What followed was one of the most reassuring results in European football’s recent memory. 4-1, the Champions felled.
The triumph of technicality over affluence. Skilful slight over financial might. Brain over brawn.
Ajax did not merely overcome the Champions League champions, they obliterated them. An array of relentless overlaps, sensational spins and terrific twirls amalgamated into one glorious night of nonstop immaculate football.
This is not only a victory for long-term development, it’s a victory for shrewd recruitment. The Dutch outfit do not have the deep pockets of their European rivals and thus shop through the lower-tier ordinariness in search of a prospect who will fit their system and suit their style.
That is how Dušan Tadić, who faded away from the Premier League last summer for a little over ten million, found himself on the biggest stage of them all. He took his opportunity, blasting home his sixteen goal in 23 games.
The Dušan Tadić goal that put Ajax 3-0 up.
VAR was needed over the 1st pass in the move. Do you think it was over the line? The goal stood!#RMAAJAX #UCL #VMSport pic.twitter.com/iG1XSOWInA
— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) March 5, 2019
Ajax fans are having the time of their lives in Madrid. pic.twitter.com/wOzGwZrgdJ
— MUNDIAL (@MundialMag) March 5, 2019
Ajax at the point of an under-15s game where they’re openly saying in earshot of the opposition “these are shit, lads”
— Miguel Delaney (@MiguelDelaney) March 5, 2019
Ajax’s *total* revenue last season was less than what the Premier League’s 20th-placed club West Brom earned from TV income *alone*.
Real Madrid, by contrast, had the biggest revenues in world football.
Good recruitment, youth development, coaching can get you a long way.— Omar Chaudhuri (@OmarChaudhuri) March 5, 2019
Seabiscuit. Mighty Ducks. Ajax 🙌
— Men in Blazers (@MenInBlazers) March 5, 2019
ATTENTION: if Real Madrid lose 1-4 to Ajax, it will the RECORD WORST EUROPEAN HOME DEFEAT IN THE HISTORY OF REAL MADRID!!
And you know when it was set previous record?
Last December v CSKA Moscow!!!
This is how disastrous is their season...— Tancredi Palmeri (@tancredipalmeri) March 5, 2019
For the general well-being of European football, Ajax knocking Real Madrid out of the Champions League is a magnificent result.
— Tom Williams (@tomwfootball) March 5, 2019
Yes we bloody do, @TommyMartinVM! #UCL #VMSport pic.twitter.com/6wOQaQXmp4
— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) March 5, 2019
A win for unity over individuality. A win for long-term planning over knee-jerks reactions. A win for the retainer over the ruler.
A win for football.
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SEE ALSO: Watch: Ajax Stun Real Madrid With Two Goals Thanks To Sensational Skill
