Ajax – Dynamo Kyiv, Champions League Prediction

Ajax were expected to pass easily through Standard Liege and won by 3-0 in the last round. They are now facing a much more difficult rival in the face of the vice-champion of Ukraine, Dinamo Kyiv, but they are still favorites. Ajax last year failed to go trough vs. Nice and because of an away goal, with two draws, they were eliminated. Now they have kicked Sturm Graz and Standard out of the tournament, but have not been in the Champions League group stage since 2014, which is a long period for a big club like Ajax. The Dutch have built a serious team this season, and despite the sale of Kluivert, they have an outstanding offensive power, and new purchases, Tadic and Blind, are doing pretty well. In an official match Ajax have not lost in 18 games to anymore. Now, Ajax’s composition is much wider. Their star in attack is very well known name – Hunterlaar, who in the 35s., but he continues to score a goal after goal at this age.

Dynamo Kiev are in a wonderful shape. They have recorded 20 wins, 4 draws and 1 loss in their last 25 games. However, as guests in their last 6 matches in the Champions League have scored only 2 goals. Against Slavia Prague, who were eliminated by the Ukrainians in the last round, Dynamo was very lucky because Slavia Prague was the much more attacking team and Dynamo scored after a counter. This shows us that they were effective at the opponent goal but did not play very impressively and in the second match Slavia Prague scored a regular goal, which was not allowed due to offside, when it was 1-0 for Dinamo after which the game ended 2-0. It is about the fact that the Ukrainians showed that they got problems in the past matches, mostly in defense, which in principle is their strong side. In the last two seasons they did not take part in the group stage of UCL, so it would be a great achievement if they succeeded this time.

Ajax and Dynamo Kiev have faced twice in their history. These two games are at this phase of the 2010/2011 season. In the playoff back then, the first game ended 1-1 in Kiev and the second 2-1 in favor of Ajax, who joined the group stage then. It is not impossible to see something like this now. It is possible that the match is not very spectacular and Dynamo Kiev to use their approach from the match with Slavia Prague and think more about the defense and how not to lose. Ajax, however, are very purposeful and not to forget that this team was in the Europa League final just over a year ago and now the team is not much changed since then. Our prediction is a win for Ajax at 1.68