Ajax welcome Benfica to the Johan Cruijff Arena in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Tuesday night with kickoff at 23:00.
The first leg ended all square in Lisbon two weeks ago with Sebastian Haller making his own net ripple after Dusan Tadic had given Ajax the lead. However, it only took him three minutes to rectify his mistake and put the Dutch giants 2-1 on the night, but Benfica refused to lie down as they salvaged a draw through Roman Yaremchuk in the 72nd minute.
After the draw Ajax proceeded to suffer a shocking a 2-1 defeat to Go Ahead Eagles in Eredivisie, but have since responded with three consecutive wins across all competitions. They followed the 2-0 win over AZ Alkmaar in the KNVB-Beker with back-to-back 3-2 Eredivisie victories against Waalwijk and Cambuur.
They will hope that the three wins have gotten them up to speed as they welcome Benfica for a place in the final eight of the Europe’s heavy-weight competition. Erik ten Hag’s side have been in a fine home run recently having won all their last seven home matches in a row and will want to extend the streak on Tuesday.
Meanwhile Benfica responded to the first-leg draw with a solid 3-0 win against Guimaraes and followed that up with a 2-1 win over Portimonense in the Primeira Liga. However, the Portuguese wormed-up for the Wednesday clash with a 1-1 draw against Vizela in domestic campaign last Friday.
While the draw extended their unbeaten run to seven matches across all competitions, it ended their six-match streak of scoring at least two per game, which was an unwelcome statistic for the Portuguese giants, who have not made it past the last 16 of the Champions League since 2015-16.
Benfica head into the match confidently having lost none of their last four away matches, although Ajax are a really tough nut to crack on their home soil. Also, Benfica are winless against Ajax in their last four meetings.
Ajax vs Benfica head to head
Both sides have met in five encounters since 2009 with Ajax claiming two victories while Benfica have one victory and there have been two draws.
- Benfica 2-2 Ajax 23/02/22
- Benfica 1-1 Ajax 07/11/18
- Ajax 1-0 Benfica 23/10/18
- Benfica 0-1 Ajax 26/07/14
- Ajax 2-3 Benfica 26/07/09
Home
- Cambuur 2-3 Ajax
- Ajax 3-2 Waalwijk
- Alkmaar 0-2 Ajax
- GA Eagles 2-1 Ajax
- Benfica 2-2 Ajax
Away
- Benfica 1-1 Vizela
- Portimonense 1-2 Benfica
- Benfica 3-0 Guimaraes
- Benfica 2-2 Ajax
- Boavista 2-2 Benfica
Ajax team news
Ajax will be without Maarten Stekelenburg, Sean Klaiber, Jay Gorter and Renko Pasveer due to injuries, while Brian Brobbey and Noussair Mazraoui is a doubt.
Benfica team news
Benfica will be without Lucas Verissimo due to injury, while Rodrigo Pinho and Haris Seferovic is a doubt.
Prediction and odds
- Ajax win
- Both sides to score
- Sebastian Haller to score
