Frank de Boer spoke ahead of the tie against Celtic in his press conference in Glasgow about the importance of Ajax getting through the group to progress to the Europa League knockout phase.
- By James Rowe
Ajax head into their penultimate group stage tie knowing failure to beat the Scottish side coupled with a Fenerbahce win in Molde would sent them out of the competition.
De Boer said in his press conference, ”European football is often a level higher than a domestic league”.
”You have to be set up for it. For example a team like Fenerbahce can make the difference out of nothing. Also here at Celtic they have played in the Champions League quite often in recent seasons and they have internationals that play at a high tempo and if you are not prepared mentally you can get caught out”.
” We must focus. You can play well for 80 minutes but in the 10 minutes that the opponent is dangerous they can make that count”
Frank de Boer admits that in the current predicament that Ajax find themselves in Europe that he has had to adjust his own expectations, ” Of course I believe that Ajax must get through this group it can still happen and it would be very difficult if we do not get through it”.
”We have nothing in our own hands and it will be very tricky. Let us hope that Molde do their best in their own stadium where they play on AstroTurf which I do not think Fenerbahce are used to and then we must win our last two games which will be difficult enough if you look at our first 4 games in the Europa League group phase”.
Follow
