Johan Cruijff Arena is the venue as Ajax and Shakhtar Donetsk go head-to-head in a tasty-looking pre-season friendly.
Perennial Eredivisie champions Ajax left arch-rivals PSV Eindhoven two points in their wake as they wrapped up their fourth consecutive domestic title last season. However, another impressive campaign took its toll as highly-rated manager Erik ten Hag left for Manchester United, with several senior first-team stars following the Dutchman through the exit door. With the squad Alfred Schreuder inherited from ten Hag vastly overhauled this summer, it comes as no surprise the ‘Lancers’ have alternated between winning (3) and not winning (D1, L1) across their five pre-season fixtures so far. But even without standout striker Sebastien Haller, the Dutch heavyweights have netted 2+ goals in four out of five summer friendlies, averaging 2.4 goals per game.
On the other hand, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that started in February has demoted 13-time Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donetsk to playing exhibition matches only. On top of that, the ‘Miners’ have faced a massive exodus as a consequence of the emergency in Ukraine, seeing virtually every foreign star leave Donetsk to move abroad. No wonder Igor Jovicevic’s men have only picked up one win from their last four non-competitive outings (D2, L1), including a brace of action-packed 3-3 draws with Fortuna Sittard and Hajduk Split. But if you’re looking for a silver lining, not since a 1-0 loss to Olympiacos in early April have Shakhtar failed to get on the scoresheet.
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