The Ajax Fairy Tale Continues

My Thoughts:

Ajax vs Juventus - Juventus Advance:

Both Ajax and Juventus will be confident after they both had great second legs. Ajax dismantled Real Madrid 4-1 at the Bernabeu and a Ronaldo hat trick brought Juventus back from a 2-0 loss in the first leg. We have to remember how poor Juventus played in the first leg. When Real Madrid were similarly poor, Ajax pounced. At their best Juventus can put a few goals past Ajax. Even if Juventus slip up and Ajax exploit them, you can't ignore the Ronaldo factor and because of him I'm picking Juventus to advance.

Ajax & Juventus Draw 1-1 (1st Leg):

This was arguably the most interesting first leg. In my Champions League quarter-finals predictions, I wrote that, 'even if Juventus slip up and Ajax exploit them, you can't ignore the Ronaldo factor.' Essentially, that turned out to be the story of the game. Ajax dominated the match with 61% of the possession and they only allowed Juventus 1 shot on target. Unfortunately for the Amsterdam club, that shot was put into the back of the net by none other than Cristiano Ronaldo. After suffering a thigh injury on international duty for Portugal in March, many expected Ronaldo to not be fit enough for the match. Yet, Ronaldo returned to training for Juventus and the next day, he made his triumphant return from injury against Ajax. The risk seems to have payed off for Juventus, as Ronaldo scored their goal and didn't pick up any further injury (at the time of writing). There's no doubt that Ajax will continue to attack Juventus in Turin, as they did in Madrid. But will the power of Ronaldo and Juventus at home prevail?

Ajax Beat Juventus 2-1 (2nd Leg):

While many boiled Ajax's win at the Bernabeu down to how poor this current Real Madrid side is, this matchup was different. Now everyone was fully aware of the Ajax masterclass in skill and tactics; and so the Ajax fairytale continues. | The first half was similar to the first leg, where Ronaldo gave Juventus the lead and Ajax equalized within minutes. If the scores remained the same at full-time, the match would go to extra-time. But Ajax dominated the second-half and in the 67th minute, Matthijs de Ligt gave Ajax the lead. They continued to create lots of chances and although they were unable to score another; Ajax won the game 2-1. There's no doubt about Ajax's confidence as they were incredibly positive in possession throughout the game, especially in the second half. Although, they probably should have converted a few more of their 14 shots. Now only Tottenham stand between them and the Champions League final... | Juventus on the other hand relied too heavily on the Ronaldo factor, offering very little elsewhere on the pitch for Juventus. On paper, their possession and shooting statistics were very similar to Ajax. But the difference between the 2 teams was how they used their possession and shooting opportunities. As again, Ajax were much more positive in possession and had much closer shots.