European giants Ajax and Milan square off at Amsterdam ArenA in round two of Champions League group stages, with both sides having something to prove. And while the Amsterdammers need to make amends for the 4-0 defeat at Camp Nou, the Rossoneri need to recover from a very slow start to the league campaign.

Two embarrassing defeats

While their domestic domination continued with third Eredivisie title in a row, Ajax have yet to prove their worth on European stage, having last made it to Champions League knockout stage back in 2006. Nevertheless, the club remain focussed on their own youth school, opting to only sign players from other clubs when they absolutely have to. The Amsterdammers have seen some important footballers leave this summer as Christian Eriksen, Toby Alderweireld, Miralem Sulejmani and Ryan Babel all departed, while Mike van der Hoorn, Bojan Krkic and Lerin Duarte arrived to replace them. However, the squad rebuilding process didn’t exactly go as planned, with the team already suffering quite a few slip-ups on domestic stage, while 4-0 defeats to PSV and Barcelona really gave Frank de Boer food for thought. The team have since improved to beat Volendam and Go Ahead Eagles, but it is clear the match against AC Milan will be a whole different ball game. And even if the hosts don’t look capable of winning the clash, they should have no problems continuing their scoring run, especially with key men rested at the weekend.

Bojan Krkic, Thulani Serero and Joel Veltman are out injured, but Keneth Vermeer, Kolbeinn Sigthorsson and Daley Blind should be recalled.

Important week for Milan

For the second time in a row, Milan have been hit with a severe injury crisis in the opening exchanges and that was clearly the main reason behind their slow start to the season. While the Rossoneri did well to pip PSV Eindhoven to a place in the Champions League group stages before recording a hard-fought win over Celtic, their league campaign haven’t gone according to plan, with the team winning just two of their first six fixtures. The good news is that Milan have returned to winning ways by beating Sampdoria at the weekend, keeping the first clean sheet in this year’s Serie A campaign. On top of that, key players are slowly starting to get back into action, with the visitors likely to be buoyed by the return of Mario Balotelli, Riccardo Montolivo and Stephan El Shaarawy. Seeing as how his men will have no less than five days before the league derby with Juventus, chances are that Max Allegri will be fielding a very strong side at Amsterdam Arena, especially since another victory would see them make a giant step towards the Champions League knockout stages.

Mario Balotelli returns from domestic suspension, whereas Riccardo Montolivo and Stephan El Shaarawy have recovered from injury.

Verdict

Ajax are clearly still searching their form and having lost three of four high-profile matches this term, they are likely to experience all sorts of problems against revived Milan. The Rossoneri are slowly returning to the right track and I can see them recording the first triumph on the road this season.

Top pick: Away win   2.45 (29/20) @ BetVictor

Alternative pick 1: Both teams to score   1.67 (2/3) @ William Hill

Alternative pick 2: Mario Balotelli to score   2.38 (11/8) @ Betfred

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