The five games that made Ten Hag
Karan Tejwani
- 18 Apr 2022 11:24 BST
- 4 min read
Erik ten Hag has long been regarded as the Crown Prince of Dutch coaching.
From a country that hasn’t produced too many great young football coaches in recent times, expectations were high around Ten Hag from the time he started off in the game.
His work at Go Ahead Eagles was impressive, as he helped them gain promotion to the Eredivisie.
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Since then, he has impressed at Bayern Munich II, Utrecht and now at Ajax.
As he prepares for a move to Manchester United, here are five matches that made Ten Hag.
What are the matches that made Erik ten Hag?
Utrecht 3-0 AZ (28 May 2017)
This was in Ten Hag’s second season managing Utrecht, and they were challenging for European qualification, hoping to make it to the Europa League.
The team finished fourth in the league, which meant they were put in a Europa League qualification play-off and having beaten Heerenveen in the semi-final, AZ were between Utrecht and a European place.
AZ won the first leg at their home 3-0, which left Utrecht with a huge mountain to climb.
And climb they did – they won 3-0, and then secured European qualification with a 4-3 penalty shoot-out win.
Utrecht 1 – 0 Zenit (24 August 2017)
It’s ironic to have an aggregate loss here, but this is worth mentioning as it was Ten Hag’s debut European season and they came up against formidable opposition for a place in the Europa League group stages.
Having beaten Malta’s Valletta and Poland’s Lech Poznan in the second and third qualifying rounds, Utrecht had to overcome Zenit to make it to the competition proper.
In a stern encounter, it took until the 77th minute and a winner from current Ajax player Zakaria Labyad for the Dutch side to secure the win.
However, a 2-0 second leg defeat where they pushed the Russian side all the way to extra time condemned them to defeat and a European exit.
Utrecht 2 – 1 Ajax (5 November 2017)
This was before Ten Hag joined Ajax and in the coach’s last few weeks at Utrecht – but he didn’t know it and was working in the best interests of his team.
Ten Hag set up Utrecht with an interesting back five, and came away with a 2-1 win at the Johan Cruyff Arena.
Once again, it was Labyad who got the goals, as his brace secured the win.
Just about six weeks later, Ten Hag was on his way to Amsterdam, where he reunited with Marc Overmars, who he worked with at Go Ahead Eagles (and eventually brought over Labyad and Sebastien Haller from Utrecht).
Ajax 1 – 1 Bayern Munich (2 October 2018)
From Ajax’s glorious 2018-19 season, this came at a time where expectations at Ajax were low having lost the league and cup in dramatic circumstances in the previous season.
The Dutch side turned up at the Allianz Arena, unexpected to achieve much of note, but with a young team consisting of Matthijs de Ligt, Donny van de Beek and David Neres, they left with a point.
Mats Hummels scored the opening goal early on for the hosts, and a Bayern thrashing was anticipated, but Ajax only got better after that.
Noussair Mazraoui equalized soon after, and they had chances to go ahead, being denied often by the woodwork and a brilliant Manuel Neuer in goal.
Ajax 4 – 1 Real Madrid (5 March 2019)
The crown jewel of Ajax’s 2018-19 season: they turned up to the Santiago Bernabeu, home of the back-to-back-to-back European champions, where the reigning Ballon d’Or holder, Luka Modric played.
Ajax won 4-1, having trailed 2-1 from the first leg, as Dusan Tadic put in a masterclass, assisting two goals and scoring one himself.
3/3/18: Southampton 0-0 Stoke
5/3/19: Real Madrid 0-2 Ajax
From battling relegation to tearing apart the Bernabeu.
Dusan Tadic that is obscene! 😱 pic.twitter.com/OuDUCIiCPZ
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) March 5, 2019
Real Madrid had no response to the Dutch’s side’s speed and tenacity, and the result was a fully deserved one as Ajax’s dream Champions League run would continue.
Ten Hag had now arrived, and he didn’t stop there as they would beat Juventus in the next round before falling in the semi-finals.
