Our prediction for this Europa League match:
Sparkles will be flying when Ajax and Olympique Marseille go head to head in the Europa League Group B derby on Thursday evening. The Amsterdammers made a slow start to the season and it seems as if the lack of top-class players is the team’s biggest problem. As the Eredivisie powerhouse produced a poor display in a 3-1 loss to Twente at the weekend, home win should not be considered. Even though both Steven Berghuis and Steven Bergwijn are back to contention, we are not tempted to put our money on the out-of-form hosts. The likes of Kaplan, Rulli, and van Axel Dongen should miss out with injuries.
OM, on the other hand, failed to turn their dominance into victory in a goalless draw with Toulouse, but their performance was better than the result. Marseille seem to be more of a team than Ajax and we predict that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Co. are going to pick up all three points form the match. Geoffrey Kondogbia is pushing for a start, while all Murillo, Ruiz, and Sarr are likely to miss the trip to Amsterdam with injuries.
Highlighted Player (Valentin Rongier):
Valentin Rongier is a French footballer, who plays for Ligue 1 side Nantes as a defensive midfielder. Rongier, who was born on December 7, 1994 in Macon (France) scored two goals in 39 appearances for Nantes B from 2013 to 2015 and he made his Ligue 1 debut with Les Canaris on October 18, 2014 in a 1-1 draw with Stade de Reims.
It has to be noted that he replaced Lucas Deaux 15 minutes before the final whistle. Over the years Valentin Rongier has established himself as a first-team regular at Nantes and you should know that he made no less than 31 appearances for the club in the 2016/2017 Ligue 1 campaign.
On June 25, 2015 he extended his deal with the La Beaujoir-Louis Fonteneau outfit and his contract should expire on June 30, 2020. Valentin Rongier’s main position is defensive midfielder, but he is used as a central midfielder as well. His preferred foot is right.
Highlighted Team (Ajax):
Ajax is a Dutch football club that was founded on 18 March, 1900. Ajax are well known for their youth academy, which regarded as one of the best youth football schools in the world. The likes of Johan Cruijff, Edwin van der Sar, Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Kluivert, Rafael van der Vaart and Marco van Basten are all products of Ajax’s football academy. The Amsterdammers share a big rivalry with Feyenoord and there have always been fireworks when the two teams face each other in De Klassieker.
During the seventies Feyenoord and Ajax were the only two teams who were capable of winning the domestic trophies, while PSV have been playing an important role in Dutch football in the 21st century. PSV and Ajax are regarded as big rivals as well and the two teams square off against each other in De Topper. Ajax play their home games at Amsterdam ArenA, the stadium that was opened on 14 August, 1996. The Amsterdammers won their fourth European Cup (Champions League) trophy in 1995, beating Milan in the title game in Vienna.