11th May 2017 Kickoff: 2005hrs Lyon v Ajax– Football – Europe – Europa League
Ajax are well in command of their Europa League semi final tie against Lyon having taken a 4-1 lead in Amsterdam last week. It appeared to be a very evenly matched and attractive tie when the draw was made but Ajax were explosive eight days ago and will feel they are big favourites to play in the final later this month in Stockholm. Lyon will take some comfort from the fact they have won all three of their home games in this competition and have registered an important away goal.
Lyon dropped into the Europa League after finishing third behind Juventus and Sevilla in their Champions League section. Their participation in this competition has been plenty entertaining having scored 20 goals in their seven games thus far. They have been excellent at home, too, defeating AZ Alkmaar, Roma and Besiktas – scoring 13 goals in the process. That record illustrates just how potent their attacking threat is and that will be boosted by the return to fitness of star man Alexandre Lacazette who has not started a game since the win over Besiktas in the quarter final. The striker has notched four times in the Europa League already in his six games. His influence could be pivotal if Lyon are to turn this around.
It was a devastating first leg performance from Ajax’s young starlets who were at the top of their game. In many ways it was similar to their win over Schalke in the previous round when they took a two goal, however it could have been many more. The telling thing about that tie, though, was how different Ajax performed in the away leg and eventually required two goals in extra time to seal their passage to the last four. Coach Peter Bosz will be looking to guard against that sort of drama with a three goal margin at his disposal but there’s no getting away from the fact that they are a much stronger team at home. In actual fact, the Dutch club have not won on the road in this competition since their opening group games against Panathinaikos in September. Ajax do not have to win this game, of course, but their mentality will have to be right from the beginning to avoid giving the hosts any encouragement.
Lyon v Ajax Betting Tip
In many ways this is a clash of generations with the vastly more experienced Lyon coming up against a vibrant and youthful Ajax outfit. The latter prevailed rather easily in the first leg but Lyon will feel they had enough chances of their own which could have resulted in a closer final score. As it is, Lyon will have to score at least three times to progress, but that is not beyond a team who have scored well over a 100 goals in all competitions this season. Their trouble is they have yet to keep a clean sheet in any of their seven games in the Europa League.
Whilst it’s very likely that Ajax have done enough to make the final I think they’ll be in for an uneasy night. As good as their performance was in the first leg they were well beaten over 90 minutes against Schalke and Lyon have even more about them than the Germans. It may not be enough to see them through but Lyon can win in front of their home fans.
Lyon 17/25 @ Marathon Bet
