The UEFA Europa League draw for the 2020/21 knockout stages has been drawn and Ajax have been handed perhaps one of the toughest opponents they could have been given.
The Dutch giants will take on LOSC Lille in the last 32 of the European competition and will go up against a side who are currently in some fine form.
The Ligue 1 side currently lead the French top-flight and managed to progress to this round of the competition after beating the likes of AC Milan, with whom they qualified with as they managed to get results against AC Sparta Praha and Celtic as well.
However, if the Dutch giants are able to get past the French side, there will be many that will be thinking they have a chance of winning the tournament. Those that do would be wise to visit bettingsites24.com as they would be able to find the best sportsbook available to place a wager with.
Ajax enter the UEFA Europa League at this stage of the tournament after they were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League during the group stage.
They managed to finish third after they suffered defeats to Liverpool and Atalanta whilst they got the vast majority of their points against Danish minnows FC Midtjylland.
The Eredivisie giants are currently leading their domestic division and they have been in some great form in recent weeks.
Ajax have been prolific in front of goal as they managed to put five past Heracles Almelo and FC Emmen in successive top-flight matches, whilst they recently put four past PEC Zwolle last weekend.
However, they did suffer a defeat to FC Twente and will host FC Utrecht on Wednesday in the domestic cup competition.
The saving grace might be that the first leg is not scheduled to take place until the middle of February.
The first leg will be played in France on February 18, before the return leg will be played a week later on February 25.
In addition, Erik ten Hag’s side will be encouraged by the fact that they beat Lille home and away when the teams met in last season’s Champions League competition, though ultimately both were knocked out.
They will be without Ryan Gravenberch for the first meeting, though, as the midfielder was shown a red card in their recent defeat to Atalanta.
Indeed, there is still some time between the two meetings and plenty of things can happen over the next six weeks or so. However, regardless of whether anything changes, Ajax vs LOSC Lille will remain a highly-anticipated contest and one that will get many excited as it draws closer!
