Ajax seek consolation prize at San Siro

Massimiliano Allegri's AC Milan enter their final Group G fixture with UEFA Champions League progress already assured but AFC Ajax have no such luxury as they look for a result that will secure European football in the new year.

• Milan's 2-0 win at AJ Auxerre on Matchday 5 sewed up second place in the section. The same night Ajax were beaten 4-0 by Real Madrid CF but remain a point above Auxerre in third place and in pole position to secure a UEFA Europa League last-32 berth. Ajax will achieve this target if they better or match Auxerre's result at Madrid.

Previous meetings
• The clubs have met 11 times, including their 1-1 Matchday 2 draw in Amsterdam, with Milan posting five wins to Ajax's four.

• They first crossed swords in the 1968/69 European Champion Clubs' Cup final, Milan triumphing 4-1 in Madrid. Ajax gained revenge in 1994/95 when they beat the defending champions home and away in the group stage and then again in the final. Patrick Kluivert, later a Milan player, scored the only goal of the Vienna showpiece.

• Ajax overwhelmed Milan in the 1973/74 UEFA Super Cup, overturning a 1-0 first-leg loss with a 6-0 home victory.

• In the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League quarter-final, Milan drew 0-0 in Amsterdam then won the return 3-2 thanks to Jon Dahl Tomasson's added-time goal. Filippo Inzaghi hit the opener; Massimo Ambrosini and Alessandro Nesta also featured while Zlatan Ibrahimović led the Ajax attack.

• The same players appeared again – together with Gennaro Gattuso, Andrea Pirlo and Clarence Seedorf – when Inzaghi got the only goal as Milan defeated Ajax at home in the 2003/04 group stage.

Match background
• Last season Ajax's European hopes ended in Italy with a goalless draw at Juventus that confirmed a 2-1 aggregate loss in the UEFA Europa League round of 32.

• Milan have won just one of their last eight fixtures at San Siro in UEFA competition going back to December 2008. Their only success was September's 2-0 home defeat of Auxerre.

• Ajax are seeking their first away win in Europe this season after draws at PAOK FC and FC Dynamo Kyiv in the qualifying rounds and defeats at Madrid and Auxerre.

• The Rossoneri's record against Dutch visitors is W6 D1 L2. Ajax's away record against Italian teams is W2 D4 L11.

• Besides two finals against Milan, Ajax have contested three other European Cup deciders against Italian clubs, beating FC Internazionale Milano in 1971/72 and Juventus in 1972/73, but losing to Juve in 1995/96.

• Ajax also faced Torino FC in the 1991/92 UEFA Cup final and prevailed on away goals.

Team ties
• Seedorf, an Ajax player from 1992 to 1995, played the first 53 minutes of the 1995 final. He left for UC Sampdoria shortly afterwards.

• Ibrahimović played for Ajax from 2001 to 2004, facing Milan four times without scoring. He was subsequently in the Juventus side, along with Gianluca Zambrotta, that beat Ajax home and away in the 2004/05 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Now in his second spell at Ajax, Mido was a team-mate of Ibrahimović from 2001 to 2003. He made eight Serie A appearances for AS Roma in 2004/05.

• Ibrahimović is the international captain of Ajax's Sweden midfielder Rasmus Lindgren.

• Ajax assistant coach Danny Blind captained the side that beat Milan in the 1995 final. His son Daley is a member of the current first-team squad.

• André Ooijer's PSV Eindhoven lost 2-0 at Milan in the 2004/05 UEFA Champions League semi-final first leg. The next season he helped PSV earn an away draw and a home win against Milan in the group stage.

• Robinho struck Brazil's goal in their 2-1 quarter-final defeat at the 2010 FIFA World Cup by a Netherlands side featuring Ooijer, Maarten Stekelenburg and Gregory van der Wiel.

• Luis Suárez was sent off for handball during Uruguay's World Cup quarter-final win against Kevin-Prince Boateng's Ghana.

• Ronaldinho and Oleguer were in FC Barcelona's 2005/06 UEFA Champions League final-winning team.