Getafe v Ajax facts

Getafe's first appearance in the UEFA Europa League round of 32 promises to be quite an occasion as the Spanish club host last season's UEFA Champions League semi-finalists Ajax, who are appearing at this stage of the competition for a record-equalling eighth time.

• The clubs experienced differing European fortunes last time out, Getafe clinching their place as the runners-up in UEFA Europa League Group C with a 3-0 home win against qualifying rivals Krasnodar – equalling their biggest European victory. Ajax suffered a 0-1 defeat in their final UEFA Champions League Group F fixture at home to Valencia – who they had defeated 3-0 in Spain – to drop into third place and the UEFA Europa League qualifying berth.

Previous meetings
• Getafe's sole previous UEFA matches against Dutch opposition brought an away-goals success against Twente in the first round of the 2007/08 UEFA Cup, a 1-0 home win followed by a dramatic 3-2 defeat in Enschede, with four of the five goals scored in extra time.

• This is Ajax's 20th away fixture against Spanish opponents. Their record is W7 D2 L10, with wins in the last two encounters – 4-1 at Real Madrid in last season's UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg (after a 1-2 home defeat) and this term at Valencia.

• Hakim Ziyech opened the scoring not only in both of those wins but also in Ajax's 2-2 draw at Celta Vigo in the 2016/17 UEFA Europa League group stage – their most recent visit to Spain in this competition. Indeed, the Moroccan winger had scored in five successive games for Ajax against Spanish clubs until the December defeat at home to Valencia.

Form guide
Getafe
• Getafe finished fifth in the 2018/19 Spanish Liga, narrowly missing out on a guaranteed UEFA Champions League berth. Instead they are in the UEFA Europa League for the second time, their 2010/11 debut having ended at the group stage with seven points and a third-placed finish behind Stuttgart and Young Boys.

• The Spanish club's only other European campaign, in 2007/08, was their most successful as they made it all the way to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup before going out on away goals after extra time to German giants Bayern München.

• Getafe made it through to the knockout phase of a European competition for only the second time this season thanks to two victories apiece against Trabzonspor and Krasnodar in Group C. That put them one point behind section winners Basel, who beat them in successive games on Matchdays 3 (1-0 a) and 4 (2-1 h).

• Getafe's home record in Europe is W9 D1 L3. They had managed just two goals in four home games until that crucial 3-0 win against Krasnodar, their joint biggest European victory, that was secured by late strikes from Leandro Cabrera (now of Espanyol), Jorge Molina and Kenedy.

Ajax
• Champions of the Netherlands for the 34th time in 2018/19, Ajax also lifted the Dutch Cup to claim their eighth domestic double and first since 2002. The Amsterdammers also went all the way from the UEFA Champions League second qualifying round to the semi-finals, dramatically losing on away goals to Tottenham in added time after memorable wins in the previous two rounds at Real Madrid and Juventus.

• Ajax lost only two of their 18 European matches in 2018/19 (W10 D6) but that was matched in this season's UEFA Champions League group stage with a pair of 0-1 home defeats by Chelsea and Valencia that, in tandem with a 4-4 draw at Stamford Bridge in which they led 4-1, left them with ten points and cost them a place in the round of 16.

• Ajax have come through only three of their previous seven UEFA Europa League round of 32 ties, the last two both at the expense of Legia Warszawa. On their most recent appearance in the knockout phase, in 2016/17, they went all the way to the final, which they lost 2-0 to Manchester United in Stockholm.

• This season's results in the UEFA Champions League qualifying phase and group stage have stretched Ajax's unbeaten away run in Europe to 14 matches (W7 D7). The last non-Dutch opponents to defeat them outside Amsterdam were Rosenborg, who won 3-2 in Trondheim in Ajax's most recent UEFA Europa League fixture – a play-off second leg in 2017/18.

UEFA Europa League squad changes
• Getafe
In: Deyverson (Palmeiras, loan), Xabier Etxeita, Chema (Nottingham Forest)
Out: Bruno (Levante), Leandro Cabrera (Espanyol), Enrique Gallego (Osasuna, loan), Raúl García (Valladolid, loan)

• Ajax
In: Ryan Babel (Galatasaray, loan), Juan Familio-Castillo*
Out: Hassane Bandé (Thun, loan) Noa Lang (Twente, loan)
*B List

Links and trivia 
• Ajax quartet Quincy Promes (Sevilla 2018/19), Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Real Madrid 2009), Ryan Babel (Deportivo La Coruña 2016/17) and Nicolás Tagliafico (Real Murcia 2012/13) have all represented Spanish clubs. Promes played alongside Getafe goalkeeper David Soria at Sevilla.

• Getafe's Nemanja Maksimović and Ajax's Dušan Tadić both play for Serbia.

• Ziyech and fellow Ajax players Noussair Mazraoui and Zakaria Labyad are Moroccan international team-mates of Getafe's Fayçal Fajr.

• Getafe full-back Allan Nyom plays for Cameroon alongside Ajax goalkeeper André Onana.

• Ajax are competing in the UEFA Europa League knockout phase for the eighth time, a competition record they share with Sporting CP.

• Molina's goal for Getafe against Krasnodar on Matchday 6 made him, at 37 years and 234 days, the fifth oldest scorer in the UEFA Europa League, group stage to final.

• With wins in their last three domestic league matches, the latest 3-0 at home to RKC Waalwijk on Sunday, Ajax have opened up a six-point gap at the top of the Eredivisie ahead of fellow UEFA Europa League participants AZ Alkmaar.

The coaches
• A coach of considerable experience in Spain's lower leagues, José 'Pepe' Bordalás has risen to prominence in recent seasons, achieving back-to-back promotions to the Primera División with Alavés and, via the play-offs, Getafe, where he arrived in September 2016. He has since steered the modestly-resourced Madrid club to eighth and fifth place in his first two seasons as a Liga coach, the latter leading to qualification for the group stage of the 2019/20 UEFA Europa League – their first European campaign since 2010/11.

• Erik ten Hag has been in charge of Ajax since December 2017, when he succeeded Marcel Keizer. His first full season in Amsterdam brought astounding success – a domestic league and cup double plus a first UEFA Champions League semi-final for 22 years. He spent most of his playing career at Twente, captaining the club to Dutch Cup glory in 2000/01, his penultimate season. His first head coaching role was at Go Ahead Eagles, and a spell with Bayern München's second team, where he worked with Josep Guardiola, then preceded a successful stint at Utrecht that prompted his move to Amsterdam.

UEFA Europa League knockout debut for VAR system
Video Assistant Referees (VAR) will be deployed in the UEFA Europa League knockout phase. The decision was taken by the UEFA Executive Committee last September, following the introduction of the system in several UEFA competitions in the 2018/19 campaign.