Panathinaikos v Ajax background
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
Article summary
Panathinaikos kick off their Group G campaign with a blast from the past as they take on Ajax, the side who beat them in the 1971 European Cup final at Wembley.
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Ajax supporters of a certain generation will remember matches against Panathinaikos fondly as the clubs prepare to face off in UEFA Europa League Group G.
Previous meetings
• Ajax won the first of their four European Cups by defeating Panathinaikos 2-0 in the 1971 final at Wembley.
• A quarter of a century later, in the 1995/96 UEFA Champions League semi-finals, Ajax once again came out on top, triumphing 3-0 in Athens after a 1-0 reverse in Amsterdam. The teams for the second leg in Greece, where Jari Litmanen scored twice, were:
Panathinaikos: Wandzik, Apostolakis, Markos (Lagonikakis 84), Georgiadis, Kalitzakis, Kolitsidakis, Borrelli, Kapouranis, Warzycha, Marangos (Nioplias 74), Donis.
Ajax: Van der Sar, Reiziger, Blind, F de Boer, Silooy (Wooter 86), R de Boer, Finidi George, Davids (Scholten 84), Kanu, Litmanen, Bogarde.
• Panathinaikos's record in nine matches against Dutch opposition is W3 D2 L4 (W2 L2 at home).
• Ajax have won seven of their 15 games against Greek teams, drawing five and losing the other three (W3 D2 L2 away).
Form guide
• Panathinaikos are unbeaten in six European games (W3 D3), including four in qualifying this season.
• The Greens are also unbeaten in their last five continental home fixtures (W3 D2).
• Having made it through their first three UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns, Panathinaikos have missed the cut in their last two attempts.
• After three successful attempts to get through their UEFA Cup group, Ajax failed to qualify for the first time in the 2015/16 UEFA Europa League group stage.
Links and trivia
• The journey from Amsterdam to Athens is almost 2,200km.
• Panathinaikos's Swedish forward Marcus Berg is in line to make his 50th UEFA club competition appearance; he has scored 21 European goals to date for his clubs.
The coaches
• Italian coach Andrea Stramaccioni led Panathinaikos to a third-place finish in Greece in 2015/16, his first season with the club. A qualified lawyer whose playing career was ended by injury, he specialised as a youth coach before leading Internazionale Milano and Udinese in Serie A.
• A Dutch title winner as a midfielder with Feyenoord, Peter Bosz returned from Israel to take charge of Ajax in May 2016. Bosz has coached Heracles and Vitesse in the Netherlands, briefly coaching Maccabi Tel-Aviv in 2016.