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Tottenham & Ajax Enter Semifinals as Underdogs to Win Champions League; Is There Value in Either?

Robert Duff

by Robert Duff in Soccer News

Updated Jan 4, 2023 · 6:40 AM PST

Tottenham Hotspur side.
Tottenham and Ajax are offered the longest odds of winning the 2019 UEFA Champions League. Photo Credit: Ardfern (Wiki Commons) [CC License]
  • Sportsbooks are offering the longest odds on Tottenham and Ajax to win the UCL
  • Tottenham upset Manchester City in the quarterfinals
  • Ajax stunned Juventus in their quarterfinal

Barcelona and Liverpool are the traditional powers still standing in the UEFA Champions League, but are either Tottenham or Ajax in with even a sliver of a chance of copping the Cup?

Based on the average Champions League odds being offered, that reality seems unlikely to occur. Spurs and Ajax are given the longest odds of winning it all as the UCL enters semifinal legs.

2019 UEFA Champions League Winner Odds

Team UCL Winner Odds
Barcelona +150
Liverpool +250
Tottenham +400
Ajax +450

*Odds taken on April 18, 2019. 

Ajax beat AC Milan 1-0 in the 1994-95 UCL final. Tottenham has never played in an UCL final.

Spurs On a Mission

Tottenham entered its quarterfinal match with fellow English Premier League member Manchester City owning an 0-4-1 slate in the previous five meetings between the two teams.

Tottenham won the first leg at home 1-0. But the key to Spurs moving on was Fernando Llorente’s 70th-minute goal at the Etihad Stadium.

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Even though Tottenham lost the match 4-3, the 4-4 aggregate meant Spurs moved on because away goals count double.

You have to go all the way back to 1961-62 to find Spurs in the semifinal. Then, the tournament was known as the European Cup. Tottenham lost 4-3 to Portuguese side Benfica.

Ajax Cleaning Up

When it comes to giant killers, no club has been toppling fashionable sides in the UCL in the fashion of Ajax.

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The Dutch club bounced three-time defending champions Real Madrid 5-3 in the Round of 16.

Then they took out 2017 finalist Juventus 3-2 in the quarterfinals.

In those four matches, the Amsterdam-based squad lost just once and conceded more than one goal only one time.

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Ajax owns a rich history in the UCL. They’ve played in six finals, winning four of them.

Ajax (1970-71 to 1972-73), Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are the only clubs to win at least three UCL titles in a row.

One Must Go Through

Tottenahm and Ajax will clash in the semifinals, so it’s a certainly that one of these two unexpected final four participants will be poised a step away from filling the role of giant killer.

Against Real Madrid and Juventus, Ajax played the first leg at home and was able to grab a lead, putting the pressure on their opponents to try and fill the net in the second leg.

This time, Tottenham opens with the home leg. Spurs used that to their advantage to gain the edge on Manchester City.

Tottenham has won four of five home matches this season in UCL competition.

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Spurs and Ajax met in the opening round of the 1981-82 Cup Winners’ Cup and Tottenham mastered the Dutch by a 6-1 aggregate score.

We like Spurs to get past Ajax. It’s hard, though, to envision Tottenham winning the UCL final against either Liverpool or Barcelona.

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