Pride, UEFA Cup berth at stake for Ajax
TWO sides that dominated the European scene for most of the 1970s when a Johan Cruyff-inspired AFC Ajax won three consecutive European Champion Clubs' Cup finals between 1970/71 and 1972/73 before a Franz Beckenbauer-powered FC Bayern M�nchen rattled off a further three titles from 1973/74 to 1975/76 will meet for the second time this season on the final matchday of the UEFA Champions League group stage.
FC Bayern M�nchen's Dutch striker, Roy Makaay, made AFC Ajax suffer when the two sides met at the Olympiastadion on matchday two.
Having secured second place in the group standings, Bayern are guaranteed a place in the knockout phase, but Ajax are still battling for a third place finish and a spot in the UEFA Cup and will be eager to show a recovery from their 4-0 defeat to their German rivals from their previous meeting this season.
Roy Makaay, Bayern's Dutch striker, was the Bavarian side's hero on matchday two as he scored a hat-trick against an Ajax side, which wilted during the group stage with one win from five outings.
Prior to this season, the two teams have met on six occasions in European action to date. Ajax has won all three games in Amsterdam, while Bayern hold the upper-hand at the Olympiastadion with two wins and a draw.
Their most recent meeting came in the 1994/95 UEFA Champions League semi-finals, the first leg ending in a scoreless draw in Munich before Ajax won 5-2 at Amsterdam's Olympisch stadium to advance to the final.
The Ernst Happel stadium in Vienna played host to that final, a match Ajax would win courtesy of Patrick Kluivert's 84th-minute goal against AC Milan.
Although having recorded one win and one loss each in finals of the competition in the past decade, both sides are attempting to restore glories of old having recently faltered on the European stage.
Since winning the 2000/01 final, Bayern have qualified for the quarter-finals (2001/02), been eliminated at the end of the first group stage (2002/03) and qualified for the last 16 of the competition (2003/04), a poor return for a club with such a proud tradition.
Ajax, too, have witnessed better days as their elimination in the third qualifying round (2001/02), qualification for the quarter-finals (2002/03) and elimination at the end of the group stage (2003/04) shows.
