Ajax seal title to complete double after Euro heartache

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Europe

Ajax were crowned the Dutch champions, Eredivisie title, for the 34th time on Wednesday after they cruised to a 4-1 win at De Graafschap that completed a domestic double a week after their crushing Champions League exit at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur.

Goals from Lasse Schoene, Nicolas Tagliafico and Dusan Tadic, who bagged a second half-brace, saw Erik ten Hag's side win their eighth league match on the bounce and formerly win the title after effectively sealing the deal at the weekend.

Ajax's Argentine players Nicolas Tagliafico (R) and Lisandro Magallan celebrate the team's championship with the Argentine national flag and Eredivisie Trophy in Doetinchem, the Netherlands, May 15, 2019. /VCG Photo

Ajax came into the final match of the season three points clear of closest rivals PSV Eindhoven with a 14-goal higher goal difference after they beat Utrecht 4-1 and the defending champions lost 1-0 at AZ Alkmaar on Sunday.

Those results made the first double in 17 years – Ajax won the Dutch Cup on May 5 – a near-certainty, and in the end, made PSV's 3-1 win over Heracles irrelevant.

Ajax's Dusan Tadic (L) and a teammate celebrate with a drum after they won the Dutch champions in Doetinchem, the Netherlands, May 15, 2019. /VCG Photo

However the flamboyant Amsterdam outfit, who captured hearts as their scintillating soccer took them to the brink of a first Champions League final in more than two decades, nonetheless turned on the style in their final game before their stars are sold off in the summer.

Midfielder Frenkie De Jong will leave for Barcelona in the summer for an initial 75 million euros (89 million U.S. dollars), while center-back Matthijs de Ligt, who sent Juventus packing with a bullet header in the quarterfinals, could follow his teammate to Catalonia.

Ajax's Matthijs de Ligt (2nd, L) scores their first goal during the Champions League semi-final second leg match against Tottenham Hotspur, which ended 2-3 in Hotspur's favor, at the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, May 8, 2019. /VCG Photo

After knocking out Real Madrid in the Champions League last 16, coach Franck De Boer admitted that forwards Hakim Ziyech and David Neres would also all be targeted by Europe's biggest clubs which come to the end of the season.

Their thrilling European adventure, which also saw them dump out Cristiano Ronaldo's Juventus, came to an end in gut-wrenching style last week when Lucas Moura's 96th-minute strike for Spurs saw Ajax throw away a 3-0 aggregate lead and miss out on a trip to Madrid on away goals.

Source(s): AFP