Without a doubt, the whole world acknowledged that last season's Ajax had been truly great!
The Eredivisie lacked competitiveness—that was a consensus. Yet Ajax, born from the Eredivisie, had played the role of a legendary dark horse last season, battling all the way to the Champions League Final and ultimately defeating Liverpool in Madrid to win the Champions League. The entire journey had been a classic.
On the road to Madrid's Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, Ajax had successively defeated European powerhouses such as Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, Juventus, and Barcelona. It could be said that Ajax had advanced by cutting down the elite teams of the Four Major Leagues one after another.
Any one of those teams was wealthier than Ajax by far. Their players' market values and overall strength were superior to Ajax's, yet in the end, it was this team from the Eredivisie that had the last laugh.
What an unbelievable miracle this was!
The youngest team to win the Champions League in its history had claimed the title under the guidance of the youngest Head Coach in Champions League history. No matter how one looked at it, this was an eternal classic.
Klopp leading Liverpool to two Champions League Finals had certainly been tragic, and Guardiola guiding Man City to the Premier League and FA Cup double had certainly been impressive, but Ajax under Yang Yang was the most legendary of all.
Winning the Eredivisie with a perfect record was an unprecedented feat in European Football. Winning the Dutch Cup as well, then miraculously leading the team to the Champions League title—it had become Ajax's second treble in history.
The previous treble had to be traced back to the 1971–72 season, when Cruyff had led Ajax to an unprecedented treble. Now, Yang Yang had