Robin van Persie has experience of destroying Tottenham Hotspur’s Champions League semi-final opponents.
Robin van Persie believes that Harry Kane’s absence means that Tottenham Hotspur will be underdogs in their Champions League semi-final with Ajax.
North London plays host next Tuesday as the giant-killing Dutch side visit Spurs in the first leg of their last-four clash, after beating Real Madrid and Juventus in the two previous rounds.
Tottenham beat Manchester City on away goals during last week’s pulsating clash at the Etihad Stadium.
The former Arsenal hitman, now with Feyenoord, knows a thing or two about what it takes to thump Ajax after scoring twice in a 6-2 win over them in February.
And Van Persie believes that Lilywhites boss Mauricio Pochettino will be studying that game in the hope of finding the Amsterdam club’s weaknesses.
He told Algemeen Dagblad: “That worked out that afternoon. Everything clicked. Yes, we beat Ajax 6-2. So we would beat Juventus 11-2 [laughs].
“And yes, Spurs will now of course view the images of our match against Ajax. I did watch Spurs against City. That was better than a fantastic film.
“Ajax is now a favourite, because Spurs plays without Kane.”
Kane will miss the entire tie and potentially the final if Pochettino’s side progress, but the North Londoners have other first-leg concerns because Son Heung-min is suspended next week and Moussa Sissoko is likely to miss out with a groin injury.
Ajax might well be favourites and it’ll be interesting to see how that label affects them, having been underdogs in previous ties.
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