Erik Ten Hag’s Ajax have made history by joining this season, alongside Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool, to the exclusive list of teams that have completed the Champions League group stage with full triumphs. The Dutch team, which has equaled the achievement achieved by Bayern Munich in the 2019/2020 edition – ultimately tournament champion -, finished first in Group C, with 18 points to their name, 20 goals. in favor and only 5 against. A milestone, and it is that the whole of Amsterdam, as it points out Fran Martinez on @LaLigaenDirecto, has completed the best qualifying phase in its history in the highest continental competition, thus surpassing what was achieved in the 1995/1996 campaign, when it won 5 games, drew 1 and ended up reaching the final. But if there is a footballer who has stood out above the collective, that is Sébastien Haller. The Ivorian Ajax striker has not only finished the group stage as his team’s top scorer, but has put his name on a par with the best and top scorer in the Champions League.
During the 6 games Ajax have played to qualify for the round of 16, Haller has scored a total of 10 goals. Four goals in the European debut against Sporting Lisbon, one against Besiktas, another goal (plus two assists) in the 4-0 win against Borussia Dortmund, a seventh goal against the side borusser in Germany, a double against the Turkish team and the first of the four goals that Ajax scored in the last match against Lisbon. That is to say, Sébastien Haller equaled the record set by Cristiano Ronaldo in 2017/2018 in the 2020/2021 season, becoming the second footballer to score in all group stage matches. The irruption of the Ajax striker, which according to reports MisterChip He has also become the footballer who has needed the fewest matches (6) to score his first 10 goals in the Champions League, it is such that he has seen more goals in European competition than in Eredivise, despite the fact that his figures in the championship league are not bad (9 goals in 14 games).
Statistics of Sébastien Haller, Ajax player.
BeSoccer
The Ivorian, born in France, is one of the fashionable men in Europe. Although this season is being a fairy tale for the 27-year-old footballer, the reality is that even his arrival at the team where he now triumphs was not easy. On January 8, 2021, the signing of Sébastien Haller by Ajax was made official. The Dutch were paying € 22m to West Ham to take over the forward’s services until 2025, thus becoming the most expensive addition in the club’s history. Ajax player. So far so good. The problem was that, with Ajax eliminated from the Champions League but living in the Europa League, where they would face Lille in the round of 32, the Amsterdam team ‘forgot’ to register their new star on the list of the second continental competition. “We are working with the KNVB (Royal Netherlands Football Association) and UEFA to find out where the error is,” the club’s spokesman acknowledged to the Dutch outlet. NU.nl. But the “error” could not be corrected and Haller was left without playing with the Amsterdammers in the Europa League.
To become the king of the Champions League goal, Sébastien Haller has had to come back from a difficult last few seasons. Especially for a forward. And is that, although his current European record prevents you from believing it, seeing the goal became a real headache for the Ivorian coast. The current Ajax player scored 20 goals in his last season (2018/2019) at Eintracht Frankfurt, which led West Ham to put € 50M on the Germans’ table. Another team in which Sébastien Haller became the most expensive signing ever made. However, the performance, in terms of goals, was not as expected. In the season and a half –54 games– that Haller played in London, he scored a total of 14 goals (7 in the 2019/2020 season and another 7 in the first half of the 2020/2021 season). Beyond the spectacular Chilean goal that he scored with the Hammers Against Crystal Palace, the Ivorian Coast went unnoticed on his journey to the London Olympics. Now, wearing the Ajax shirt, the 27-year-old striker has once again regained his smile … and the goal.