Bayern Munich vs Ajax Predictions

This is a clash of two genuine European giants. While it has been a long time since Ajax have been a real force to be reckoned with in Europe’s premier club competition, they made an excellent start to the group stage and have hopes of reaching the next round with some exciting young talent. Bayern Munich have a lot of players at the other end of their careers but will still be the firm favourites heading into this Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League clash.

Bayern don’t come into this match in great form though. They’ve taken just one point from their last two Bundesliga matches, the first time in twelve months they’ve gone two league games without a win. A 2-0 defeat at Hertha Berlin on Friday night saw them drop to 2nd but they did make an impressive start to their Champions League campaign, beating Benfica 2-0 in Lisbon.

It is Ajax that top the group after one match-day though. They cruised to a 3-0 home win over AEK Athens in their first game, with defender Nicolas Tagliafico the unlikely hero with a brace. While they do already trail PSV by 5 points in the Eredivisie, that has been largely due to their rivals’ 100% record rather than a sluggish start from Ajax. The Amsterdam giants have still won 5 of their last 6 in all competitions heading into this match.

In terms of the result, it’s hard to look past Bayern Munich. At home in European competition against anyone other than the very elite sides they seldom slip up. They’ve won 19 of their last 23 Champions League home fixtures inside 90 minutes. Of the 4 games they failed to win in that period, two were against Real Madrid and one Juventus. While Ajax are a useful side, they lack the quality really needed to seriously trouble Bayern on their own patch.

However they do look capable of being competitive and at least avoiding a heavy defeat. Ajax come into this game having kept a clean sheet in 7 of their last 8 matches. The recapture of Daley Blind this summer added a bit more experience to their back-line and their impressive performance on match-day one suggests they are capable of mixing it with strong teams from around the continent.

Bayern clearly aren’t at their free-flowing best right now either and excluding the German Super Cup, they are yet to score more than three goals this season. Therefore, backing Bayern & Under 3.5 Goals could be worth considering here.