Despite their recent defeat to Rangers in the UEFA Europa League (UEL) league phase, Royale Union Saint-Gilloise secured a spot in the unseeded knockout play-off round thanks to their three consecutive wins. This will be the third year in a row that the Belgian team will compete in knockout football in Europe, and they are feeling confident after successfully navigating through the first round in their previous two campaigns. However, Union has faced challenges in the past when it comes to winning the first leg of major European knockout ties, as they have failed to do so in their last ten attempts (D4, L6). Nevertheless, they are in good form and have won six of their last seven matches in all competitions (L1), including eight of their last nine as the designated home team (D1).
Their next opponent will be the historically-rich Dutch side Ajax, who finished 12th in the league phase with four wins out of eight games (D1, L3). Ajax is no stranger to the knockout stages of UEFA competitions, as this marks their seventh consecutive appearance. They will enter this match with confidence, having won eight of their last ten matches in all competitions (L2). One of their two losses came on the road in this competition against RFS, but they will be looking to bounce back and continue their positive record against Belgian teams, having lost only four out of their previous 18 H2H matches (W10, D4). However, Ajax’s performance in the latter stages of European competitions has been a cause for concern, as they have only managed to secure one win in their last ten knockout matches (D5, L4).
Keep an eye on Mohammed Fuseini, who has scored the first goal in five out of his last six matches for Union. On the other hand, Kenneth Taylor, who shares the same birthday as Fuseini, has found the net in five out of his last seven appearances for Ajax. An interesting statistic to note is that in nine out of Royale Union’s last 11 matches as the designated home team, both teams have scored (W8, D2, L1).
