Daley Blind joked that Ajax will have to be “careful with all the beers” after stunning Juventus and sealing passage to the Champions League semi-finals.
Ajax reached the last four of the competition for the first time since 1996-97 by coming from behind to beat Juve 2-1 in a thrilling encounter at Allianz Stadium on Tuesday.
Donny van de Beek cancelled out Cristiano Ronaldo’s opener before Matthijs de Ligt sealed a famous victory for the Dutch giants, who eliminated defending champions Real Madrid in the last 16.
Ajax, who will take on Willem II in the KNVB Cup final on May 5, only sit top of the Eredivisie on goal difference and, with a treble well within sight, Blind playfully warned against overindulgence following their latest achievement.
“I don’t really care about our semi-final opponents. Of course, it would be nice if we can play against out former team-mates [Christian Eriksen, Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld and Davinson Sanchez at Tottenham], but playing against Manchester City is also a wonderful fixture,” Blind told AT5.
“I’d love to watch the game with a couple of beers, but we have a tough game ahead at the weekend [against Groningen]. We’re fighting for the title.
“Hopefully this all ends well so we can celebrate with a big party. Now we’ll have to be careful with the beers.”
Blind added: “It’s fantastic to get this far in Europe with the club that I love and where I grew up.
“Everyone thought that Juventus will be a very difficult opponent, but I think we deserved it over the two games.
“It’s fantastic to be part of this team and now we are in the semi-finals.”
Tottenham hold a slender 1-0 aggregate lead over City following the first leg in north London and the tie is very much in the balance ahead of the second leg at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester.
In the other semi-final, Barcelona await either Liverpool or Porto after their 4-0 aggregate victory over Manchester United.
