Emma Hayes praised the development of Ajax and said their rise had come as no surprise, as she prepared her Chelsea side for Tuesday night’s first leg of the Champions League quarter-final in Amsterdam.
Ajax were the first Dutch team to make the group stage this season and then escaped a section with Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Roma with three home wins at the Johan Cruijff ArenA. They welcome Chelsea as the underdogs, but their threat is real, said Hayes.
“We played them in a pre-season [game] probably a year and a half ago,” reflected the Chelsea manager. “We drew with them in Portugal, I think. It was a very closely contested game and I remember saying to [general manager] Paul Green that I could see Ajax becoming the next team coming through in Europe. It was of no surprise to me that they came through because they’ve been developing their own talent, they’ve been playing together, putting the right experience in.”
Hayes singled out the suspended Sherida Spitse as an example of Ajax’s quality. “I know Spitse doesn’t play tomorrow but I’m a big fan of hers, I think she’s a marvellous football player. I think they are a club that have serious ambitions in Europe, they’ve demonstrated that so far. Because we’ve played them before we know how good they are so we certainly won’t be going into it with our eyes shut.”
Hayes also commended Ajax’s 16-year-old midfielder Lily Yohannes. “There’s no denying, Lily has tremendous talent and to play for a top European team at the age of 16 in the centre midfield position just shows how much faith the coaching team has in her,” said Hayes. “Her final pass is exceptional. She’s got the ability, especially in tight areas she can get out of pressure really well. But her vision, the quality of her execution is really, really high. Sometimes I don’t believe she’s 16 years of age because she plays with such maturity, but a wonderful talent.”
Chelsea had a smoother run through the group stage, topping Group D on 14 points ahead of Häcken, Paris FC and Real Madrid. They have also been able to add Catarina Macario and the January signings Mayra Ramírez and Nathalie Björn to their Champions League squad to help combat the loss of Sam Kerr, Millie Bright and Mia Fishel to injury.
Managing Macario’s return after 20 months out has been a careful process but she is close to a first start after three substitute appearances and two goals. Hayes said: “I have a really experienced staff team that have worked together to understand everything from Cat’s medical history, to time off feet from her last game, and the management of her return, albeit with some bumps in the road, in a carefully managed way.
“Cat is one of the most popular people in our dressing room, she’s so likable, she’s so charming and charismatic. She’s actually getting a little cheekier, I’ve noticed in the last few days, she had to fill out this form to be included in an Olympic roster and she said: ‘Now all you have to do is pick me!’ But Cat is someone who is not 100% yet, but she’s not far away from starting a game.”
An extra day off for all of her players after Friday night’s 3-1 defeat of Arsenal is very welcome as Chelsea’s fixtures pile up. “Six out of eight [were] away games, that’s what March was for us,” said Hayes. “Three of them were up north in a seven-day span.”
The manager then turned to the midfielder Erin Cuthbert and asked her to describe the impact it has. “I think an extra day is really important for a player, more time in the legs to recover for sure. Most of all it was like a mental reset over the weekend. I had my family down as well. I think football can get really, really intense sometimes and when you’ve got so many games back to back, every game matters and winning every game is an expectation at Chelsea.”
