Ajax vs. PSG: Key Issues That Will Shape the Champions League Game

On Wednesday evening Ajax vs. Paris Saint-Germain sees a European powerhouse of the past take on one of the current favourites to lift the Champions League trophy. It also sees the Amsterdam side welcome back Brazilian defender Maxwell, Dutch international Gregory van der Wiel and the star attraction, Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Laurent Blanc takes his PSG side to Netherlands for the opening game of their Champions League group. The Parisians are taking on a Dutch side led by another young coach, Franck de Boer. Both made their name as top-level players back in the '90s and now they are making their way in a coaching capacity.

This is a game featuring two of Europe’s biggest clubs, but it’s the French side that will be the heavy favourites to pick up the opening victory in Group F.

Here are the key issues that will shape Ajax vs. Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.

Paris Saint-Germain's Away-Day Blues

Michel Euler/Associated Press

Paris Saint-Germain have played three away games so far in Ligue 1 this season, but they have yet to pick up a victory on their travels.

Away from home, PSG have faced Stade de Reims, Evian and Stade Rennais, with all three games finishing as a draw. Reims only won their first game of the season at the weekend, and with Evian rock bottom of the division, it doesn’t show the Parisians in a very good light.

Even though Ajax, sitting fifth in the Eredivisie, haven’t exactly started their own season on the front foot, Blanc will be concerned that the home side will be able to cause his team troubles just due to their own failings when not playing at the Parc des Princes.

In the three games this season, PSG have struggled to create a high number of chances. When the home side set up to frustrate, PSG can’t find a way to break them down. They have been relying on low-percentage passes over the top from Thiago Motta or Marco Verratti.

It looks great when it comes off, but that has been a very rare occurrence so far this season. They need to look for other ways to punish the opposition away from home.

Against Reims on the opening day, the away side had to rely on Ibrahimovic to stop them from suffering defeat. Without the Swedish striker, PSG were void of any attacking impetus in the 0-0 draw against Evian.

For Ajax, this is the best possible time to face PSG at the Amsterdam ArenA. If they can keep their defence tight and well-organised, they will be able to frustrate the PSG attack and hope to punish the away side on the break.

Ajax Ability to Punish the PSG Defence

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Milik scored twice for Ajax against Heracles.

For the home side to take advantage of any of PSG’s failings, they need to find the quality to attack the Parisian defence. David Luiz and Serge Aurier missed the game against Rennes on Saturday and they have travelled to Amsterdam for the match, but are unlikely to play from the start.

"

David Luiz & Serge Aurier are both included in PSG's UCL squad for tomorrow's clash with Ajax. Still no Thiago Silva.

— Jonathan Johnson (@Jon_LeGossip) September 16, 2014"

The absence of Luiz would mean that Marquinhos and Zoumana Camara start in the centre of defence, and this has to be an area that Ajax try and capitalise on.

However, there are big doubts over whether Ajax has the players capable of troubling the PSG defence. With the departures of Siem de Jong and Daley Blind, not only will they be missed on the field, but their character off the field will be hard to replace. The current squad seems to be lacking in leadership, especially at this early stage of the season.

Ajax may have won 2-1 against Heracles at the weekend, but they toiled against the side bottom of the Eredivisie, magnifying the struggles this new-look Ajax side is currently going through.

Polish striker Arkadiusz Milik scored both goals against Heracles, but the 20-year-old has been far from impressive this season and it will be between him and 24-year-old Icelandic international Kolbeinn Sigthorsson to see who leads the line on Wednesday night.

As always, Ajax will line up 4-3-3 and the creativity will come from the wide areas. This is where PSG have the advantage. With Gregory van der Wiel and Maxwell at the back, or even Lucas Digne, if he is picked to play at left-back, PSG should have enough to deal with Lasse Schone or Anwar El Ghazi down the wings.

This is far from the best side that Ajax have ever fielded in the Champions League and unless they can stun PSG in the early exchanges, it looks unlikely the Dutch side will cause too many problems.

The Return of Ibrahimovic

Yves Logghe/Associated Press

Ibrahimovic hit four against Anderlecht.

It will be interesting to see how many Ajax fans turn up on Wednesday night just to see Zlatan Ibrahimovic return to Amsterdam. Just over 47,000 turned up for the game against Heracles, and it should be close to a sellout for the opening game of Group F.

At the tender age of 18, the Swedish striker made the €7.8 million move from Malmo to Ajax, a Swedish record transfer at the time. We all know how the story escalated from there.

He won two Dutch titles with Ajax and scored seven times in 23 Champions League appearances for the Dutch club. Now, at the age of 32, the striker has scored 13 times in just 17 Champions League games for Paris Saint-Germain.

It’s safe to say that the former Barcelona and AC Milan striker loves this competition. For the six teams that he has played for, he has made 107 appearances in the competition, finding the net 47 times. It was still early in last year’s tournament when Ibrahimovic blew off the cobwebs to stun Anderlecht in Brussels.

The Swede had struggled to score goals in the league, but against Anderlecht in matchday three he scored four times as PSG destroyed the Belgian league side.

Unfortunately for Ajax, Ibrahimovic hasn’t started slowly this season, already clocking up five goals in Ligue 1, including a hat-trick against Saint-Etienne in week four.

There is nothing the Swede loves more than to dazzle on the big European nights, and if Ajax are to have any chance of victory, they need to find a way to stop the talismanic striker. Ibrahimovic will be eager to impress and would love nothing more than to score on his return to Amsterdam.

If Ibrahimovic is in the mood for destruction, he could be the main factor in determining Wednesday’s result. Ajax is on red alert.