UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - 2013/14 SEASON MATCH PRESS KITS Camp Nou - Barcelona Wednesday 18 September 2013 20.45CET (20.45 local time) FC Barcelona Group H - Matchday 1 AFC Ajax Last updated 03/09/2014 16:58CET UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE OFFICIAL SPONSORS Previous meetings 2 Match background 3 Match facts 4 Squad list 6 Head coach 7 Match officials 8 Fixtures and results 10 Match-by-match lineups 11 Group Standings 12 Competition facts 13 Team facts 15 Legend 17 1 FC Barcelona - AFC Ajax Wednesday 18 September 2013 - 20.45CET (20.45 local time) Match press kit Camp Nou, Barcelona Previous meetings Execption in [/mediaservices/presskits/uefachampionsleague/season=2014/round=2000479/day=1/session=2/match=2011766/chapters/previousmeetings Slot [] ExceptionInfo [Error executing child request for /code/PressKits/prevMeetings.aspx.] Inner Exception [Exception of type 'System.Web.HttpUnhandledException' was thrown.] 2 FC Barcelona - AFC Ajax Wednesday 18 September 2013 - 20.45CET (20.45 local time) Match press kit Camp Nou, Barcelona Match background There will be a new face and an old face on show when FC Barcelona take on AFC Ajax in their opening Group H fixture. For home coach Gerardo Martino it is a first UEFA Champions League match since taking the Barça helm in the summer, while for his opposite number Frank de Boer this is a return to the club he played for between 1999 and 2003. • Martino's task will be to continue Barcelona's recent history of success in the competition and his first assignment comes against an Ajax side whose goal is to progress to the knockout rounds for the first time since 2005/06. • Surprisingly this is the first meeting between two clubs with a long history of European Cup success and a shared connection in the famous figure of Johan Cruyff, who won the trophy three times with Ajax as a player before coaching Barcelona to their first title in 1992. Match background • Prior to their 3-0 semi-final home loss to FC Bayern München in May, the Blaugrana had gone 21 matches unbeaten at the Camp Nou in the UEFA Champions League, winning 16 of them. • This is Barcelona's first home fixture against a Dutch team since a 2-2 draw with PSV Eindhoven in 1997/98 during the reign of Louis van Gaal, a UEFA Champions League winner as Ajax coach in 1995. Their last home victory against Dutch visitors was back in 1983/84 and a 2-0 success against NEC Nijmegen in the European Cup Winners' Cup second round. Barcelona's overall home record against Eredivisie opposition is W3 D3 L0. • In each of the past three UEFA Champions League campaigns, Ajax have met Real Madrid CF in the group stage, and lost both home and away. Last season they went down 4-1 in both meetings. • Overall Ajax are on an eight-game losing streak against Spanish opposition, their last success 1-0 at home against RC Celta de Vigo in the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League group stage. • Ajax coach De Boer was playing – his brother Ronald scored – when the Amsterdam side last won in Spain, a 3-2 extra-time success at Club Atlético de Madrid in the 1996/97 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals. • The Dutch title holders took one point on their travels in last term's group stage and then lost 2-0 at FC Steaua Bucureşti in the UEFA Europa League round of 32 before elimination on penalties. Team ties • As a Barcelona player, De Boer won the Spanish league title in 1999 alongside twin brother Ronald. • De Boer scored twice against Spain as a Netherlands player, hitting the winner in a 2-1 friendly victory on the night Carles Puyol made his international debut in November 2000. He later got the only goal when the Oranje beat Spain in another friendly in March 2002, with Puyol once more in opposition. • De Boer was an assistant coach of the Netherlands team beaten 1-0 in the 2010 FIFA World Cup final by a goal from Andrés Iniesta. • Bojan Krkić scored 26 times in 104 Liga appearances for Barcelona between 2007 and 2011. • In two seasons with Sevilla FC between 2006 and 2008 Christian Poulsen came up against Barcelona six times, winning once. • As an Arsenal player, Cesc Fàbregas faced Ajax in the 2005/06 group stage, winning 2-1 in Amsterdam in September 2005 and drawing 0-0 in London three months later. The following season he was in the Arsenal side eliminated on away goals by PSV Eindhoven in the round of 16. Javier Mascherano's Liverpool FC beat PSV in the next round. • Niklas Moisander captained Finland in their 1-1 draw with Spain in a 2014 World Cup qualifier in Gijon on 22 March this year. Iniesta, Fàbregas, Víctor Valdés, Gerard Piqué, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and substitute Pedro Rodríguez all featured for Spain. • Moisander was also Finland skipper in their 2-0 home defeat by Spain on 6 September, Alba scoring the visitors' first goal in Helsinki. Iniesta, Xavi, Fàbregas and Pedro were also in the Spain lineup. • Danny Hoesen was in the Netherlands side beaten 3-0 by Spain in the group stage of June's UEFA European Under-21 Championship – a match that Martín Montoya, Marc Bartra and Cristian Tello watched from the bench. 3 FC Barcelona - AFC Ajax Wednesday 18 September 2013 - 20.45CET (20.45 local time) Match press kit Camp Nou, Barcelona Match facts Barcelona UEFA milestones and competition statistics • Víctor Valdés became the 17th player to reach 100 UEFA Champions League appearances in Barcelona's semi- final, second-leg defeat by FC Bayern München last season. • That tie was the Blaugrana's sixth consecutive appearance in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals, a tournament record. The 7-0 defeat over two legs represented Barça's heaviest aggregate loss in UEFA club competition. • Lionel Messi has scored 59 UEFA Champions League goals and is behind only Raúl González (71). Summer transfers • In: Neymar (FC Santos) • Out: Thiago Alcántara (FC Bayern München), David Villa (Club Atlético de Madrid), Éric Abidal (AS Monaco FC), Marc Muniesa (Stoke City FC), Andreu Fontás (RC Celta de Vigo), Rafinha (RC Celta de Vigo, loan), Bojan Krkić (AFC Ajax, loan), Gerard Deulofeu (Everton FC, loan) International duty • Barça had 11 players on senior duty during the international break: Víctor Valdés, Jordi Alba, Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta, Pedro Rodríguez, Cesc Fàbregas (Spain), Alexis Sánchez (Chile), Messi (Argentina), Daniel Alves, Neymar (Brazil) and Alex Song (Cameroon). • Alba registered his fifth senior international goal in Spain's 2-0 FIFA World Cup qualifying win away to Finland on 6 September. Four days later Pedro set up both of La Roja's goals in a 2-2 friendly international draw with a Chile side featuring Alexis Sánchez. • Messi netted a penalty in each half as Argentina booked their place at the 2014 FIFA World Cup with a 5-2 win away to Paraguay on 10 September. Javier Mascherano was suspended for the encounter. • Neymar found the net for Brazil in their 6-0 friendly victory over Australia in Brasilia, adding a solo effort in a 3-1 success against Portugal played in the United States. • Tello, Martín Montoya and Marc Bartra were in the Spain team that won this summer's UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Israel. Tello made his senior international debut in Spain's 2-0 friendly win in Ecuador last month. • Alves and Neymar won the FIFA Confederations Cup in June, winning the final 3-0 in Rio de Janeiro against a Spain team featuring Iniesta, Xavi, Pedro, Sergio Busquets, Alba and Gerard Piqué, who was sent off. General information • Gerardo Martino became the fourth Argentinian – after Helenio Herrera, Roque Olsen and César Luis Menotti – to take up the reigns at Barcelona after Tito Vilanova stepped down for health reasons in July. • Alves did not register in the Liga last season but already has two goals to his name this term. • Despite a hamstring injury towards the end, Messi contributed 46 of Barça's club record 115 Liga goals last term and became the first player to score against every opponent in the division consecutively. He scored his 23rd hat-trick for Barça in the 3-2 win against Valencia CF on 1 September. • The club's Spanish Super Cup success against Club Atlético de Madrid in August represented Xavi's 25th career title and 22nd with Barcelona. The midfielder is Spanish football's most decorated player. • Adriano (2017), Busquets and Tello (both 2018) all signed improved deals at Barcelona over the summer. • Carles Puyol and Isaac Cuenca both underwent knee surgery over the summer. Alba tore his right hamstring in Saturday's 3-2 defeat of Sevilla FC. Ajax UEFA milestones and competition statistics • Ajax have scored 549 goals in UEFA competition. • Ajax have failed to win any of their last four UEFA Champions League group stage games away from home, since prevailing 2-0 at GNK Dinamo Zagreb on 18 October 2011. • The Dutch champions conceded 16 times in the group stage last season; only FC Nordsjælland shipped more (22). Summer transfers • In: Mike van der Hoorn (FC Utrecht), Bojan Krkić (FC Barcelona, loan), Lerin Duarte (Heracles Almelo) 4 FC Barcelona - AFC Ajax Wednesday 18 September 2013 - 20.45CET (20.45 local time) Match press kit Camp Nou, Barcelona • Out: Miralem Sulejmani (SL Benfica), Christian Eriksen (Tottenham Hotspur FC), Toby Alderweireld (Club Atlético de Madrid), Ryan Babel (Kasımpaşa SK), Derk Boerrigter (Celtic FC), Dico Koppers (FC Twente), Jody Lukoki (SC Cambuur Leeuwarden, loan), Ilan Boccara (Évian Thonon Gaillard FC, loan), Mitchell Dijks (sc Heerenveen, loan) International duty • Seven of Frank de Boer's men were called up for senior duty during the international break: Kenneth Vermeer (Netherlands), Nicolai Boilesen, Viktor Fischer (Denmark), Kolbeinn Sigthórsson (Iceland), Niklas Moisander (Finland), Thulani Serero (South Africa), Eyong Enoh (Cameroon).