Marseille vs Ajax

Marseille’s 4-0 victory tonight was their biggest victory at home in the UEFA Champions League since beating Zürich 6-1 in November 2009.

Aged 36 years and 104 days old, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is the oldest player in UEFA Champions League history to be involved in 3+ goals in a single match (1 goal, 2 assists), whilst he is also the oldest player to provide an assist in the competition for a French club.

Tonight’s defeat was the eighth time Ajax have lost a UEFA Champions League/European Cup match by 4+ goals and the first since losing 1-6 to Napoli in October 2022.

Marseille lost their first three meetings with Ajax in European competition, but have since gone unbeaten across the last five (W3 D2), most recently beating them in November 2023 (4-3 in the UEFA Europa League).

Marseille and Ajax were drawn together in the group stage of a major European competition as recently as 2023-24, in the UEFA Europa League. Their two meetings that season produced a total of 13 goals (7 Marseille, 6 Ajax), 64 shots, and 33 shots on target – all of which were the most in any fixture in this group stage.

Marseille have only lost one of their last eight home matches against Dutch sides in European competition (W5 D2), with that lone defeat coming against FC Twente in the UEFA Cup in 2008-09 (0-1), and going unbeaten in four since then (W3 D1).

Across the eight meetings between Marseille and Ajax in European competition, there have been a total of 34 goals scored (15 Marseille, 19 Ajax), at an average of 4.25 per game. Indeed, both teams have scored in all but one of their eight clashes to date, with the only exception being a 3-0 win for Ajax in the Cup Winners’ Cup semi-final first leg in 1987-88.

Following defeat to Real Madrid last time out, Marseille have now lost 19 of their last 22 games in the UEFA Champions League (W3), while only keeping one clean sheet across those 22 outings (2-0 v Sporting CP in October 2022).