Ajax boss Frank de Boer is confident his side will claim the point they need to make certain of their qualification for the Champions League knockout stages when they host Group D leaders Real Madrid.

The Dutch champions, currently second in the group, are virtually assured of their spot in the last 16 anyway given they are three points clear of third-placed Lyon - with whom they have twice drawn 0-0 - and hold a greatly superior goal difference over the French outfit.

Nonetheless, with Lyon taking on the whipping boys of the group Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia, De Boer does not want to leave anything to chance - and is expecting his players to settle the issue themselves.

"I am convinced that we will get at least a point against Real Madrid,'' De Boer said.

"In that case, we will not need the help of Zagreb.''With five wins out of five so far, Spanish giants Real have already been confirmed as group winners and their coach Jose Mourinho is resting several key players for this fixture ahead of the crunch Primera Division showdown with Barcelona at the weekend.

Star striker Cristiano Ronaldo, midfielders Sami Khedira and Lassana Diarra, defenders Marcelo and Sergio Ramos and goalkeeper Iker Casillas will all be missing from the Madrid team, but De Boer is not about to underestimate any side Mourinho puts out.

"Even if they don't play in their strongest formation, it's still a very good team,'' De Boer said.

"You saw that two weeks ago when they played a so-called 'B' team and took a 3-0 lead inside nine minutes against Dinamo Zagreb.''

Ricardo Carvalho will also not feature for Madrid due to injury, but fellow defender Alvaro Arbeloa is back after a spell on the sidelines, while midfielder Xabi Alonso returns from suspension.

For Ajax, Toby Alderweireld is out with a hamstring injury sustained in training, but defensive colleague Gregory van der Weil could make his comeback to the side.

Forwards Miralem Sulejmani and Dimitri Bulykin should also be available despite recent knocks.

Match

go go madrid
win and create history

game on!

goooooaaal Madrid scores!!

higuain scores

2 - 0

lyon is busy spelling Dinamo Zagreb

0 - 3 Final Score

mukina2:

0 - 3 Final Score

Men way sabi

This game saw the worst act of refereeing since the history of refreeing.
Ajax were denied two clean goals and Madrid were allowed an offside goal.

^^^
I swear i would be dumbfounded if you didnt say what you just said.

anyways, the lines man got both calls for ajax wrong but our goals were not offside goals.

first time in my life I wished a team would score against us. I really wished ajax qualified as against that nonsense club lyon, not because of the wrong calls but because I despise lyon.

^^^ Same here, i felt for ajax. Plus i abhor lyon

Good one Jose

medjai:

This game saw the worst act of refereeing since the history of refreeing.
Ajax were denied two clean goals and Madrid were allowed an offside goal.

Ajax were unlucky, but those goals were as a result of bad defending. Both Callejon and Higuain were not tracked by the center back.
Ajax for even try play defensive.

Madrid all the wayyyyyyy

usbcable:

^^^
I swear i would be dumbfounded if you didnt say what you just said.

anyways, the lines man got both calls for ajax wrong but our goals were not offside goals.

first time in my life I wished a team would score against us. I really wished ajax qualified as against that nonsense club lyon, not because of the wrong calls but because I despise lyon.

AjanleKoko:

Ajax were unlucky, but those goals were as a result of bad defending. Both Callejon and Higuain were not tracked by the center back.
Ajax for even try play defensive.

I saw the highlights again and I think Callejon was just onside. Really difficult to tell.
I wasn't slating Madrid per se. It's just that the way Lyon qualified looked quite dodgy.

medjai:

I saw the highlights again and I think Callejon was just onside. Really difficult to tell.
I wasn't slating Madrid per se. It's just that the way Lyon qualified looked quite dodgy.

I know the feeling . . . let's watch on sha. Oga Platini, hmm!

I haven't seen the goals nor the highlights of the lyon match but come-on
its hard believing that they would loose that much.