Ajax Vs Lyon : Semi Final Match Preview And Predictions

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Ajax will play host to Lyon in the Amsterdam Arena, as their young homegrown squad will hoping to deliver them a first Europa League Trophy in two decades.

Ajax are presently unbeaten against Ajax in their last four meetings, winning 2 with 2 draws while Ajax have been unbeaten in their last 12 Europea games, winning 7 and 5 draws albeit the French side Lyon will be looking forward to get a double as their Women made it to the UEFA Women's Champions League Final scheduled to hold on June 1st in Cardiff City.

Click Here To Read Full Match Preview And Predictions

The UEFA Cup was preceded by the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup , which was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. The competition grew from 11 teams during the first cup ( 1955–58 ) to 64 teams by the last cup which was played in 1970–71 . It had become so important on the European football scene that in the end it was taken over by UEFA and relaunched the following season as the UEFA Cup.

The UEFA Cup was first played in the 1971–72 season, with an all-English final of
Wolverhampton Wanderers versus Tottenham Hotspur, with Spurs taking the first honours. The title was retained by another English club,
Liverpool in 1973, beating Borussia Mönchengladbach in the final. Borussia would win the competition in 1975 and 1979, and reach the final again in 1980. Liverpool won the competition for the second time in 1976, beating Club Brugge in the final.

During the 1980s, IFK Göteborg (1982 and 1987) and Real Madrid (1985 and 1986) won the competition twice each, with Anderlecht reaching two consecutive finals, winning in 1983 and losing to Tottenham Hotspur in 1984. 1989 saw the commencement of the Italian clubs' domination, when Maradona's Napoli beat Stuttgart . The 1990s started with two all-Italian finals, and in 1992, Torino lost the final to
Ajax on the away goals rule . Juventus won the competition for a third time in 1993 and
Internazionale kept the cup in Italy the following year. 1995 saw a third all-Italian final, with
Parma proving their consistency, after two consecutive Cup Winners' Cup finals. The only final with no Italians during that decade was in 1996. Internazionale reached the final the following two years, losing in 1997 to Schalke on penalties, and winning yet another all-Italian final in 1998, taking home the cup for the third time in only eight years. Parma won the cup in 1999, which ended the Italian club era.