Despite it being a dead rubber for Rosenborg, and Ajax having the ability to win the group, it was the Norwegian side who took all three points with a 2-0 victory in Amsterdam tonight, leaving our own Young Lions at the top of the pile.

This means that we’ll have the advantage of playing the single-legged quarter final at Villa Park, more than likely against Marseille. There’s just one game left in Group 1, Marseille will face Celtic with second place secured and needing to beat the Scots by eight clear goals to overtake Barcelona in first place.

Sporting Lisbon and Liverpool qualified from Group 2, but it’s yet to be decided who will join Tottenham from Group 4. Inter Milan are in the driving seat at the moment with three games still in hand.

However it turns out, it’s fantastic achievement to make the quarter finals and huge boost to win the home advantage. Hopefully the fans will turn out in numbers to make it worthwhile.

We need all the good news we can get at the moment, so well done to everyone involved.

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4 Comments to “NextGen Series: Ajax lose, Aston Villa win group and home advantage in QFs”

  1. Xplicit-Villan 29 November 2011 at 11:14 pm #

    Only thing is now there missing Gary Gardner.

    Reply
    • Dan 29 November 2011 at 11:48 pm #

      his loan is only until jan 3rd, the QFs won’t be until after that.

      but if they extend it so they do overlap, i’d imagine he’d be on a “youth loan” which allows the player to be recalled to play for youth and reserve sides.

      shouldn’t be a problem either way.

      Reply
  2. footballista 30 November 2011 at 1:53 pm #

    Thanks for keeping everyone updated on the nextGen news.

    I had a feeling Ajax would throw first position away, Rosenborg had home advantage so it was always likely.

    I hope Gardner is back for the QF, because in each of the matches he hasn’t played, those are the ones Villa lost.
    If Villa are taking this tournament seriously, he’s a key player we’ll need. It may only be 3 matches left now, unless the SF or Final are two legs, which i think one might be, otherwise how will they determin the home team for the semi-finals?

    Gardner went out on-loan just after the fixture with Ajax (coincidence?), the clubs interested were probably told he can go out on-loan after that match. With that in mind i think he’ll be back for the QF, with a few first-team outings during the remainder of the season. McCliesh obviously doesn’t want to rush him into the first-team, but i think he could come in and do a job. Hopefully he gets a proper chance sometime this season.

    Reply
    • Dan 30 November 2011 at 2:16 pm #

      i agree, there was probably something in the timing of gardner’s loan. he’ll be involved in the QF one way or another, baring injury obviously.

      i’m a fan of this nextgen thing, it’s had a feel of some of it being made up as they go along though… quite understandably as it’s the first year & clubs are having to accommodate it into their seasons.

      the scheduling of the next stage isn’t certain yet, and there was even some talk of hosting the knock out phases in the middle east. we’ll see, but i’ll keep an eye on it.

      just to correct a minor point though; ajax were at home against rosenborg, that’s why i expected us to finish second and be heading to barcelona for the QF. not that marseille at VP will be easy, but it’s got to be a good thing to avoid the away trip to spain.

      Reply

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