(Football news) The Dutch giants enter the last-32 stage of this competition having finished third in their Europa League group, while the visitors were second behind Club Brugge in their Europa Conference League equivalent. 

During the early part of this season, Ajax were facing the prospect of a relegation battle and failing to have European football on their calendar after Christmas. To the credit of interim boss John van’t Schip, he has ensured that both threats went away, yet Ajax continue to look far from convincing.

At the weekend, they went down 3-2 at Heerenveen, a result which has left them nine points adrift of FC Twente and with a trip to fourth-placed AZ Alkmaar to come before the end of the month.

The onus has been placed on this competition, particularly with Ajax already out of the KNVB-Beker, and it took a 3-1 victory over AEK Athens just to ensure that they finished third adrift of Brighton & Hove Albion and Marseille in their Europa League group.

Although Ajax have generally been impressive going forward, 12 matches have now passed since they last kept a clean sheet in any competition.

Regarding Bodo/Glimt, they believed they had a strong chance of winning a Europa Conference League group that didn’t include any of the top contenders for the competition.

They managed to secure the second position after that, which was unexpectedly six points more than Besiktas but six points behind the victors, Club Brugge. Even so, the 2023 Eliteserien winners will be happy that they made it this far to set up a matchup with a well-known team that is in danger.

Nevertheless, Kjetil Knutsen’s team hasn’t played in a league match this year due to the resolution of league issues; their two victories and two draws have come from recent friendlies, the most recent of which saw them defeat Swedish team Malmo 4-0. 

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