Official announcement! The head coach of a European giant is dismissed. Manchester United’s two championship coaches are expected to meet in the next round of the Champions League.

European giant Ajax announced that Heitinga will cease his position as head coach immediately, and assistant coach Keizer will also leave at the same time. Fred Grim will serve as interim head coach until the new coach takes office. The outside world believes that Manchester United's former coach Ten Hag is expected to return to his home team. If this happens, he will meet another former Manchester United champion coach in the next round of the Champions League.

In the past Champions League match, Ajax suffered a three-goal defeat at home to Galatasaray, which became the last straw for Heitinga, and he had to accept the outcome of his dismissal. Ajax lost all 4 of its 4 Champions League games, firmly locking in the last place in the standings. More importantly, only Weghorst scored a penalty kick in 4 games and conceded 14 goals, an average of 3.5 goals per game.

In the Eredivisie, Ajax only achieved 5 wins, 5 draws and 1 loss, without any two-game winning streak. It can only be ranked 4th in the standings, trailing Feyenoord at the top of the list by as many as 8 points. Last season, Ajax only won 1 game in the last 5 games, with 2 draws and 2 losses in the remaining 4 games. In the end, Ajax surrendered the championship and finished second with a 1-point disadvantage. Subsequently, Heitinga changed from being the assistant of Liverpool coach Slott to joining Ajax. Unexpectedly, he had to leave after only more than two months.

Ajax has always been the dominant player in the Eredivisie, having won the championship trophy 36 times and 20 domestic cup championships. In the European arena, it also has a long history. It has won the Champions League a total of 4 times, second only to Real Madrid, AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Barcelona in terms of number. In the 1970s, with a wave of three consecutive championships, the Champions League trophy could be retained permanently. Now this rule has been abolished. Guess which other four teams have retained the trophy permanently?

After Ajax changes coaches, who will be the new coach has become the focus of attention from the outside world. At the beginning of the summer vacation, Ten Hag went to class. At the end of the summer vacation, Ten Hag was dismissed from class. After only coaching 3 games, Ten Hag left Leverkusen. Performance obviously should not be the main reason for leaving the team. Ten Hag, who is unemployed at home, has naturally become the most popular candidate for Ajax's new coach.

According to media analysis, Ten Hag has two choices before him, one is Wolves, which has just changed coaches, and the other is his former club Ajax. Wolves are the only team in the Premier League that has not yet won. They are ranked last in the Premier League, eight points behind Burnley in the relegation zone. Ajax is the bottom team in the Champions League, 4 points away from 24th place. It seems that both choices have great challenges.

Of course, returning to Ajax is a place that Ten Hag is very familiar with. He once made a name for himself here and won multiple championships. Ten Hag led the team to a home and away draw with Bayern in the Champions League group stage. They were sent away to Real Madrid and Juventus in the knockout rounds. In the semifinals, they were overturned by Tottenham after a three-goal lead and missed the final, which left a deep impression on people. It should be said that Ten Hag and Ajax are quite matched. The difference is that basically all the champions at the time have left, and many of them have ties to Manchester United.

Interestingly, if Ten Hag returns to his parent team, Ajax will face Benfica at home in the next round of the Champions League half a month later, which is the team led by Mourinho. Mourinho once brought the "little treble" to Manchester United, while Ten Hag helped Manchester United bid farewell to six years without a championship and win two championships in two years. It is obviously a duel between Manchester United's former championship coaches.

Regardless of whether Ten Hag joins or not, Ajax’s Champions League match against Benfica will be the key for both sides to avoid elimination. Both teams have lost four consecutive games. If they want to squeeze into the top 24, they will basically have to win the next four games. Any loss may mean they have to say goodbye to the Champions League in advance.