Rafa's three to watch

Rafa van der Vaart grew up at Ajax. He joined the Dutch club's famed Academy aged 10, made his debut at 17 and went on to make 156 appearances (63 goals) in all competitions before moving to SV Hamburg in Germany in 2005. He joined us from Real Madrid in 2010 and became a fans' favourite here before moving back to Hamburg in 2012.

Now retired, Rafa is back at his boyhood club as an Ambassador. He'll be at both legs of the semi-final, a tie between the two football loves of his life. Ajax are rightly Rafa’s team but he looks back at his two years at our Club with such fondness. He says Spurs ‘gave back to me the joy of playing football’.

“This tie is a dream for me," he told us. "I have two clubs I love and one of them goes through to the Champions League Final. I can’t lose. It’s massive.

"I speak to a lot of people in Holland and they are so happy that Ajax play Tottenham. There is a history there. It will be a fantastic game and I just hope the best team wins.”

You can read Rafa's interview in full in our official matchday programme - pre-order now - and in the meantime, here, exclusively, are his three Ajax players to watch ahead of the first leg.

Matthijs de Ligt

Rafa: "He’s 19-years-old and I don’t know if the fans would have seen his goal against Juventus, the header (a textbook leap and downward header that took Ajax through against the Italians) but that says everything. He has so much power at such a young age. You can compare him with Jaap Stam (former United and Dutch centre-half). As a forward, you think ‘I don’t want to play against him’ and he’s also so good with the ball. Imagine that - you are 19, captain of Ajax and leading your team to the semi-finals of the Champions League!"

Frenkie de Jong

Rafa: "He’s a player who with the ball, he’s the best. He’s the one who gives the assists as well as scoring goals. He never loses the ball, he turns so quickly and knows exactly what is happening on the pitch and because of him, other players want to play better. That shows in the national team, for example - when he came on the pitch and started playing, the whole team got better."

Hakim Ziyech

Rafa: "Hakim Ziyech, how do I explain? I think a lot of people underestimate him. He’s so mentally strong, he does bad things as well but the rest is just genius, unbelievable. He's always trying to go to the goal, always has a solution. It’s a joy to watch him and although you sometimes think ‘keep it simple now’ he just wants to have fun. He always tries to give the killer ball and sometimes it goes wrong, but sometimes it’s fantastic. He’s certainly one to watch."