Ajax Amsterdam vs Schalke 04 - Ajax boss Peter Bosz targets Eredivisie and Europa League double

Posted Wednesday, April 12, 2017 by PA

Ajax boss Peter Bosz wants his team to stay focused on delivering both European glory and the Dutch Eredivisie title.

Bundesliga side Schalke head to the Amsterdam ArenA for the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final on Thursday night, after which Ajax will be out to keep the pressure up on domestic rivals Feyenoord when they host Heerenveen on Sunday.

With just one point separating the top two in the Eredivisie heading into the final four matches, it would be understandable for the Ajax players to have one eye on securing what would be a first Dutch championship since 2014.

Bosz, though, believes Ajax have the ability to sustain a challenge on both fronts.

"We should not set priorities," the Ajax manager said at a press conference as reported on the club's official website.

"We would love to become (Eredivisie) champion, and in addition, we are in the quarter-finals of the Europa League and we desperately want to make the last four.

"It would be strange if we let one (objective) fall, because that does not fit with the club - Ajax always wants to win everything we go for, so we want to perform at the best on both fronts."

Ajax saw off Legia Warsaw and then Copenhagen to reach the last eight, but Bosz is not taking the challenge of Schalke lightly, the Germans having beaten Bundesliga rivals Borussia Monchengladbach in the previous round.

"We play now against a big club, from a great football country, so we will see what happens," said Bosz, who will be missing midfielder Lasse Schone through suspension.

"It will be a question of which team can handle the playing style the best and we will do everything we can to go through."

Schalke forward Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is hoping to get the chance to face one of his former sides.

"I have not played much since I returned from my injury, but I am training and doing well, so we will have to wait and see what happens," he said to Ajax TV.

"I will have mixed feelings, because it is nice to go back there and to meet everyone, but on the other hand I would rather draw different clubs, so it is always a bit strange."

Schalke head to Holland on the back of a 4-1 league win over Wolfsburg, whch leaves Markus Weinzierl's men in 10th, but within striking distance of the European places.

Midfielder Max Meyer said on www.schalke04.de: "We want to impose ourselves on Ajax. If you are in the quarter-final, of course you dream of going further."