Ajax play Union SG at their Johan Cruyff ArenA stadium for the second round of their Europa League playoff on Thursday evening with a substantial 2-0 lead from the previous match.
The aggregate winners will face either 2022 champions Eintracht Frankfurt or Lyon in the following round of the tournament.
Ajax currently holds a strong opportunity to advance to the last 16 stage of the Europa League after secured a 2-0 win against Union SG in the first playoff match.
The initial period of play against Union SG tested the Dutch squad before officials invalidated their two first-half goals from the rivals. The second half brought Ajax's advantage as they scored through Christian Rasmussen and Jorthy Mokio who became the youngest Ajax scorer in European competitions at 16 years of age to secure their victory at Brussels.
A needed victory in European competitions enabled Francesco Farioli's team who had only one win from their 10 recent knockout round appearances to follow up on Sunday with a football triumph of 4-0 against Heracles that brought them two points ahead in first place of the Eredivisie standings.
In their current winning streak Ajax have secured five consecutive matches across competitions with a minimum of two goals per game before they take on Union SG on Thursday in pursuit of their first three consecutive European victories since March 2021 (a span of five matches).
The team believes they will secure a victory during this home fixture against Union SG because they have won seven of their last eight Belgian opposition matches at home across all European competitions aside from their 3-1 loss to Anderlecht in December 2009.
Union SG were hoping to bounce back from last week's first-leg loss to Ajax when they faced relegation-threatened Mechelen in the Belgian Pro League on Sunday, but they fell to a second successive home defeat without scoring, losing 1-0.
Les Unionistes had previously gone 13 games without defeat in the Belgian top flight, but it was not their day in front of goal as they failed to score with any of their nine attempts on target, while Promise David hit the crossbar and Anouar Ait El Hadj missed a sitter in the second half.
Union SG remain third in the table, but they have slipped six points behind Club Brugge in second and 14 points behind leaders Genk with just four games of the regular season remaining. Before facing fourth-placed Anderlecht on Sunday, Les Unionistes will bid to preserve their place in this season's Europa League.
While head coach Sebastien Pocognoli has not abandoned hope of overturning a two-goal deficit, the 37-year-old former West Brom and Brighton defender has admitted that his Union SG side "will need to be perfect" against Ajax if they wish to progress to the last 16.
Union SG have progressed from just one of their last seven European ties when losing the first leg, while defeat on Thursday would see them lose three Europa League matches in a row in the same season for the first time.
