Ajax's Joel Veltman Faces Challenge of Stopping PSG Superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic

About ten years ago, a certain gangly teenager played for Dutch club Ajax. His name was Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Now a Swedish superstar, Zlatan will return to Amsterdam this week with his current club, Paris Saint-Germain, to face his former side in the Champions League.

The world has changed in the past decade, especially the world of Zlatan. Gone are the awkward days of being a lightweight in image as well as appearance. Now, Zlatan has the physique and charisma of a demi-god.

For this reason, Ajax fans will probably have mixed feelings on Wednesday. Sure, they’ll love to see the man who scored this classic goal for them return to their stadium. But Zlatan is one of the best strikers: What on earth can Ajax do to stop him?

While it may sound like an impossible mission, the Amsterdam-based club will definitely give it its all. In recent years, Ajax have been pitted against the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester City and Borussia in Dortmund.

A few of the matches played were actually pretty tight, and the Dutch side even managed to beat City twice and Barcelona once.

This year, will they manage to beat PSG? That’s difficult to say. But especially in their own stadium, they’ll refuse to be walked over.

22-year-old defender Joel Veltman, who was called upon to replace former Ajax captain Jan Vertonghen after he had left for Tottenham Hotspur in 2012, might feel especially motivated to prove his worth to the team.

Back in 2013, when Ajax managed their 2-1 Champions League upset against Barcelona, it was Veltman who allowed the Catalan side to pull a goal back. Desperately trying to stop Neymar, who had run past him, the young defender made a rash tackle. The result: a penalty kick for Barcelona, red card for Veltman.

It wasn’t that Veltman wasn’t a good defender. He didn’t make that mistake because he lacked footballing intelligence. He made the mistake because he was young and inexperienced. Faced with some of the world’s best attacking players, he was probably quite nervous.

A year later, then, Veltman will relish the opportunity to prove to his manager that he has grown; that he won’t let the man he’s supposed to be marking get the better of him and that he won’t get himself a silly red card.

It’s moments like these that could define a young player’s career. While it’s too soon to say Veltman will become a world-class defender, it is fair to state Ajax’s match against PSG could have a huge impact on the youngster.

Veltman is considered to be one of the Netherlands’ most talented young defenders. On Wednesday, he’ll have to prove he can do it against one of the world’s best strikers.

He’ll have to prove his worth against Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the man the Ajax fans will love to fear.