Auxerre in the Champions League: Off to Amsterdam in a desperate hunt for points

Live Odds and Scores` Tristan Wootton is packing his AJA scarf for a mid-week jolly to Amsterdam.

It’s been just over a month since I last saw my team play in what was a gallant 2-0 defeat at the hands of AC at the San Siro. Since then, Auxerre have remarkably managed to win a match in Ligue 1, although any victory against a side of Arles-Avignon’s calibre isn’t much to write home about.

I’m not going to dwell on our agonising 1-0 defeat to Real Madrid in the last Group G fixture, that’s history and I’ve got a dilemma on my hands which needs to be resolved swiftly.

Tomorrow I’m going to Amsterdam for Matchday Three of the UEFA Champions League to watch Ajax v Auxerre, and instead of getting tied up in the Dennis Oliech debate (should the Kenyan play up front with Roy Contout or rather on the right wing?) I need to decide where to sit come 8.45pm Dutch time on Tuesday evening.

A family friend who is one of the long-suffering corporate sponsors of AJ Auxerre has kindly offered me a spare ticket, and I hear it’s not just any run-of-the-mill Champions League ticket. No, it is for a plum position of the half-way line and supposedly includes ‘entertainment’ at the half-time interval. Quite what ‘entertainment’ constitutes in a place as liberal at Amsterdam, I’m not too sure, but it could be quite spicy considering the face value of the ticket is €150.

For many football fans, it is a no-brainer, you don’t say no to a free lunch.

For me, things are slightly different, as this could well be one of the last times I see Auxerre in Europe’s elite club competition in my lifetime. We are currently sitting 17^th in the domestic league, and we will never have the resources to compete with emerging clubs like Lille and Rennes in the transfer market. They are teams we used to comfortably beat both home and away in our heyday, but now there is a real sense that we Auxerrois are witnessing a changing of the guard.

Our youth system (centre de formation) used to be the envy of every French club, but now even Lyon are managing to field home-grown talent in their senior side. It won’t be long before one of these clubs matches Auxerre’s formidable haul of six Gambardella Cups*. We’ve tried to ship in talent from Eastern Europe on the cheap with varying results, but even that market is getting more competitive with the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea deciding they want a piece of the action.

A return to the Champions League is unforeseeable for the near future, and for that reason I’ll be forking out €50 to stand in the away supporter’s enclosure, up high in the Amsterdam ArenA. As the Ultras say : Ne pas subir, être et durer.

After losing a good stack to Bet 365 on Alain Traoré to score the first goal against Bordeaux at 20/1 on Saturday, I certainly wouldn’t back Auxerre with any confidence this week. We are best-priced at 5/1 (bet £10 to win £50 profit) with Victor Chandler and I think that’s a tad too short to take, given that we are missing our biggest goal-scoring threat in Ireneusz Jeleń.

If I was going to have a wager, I’d either take the draw at 3/1 on Betfair or have a chunk on under 2.5 goals at 10/11 with William Hill.

*Coupe Gambardella – Prestigious cup competition played between the under-19s of French football clubs.

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