Ajax captain Matthijs de Ligt was pleased with the position his side put themselves in with a 1-0 victory over Tottenham in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final.

Ajax's fairytale run in Europe continued thanks to Donny van de Beek, whose first-half strike ensured the Dutch giants left London with a priceless away goal and a win on Tuesday.

David Neres' late effort also hit the post as Ajax – who claimed victories away to Real Madrid and Juventus en route to the semis – took a step towards reaching their first Champions League final since 1996.

Afterward, Dutch center back de Ligt told Veronica TV: "It's only the first match, but it's a great position to be in. Especially because we scored an away goal. It was a shame about the one that hit the post, because that would have given us an even stronger position.

"This is also the way we played against Madrid, Juventus and against Bayern [Munich] away from home. We saw that Tottenham have a very good team, and they predominantly played long passes towards [Fernando] Llorente, which made it difficult for us to press them. In the end it was a physical battle, but we still left with the victory."