On Wednesday night, Nice host Ajax at the Allianz Riviera in Champions League third qualifying round, as both teams look to establish an advantage for the second leg.
Nice finished third in Ligue One last season, with only Monaco and PSG enjoying better seasons in the French top-flight. The team from the French Riviera have never appeared in the Champions League.
However, boss Lucien Favre is highly experienced and will have his team well drilled and prepared for potentially a tricky encounter.
The home side have a decent recent record on home soil, having suffered just one home defeat in their last 13 home games in all competitions.
Their form in pre-season has been encouraging too, as the French side have won four of their five friendly outings so far, scoring two or more in all four victories.
Dutch side Ajax made it to the Europa League final last season, only to suffer defeat at the hands of Premier League Manchester United.
The Dutch side will now attempt to qualify for the group stages of Europe’s elite competition for the first time since season 2014/15. Last season the visitors fell at the play-off stage of the competition against Russian side FC Rostov, so they will be keen to advance to the group stages this season.
The team from the Dutch capital do not have a great record in the Champions League of late, though, as they have won just one of their last six outings in the competition.
Ajax’s away record in the Champions League is also poor, as the visitors have recorded just one win in their last 13 outings in Europe’s elite competition.
These two teams are evenly matched and Forebet predicts that this game will finish all square ahead of the second leg at the Amsterdam Arena.