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I've never seen the Amsterdam Arena as happy as the other night when Ajax played Lyon. The stadium opened in 1996, exactly when Ajax's good days were ending. It's a low-atmosphere bowl in an out-of-town business park, a bad imitation of an outdated American model.
But that night, an absurdly young Ajax team hammered Lyon 4-1 in the Europa League semifinal on the way to the final against Manchester United in Stockholm on May 24.