Johan Cruyff would have been proud. The spectacular qualification by Ajax for the Champions League quarter-finals at the expense of Real Madrid on Tuesday bore the stamp of the Dutch great who died three years ago. In 2011, no longer recognising his Ajax, Cruyff undertook the task of rebuilding the famous youth school, by now known as 'De Toekomst' (the future), where he had learned his football. Cruyff's declared aim was "to focus on the individual, because it is by training exceptional individuals that we will build a great team".

De Toekomst is a complex of 12 pitches located a few hundred metres from the club's main stadium, now named the Johan Cruyff ArenA. There Ajax train the young talent uncovered by the club's eight full-time scouts and 90 volunteers, generally from within 60 kilometres of Amsterdam. It took time for Cruyff's reforms to bear fruit. But the backbone of the team that won 4-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday night was molded at the Toekomst. Frenkie de Jong (21), Matthijs de Ligt (19), Donny van de Beek (21), Kasper Dolberg (21), Andre Onana (22) and Rasmus Kristensen (21) are all products of the youth system.