Johan Cruyff famously once remarked: "Italians can't beat us, but we can certainly lose against them." It summed up the clash of footballing cultures at the time. His Ajax and Barcelona teams could outplay their Serie A counterparts but give up one chance, allow one counter, make one mistake and expect to be punished. Cruyff's words rang as true Wednesday night as they did back then. Ajax dominated the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal against Juventus. They deserved to win but yet, their streetwise and vastly experienced Italian opponents fly back home with a draw and an away goal from their only shot on target. The advantage is now with the Old Lady and history stands by her side. On the seven occasions Juventus have drawn the first leg away from home 1-1, they have progressed six times including against Ajax in 1978. That said, Ajax must draw strength from this encounter. A team that has scored 100 goals in the Eredivisie, 44 on the road, will back themselves to score at the Allianz Stadium even with Juventus' captain and best defender Giorgio Chiellini expected to return for the seven-time defending Italian champions. The Barcelona-bound midfielder had almost double the touches of his Juventus counterpart Miralem Pjanic, who often found himself surrounded or rushed by Donny van de Beek. The ease with which Ajax and De Jong in particular circulated the ball highlighted the limits of Juventus' midfield and the absence of Emre Can. The German international, whose role in the comeback against Atleti -- dropping deep to facilitate the Bianconeri's build-up, which in turn allowed the full-backs to push up and stretch Diego Simeone's side -- was arguably more keenly felt than that the Chiellini-shaped hole in this team. Juventus did not set out to play a defensive game with Allegri's intention to avoid a repeat of the 2-0 defeat in Madrid. Escaping defeat was one thing but ensuring Juventus were not as passive and came away with a precious away goal was another. From that point of view, the night was a success. Juventus will not need another epic night to book a place in the last four, but Ajax caused them a lot of problems.