After a blistering and clear group stage, Ajax was immediately knocked out of the Champions League in the eighth final. After the 2-2 in Lisbon against Benfica, the team of trainer Erik ten Hag brutally continued into the Portuguese knife in the return: 0-1.
By Johan Inan
The dream is over. The group stage may have been spectacular, clear and historic, but for Ajax immediately afterwards, the European campaign ended in a very painful way. The team from Amsterdam had a great advantage, but bowed to the number three of Portugal fifteen minutes before time due to a striking header from striker Darwin Nuñez.
As the first half progressed, Ajax continued to tighten the thumbscrews. With Edson Álvarez still ill on Friday as ball conqueror and midfielder, the home team pushed further and further towards the Portuguese goal. There, opportunities for Antony, Sébastien Haller, Dusan Tadic and Edson Álvarez still made way for good shooting opportunities for Steven Berghuis (once again) and Ryan Gravenberch, but Ajax barely managed to put goalkeeper Odisseas to work. Let alone score.
And so, despite the enormous preponderance, time ticked by in favor of the shrewd Portuguese, also because Ajax did not exactly attract matches after half time after goalless first halves this season. But didn’t Ajax score twice in Lisbon? Sure, but since this season the away goals no longer count double. So Ajax and Benfica were heading for an extension halfway through.
That remained the case for a long time in the second half. Ajax insisted, seemed to force great opportunities, but Antony headed just over, he just failed to shoot and he also saw Haller linger too long and Gravenberch beg in vain for a penalty after fumbling in a promising position. The doomsday scenario became more and more real, also because Benfica increasingly moved towards the half of Ajax. The Portuguese hardly got any great opportunities, until fifteen minutes before the end.
Alex Grimaldo reported for a free kick from the side. His curl was touched with the crown by the strong and talented striker Darwin Nuñez. That turned out to be enough to find the far corner behind goalkeeper André Onana and to plunge Ajax into deep mourning. The favorite then, with Davy Klaassen and Brian Brobbey in the team, started a final offensive, but couldn’t score anymore.
Disbelief, anger and disappointment then fought for priority in the Johan Cruijff Arena. With the supporters, with the players and with the head coach. Ten Hag signed a year ago with the fervent ambition to annoy the European top again. But Ajax had not yet found the real world giants before the tournament is over.
And that can safely be regarded as a missed opportunity. Not only the trainer stayed, but also interest in tastemakers and pillars was declined. By keeping the selection intact, Ten Hag was able to further refine a new stunt team.
That seemed to pay off when Ajax secured the long-cherished hibernation with a historic series of victories over Sporting, Besiktas and Borussia Dortmund, in which the always scoring striker Haller also grabbed a record. But the fact that those milestones will only be footnotes in a few years is also due to the fact that Ajax already had a nice starting position in Lisbon in the second half with a kind of kamikaze football.
That also turned out to be the prelude to struggles in the Eredivisie, where Ajax misstepped badly in Deventer and barely prevented new damage against RKC and Cambuur. The double goals against, in particular, dampened the optimism around the team, where Ajax was regarded as an outsider for the CL victory a month ago.
However, that outsider turned out to be unable to avoid the well-known Portuguese knife. Thus the dream of a new magnificent campaign of Ajax fell hard to pieces. Bonuses of ten million, two beautiful posters in the first weeks of April and even more name and fame in Europe are also going up in smoke.
And then Ajax has to watch out that the damage does not continue to work nationally. The squatter awaits there on Sunday against arch-rival Feyenoord. And if the Portuguese thump is not processed very quickly, Ajax may also be putting silverware on the line in the Classic.
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