Ajax is off the ‘hateful zero’ in the Champions League. The club fought with many different players than in the last matches to a victory over Qarabag in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan (2-4).
Ajax has 3 points after six rounds in the main tournament. Qarabag remains at 7 points. Nearly 1,500 Ajax supporters spent at least eight hours on a plane to support their team. They saw their favorite club start a Champions League match for the first time with two 17-year-old players.
Sean Steur and Jorthy Mokio kicked off, as did 18-year-old Aaron Bouwman. Interim trainer Fred Grim missed the injured Kenneth Taylor, Wout Weghorst, Josip Sutalo, Steven Berghuis, James McConnell and Gerald Alders. Captain Davy Klaassen, Mika Godts, Owen Wijndal and Youri Regeer were rested four days before the home game against Feyenoord.
Even without many familiar faces, Ajax was fairly equal to the home team, who won against Benfica and FC Copenhagen earlier this season and held Chelsea to a draw. A misunderstanding between goalkeeper Vitezslav Jaros and Ko Itakura led to the opening goal in the tenth minute. The goalkeeper and defender both did not go all out for the ball and saw the Colombian attacker Camilo Duran take advantage (1-0). Ajax also had a lot of space after the opening goal, but failed to get the ball rolling properly on the field that was difficult to play due to the heavy rain.
Thanks to Kasper Dolberg, the visitors went to halftime with an equal score. Weghorst’s Danish replacement received the ball well from Steur. He looked for space and hit the target with a devastating shot (1-1). Matheus Silva gave Qarabag the lead again in the 47th minute. He scored via Lucas Rosa, after Steur had slipped.
Ajax did not give up, but the team lacked momentum after the newly fit Dolberg left as agreed after more than an hour for Don-Angelo Konadu, who missed a great chance. With Godts and Klaassen as substitutes, Ajax started once more. Oscar Gloukh equalized, Anton Gaaei scored the third and Gloukh had the traveling fans cheering again.
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