Mohammed Kudus once again played an important part in Ajax’s victory over sc Heerenveen. The Ghanaian scored two goals and quickly decided the match after the break: 5-0. As a result, the sights could quickly be on Liverpool, which will be the opponent next Tuesday.
Just like in the group match against Rangers FC chose Alfred Schreuder for Mohammed Kudus in the striker. Brian Brobbey therefore started from the bench, just like Steven Berghuis because Davy Klaassen started. Ajax shot from the starting blocks and after four minutes the ball was already in the net. Kudus played to Dusan Tadic and he found Klaassen with a bouncer, who headed the ball into the goal: 1-0. The Amsterdammers were sitting on roses within fifteen minutes. Tadic passed from a rehearsed free kick to Kenneth Taylor and he hit hard: 2-0.
The home team then kept pushing, but it was the Frisians who came into the game better and better. This created a perilous moment in front of goal, but Edson Álvarez was able to intervene. Heerenveen remained dangerous, because after a bad pass from Kudus they were out very quickly. Ajax was lucky that Alex Timossi Andersson failed face to face with Remko Pasveer. The visitors then got two more small chances, but Ajax survived this phase.
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Kudus scores again
The game was decided immediately after the break. The ball got stuck at a corner from Tadic, allowing Kudus to tap the ball in. The Ghanaian’s third game in a row with a goal. Defender Joost van Aken led in the next big opportunity by handing in the ball. Steven Bergwijn then put Klaassen away, but Andries Noppert found him on his way. Tadic’s rebound was taken off the line by Van Aken. It turned out to be a stay of execution, as Kudus scored his second goal of the evening after an assist from Jorge Sánchez: 4-0.
With a view to next Tuesday’s group match against Liverpool at Anfield, Álvarez, Bergwijn and Taylor were given a rest. This allowed Florian Grillitsch to make his first minutes. The Austrian saw that Brian Brobbey, another substitute, could easily finish after a gossamer assist from Dusan Tadic: 5-0. The Serb thus delivered the final pass against Heerenveen three times. Smetje on the victory was the failure of Calvin Bassey, as a result of which the match for Ajax ended with ten men.
Ajax setup: feather; Rensch (Sánchez/46), Timber, Bassey, Blind; Álvarez (Grillitsch/60), Taylor (Berghuis/67), Klaassen; Tadic, Kudus (Ocampos/72), Bergwijn (Brobbey/60)