Ajax drew 1-1 against AEK Athens in Greece. In a spectacular match, Steven Bergwijn opened the scoring in the first half. In the second half the Greeks came alongside through a goal by Domagoi Vida.
The game went back and forth in the entertaining first half. Ajax had the most ball possession and that created opportunities for Carlos Forbs and Brian Brobbey. Ajax countered in the 30th minute. Steven Bergwijn went past his man and was brought down in the box. Bergwijn managed to use the penalty himself.
Up and down
After that the game kept going in all directions and both teams had chances. With a hard shot, Steven Berghuis was close to the second Amsterdam goal, but the ball just missed the target. Immediately Ajax went to the dressing room with a 1-0 lead.
After the break it remained an exciting match with a terribly high tempo. The game didn’t get any better, but it remained incredibly exciting. In the second half, the Greeks took over the initiative and that led to a number of dangerous moments before Jay Gorter’s goal.
Pump or drown
The pressure became greater and greater for Ajax. In the 75th minute, Domagoi Vida headed in the equalizer for AEK Athens. Even in the last part of the match things could have gone either way. Gorter was the saving angel for Ajax in the 88th minute with a beautiful save.
“There could have been more in this. We had complete control in the first half, except for a few moments. If we had been more careful in the final phase, we could have scored one or two more goals,” said Steven Bergwijn afterwards.
Stand
The match between Olympique Marseille and Brighton & Hove was won 2-1 by the French. As a result, the standings in group B of the Europa League are as follows:
- AEK Athens 2-4 (4-3)
- Olymp. Marseille 2-2 (5-5)
- Ajax 2-2 (4-4)
- Brighton & Hove 2-1 (4-5)
Ajax line-up: Gorter; Rensch, Sutalo, Avila, Hato; Tahirovic (Van den Boomen/84), Taylor, Berghuis; Forbs (Van Axel Dongen/84), Brobbey (Akpom/73), Bergwijn