Dusan Tadic summarized the chaotic spectacle Benfica – Ajax (2-2) in a beautiful sentence: ‘We must keep calm in our head and warmth in our heart.’
With that heat, Lisbon was all right, where an intense, attractive battle ensued. Ajax lost peace of mind due to Portuguese opportunism and combativeness, poor defense, frequent loss of possession and imbalance. It was nice to see in Estádio da Luz, how Benfica sometimes advanced quickly and hit an Amsterdam minority. It regularly ended just fine, except for the 2-2.
In any case, the prospects are interesting for March 15, with a place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League at stake. The hits made in duels are no longer worth a bonus in case of a tie, now that the double counting rule has been abolished. If it is 0-0 after 90 minutes in the sold-out Arena, or any tie, then extra time and possibly penalties will follow.
Attack!
The match provided enough material for discussion, also about the attitude of the team from Amsterdam to keep attacking instead of consolidating. There was once again the memory of Tottenham’s home in the semi-finals of three seasons ago, when defenders continued to pull forward even with a large lead.
That is simply the nature of Ajax. This is one of the reasons why the club is internationally loved and many matches are a joy to watch. Only: when things go wrong, there is always criticism. The search for balance is an eternal task for Ajax, especially because young players almost always participate, fully developing and trained with the attack as the leitmotif.
So Ajax wanted to make 1-3 rather than defend the 1-2, and that’s why it was almost funny and bizarre at the same time to see the otherwise excellent Jurriën Timber emerge as a kind of striker. He didn’t get a penalty, lay there for a while and hopped back, while the 2-2 went down.
The experienced Daley Blind, who broke the club record of Jari Litmanen in terms of matches in the Champions League, also thought mainly offensively. Steven Berghuis, formerly an attacker, now a midfielder, was actually the closest to goalscorer Yaremchuk, who powerfully headed in a poorly stopped shot by Remko Pasveer, took off his shirt and showed the trident from the coat of arms of his homeland Ukraine to the world, a few hours before the invasion of his country by the Russians.
‘The 2-2 was a form of naivety’, said trainer Erik ten Hag, who had seen ‘wonderful attacks’ and ‘beautiful goals’, but also noted that Ajax faltered in the second half. The goals against came from a corner kick and a counter, which was warned.
Pasveer or Onana?
The discussion in the coming weeks will undoubtedly also be about the goalkeeper. The fact is that with André Onana, Ajax has one of the best goalkeepers in the world on its payroll. The Cameroonian, who made a few strange blunders at the Africa Cup, is basically a better goalkeeper than Pasveer. He was second-guessed by a doping suspension and his refusal to sign. Maarten Stekelenburg was injured, Pasveer seized his chance. He usually does his job very well. On Wednesday, his performance was mediocre, just like in the group match at Sporting. Then an error had no consequences, due to the final 1-5.
At the 1-1 he fell over the ball, after which striker Sébastien Haller scored a clumsy own goal. Noussair Mazraoui’s slip was at least as important as Pasveer’s mistake, whose visibility was limited. On the second goal, Ramos’s swaying, hard shot, his fist save was insufficient for Yaremchuk to head in, while Pasveer had apparently stood up slowly. It will be exciting on many fronts, until March 15th.