The Ajax Women have won their first ever match in the group stage of the Champions League. Against Paris Saint-Germain, the towering favorite before the match, the score was 2-0 in the Johan Cruijff Arena.
The inexperienced Ajax seemed to have no chance against the Les Parisiens in advance, but surprisingly enough they turned out to be able to easily compete with the French top club. Tiny Hoekstra and Sherida Spitse scored the goals just before half time. PSG tried to repair the damage with all its might in the second half, but that turned out to be without success.
The match was actually special before it was played. For the first time in its slightly more than ten-year history, Ajax played a group stage match in the Champions League. The club immediately drew tough opponents in the group, with, in addition to PSG, also established clubs such as Bayern Munich and AS Roma.
The match was played in the Arena especially for the occasion. Something the Ajax Women did once last season. That match (against Feyenoord) attracted more than 30,000 visitors. Today there were significantly fewer.
While PSG is really of a completely different caliber than the team from Rotterdam. Paris Saint-Germain, which usually has to lose out to rivals Olympique Lyon in its own country, was considered the sky-high favorite prior to the match. The selection is packed with big names, including French striker Marie-Antoinette Katoto, but also Dutch players Lieke Martens (injured today) and Jackie Groenen (good for 107 national team caps).
Own childhood
A big difference with Ajax, which largely has to make do with its own youth. Also tonight, three very young talents were in the starting line-up with midfielders Lily Yohannes (16), Rosa van Gool (19) and Isa Kardinaal (19).
Although coach Suzanne Bakker had warned her team about the fast PSG attackers, she did not intend to just hold back tonight. “We will sometimes play a little more defensively, but we also want to show what we can do with the ball,” she told NOS beforehand.
That plan turned out to work out well in the first half. PSG may have come close to scoring several times, but Ajax also showed early in the match that it could become dangerous – especially through the transition.
Ajax in the lead
After an even half hour, Ajax brutally took the lead. Midfielder Noordam tried with a shot from distance, shot against a PSG defender and then saw the ball at the feet of Tiny Hoekstra, who knew what to do with that chance: 1-0. Moments later, Yohannes was also able to make it 2-0, but the young midfielder shot over from close range.
Yet Ajax was able to rest shortly afterwards with a 2-0 lead. Ashleigh Weerden was taken to the ground just inside the box and earned a penalty, which Sherida Spitse then scored.
Second half
In the second half, PSG were in full pursuit. The French stepped up their game, took more initiative and increasingly pushed Ajax back into their own sixteen. As the match progressed, the home team also had more difficulty with this.
The 2-1 came close a few times. Especially around the 70th minute, when goalkeeper Regina van Eijk made a mistake. She let a PSG attacker’s shot slip through her hands and was only just able to save the mistake by tapping the ball away just before the line.
However, there were also phases after halftime in which Ajax could find the opponent’s goal. After a well-played counter, Hoekstra was close to her second goal of the evening, but her shot was just blocked by a PSG defender.
Just like PSG, Ajax would also not score a goal. With a 2-0 victory, the referee blew the whistle, meaning that Ajax is now completely unexpectedly the leader in the group stage after one match.