On a February evening in the southeast of Berlin in Stadion An der Alten Försterei, all good intentions died. Out through a side door, in the intermediate round of the Europa League where placement for the eighth final was at stake. Ajax is ready in Europe – even before the serious work begins.
The football was fine in phases, nicely combining through the lines. Ajax got stuck in the tough Union Berlin, which had a wonderful evening for its own, fanatical supporters. But some capital mistakes led to a 3-1 defeat, after the goalless draw in Amsterdam last week.
With that, Ajax’s European campaign – despite more than 100 million euros in investments in new players – has ended in a fiasco this season. In eight international matches, only two wins were won, both times against Rangers FC in the group stage of the Champions League.
Ajax, semi-finalist in the 2019 Champions League, is completely back to square one in Europe. Back in the large group of European mid-engines. Over two games, it proved to be less clever and less efficient than Union Berlin, a modest but difficult to play opponent who is joint leader in the Bundesliga. A team that manages to squeeze the most out of it with average players, including former Ajax players Sheraldo Becker and Danilho Doekhi, by playing very organized.
High European ambitions
It is a wry observation in view of the high European ambitions until recently. “Ajax’s goal is and will remain a structural part of the European top,” said general manager Edwin van der Sar in the latest annual report. The European reputation takes a new blow, after the 6-1 defeat to Napoli earlier this season in the Champions League.
While it impressed last season under Erik ten Hag by winning all six matches in the group stage of the Champions League, this early European departure makes Ajax a less attractive stage for potential players. Moreover, Ajax may feel this financially in the upcoming transfer summer – a bad European year generally reduces the value of players.
The rapid elimination is no longer surprising, after the turbulent period including seven league matches in a row without a win and the dismissal of coach Alfred Schreuder last month. Nevertheless, Van der Sar, as a former football player, must have seen that it was still possible, Thursday evening in an opening phase that is hopeful for Ajax.
Read also: PSV switches too late to plan B against Sevilla FC
Braver and bolder
It looked like a different Ajax than the week before in Amsterdam, when it didn’t fire a shot on target and it was lucky that it had stayed at 0-0. Now in Berlin it showed itself braver, more daring. In the first fifteen minutes it was already more dangerous than a week earlier in the entire game.
The combinations ran smoothly, due to a lot of movement and depth. There was a lot of pressure on Union and there was a lot of pressure to go forward, with Jurriën Timber and Edson Álvarez moving in. Although that nice field game did not produce many great opportunities.
It is a thin line on which Ajax balances, also under the new coach John Heitinga. The moments of wavering are never far away. Defender Calvin Bassey just gets a ball on his right hand, after a header from Doekhi from a corner kick. The Spanish referee Ricardo de Burgos points to the spot with some reluctance after seeing the images – because it was certainly not a conscious action by Bassey. Like a volleyball player, goalkeeper Gerónimo Rulli still hits Robin Knoche’s half-high shot, which ends up in via the post.
Ajax has everything under control for a half, except for two moments. Because shortly before the break a ball clumsily slips under Rulli’s right arm, Josip Juranovic’s shot of nothing remained lower than the keeper seemed to expect after a bounce.
The Argentine goalkeeper pretends to bite the ball when he fishes it out of the net. This week he is on the cover of weekly magazine Football International – “Ajax is the European top for me,” he says in the interview. He now knows better.
The five minutes after the break say a lot about the fragile character of this Ajax. Mohammed Kudus immediately sweeps in the 2-1 after a cross from Steven Bergwijn. But three minutes later it is already 3-1, when Doekhi heads from a corner kick. The conviction, the will with which he flies through the air for that ball – you see it in him, not in his direct opponent Timber, who is dwarfed by so much power. While Ajax was so warned about the danger of Union’s standard situations.
Ajax still tries, gets a huge chance through Kudus, but he misses wonderfully. The frustrations are visible, towards the end. Álvarez is sent off the field with two yellow cards. A furious Bergwijn, bought for more than 31 million euros in July and out of shape for months, must be stopped by teammates afterwards.