It was not easy, but Ajax has three points left from the competition match against Willem II. Ten minutes before the end Jurriën Timber broke the spell for the leader. Thanks to the 0-1 victory in Tilburg, Ajax will face the Champions League match with Benfica with a win.
Things didn’t go smoothly at Ajax in Tilburg in the opening phase. The home team, which was supported by a sold-out King Willem II Stadium, put up some good resistance and came out dangerous a number of times via former Ajax player Che Nunnely and Jizz Hornkamp. Goalkeeper Remko Pasveer, however, was not put to the test by the Tilburgers.
Character
Ajax had difficulty in creating opportunities. A hard shot by Jurriën Timber was saved by goalkeeper Timon Wellenreuther and a shot by Antony sailed a meter past the goal. The Brazilian winger also shot into the goalkeeper’s hands once more. Chances played out were therefore few in a duel that was mainly played on character.
Willem II also managed to make things quite difficult for Ajax after the break. Max Svensson shot just past after a nice through pass from former AZ player Thijs Oosting. The moment Ajax seemed to have its back against the wall for a moment, the leader struck clinically. Dusan Tadic gave the team from Amsterdam the lead with a placed shot from the edge of the penalty area. However, the goal was disallowed by VAR because Antony was offside before the goal.
Breakthrough
After the disallowed goal, the visitors had a little more faith and energy. Ajax coach Erik ten Hag decided to change offensively and let his team play with more opportune. That almost resulted in the opening goal via Sébastien Haller, who hit the post. Ten minutes before time it was still hit. Jurriën Timber scored a cross from Antony at the far post: 0-1.
Ajax will play against Benfica in the Champions League next Wednesday. At 9 p.m., the team from Amsterdam will kick off in Lisbon in the first game in the knockout phase of the billion-dollar ball.
Ajax setup: feather; Mazraoui, Timber (Schuurs/82), Martinez, Blind; Alvarez (Gravenberch/64), Klaassen (Danilo/72), Berghuis; Antony, Haller, Tadic