Suddenly there was that header from Benfica. This is how minimalism won again

With just under an hour and a half to kick off, there are two worlds around the Arena this evening. While in cafes around the stadium anticipation builds to the tunes of Dutch classics (“I’m going to swim”), a brigade of riot police is so cornered at the bottom of the stands that they rush to their vans one by one to put on a gas mask. to protect against firecrackers that are thrown at them like gingerbread cookies.

A football party? Diagonally under the image of Johan Cruijff at the North entrance, it is chaos. Hooligans vs Police. Sirens and glass clinking. Nitrate bombs and flares flying through the sky. Some supporters attack the policemen and women with their fists.

You can see them thinking, the hundreds of supporters who are now on their way to their seats in the sold-out Arena: what is the matter with the fellow fan?

Inside the stadium, everything is different. No grimness, just fun. A light show. The classic sea of ​​flags. Tensed faces on the field for both Ajax and Benfica players, as the anthem of the world’s most prestigious football tournament resounds. At stake: A place in the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

Immediately Ajax flies on it. The Portuguese are put under pressure from the first minutes. Ajax plays offensively. No balls wide but forward. The faster it can score, the more risks Benfica will have to take. Wait and see, the Eagles from Lisbon are good at that. They have patience. More than Ajax.

Beforehand, the match was labeled as Ajax’s most important match in three years. This was mainly due to the previous two campaigns in the Champions League. The triumphal procession to the semi-finals (2019) is indeed etched in the memory, but in the following seasons Ajax stranded in the group stage. Ajax-unworthy, was the tenor in the media. At least, measured by the standard that Erik ten Hag seemed to have set in that wonderful year. A new standard. The Ajax fan wants more, and more.

This season is also memorable. After all, Ajax has never won six times in the group stage

Memorable Group Stage

This season is also going to be memorable, for sure. After all, Ajax has never won six times in the group stage. But what are those matches worth if Ten Hag arrives at De Toekomst on Wednesday morning, knowing that he will no longer fly out to the most beautiful stadiums in Europe this spring? Nothing. Glory soon forgotten.

It does mean that things have to improve against Benfica a “few percent”, as the trainer said before his fiftieth European duel in the service of Ajax. He has already passed Frank de Boer and if the trainer is not lured away by a top club from elsewhere next summer, he will probably also pass Louis van Gaal, who has played the most European matches (57) to his name.

Despite the preponderance, Ten Hag would not have been reassured just before the break, when he stood in his coach compartment with his hands in his pockets. Apart from some long shots, Ajax’s game did not yield the desired opportunities. Really the shivers will not have got the three thousand Portuguese in the branch.

Away in Lisbon it had become 2-2. Previously a neat position. Thanks to those two goals, Ajax would have had the best starting position, but since away goals no longer count double, both teams in fact started with a clean sheet in Amsterdam.

Was that favorable for Ajax? There was also fear in Amsterdam. Fear of counters. One deadly outbreak, the Portuguese have used it more often in eighth finals. Think of the one between the Netherlands and Portugal at the 2006 World Cup. Minimalism on the football field, not only the antithesis, but also the specter of the Netherlands as a football nation.

It remains exciting. Also in the second half. With pain and effort Ajax tries to keep up the pressure. Steven Berghuis and Antony who want to have the ball. Ryan Gravenberch trying to fight his way through the tight lines of Benfica. Haller who is waiting for his twelfth goal in the Champions League. But it does not work.

This is the scenario that Ajax was so afraid of. Now they are going to lean, the Portuguese, while Ajax must

Then comes the 77th minute. A free kick by Benfica. The Portuguese, with former Ajax player Jan Vertonghen as leader on the field, are constantly dangerous in the air. Also now. Goalkeeper André Onana makes a mistake. Not the Uruguayan Darwin Núñez. He heads the ball perfectly and brings the accompanying supporters from Lisbon into ecstasy.

This is the scenario that Ajax was so afraid of. Now they are going to lean back, the Portuguese, while Ajax has to, knowing that there is no time to lose for the equalizer with which it can drag out an extension. Dragging yes, that’s how it feels now, because little is left of the confidence that Ajax aroused in the initial phase. Daley Blind, Noussair Mazraoui, they keep swinging the ball in front of the goal, but it is as if the Benfica defenders are all a head taller than the Ajax players. Were they better? This will be discussed for a long time to come. The fact is that not Ajax but Benfica is in the quarterfinals. Minimalist football has won. Weather.