ResumeDusan Tadic was very disappointed after Benfica’s elimination in the eighth finals of the Champions League. “It is very heavy and difficult to find the right words now,” said the Serbian captain of Ajax.
Sports editor
15 Mar. 2022
Latest update:
00:26
“We don’t deserve to lose here tonight”, was Tadic’s opinion, although Ajax no longer scored after the 36th minute. Darwin Núñez scored the winning goal in the 77th minute in the Johan Cruijff Arena, after he defeated André Onana. in the air after a free kick by Álex Grimaldo. “We knew that they are very dangerous in the counter. We didn’t give anything away in that area, but it still goes wrong from a free kick. blame that goal? No, of course not. We win together and we lose together, I never blame anyone. We should have scored ourselves, shortly before that goal we had a good chance ourselves.”
Tadic had a clear analysis. ,,What was missing with us? Nothing, except we don’t score. We should have scored a goal and then we would have continued. We played well and worked hard, but we lacked a goal.”
The left-footed attacker hopes that Ajax can recover quickly. After all, the Classic against Feyenoord is already waiting for the home crowd on Sunday afternoon. ,,That is another important game, then we have to be there again. We still have a lot to play for. We have to beat Feyenoord on Sunday, because we want to win the title and the cup.”
Mazraoui: ‘Very different game on Sunday’
Mazraoui was also very shaken and searching for the right words to describe the unexpected elimination. ,,We played a good game, but what went wrong is that we didn’t score. We got plenty of opportunities. You have some games where that ball just won’t go in. We defended well. It was an unjust free kick from which they scored. They get one chance and score, maybe that’s something typical Portuguese too,” said Mazraoui.
,,They are known for winning their matches that way, but it is very difficult to play against them. It feels undeserved. We don’t realize it yet, I also noticed that in the dressing room. Everyone was silent, most of all there was disbelief. What to do against Feyenoord on Sunday? Those are two separate games. As a group, we have to get everything out of it again, but first we have to deal with this disappointment,” said the right-back who will leave Amsterdam after this season. He did not want to say whether that is to FC Barcelona, although the Spanish media do write it. “Yes, there are many clubs that are interested, but I haven’t made a decision yet. If they were, I would say so, but nothing has been finalized yet.”
Blind
Daley Blind was also pretty through it. “It hurts,” he admitted. “I think it is unfair. This is really hard to accept. But top football is decided in small moments. Set pieces are also important. We can also point to the referee and say it was not a free kick”, Blind realized. “But we have to look at ourselves. We have to be well positioned and stick with our personal opponent. Anyway, we are eliminated from the Champions League. That hurts a lot now.”
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