The total chaos in front of the main entrance of the Johan Cruijff Arena has barely been contained by the riot police, when Jan van Halst walks out of a crisis meeting in the catacombs of the stadium, just before six o’clock.
The interim director of Ajax has little choice but to speak to the assembled media, but he has little or no answers to questions. “I understand the question,” Van Halst says again and again. And then he outlines that he really only wants to talk about today: about the derailed and canceled Classic in Amsterdam – and its practical consequences.