Russian club FC Rostov mercilessly knocks Ajax from Champions League

Ajax' dreams for the Champions League were crushed with a 4-1 loss in an away match against Russia's FC Rostov. The Amsterdam team will now continue in the less prestigious Europe League.

According to RTL Nieuws, the match and season was a disappointment filled with childish mistakes. Ajax struggled with flaws that resulted in five loss-points in three seemingly simple matches.

FK Rostov is known to be good at countering and taking advantage from many free kicks and corner kicks. Despite knowing these qualities, Ajax was unable to block them. After the match Ajax coach Peter Bosz spoke of a disappointing match. "We played a hopeless game from the first minute", he said. "I got the feeling we were afraid. It was such a mess."

Ajax captain Davy Klaassen wasn't much more enthusiastic. "What is to blame? I don't know. That's difficult, I'm full of emotions now. We need to look again tomorrow", he said to Ziggo Sport after the match. He did say that he sees no connection between the failure and new captain Peter Bosz. "The intent is the same. He only wanted it a different way. We knew that. We trained for it."