Ajax through to the play off round of the Europa League after 2-1 win vs Galatasaray
Ajax finished the first stage of the UEFA Europa League campaign with a win on Thursday. Goals from Bertrand Traore and Kian Fitz-Jim gave Francesco Farioli’s side a 2-1 win against Turkish opponent Galatasaray in the Johan Cruijff ArenA.
The Amsterdammers finished 12th in the 36-team league phase. They won half of their eight games thus far in the competition and lost three matches.
One moment of note early on was that Jordan Henderson, the usual club captain, was not wearing the armband despite starting the match. The English midfielder was linked to French club AS Monaco earlier in the day, with some reports claiming that he was open to the move. Remko Pasveer was given the captain’s armband.
Another player who was linked with a move away from the club, Chuba Akpom, was forced to come on early in the match after Mika Godts went off with a hamstring injury.
Galatasaray nearly took the lead in the 12th minute through their danger man Victor Osimhen. A cross Baris Alper Yilmaz was met by Osimhen, who had got up high to head it just wide.
The Nigerian striker came close again ten minutes later. A long ball by Abdülkerim Bardakcı found the striker with space to run toward the goal. His shot was just wide of the post.
The miss proved costly as Ajax took the lead a minute later. Brian Brobbey used his strength well to hold off Galatasaray defender Davinson Sanchez and lay the ball off to Kian Fitz-Jim. The midfield played it on to Akpom, whose shot was knocked out by Fernando Muslera to Bertrand Traore, which resulted in the winger calmly placing it into the empty net.
Ajax doubled their lead in the 58th minute. A counterattack resulted in Bardakci slicing Anton Gaaei’s cross to Traore. The winger took a touch before leaving it for Fitz-Jim, who made up for his error in the match against RFS last week by hitting the ball hard into the far corner to make it 2-0.
Galatasaray were continuing to attack. A shot from Gabriel Sara was saved by Pasveer, but it went straight to the team’s second striker, Michy Batshuayi. Fortunately for Ajax, the Belgian striker lacked composure and hit the effort far over the goal.
The away team got a goal back with one minute left to play. A corner fell in the box, and it was pounced on by Osimhen, who knocked it home from close range to make the final score 2-1.
Ajax will face either Greek side PAOK Saloniki or Royale Union Saint-Gilloise from Belgium in the next round. The Amsterdammers find out on Friday which of these two teams it will be.
