Heavily rotated Ajax side knocked out of Europa League after 4-1 hammering in Frankfurt
A heavily rotated Ajax side was knocked out of the UEFA Europa League on Thursday after a 4-1 hammering at the hands of Eintracht Frankfurt in the Deutsche Bank Park. The Amsterdammers had lost the first leg 1-2 in Amsterdam. Former PSV midfielder Mario Gotze scored twice for the hosts. Kenneth Taylor got Ajax’s solitary goal.
Francesco Farioli made ten changes to his team. The Italian manager clearly decided to put his focus on securing the Eredivisie league title in what was a very surprising move.
The team had very little experience with 18-year-old Don-Angelo Konadu starting up front and youngster Dies Janse at center defence. It already seemed too much for the B team when Frankfurt took the lead in the seventh minute. Hugo Ekitike was given too much space at the edge of the area and his pass to Jean-Matteo Bahoya was converted by the winger.
This made the aggregate scoreline 3-1 for the German side and they made it 4-1 and 2-0 on the night 18 minutes later. A pass from deep by Robin Koch was controlled on the chest by Mario Gotze and calmly hooked into the net by the former PSV midfielder.
Steven Berghuis forced Kaua Santos into a smart stop in the near post shortly before halftime before the Brazilian had to make an acrobatic save to stop the Dutch midfielder again a minute later.
Frankfurt made it 3-0 in the 67th minute. French striker Ekitike nutmegged Ahmetcan Kaplan before hitting a strong shot into the far corner.
Ajax got a goal back nine minutes later through Kenneth Taylor. The midfielder had come off the bench along with Bertrand Traore and Jorrel Hato. Taylor received the ball at the edge of the area before shooting low and hard into the near post to give the traveling Ajax fans something to cheer.
But it was the home crowd that had the last laugh as Frankfurt got their fourth and final goal in the 82nd minute. Ajax goalkeeper Matheus came far out of his goal to intercept the ball, which he was successful in doing, but his pass after went straight to Frankfurt and this led to Gotze chipping the ball into the net from 40 yards out.
It was a risky move by Farioli to put all his chips on the Eredivisie title, which could be Ajax’s first since 2021. The Amsterdammers were embarrassed in Frankfurt, but they will now be putting all their focus on the match away to AZ Alkmaar on Sunday.
