Ajax earns first UEFA Champions League win of the season, beating Qarabag 4-2
Ajax picked up their first win in the UEFA Champions League this season on Wednesday, beating Azerbaijani side Qarabag 4-2 away. Goals from Oscar Gloukh (2), Kasper Dolberg, and Anton Gaaei resulted in the win.
It will not make a difference regarding Ajax’s chances of going through to the next round, which are still extremely slim, but you could see the relief and joy from the Ajax fans as the team is no longer bottom of the UEFA Champions League.
Ajax interim manager Fred Grim named a very young side for the game. Kenneth Taylor was out with an injury and was replaced by 17-year-old Sean Steur. Jorthy Mokio, 17, and 18-year-old Aaron Bouwman also started the game. Grim joked that the team would have been even younger had Rayane Bounida not been late in the morning, meaning that he was dropped to the bench.
Despite the fact that Ajax started brightly, they went 1-0 down within the first ten minutes. A long ball was misjudged by Ko Itakure and was made worse by goalkeeper Vítězslav Jaroš’s decision to come out. The goalkeeper was nowhere near it, which gave Camilo Duran the chance to lob the ball into the goal.
A sliced clearance from Bouwman gave Qarabag captain Abdellah Zoubir the chance to get his team’s second, but the ball bounced up before he hit it, resulting in it going high and wide.
The home side missed another chance to extend their lead in the 39th minute. Duran opted to shoot on the turn after dribbling past Jaros when he likely should have passed to a teammate.
This proved costly as Ajax equalized half a minute later. A shot from distance by Kasper Dolberg went straight into the bottom corner, his first in the Champions League this season.
Qarabag retook the lead in the second minute of the second half. A fantastic through ball by Kevin Medina found the left back Elvin Cafarguliyev, whose cross found the right back Matheus Silva, aided by a slip from Steur, and his shot was deflected into the goal off of Lucas Rosa.
Ajax came close to equalizing instantly when a series of crosses resulted in Mokio heading towards goal, but the effort was gathered by Mateusz Kochalski at the second time of asking.
Mika Godts came on with around half an hour to go and made an immediate impact. A fantastic through ball found Anton Gaaei, whose cross was perfect for Don-Angelo Konadu to tap the ball into an empty half of the goal, but his finish was poor, going straight at Kochalski.
Ajax leveled the game in the 79th minute. Oscar Gloukh beat his opponent before releasing a low shot into the near corner past Kochalski.
This was followed by another goal from Ajax four minutes later. Qarabag, who had been leaving a ton of space at the back all game, were punished when Konadu found Gaaei coming forward and the Dane showed his shooting prowess with an arrow into the far corner.
The game was put to bed in the 90th minute when another Ajax attack with numerical advantage over the Qarabag defense resulted in a goal. Godts found Gloukh, who took his time before placing the ball low into the far corner, confirming the win for Grim’s side.
It is a welcome boost for the Amsterdammers going into the Klassieker against Feyenoord on Sunday. The Rotterdammers play in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday.
