NEC seal historic Champions League spot as Ajax stumble into Conference League playoffs
NEC Nijmegen made history by qualifying for the UEFA Champions League qualifiers for the first time in the club's history on Sunday. The Nijmegenaren defeated Go Ahead Eagles and saw FC Twente lose away to PSV Eindhoven. Ajax failed to beat Heerenveen and will now play in the playoffs for the UEFA Conference League.
Prior to the game, Twente were in third place, which leads to a spot in the UEFA Champions League qualifiers, NEC were two points behind in fourth, which guarantees a place in the UEFA Europa League qualifiers, while Ajax, three points behind Twente, were in a European Play-off spot.
Twente were dealt a blow right before half-time when Thomas van den Belt, who scored twice in their victory last weekend against Sparta, was forced to miss the game due to a late injury.
Despite this, Twente made a good start to the game. Matej Kovar was forced into two early saves to prevent Kristian Hlynsson from scoring.
NEC struck first in the 12th minute in Nijmegen. A corner went right through the Go Ahead box before it was headed into the goal by Noe Lebreton.
It got even better for NEC a few minutes later as Twente went behind in Eindhoven. A corner swung in by Ivan Perisic was headed into the goal by Ryan Flamingo via Twente defender Mats Rots.
But John van den Brom’s side responded instantly, leveling the game three minutes later. Sondre Ørjasæter cut inside onto his right foot before placing a shot into the far corner, despite Kovar getting a hand on it.
NEC were comfortably the better side against Go Ahead, with Bryan Linssen almost doubling his side’s lead if not for the crossbar a few minutes before Lebreton got his second to make it 2-0. The goal was created by Tjarron Cherry, who plucked the ball out of the sky before playing a great pass to Lebreton, and his finish was successful on the second occasion after hitting the post with the initial effort.
PSV almost retook the lead on the half-hour mark. Paul Wanner’s shot was touched onto the crossbar by Twente keeper Przemysław Tytoń.
But Tyton was powerless to stop PSV from taking the lead shortly before halftime. Youngster Noah Fernandes made space for himself on the edge of the area before hitting the shot low and hard into the bottom corner. This was received warmly in the Goffert Stadium in Nijmegen, with NEC fans cheering the fact that they were in third place at the time.
PSV made it 3-1 in the 53rd minute. Dennis Man received the ball on the wing, cut inside, and hit a low shot into the near corner. This was followed by Go Ahead Eagles bringing some excitement back to the game in Nijmegen with Søren Tengstedt getting the goal.
It was clear that NEC only had to keep hold of their lead as PSV got a fourth goal with around half an hour to go. Guus Til got his goal with a low shot into the bottom corner. The game eventually finished 5-1 with Ricardo Pepi scoring from the spot.
In Heerenveen, Ajax were pushing for a goal which would have resulted in them leapfrogging Twente, but in the end, they were fortunate to get away with the 0-0 draw. Maarten Paes got especially lucky. The Ajax keeper dropped a simple ball late on in the game, but Ringo Meerveld and Dylan Vente both failed to convert the simple chance.
There were wild celebrations in Nijmegen as they celebrated their highest finish ever in the Eredivisie. Twente celebrated their qualification for the UEFA Europa League, while Ajax will finish a shameful season with some games in Volendam. The Amsterdammers are unable to play the playoff games at home due to Harry Styles concerts in their stadium.
