Ajax through to the next round of the Europa League after penalties win vs Panathinaikos
Ajax advanced to the next qualifying round of the Europa League on Thursday after an incredible penalty shootout in which 34 penalties were taken. Anton Gaeei scored the winning penalty in the end after the match finished 1-1. The Amsterdammers will face Jagiellonia Bialystok from Poland in the next round.
It was the first penalty shootout in a senior match in the Johan Cruijff ArenA since Italy beat the Netherlands in the semi-final of Euro 2000. Panathinaikos missed five of their penalties, and Ajax missed four times. Incredibly, striker Brian Brobbey missed both of his penalties in the shootout.
Francesco Farioli made six changes to the team that beat SC Heerenveen on Sunday in the first match of the Eredivisie season. Devyne Rensch, Jorrel Hato, Jordan Henderson, Kian Fitz-Jim, Kenneth Taylor, and Carlos Forbs returned to the side. They all also started last week’s first leg against Panathinaikos, which ended in a 1-0 victory for the Amsterdammers.
After 25 minutes, Ajax had the first big chance of the match. A well-worked free kick was chipped into the box by Jordan Henderson and headed across to Chuba Akpom, but the ball was slightly behind him, which meant that he shot it over the goal.
Akpom had another chance from a set piece three minutes later. Henderson took a corner to the far post, where Kenneth Taylor headed it back into the danger area. Panathinaikos goalkeeper Bartłomiej Drągowski came out and was too late as Akpom headed it towards goal, but Greek striker Fotis Ioannidis was on hand to save his side by clearing the ball before it went in.
Ajax were applying real pressure now as they hit the crossbar in the 33rd minute. Berghuis cut inside before smashing a shot onto the crossbar.
The chances kept coming for Akpom. This time, Berghuis played a brilliant lob over the defence to the English striker, but his volley was straight at Dragowski.
There was still time for Akpom to get another chance before halftime. Another dangerous cross from Henderson found him in the box, but Dragowski knocked it wide for a corner.
Panathinaikos had their first significant chance of the match in the 56th minute. Former Heerenveen player Filip Djuricic outsprinted Henderson before he was stopped by a good save from Ajax goalkeeper Remko Pasveer. The goalkeeper then kept running and cleared the ball with a slide tackle in the midfield.
Ajax missed another chance a minute after this. Taylor did everything right with his first touch and then the dribble, but his finish was saved by Dragowski. It was another chance that the home side should have converted.
The away side had their second chance of the match in the 63rd minute. Adam Gnezda Čerin shot towards the first post and saw his effort saved by Pasveer before he crossed the ball into the box. Fortunately for Ajax, the cross was just about too high for Sverrir Ingason, who headed it over.
Ajax just could not score, and it proved again in the 88th minute. Substitute Branco van den Boomen had a ton of space on the wing, and he played the ball into the box to Taylor, who smartly let the ball run for Mika Godts. But the youngster missed the chance, hitting the inside of the post.
It proved costly as Panathinaikos silenced the Johan Cruijff Arena by scoring in the 90th minute. A short span of clumsy play resulted in the ball landing perfectly for Tete, who hit it low and hard into the bottom corner to make it 1-1 on aggregate and send the match to extra time.
Nothing of note happened in extra time as the match went to penalties.
The penalties were a clear showing of the level of the teams at the moment. An incredible number of penalties were missed, and many were fortunate to go in. Pasveer was the hero of the night as he saved several before also saving former Feyenoord midfield Tonny Vilhena’s penalty. It was up to Anton Gaaei to score the winning penalty and send Ajax through.
