Kenneth Taylor's extra-time penalty sends Ajax through to last 16 of the Europa League

A penalty scored by Kenneth Taylor in extra time ensured that Ajax advanced to the last 16 of the UEFA Europa League at the expense of Royale Union Saint Gilloise in the Johan Cruijff ArenA on Thursday. The Amsterdammers played an hour with ten men after Davy Klaassen had been sent off, and the first 90 minutes had finished 0-2 for the Belgian team.

Ajax manager Francesco Farioli made the decision to give many players a rest. Jordan Henderson, Kenneth Taylor, Anton Gaaei, Bertrand Traore, and Mika Godts were put on the bench and replaced by Lucas Rosa, Oliver Edvardsen, Christian Rasmussen, and Jorthy Mokio, who became the youngest player to score in a European game for Ajax in their 0-2 win against this side last week. Ajax was also missing Youri Baas and Brian Brobbey through illness.

Union took the lead in the 16th minute. A good delivery from Sofiane Boufal found Kevin Mac Allister completely unmarked in the box, and the Argentine defender took full advantage, heading it into the far corner.

Ajax was struggling, to the chagrin of the crowd in the Johan Cruijff ArenA. Union had a goal disallowed for offside before testing Ajax goalkeeper Remko Pasveer with a hard shot from Ousseynou Niang.

It got drastically worse for the Amsterdammers in the 25th minute. A great run from Niang was stopped by Ajax before they lost it again. This led to a shot by Promise David, which was saved before the rebound from Niang was intentionally blocked by the hand of Davy Klaassen. This resulted in a penalty and a sending-off for the Ajax midfielder. The penalty was taken and scored by David.

Union created one more significant chance before halftime when Franjo Ivanovic’s shot went over the goal after the Croatian striker had set himself up with a good first touch.

Ajax made some changes with Jordan Henderson, Kenneth Taylor, Bertrand Traore, and Ahmetcan Kaplan coming on. This resulted in a much more solid defense and a second half with little to no chances.

The Amsterdammers were awarded a penalty in the second minute of extra time. A cross from Traore hit the hand of Saint Gilloise defender Christian Burgess. The penalty was taken and convincingly finished by Taylor to put Ajax ahead on aggregate.

The rest of the extra time consisted of Ajax defending and the visitors attacking their goal. The first significant chance from the Belgians came in the 112th minute. Ross Sykes headed the ball to Kevin Rodriguez while lying on the floor, but the Ecuadorian striker’s attempt was right at Pasveer.

Ajax survived another attack in the 116th minute. A cross was headed across the goal by Fedde Leysen before it was cleared by right in front of the goal Kian Fitz-Jim.

The closest Royale Union Saint Gilloise came to an equalizer was in the last minute of the game. Rodriguez’s header seemed to be going in before Taylor cleared it at the last second. It also could have been given as a penalty as Pasveer clattered Rodriguez after he had headed the ball.

Ajax will find out on Friday whether they face Olympique Lyon or Eintracht Frankfurt in the next round.