Ajax Amsterdam has sensationally reached the semi-finals of the Champions League. After the 1:1 in the first leg, Ajax won the second leg at the favoured Juventus Turin with 2:1 (1:1).
Juventus coach Allegri rotated to nine positions after a 2-1 defeat in Serie A against SPAL at the weekend. After three competitive games with an injury due to an ankle injury, Can, among others, returned to the starting eleven.
It was Can, too, who made the first dangerous move: in the 5th minute, he aggressively started Ajax-Keeper Onana and blocked his tee shot, which finally landed to the left of the goal. This sequence was exemplary for the powerful initial phase of Juventus.
Ajax started nervously and also suffered an early personal setback: Mazraoui folded in a duel with Dybala and had to be replaced in the 11th. For him came the 23-year-old Sinkgraven, who made his Champions League debut. Only from the 20th Ajax came better into the game and through van de Beek in the 21st to a first good chance. However, he shot over the goal from close range.
Ronaldo first headed a Pjanic corner unchallenged to 1-0 (28), van de Beek sunk a Ziyech shot six minutes later to level the score. Bernardeschi had lifted the offside.
Allegri brought Kean to the break for Dybala, who suffers from muscular problems. However, the young star did not show to advantage at first, the second half belonged to Ajax from the beginning. Their offensive quartet combined spectacularly. Tadic shone with heel tricks.
Only Juventus-Keeper Szczesny, who shone with great reflexes against Ziyech (52.) and van de Beek (58.), and Pjanic, who cleared a Tadic devotion in highest need (63.), prevented a backlog at first. Four minutes later de Ligt scored after a nice corner to 2:1. Whether Juventus’ passivity and Ajax’ run of attack was highly deserved this goal. Nothing changed in the game: Ajax continued and was 3:1 even closer to the equalizer than Juventus.
Goals: 1:0 Ronaldo (28.), 1:1 van de Beek (34.), 1:2 de Ligt (67.)
At the 1:1, van de Beek switched quickly and pushed the Ziyech shot into the right lower corner. In the 21st and 58th he had two more good scoring chances. Van de Beek was a constant source of danger and most often came to an end on the part of Ajax.
Bernardeschi did not take place. He was one of the rarest Juventus players on the ball, lost every one of his duels and had one of the worst pass rates in his team. When he scored 1-1, he lifted the offside. In the 81st Bernardeschi was changed for Bentancur.
Especially in the initial phase, the game was characterized by many fouls and consequently also interruptions. Turpin did a good job and mostly made the right decision. In the goals to 1:0 and 1:1 there was contact with the VAR, but both were rightly confirmed. The supposed 3:1 of Ziyech in the 80th Tupin also rightly refused the recognition because of an offside position. At least controversial but probably right was his decision to refuse Juventus a penalty kick in the 90th.
