Supporters in shape early
The best warm-up before Ajax – Panathinaikos was seen among supporters. Long before the match, Ajax fans gathered at the Bullewijk metro station, to walk in a corteo towards the Johan Cruijff Arena. The singing and the necessary fireworks provided, as usual, wonderful images.
That great atmosphere continued in the stadium. With Pascal Redeker as singer, the place was whipped up even more. We also saw how 21 Olympians with an Amsterdam link were put in the spotlight. And oh yes: how nice it is that the Richard Witschgebokaal is simply called the Richard Witschgebokaal again.
Boss not awake, Hato is
With the same eleven players as a week earlier in Athens, Ajax seemed to start the match energetically. Kian Fitz-Jim was the first to take aim at the goal. After that, it was mainly the Greeks who sought the attack. It could have gone wrong when Youri Baas was not coached and let the ball be taken away from him, if it had not been for Jorrel Hato’s seriously great tackle. He certainly prevented a goal with that.
It seemed to wake up the Ajax players in any case. After that big chance, Ajax took matters into their own hands again. Chuba Akpom got a truckload of chances, but the ball never went in. You could read from the striker’s facial expression that he didn’t understand much himself. Furthermore, a shot by Steven Berghuis crashed against the crossbar.
Heroic Pasveer
Ajax experienced another big scare at the start of the second half. Filip Djuricic seemed to be on his way to a goal, but Remko Pasveer heroically threw himself in front of the ball. On the other side, it was Kenneth Taylor who should have scored. However, the midfielder shot straight at the keeper. Ajax thus missed another big chance.
Francesco Farioli brought in the fresh legs of Mika Godts, Bertrand Traoré, Anton Gaaei and Branco van den Boomen in the second half. The Belgian in particular had a good substitution. He constantly threatened. The attacker could have ended all the tension, but shot the ball against the inside of the post.
Ajax wins penalty shootout!
And if you don’t score yourself… Well, then the opponent will. Ajax failed to decide the match. That one time the ball fell well to the Greeks, it was also a hit. Out of nowhere, Panathinaikos struck. Tetê got the ball at his feet and shot his team towards extra time.
Brian Brobbey had to save the day for Ajax. Traoré seemed to be playing a heroic role, but his goal was (rightly) disallowed. With the introduction of Steven Bergwijn, the all-or-nothing phase seemed to have begun. No more goals were scored, which meant that a thrilling penalty series had to decide the outcome.
And it was bloodcurdling. What on earth were we going through? In the first round, both Ajax and Panathinaikos missed three penalties, which meant the whole thing started all over again. Our pulses were in our throats by now. Six million billion penalties later, it was Anton Gaaei who match point finally cashed in. And also absolute hearts for Pasveer, who kept our team in the series with five stopped penalties.
Ajax faces two-legged tie with Jagiellonia Bialystok
Because Ajax emerged as winners from the two-legged tie with Panathinaikos, our team is assured of European football. To reach the group stage of the Europa League, the Ajax players have to survive one more round. In the play-offs, Jagiellonia Bialystok is the next opponent.
Ajax will first visit Poland on Thursday 22 August. The return match will follow a week later in the Johan Cruijff Arena. If we do not manage to win over Jagiellonia Bialystok over two matches? Then we are condemned to play the Conference League group stage.
