Impressive Ajax beat Juventus 2-1; Dominant Barca thrash Man Utd 3-0

Editorial Team 6 years ago

Philippe Coutinho - Barcelona

The UEFA Champions League did not fail to surprise football fans around the world yet again this season as the tournament dark-horses Ajax eliminated Juventus at the Alliant stadium by thoroughly dominating the Old Lady in the second half. The first leg resulted in a 1-1 draw between the two teams at the Johan Cruyff Arena. Juventus started the game as favourites to progress after having grabbed the away goal in the first leg.

The first half was contested evenly by both teams and Ajax took a cautious approach. Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring for the Old Lady with a thumping header after Pjanic delivered a decent ball into the box. Once the Portuguese attacker scored, Ajax got rid of the shackles that were holding them back. The Dutch side grabbed an equaliser almost immediately with Van De Beek applying a cool finish after a shot from outside the box rebounded into his path. The first half ended with both the game and the tie even at 1-1.

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Ajax started the second half brightly and refused to let Juventus grow into the game. The Dutch side had a huge chance in the 54th minute when Juventus gifted possession and Neres managed to release Ziyech who went for power with his shot on target but Szczesny made a stunning 1 handed save deflecting the ball to concede only a corner. Three minutes later, Van de Beek tested Szczesny from long range and the Polish keeper made another good save.

Ajax finally found a winning goal from their young captain De Ligt who rised up to head an out-swinging corner from Van De Beek into the goal. Ajax thoroughly dominated the second half and deserved to go through. The Dutch side created multiple chances to kill the game as it was coming to an end but weren’t clinical enough. On another day, the side from Amsterdam could have grabbed three or four goals.

The game ended 1-2 and Ajax are through to the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League at the expense of the Old Lady. Juventus have now lost all of their last three games. Ajax meanwhile have eliminated two huge sides in the form of Real Madrid and Juventus in this year’s Champions League and are competing with PSV for the Eredevise crown.

In the other game at Camp Nou, Barcelona put Manchester United to the sword by outplaying the English side and scoring three goals in the process. Leo Messi grabbed a brace in the first half with De Gea’s blunder gifting the Argentine his second goal. Philippe Coutinho scored a goal in the second half to extend Barca’s lead to 3-0 on the night and 4-0 in the tie. United couldn’t find a consolation goal at the Catalan capital and bowed out of the UEFA Champions League in a humiliating fashion.

Editorial Team

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LosMejor's Editorial Team includes a team of experts who cover the UEFA Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and the Carabao Cup. The Editorial team is headed by Deepak Selvan.