A wasteful Galatasaray display in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday saw the Turkish outfit lose a 26-game unbeaten streak at the Johan Cruijff ArenA.
Despite a whole host of chances for the away side they only managed to fashion the one goal from 28 shots, forcing eight saves from Ajax keeper Remko Pasveer.
It was Bertrand Traoré in the 23rd minute and Kian Fitz-Jim in the 58th who secured the win for the Dutch side, taking their two biggest chances of the game to help them finish just one point off the top eight.
Victor Osimhen’s late goal was not enough to keep Galatasaray’s unbeaten run alive, but did provide a slight consolation and meant they have scored in every single game since August 27th.
As it happened
The first 20 minutes of this cagey tie between two iconic clubs saw Galatasaray’s Osimhen uncharacteristically miss a few half chances, until Ajax’s Burkinabé forward helped them take the lead 23 minutes into the game.
Ex-Aston Villa and Chelsea winger Traoré opened the scoring for the home side, as he passed it into an open net following a parried save by Fernando Muslera off a Chuba Akpom effort, for a goal which saw Ajax leap frog their opposition in the table.
The physical battle between Galatasaray’s Davinson Sánchez and Ajax’s Brian Brobbey summed up the first half: a whole lot of physicality, but not enough quality as far as the two European giants were concerned.
The second half saw the visitors start strong, until a few minutes before the hour mark when a quick counter-attack and a scuffed clearance found Ajax academy graduate and fan favourite Fitz-Jim open in the box. He rifled his finish across the face of goal, doubled his team’s lead and put the game to bed.
Embed from Getty ImagesHowever, the well-travelled Michy Batshuayi came off the bench for the Turkish side and should really have got them back into the game. He blasted a big chance over the bar following another parried save, this time from a feisty effort by the talented Gabriel Sara.
Although the game seemed to have slowed down, Osimhen prodded home a tap-in from a corner and halved Ajax’s lead just before the game ended, which gave the home fans a nervy final couple of minutes.
The home team did inevitably hold on to win the game 2-1 in the first ever competitive meeting between the two, rounding off a disappointing night for the Turkish league leaders.
Despite this result, both teams ended up finishing in the seeded playoff places, where the hosts will be set to face one of Union St. Gilloise or PAOK Thessaloniki. The visitors finished two places below Ajax, giving them potential opponents of AZ Alkmaar or reigning Danish champions FC Midtjylland.
The lineups
AJA: Pasveer; Hato, Baas, Šutalo, Gaaei; Taylor, Henderson, Fitz-Jim; Godts, Brobbey, Traoré
GAL: Muslera; Kutlu, Bardakcı, Sánchez, Ayhan; Sara, Torreira; Akgün, Mertens, Yılmaz; Osimhen