APOEL hold Ajax in Nicosia
 

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - PLAYOFFS (LEG 1)

Cypriot champions, APOEL, held Ajax to a goalless draw in Nicosia in their first leg clash of the UEFA Champions League qualifying playoffs.

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APOEL hosted Dutch giants Ajax Amsterdam in Nicosia’s GSP Stadium for the first leg of the UEFA Champions League qualifying play-offs. The Cypriot champions stood tall against last year’s Champions League semi-finalists and despite a satisfactory goalless draw, deserved to score at least one goal in the game. Thomas Doll’s players not only looked at the Dutch giants straight in the eye, but even outplayed them at times.

With strong defending, they did not let Ajax find attacking solutions with the exception of the first ten minutes in each half. The hosts forced Andre Onana to some big saves, denying APOEL what would have been a historic victory. A fixture with a clear favorite, ended with APOEL feeling that they deserved the win.

The Galazokitrinoi are still the outsiders but they will travel to Amsterdam next week without pressure in hopes of order achieving a big upset.

THE MATCH

The game started with Ajax showing their superiority, controlling ball possession and looking for the early goal. In the 8th minute, a deflected ball from Hakim Ziyech and a touch from Dusan Tadic, forced Vid Belec to his first save of the night. Two minutes later, Belec read a ball from Donny van de Beek and collected it before Ziyech could turn it into a dangerous opportunity. Belec did his job to stop efforts from Daley Blind and Tadic, before the game’s first quarter hour was completed.

APOEL steadily started to break down Ajax’s pace in an effort to find space for counter-attacks. APOEL’s awakening brought three consecutive corners, and during the second of three, an effort from Nikolas Ioannou was blocked in front by Veltman. In the 29th minute, with another slalom Al-Taamari found himself in a good position, however his shot went wide in what was APOEL’s best chance up to that point.

Towards the end of the half, the game balanced between the two teams. Ajax’s players looked to do the damage with efforts, however Ioannou and Joaozinho blocked shots from Razvan Marin and van de Beek. On the other end, another sprint from Al-Taamari in the 38th minute was stopped after three defenders managed to finally close him down.

APOEL easily held off Ajax’s efforts in the dying moments of the first half and went into the locker rooms with the 0:0 scorelines, after they managed to show their prestigious opponents that they would not go down easily.

The second half started with Ajax missing a big chance with van de Beek. The Dutch midfielder received a cross, but his finish went just out. Like the first half, APOEL once again managed to balance things out and this time actually created some big chances of their own.

In the 58th minute, after a free kick, Lucas Souza took the shot from a side position, but Andre Onana came up with a big save to send the ball to a corner and to keep the game goalless. From the corner kick, Uros Matic took the ball and found Andrija Pavlovic, whose header hit Ajax’s crossbar. Two minutes later, Pavlovic found Al-Taamari but his shot found the side netting.

APOEL’s pressure disrupted Ajax’s organization and gave more opportunities to the Cypriot champions to do damage. In the 69th minute, a corner kick from Matic almost brought an own goal from the Ajax defenders and a minute later, after another corner, Souza had a great shot, but Onana came up with another big save.

The Galazokitrinoi built-up courage from their game, shut down Ajax’s offensive efforts, and took advantage of their ineffective defensive play to come within touching distance of a goal. In the 80th minute, Noussair Mazraoui fouled Matic and was sent off with a second yellow card, leaving the Dutch champions with 10 players. Ajax found a chance after some time in the 88th minute with Klaas Jan Huntelaar, but Dragan Mihajlovic managed to stop the ball before it passed the goal line. Stoppage time yielded nothing, and the match ended goalless.

APOEL (Thomas Doll): Vid Belec (GK), Nicholas Ioannou ©, Giorgos Merkis, Joaozinho (Andre Vidigal), Dragan Mihajlovic, Savvas Gentsoglou, Uros Matic, Lucas Souza, Musa Al-Taamari, Roman Bezjak (Antonio Jakolic), Andrija Pavlovic (Linus Hallenius)

Ajax (Erik Ten Hag): Andre Onana (GK), Joel Veltman, Lisandro Martinez, Noussair Mazraoui, Nicolas Tagliafico, Razvan Marin (Sergino Dest), Donny van de Beek, Daley Blind, Hakim Ziyech, David Neres (Klaas Jan Huntelaar), Dusan Tadic ©

HIGHLIGHTS:

By Marios Antoniou

Image Source: Sport FM Cyprus

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