And with that, we’ll leave things for the evening. A terrific game, and one that sets up next week’s return in Italy very nicely indeed. Thanks for reading, and have a splendid evening.
Here’s your match report, courtesy of Nick Ames in Amsterdam.
Wojciech Szczesny has been speaking, with translation courtesy of Football Italia:
We could certainly have avoided the equaliser. We lacked concentration and they scored a fine goal. It’s a pity about the result, but we had a good performance, were solid at the back and tried to hit them on the break. Now we go to Turin and have to win.
The important thing is to always be in the game. Against a side like Ajax, the worst mistake you can make is to get distracted and leave spaces open. We suffered when we needed to and tried to hit them on the counter.
There was another, almost certainly inferior game on tonight. Here’s Paul Wilson’s report of Manchester United 0-1 Barcelona.
It’s not a new point this, but it really is a shame that this Ajax team is going to be picked apart this summer. It’d be brilliant to see exactly how good they could be if they stayed together for a bit longer, but as my mum and Mick Jagger always told me, you can’t always get what you want.
Juventus will be pretty happy with that. An away goal, but more importantly they got out of the game without being savaged, which is what it looked like would happen at some stages. They also actually broadly kept Ajax to chances from outside the box, which is at least part of the explanation for why the home team only scored once.
What a cracking game. In the end, Ajax might be rather frustrated that they didn’t win, which is a relatively remarkable state of affairs. They broadly dominated for most of the 90 minutes but didn’t take their chances, so will have some work to do in Turin, playing against an away goal. Still, considering what they did to Real in the Bernanbeu, they’ll probably still be pretty confident.
Updated
Full-time: Ajax 1-1 Juventus
Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
90 mins +3: Ekkelenkamp goes into the book for pulling down Ronaldo as Juve try to counter at speed.
90 mins +2: Ooof, that could have gone anywhere: Ziyech and Tadic work some space on the edge of the box, the latter tries to stab a shot at goal which takes a wild deflection, and goes wide. Meanwhile Sami Khedira is on in place of Bernardeschi for Juve.
90 mins +1: De Ligt and Ronaldo race for the ball, but the older man is not just completely outstripped, he gives up the chase before it gets too embarrassing.
Updated
90 mins: Van der Beek slips a pass through to Neres, who lays back to Tagliafico, who might be fouled...but let’s go back a step, because Neres was a yard offside.
88 mins: Cancelo has a go from the right side of the box (although actually, it might have been a cross) but Onana saves. Juventus just getting back into the game in the last few minutes.
85 mins: Post! Juve go about three inches from taking the lead. Costa absolutely rinses Veltman and then holds off Ziyech, before shooting low across goal, but it thuds off the upright and bounces away.
Updated
84 mins: Pjanic pulls back Neres, knowing he’s going to be booked, and he duly is.
83 mins: Oh my, what a moment that nearly was. Yet another piece of beautiful interplay between Ziyech and Tadic, culminating in a backheel by the latter, sets up Ekkelenkamp in the box, but he puts his right-footed shot just too close to Szczesny, and he saves.
Updated
80 mins: Doug Costa, in his first proper involvement of the evening, outstrips De Jong, which is no mean feat, but once getting to the byline he can only gently drift a cross into Onana’s hands.
78 mins: Ziyech pops up in the right-back position, wins the ball, plays a neat exchange with the kid Ekkelenkamp, and gets a free-kick. Good fun, this game.
77 mins: And that’s the real q...
With Dani de Wit on as a sub v Real Madrid and Jurgen Ekkelenkamp on today v Juventus Erik ten Hag is proving to be an ultimate content creator for the football quiz community.
— Michiel Jongsma (@JongsmaJongsma) April 10, 2019
75 mins: The two things are connected, as it turns out: Matuidi has to go off, and Dybala comes on. And a sub for Ajax too: Schone is off, Jurgen Ekkelenkamp - aged 19 and looks younger - is on.
73 mins: Matuidi is down requiring attention. Dybala is preparing to come on. The two things might not be connected.
72 mins: Ziyech fires a pass in at Tadic, who does well to control about 25 yards out and lift a pass over the defensive line to the onrushing Van der Beek, who misses the effort but was offside anyway.
71 mins: Schone lunges in at Bernardeschi, but the Italian is too quick and both a foul, then yellow card are awarded.
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69 mins: De Ligt puts in a meaty challenge on Ronaldo, wins it, and let’s just say the crowd enjoyed it.
67 mins: A rare Juventus attack is stopped before it can really develop. But this half is very much following the pattern of the first, the difference being Ajax have actually scored a goal, but they absolutely must get another one to make the most of their domination.
65 mins: Another shot from Ziyech, naturally, but this one is well-blocked by Alex Sandro. Ziyech then decides that maybe someone else should have a go, and plays to Veltman driving forwards from right-back, but it’s not strong enough and Szczesny saves.
64 mins: Ajax corner from the right. Schone rises. Schone heads. Schone does not get enough power on it and it’s cleared. Fin.
62 mins: Is it possible for a shot to be close but also go out for a throw-in? Ziyech, on the right side of the area, cuts across a shot trying to swerve it from right to left and into the net, but doesn’t get it right and the subsequent spin sends it the embarrassing side of the corner flag.
60 mins: Change for Juventus: Mandzukic, who has done two-fifths of sweet eff ay (although that hasn’t been entirely his fault) is replaced by Douglas Costa.
59 mins: A headed Matuidi clearance only makes it as far as Schone, who tries a half-volley but slices it like he’s serving up a portion of prosciutto in an Italian deli, and it goes well askew.
57 mins: Get a load of this.
"THE BLUE TOUCH-PAPER IS LIT!" 🔥
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 10, 2019
David Neres has stunned Juventus thirty seconds into the second half!
What a goal! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/Tr1rLLplnv
56 mins: And I for one would watch that YouTube tutorial.
Watching Ajax is like watching a YouTube tutorial on how to play out of the back under pressure
— A West (@ayyy_west) April 10, 2019
55 mins: De Jong gives the ball away but rather than trying to chase Cancelo as he tries to launch a rapid counter-attack, the Barca-bound midfielder simply pulls his opponent to the ground, rather cynically. Yellow card.
53 mins: Oh my lord, Juve should be ahead. Bernardeschi curls a free-kick from the deep on the left behind the Ajax defence, which nobody can get on the end of. The Juve players surround the referee, claiming the reason for that was a foul on Bentancur by Tagliafico, and the big VAR in the sky has a quick check. There was a hand on the shoulder, but it would have been a soft penalty: still, I thought Manchester City’s penalty last night was even softer, so what do I know?
51 mins: Neres has the ball in the net again, but this time it’s ruled out for offside. Should probably have been ruled out well before that too: De Ligt clearly fouls Cancelo to win the ball, but by the time it finds Neres in the box, from where he slips the ball past Szczesny, he’s a good two yards off.
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48 mins: Ajax are ticking now. Van der Beek finds Tagliafico on the left, he drives towards the box and shoots, but it goes just wide and into the side-netting.
46 mins: Straight from the kick-off, Ajax knock the ball around, then play it upfield towards Cancelo. But he takes a horrible touch, Neres nips in and steals the ball, arrows towards goal from the left and curls a phenomenal shot into the top corner. Superb.
Updated
GOAL! Ajax 1-1 Juventus (Neres 46)
I haven’t even had time to tell you the half has started!
The players are back in the tunnel. Before that goal you wondered whether Juve would make a change: they have plenty of options, after all, with Moise Kean, Douglas Costa and Paulo Dybala on the bench. As it is, they come back out unchanged.
Here’s the goal. Although it is hard - impossible, really - to enjoy anything Ronaldo does on the pitch these days, given the allegations of rape against him.
"He is a flying phenomenon!"
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 10, 2019
"He is the King of Europe!"
1️⃣2️⃣5️⃣ Champions League goals for Cristiano Ronaldo!
Incredible. What a header! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/8fWe016yJK
That’s extremely tough on Ajax, who have been terrific but haven’t converted one of the half-dozen or so chances they’ve created. Juventus haven’t made nearly as much, but that goal was the expert work of a ruthless team.
Updated
Half-time: Ajax 0-1 Juventus
Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
45 mins: Ajax have dominated but they’ll go in at half-time behind. Juventus launch a counter-attack on the left but it’s switched right to Cancelo, who skims in a beautiful cross. On the end of it is Ronaldo, who strains every one of the billion muscles in his body to reach the header, which he sends into the net via a pretty healthy hand from Onana.
Updated
GOAL! Ajax 0-1 Juventus (Ronaldo 45)
Of course.
43 mins: Juve threaten down the right through Cancelo, who tries to clip a cross into the middle, a brief bit of head tennis occurs before Onana gathers. The Ajax keeper hasn’t had much to do so far.
42 mins: Schone lines up that free-kick from way downtown, shoots, but it flies high and wide. File that under ‘optimistic’.
41 mins: Mither: Neres is wrestled to the ground by Bentancur, the referee briefly waits to see if there’s any advantage but in that time Tagliafico puts in a naughty challenge on Joao Cancelo. Ajax get the free-kick, but Tagliafico gets a yellow card, which rules him out of the second leg.
39 mins: Ziyech tries to thread the eye of a needle - the small bit of it, too - by looking for a quick slid pass through to Van der Beek, and he very nearly pulls it off too.
37 mins: This is a hell of a game. Matuidi picks out Ronaldo in the middle with a fine cross, it’s nodded down and Bernardeschi tries to spin and shoot, which he does but the ball goes just wide. He complains - quite correctly - that it took a deflection off De Ligt, but the referee pays him no heed.
35 mins: Ziyech has been the player of the match so far. He tries another shot which goes well wide, and then tries to turn provider by drifting right, and looking for the onrushing Tagliafico with a booming crossfield ball, but it’s just in front of the left-back and goes out.
34 mins: Bonucci goes in for a 50:50 and, not for the first time in the last few weeks, doesn’t come out of it looking good: he fouls Tadic from behind, and is probably lucky to get away without some sort of sanction.
33 mins: Ziyech rather cynically takes out Alex Sandro, then flaps his arms as if some great wrong has been done to him. It hasn’t.
32 mins: Bentancur picks up the ball outside the area and to the left, he shoots but without any real conviction, and it flies wide.
30 mins: From that corner, Ronaldo is found at the near-post, he hits a first-time volley but flashes just wide from a tough angle.
Updated
29 mins: Juventus counter at speed after a rare careless pass in midfield by Veltman is intercepted. Bentancur brings it forwards and slides it through to Bernardeschi, running into the area from the right, but there’s Frenkie de Jong who puts on a burst of pace and whips the ball off the Juve man’s toes.
28 mins: Juve awarded a free-kick from that corner, as Neres goes a little high on Mandzukic.
27 mins: Ajax absolutely on top here. Van der Beek and Neres exchange passes in the Juve box, and Rugani has to nip in and spirit the ball away, but has to concede a corner.
25 mins: Ajax go close again! Some more nice football in the Juve area feeds Van der Beek, driving forwards from midfield, but he’s stretching and curls his effort just - just - wide. If the goal was a yard further back that would have bent in.
Updated
24 mins: Bernardeschi, who is popping up on either flank, is clearly fouled on the left edge of the area by Schone, but for reasons best known to himself the referee gives Ajax a goal-kick.
22 mins: The sides trade spicy challenges: first, Tagliafico goes through Bernardeschi, then Mandzukic is beaten to a ball by De Ligt and leaves one on his opponent.
21 mins: WhoScored? currently has the possession split at 56%-44% in Ajax’s favour, which I’m quite surprised about. Ajax have seemed to be in more control than that.
18 mins: Ziyech again! Some absurd quick, one-touch passing from Ajax in the Juve area leads to Tadic trying two roulettes - one successful, one not quite so much - then laying it back to Ziyech, who tries to pick out the top corner but it’s not quite directed as it could be, and Szczesny dives right to make a nonetheless fine save.
Updated
17 mins: Pjanic does brilliantly to get out of a rapid pincer movement from a couple of Ajax midfielders, and fees Matuidi, but the Frenchman’s long pass looking for Bernardeschi on the right is misdirected.
16 mins: “Imagine if Bonucci had a season-ender due to a 50-50 challenge,” notes David Peter Young.
14 mins: Bernardeschi storms into the Ajax box from the left in a rare Juventus attack, but just as he pulls his foot back to shoot the child De Ligt swoops in from nowhere and produces a challenge of Paul McGrathian timing. Beautiful. He’s a player.
12 mins: Yer boy Ziyech is at it again. Tadic, back to goal, doing a passable Duncan Ferguson impersonation, lays it off to the Moroccan, who hits his left-footed shot and very briefly Szczesny looks like he’s misjudged the effort, but in the end gets down to his left and saves.
Updated
11 mins: Joao Cancelo meanders inside trying to find some joy in midfield, but he’s set upon like my cat on a fearsome worm he’s found in the garden, and is dispossessed.
9 mins: Juventus having real problems getting out of their own half. Ten Hag said Ajax were going to be positive, and would try to keep the ball as much as possible, and he wasn’t kidding.
8 mins: Lord this Ajax side are great to watch. They have a period of possession with a series of beautiful flicks and tricks, pulling Juventus this way and that, which is only ended when Bentancur puts in a terrific, meaty challenge on Neres.
6 mins: Ajax go v v v v v v v v v v close! Ziyech plays a beautiful one-two and launches himself into a left-footed effort from the right side of the area, but it goes just wide and into the side-netting.
5 mins: Ajax attack, as Ziyech - who you can file under ‘terrific fun’- tries to find Neres in the box, but it skips through to Szczesny.
4 mins: Man that looks good...
It is electric in here. pic.twitter.com/iSAUKOqJ3u
— Nick Ames (@NickAmes82) April 10, 2019
2 mins: Woof: Juventus go close, as Bernardeschi puts his left foot right through a shot on the run from just beyond the D, and it whistles about a foot or so over the bar.
1 min: Juve have tried a couple of big diagonals from right to left already - looks like they reckon Ronaldo vs Veltman in the air could be a fruitful one. Alas, both of those passes sail out of play.
Juventus will get us kicked off. It’s on, and it’s very exciting.
The Chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaampiiiiiiioooooooooooooooooooooooooons.
The teams are in the tunnel. Max Allegri claps his hands and offers some last bits of encouragement. Leonardo Bonucci shouts his own thoughts: in Italian, which I don’t speak, but I’m sharing the blame 50:50 for me not being able to understand.
Ajax manager Erik ten Hag speaks:
We have to play with the plan, with a good strategy, but we have to enjoy it. We will be positive. When we have the ball, he [Ronaldo] doesn’t. That’s the first task. Then we have to defend well, and keep it as far from our own goal as possible. Then, he can’t be dangerous.
These two also met in the 1973 final, which by all accounts was an absolute dog of a game, settled by a fifth minute goal by Johnny Rep.
The game that will most readily spring to mind between these two teams is the 1996 final, which rather implausibly remains the last time Juventus won the Champions League. It’s shrouded in no little controversy, since a number of the Juventus players were strongly suspected of having a little extra in their tea around that time, club doctor Riccardo Agricola having been given a suspended prison sentence in 2004 for supplying various players with something spicy, a conviction that was overturned on appeal a year later.
Watching the highlights a couple of things are striking: firstly how bad Ajax’s penalties are, the two that missed – Sonny Silooy and Edgar Davids – looking like the classic kicks of tired men for whom the occasion was just a bit too much.
Also – and this is a point that has been made before – but it’s remarkable how rapidly that Ajax side dispersed after the game. It was the final Ajax appearance for Silooy, Davids, Finidi George and Nwankwo Kanu, Michael Reiziger (who was suspended) departed too while Marc Overmars (injured), Winston Bogarde and Patrick Kluivert left a year later. That said, it was the last game for a few Juve players too: Gianluca Vialli and Fabrizio Ravanelli departed for England, while Paulo Sousa went to Borussia Dortmund, where he beat Juve in the final a year later.
Here’s how Martin Thorpe reported the game for the Guardian at the time:
Juventus may not be revolutionaries, but they beat the system last night to lift the European Cup for the second time. Ajax’s method has driven many teams to madness but on a balmy evening in the Olympic Stadium here they were knocked out of their aristocratic stride by an Italian side who wanted victory more and got it, albeit on penalties.
Their fourth, by the substitute Jugovic, took the cup the Turin after two Ajax players, Davids and Silooy, had fluffed theirs. As Jugovic’s shot hit the net the thousands of Juventus fans behind the opposite goal exploded in a sea of flares, flags and unadulterated joy.
Fabrizio Ravanelli, who had put Juventus ahead in the 12th minute, broke into tears. Gianluca Vialli preceded his supposed move to Britain with a waving run in front of the Juventus end. Having surprisingly broken the Milan monopoly in Serie A last season, Juventus had now done what Milan also failed to do last year, beaten Ajax in the final of the Champions’ Cup.
Moreover their victory came free of the awful events of that night in the Heysel stadium in 1985 when they first won the trophy. It have Italy nine titles to England’s eight, the last of the latter being in the same stadium in 1984 when Liverpool beat Roma, also 4-2 on penalties.
There are some reports from Amsterdam that there has been some trouble around the stadium, with a number of people arrested and a few clashes between fans and riot police. Will bring you more on that when/if it’s confirmed.
Team news
Ajax
Onana; Veltman, De Ligt, Blind, Tagliafico; De Jong, Van de Beek, Schone; Neres, Ziyech, Tadic. Subs: Varela, Kristensen, Sinkgraven, Huntelaar, Magallan, Dolberg, Ekkelenkamp.
Juventus
Szczesny; Joao Cancelo, Rugani, Bonucci, Alex Sandro; Pjanic, Matuidi, Bentancur; Ronaldo, Mandzukic, Bernardeschi. Subs: Perin, De Sciglio, Spinazzola, Khedira, Dybala, Douglas Costa, Kean
Referee: Carlos del Cerro Grande (Spain)
Care for a scene-setter? Here’s one from Nick Ames, in Amsterdam.
Preamble
Without wishing to be reductive about this, if there are such things as goodies and baddies in European football, tonight the two meet. In the red corner we have Ajax, perennial producers of thrilling young talent, home of Johan Cruyff, the cradle of total football, where winning is great but being Ajax is more important. And in the black and white corner Juventus, untouchable behemoths and financial bullies, the club of Moggi and his referee chess, alleged dopers in the 1990s. Ajax have their bad qualities and Juventus their good, but if we’re dealing in broad brushstrokes, the neutral will always fall for the Dutch side.
You can throw in an underdog element to the whole thing as well. Ajax are already losing one of their best players to giants in the summer and at least one more will probably go. Juventus are one of those giants who might be sniffing around. Last summer Ajax’s big attacking signing was from Southampton. Juve’s was from Real Madrid. Now, Dusan Tadic is a fine player, but perhaps a little lower profile than Cristiano Ronaldo.
Obviously, despite this presentation of a battle between good and evil, we will be entirely impartial about this one. Largely because it has all the makings of a belting game. Ajax gave Real what for in the last round, displaying that you can defeat a giant if you have just the right sort of slingshot, while Juventus remain a thudding powerhouse, en route to their eighth Serie A title on the spin and – in opposition to my snide little dig earlier – with one of the most thrilling talents in Europe among their number.
Moise Kean might not start tonight, but Ronaldo should: he’s been missing for the last month with a thigh strain, but Max Allegri confirmed yesterday that he’s trained and looks in ship shape. Should be a cracker. Stick around.
Kick-off: 8pm BST
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