That’s all for now! Thanks as always for following along with us and be sure to check back later for a match report.
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What a match! Here’s a look at the stats from a gripping encounter in Amsterdam.
Ajax 4-1 Lyon FT:
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) May 3, 2017
Shots: 25-14
Pass accuracy: 74%-72%
Chances created: 19-8
Possession: 50%-50%
What a game of football. 👊 pic.twitter.com/Oe0sVYWa4Z
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Full time: Ajax 4-1 Lyon
There’s the final whistle and Ajax are runaway winners in their first European semi-final since 1997!
They’ve now won 12 in a row at home across all competitions.
Ajax have now won 12 consecutive home games across all competitions:
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) May 3, 2017
WWWWWWWWWWWW
3.08 goals per game. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/qOEN5eEU8Y
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90 min+1: The substitute Tolisso tries to have a go on goal but a last-gasp challenge by Tete disrupts it and Ajax are on the go again. Moments later Sanchez wins a free kick for the hosts. Klaassen finds himself alone along the left flank and puts a shot on goal, but Lopes is able to block it with his foot, giving Ajax a corner.
90 min: The fourth official signals for four minutes of added time.
88 min: Ajax make the final sub of the match as Neres replaces Dolberg.
86 min: Lyon win a free kick from some distance off a Sanchez foul and Valbuena will take it, but it’s cleared harmlessly and Ajax are on the counter once more.
83 min: Ajax still coming forward! Excellent work by Traoré to set up a clear attempt for Klaassen, whose shot sails high over the target for a goal kick.
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78 min: Lyon win consecutive corners, but nothing come of them. Now Justin Kluivert (perhaps you’ve heard of his dad?), who turns 18 on Friday, enters for Younes, who was brilliant today.
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76 min: Lacazette, a question mark after missing the last two weeks with a hamstring ailment, enters for Lyon in place of Cornet.
75 min: Moments after Van de Beek enters for Schone ... two lunging saves in rapid succession for Onana, one with his gloves the other with his feet. And then moments later it’s Ajax down the pitch, as Anthony Lopes is forced to fully extend for a save. This is the up-and-down, two-way action we expected!
GOAL! Ajax 4-1 Lyon (Traoré, 71 min)
Traoré scores his second of the night, this one unmissable from four yards off a precise cross from Ziyech and the three-goal lead is restored.
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69 min: Lyon really pushing for a second, which would really open up the tie. And now it’s Fekir who has a go on goal, but it’s turned away by Onana, who’s been excellent tonight. Now a second sub for Lyon as Rafael enters for Jallet.
GOAL! Ajax 3-1 Lyon (Valbuena, 66 min)
And finally Lyon have their away goal! The pressure was mounting and at last they break through. The French international finds himself by himself at the top of the area and simply deposits it past Onana into the top-left corner.
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64 min: Traoré walks into the area and pounds a left-footed shot to the far post, requiring a diving save from Lopes. The keeper has parried it away into a dangerous area but it’s cleared harmlessly.
62 min: Traoré shown yellow for a foul on Tolisso.
61 min: Ajax not content to sit on their lead and pushing ahead with numbers. They’ve spent the last few minutes building the attack in the Lyon half, even if they don’t have any attempts on goal to show for it (yet).
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57 min: It’s getting physical as we approach the hour mark with fouls up and down the pitch. Now the first substitution of the match as Rachid Ghezzal enters the match for Tousart.
52 min: Now it’s Fekir who has an attempt on goal but it’s turned away by Onana. Valbuena to take the corner for Lyon but it comes to nothing.
GOAL! Ajax 3-0 Lyon (Younes, 49 min)
Goal-line technology strikes! Ziyech plays it through to Younes, who puts it past the splayed-out keeper but it’s cleared off the line by a defender. But it’s given! That’s his fourth goal in 13 matches and he redeems himself for his poor miss just before half-time.
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46 min: Lyon pressing from the early going and immediately win a corner. Nothing comes from it and Ajax are on the counter.
The players are in the tunnel and the second half will be under way shortly. Ajax clearly have the upper hand, but all it would take is one away goal to throw the tie up for grabs!
Half-time: Ajax 2-0 Lyon
Ajax were rousted from a sluggish start and lead 2-0 thanks to goals from Traoré (in the 25th) and Dolberg (34th). The Dutch side are unbeaten in 12 European home games with wins in their last six. They’re 45 minutes away from making it seven.
44 min: Nearly 3-0 to Ajax! Younes was put through and was wide open in front of goal with only keeper Anthony Lopes to beat, but Lopes dives low and parries away the shot. Really poorly taken by Younes, who could (and should) have easily put Lyon out of sight in the first half of this one.
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41 min: Gonalons shown yellow for a foul on Tete. A clear yellow, that. Ajax then attack up the left flank but give away possession and Lyon are quick on the counter. Fekir tries to side-foot a shot on the run from close range but can’t really get a hold of it and it’s hauled in easily by Onana.
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39 min: Lyon’s Gonalons wins a free kick from Klaassen. A good position here for the visitors. A chance to cut the lead in half before the break? Alas, Valbuena’s effort is swung in directly into the waiting hands of Onana.
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36 min: Tousart’s effort on goal is parried away by Onana and Lyon win a corner. Valbuena takes it but it’s easily managed by the Ajax keeper. Ten minutes from half-time and the home fans are rocking, grateful to have survived a quite sloppy start to lead by a pair of goals.
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GOAL! Ajax 2-0 Lyon (Dolberg, 34 min)
The Danish teenager doubles Ajax’s pleasure! Possession was poorly given away by Lyon as Traore wins a header following a poor clearance by Lyon’s keeper and Dolberg clinically picks out the far corner for the second goal of the match.
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30 min: De Ligt shown yellow for a foul on Valbuena as the match creeps past the half-hour mark.
29 min: Two corners in quick succession for Ajax, who seem to have been stirred from their early slumber with the Traore goal. Nothing comes from either but they clearly have Lyon on the back foot now.
GOAL! Ajax 1-0 Lyon (Traoré, 25 min)
Ajax strike first! Their first opportunity off a set piece. Sanchez puts it into the area toward the far post and Traore, on loan from Chelsea, appears to just glance it into the goal. Or not? Unclear whether the goal belongs to Sanchez or Traore, but what’s important is Ajax are ahead.
Ajax's opening goal vs. Lyon came from their first cross of the game; Lyon had attempted 8 in that time.
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) May 3, 2017
Superb delivery from Hakim Ziyech. pic.twitter.com/2DAk0Px4uc
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24 min: Clattering challenge on Dolberg by Morel just outisde the area and Ajax will have a free kick from a dangeous position.
20 min: Neither side attacking to potential but Lyon’s constant pressure is doing more to disrupt the home side’s fluency through 20 minutes.
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17 min: The sides trade free kicks near the halfway line but neither have been able to break through for a clear attempt on goal, save for Cornet’s near miss in the 10th minute.
Also, at least one reader takes objection to the above header photo.
@BryanAGraham
— gerard neil (@GerardDNeil) May 3, 2017
Morel should get a straight Red for that photo.
Cleats up, waste high, knows what he's doing.
14 min: Gonalons wins a free kick from Dolberg, short-circuiting an Ajax attack. Crowd-pleasing, end-to-end action early on in Amsterdam!
12 min: A rapid Ajax counter ends when the 17-year-old De Ligt has a go from distance, but it’s easily corralled by the Lyon keeper.
11 min: Two corners by Lyon come to nothing and now it’s Ajax on the counter!
10 min: Excellent build-up for Lyon up the right flank and it’s crossed in by Tousart to an unmarked Cornet, whose shot from close range is turned away by Onana. A corner to Lyon.
8 min: Neither side have been able to mount a sustained attack, though Ajax have come closer, attempting to push forward with numbers just now before a long and inaccurate cross in the final third returned possession to Lyon.
5 min: What an atmosphere in this stadium! Fifty-four thousand fans in full throat, including an estimated 1,500 from the traveling Lyon contingent. A bit of feeling out early on from both sides in the middle third, but the first whistle of the match comes when Ajax’s Ziyech commits a foul on Lyon’s Nkoulou.
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1 min: And we’re off! Ajax attacking from left to right in their traditional white and red home kits, Lyon going right to left in all-black third strip.
The teams are on the pitch and we’ll be under way momentarily. And thanks to diligent readers Andrew Rogers and Piet Cammel, who have pointed out the Remembrance Day holiday is tomorrow and not today!
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Hello and welcome to tonight’s Europa League semi-final clash between Ajax and Lyon at Amsterdam Arena. Kickoff for tonight’s first leg, which falls on the Dutch national holiday for Remembrance of the Dead, is roughly 15 minutes away, so let’s dispense with the pleasantries and get right into it. Here’s a look at the teams:
Ajax
XI: Onana; Tete, Sanchez, De Ligt, Riedewald; Klaassen, Schone, Ziyech; Traore, Dolberg, Younes
Subs: Boer, Westermann, De Jong, Nouri, Van De Beek, Neres, Kluivert
Lyon
XI: Lopes; Jallet, N’Koulou, Diakhaby, Morel; Tousart, Gonalons, Tolisso; Cornet, Fekir, Valbuena
Subs: Gorgelin, Rafael, Yanga-Mbiwa, Ferri, Darder, Lacazette, Ghezzal
Bryan will be here shortly, in the meantime here’s Sid Lowe on Man Utd’s clash with Celta Vigo:
In the aftermath of Celta Vigo’s cancelled match with Real Madrid in February, when a storm ripped through the roof at their Balaídos stadium and accusations flew, their coach, Eduardo Berizzo, protested: “I still can’t make it rain.” No, some supporters suggested, but there is plenty you can do.
The team that beat Barcelona three years in a row, putting four past them the last two times they visited Vigo, had after all just deservedly knocked Madrid out of the Copa del Rey to reach the semi‑finals. Now they have reached a Europa League semi-final against Manchester United.
“To do anything, you have to imagine it first,” Berizzo insists and he says his players have convinced him that Celta can “do something important” – but few imagined this. Although they were defeated in the cup by Alavés, denied the chance to face Barcelona in the final just as happened last year when they had defeated Atlético Madrid but fell to Sevilla, this is some achievement.
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