Ajax women surprise at Arsenal and keep an eye on Champions League group stage

In the last preliminary round for the group stage of the Champions League for women, Ajax was half (more than) equal to Arsenal, but after the break the class difference came to light. Still, Ajax managed to pull out a 2-2 draw and it can return to Amsterdam with high hopes.

Ajax went to London as an absolute underdog. Arsenal is one of the biggest clubs in English women’s football and has won the national championship 15 times. In addition, Arsenal has Vivianne Miedema, who has played for . in 85 games The Gunners accounted for 72 goals.

Ajax only made it three times to the group stage of the Champions League. The last European adventure, in the 2020/2021 season, ended for the team from Amsterdam in the eighth finals. There was no chance of losing to Bayern Munich.

At the time against Bayern, Ajax was too impressed by the opponent. That was not the case on Tuesday evening in London. The team of the new coach Suzanne Bakker started brutally, was comfortable with the ball and became dangerous after five minutes via Victoria Pelova.

Arsenal did not know how to deal with the visitors in that opening phase. After twenty minutes, that resulted in the 0-1. Nadine Noordam hid the fast Chasity Grant and her cross was coolly tapped in by Romée Leuchter.

The goal against Arsenal shook things up for a while. The Londoners have an extremely dangerous attack with Miedema, Beth Mead and the Swedish Stina Blackstenius. That turned out to be the case with the 1-1, when Blackstenius shot a knocked-off corner behind keeper Lize Kop.

But Ajax continued to play very decent football after that. Ashleigh van Weerden, who came over from the French Montpellier in the summer, was a toe-length short at the second post to get the 1-2 inside.

It was only after the break that Ajax really struggled with Arsenal, which then showed themselves a lot sharper and more eager. Suddenly the difference in level came to light. The team from Amsterdam got away well when Stephanie Catley was not covered properly and shot the post. About five minutes later, the Brazilian Rafaelle Souza also hit the post.

It was simply impossible for Ajax to keep up and the 2-1 was inevitable. He fell from a penalty half an hour before time. Routinier Kim Little calmly pushed the ball behind Kop.

Ajax did not like it back. Even Pelova, who excelled in the first half, was no longer involved in midfield. But thanks to a bit of luck and a good defending Isa Cardinal, the damage was limited.

In the 83rd minute Ajax was suddenly rewarded for the hard work. The equalizer came out of nowhere when Leuchter scored her second goal of the evening after a strong dribble by Tiny Hoekstra.

With a good result in their pocket, Ajax is preparing for the return next Wednesday, although the game image from the second half will still be a cause for concern.