Amsterdam | March 9th 2027, many had hoped Ajax would pull another stunt after couragously desposing of Liverpool in the preliminary round of 16 in this season's UEFA Champions League. However, Pep Guardiola's Manchester City gave the Amsterdam side football class in the opening half of the game, which created a gap Ajax were never going to be able to close. The 1:5 end score has made the return little more than a formality.
After a brilliant first half of the season, in 2027 the Ajax football machine is starting to stutter and falter. Even though still undefeated, loss of points against Telstar, AZ Alkmaar and Feyenoord has given rivals PSV a fair shot to successfully defend their title. From that perspective, the European fixtures felt as a relief. Often the underdog, Ajax fought themselves to surprise wins against Liverpool, Napoli and hard-fought ties against Arsenal and AC Milan. This lead to a second confrontation against Liverpool which after a 2:2 draw away, was sealed with a well desrved 2:1 at home. Ajax seemed to fare well against English teams, which is why the fixture with Man City was met with a degree of expectation.
None of that came true on the night itself. Ajax was under a false impression it could be equal to the visitors for about ten minutes. Then Pep Guardiola's team stepped on the accelerator and left Ajax biting the dust, though the opening goal still had the impression of bad luck. Ajax-goalie Predrag Rajković bounced a long distance shot from Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki timed better his way to the air ball than direct opponent Mats Rots. But the 0:2 was not down to luck anymore: it was sheer class. Left winger Jérémy Doku dribbled Ajax-back Anton Gaaei crazy, cut inside and drew centre back Takehiro Tomiyasu towards him, which opened the gap for Rodri who chose the nearest corner for his 20-yard distant shot. But for Ajax the poison chalice wasn't empty just yet: the 0:3 went down the middle, like a knife through soft butter. This time Rodrid launched Tijjani Reinders who went deep. Youri Baas had his focus on Haaland which is why the accurate pass by Rodri put Reijnders 1-v-1 with Rajković - just before half time, the score reache 3:0 for the visitors.
Ajax-head coach Daniel Marzec clearly had an inspirational talk with his boys, because Ajax refused to bend over backwards and came out of half time reborn it seemed. After five minutes, an Ajax attack how Marzec had intended it, ended with a brilliant goal. Ringo Meerveld, serving as a false centre attacker, received the ball from 20 yards out. Where Rodri had chosen in the first half to shoot directly in the short corner, Meerveld curled it nicely passed Gianluigi Donnarumma from similar distance: 1:3.
"Our European adventure ends here, I'm afraid", Marec acknowledged early defeat, "a 1:5 home defeat isn't something we will able to brush away in Manchester next week. We gave it our all and we came utterly short." The coach immediately was looking for positives: "It does free us up to focus solely on winning the league now. We'll try to get another UEFA coefficient point or two and after that the focus will be fully on the handful of remaining domestic league games." Guardiola in true Pep-fashion had compliments for the team that his own just swept off the pitch: "They are truly a difficult team to play. This season we were better, but if their growth continues like this, I see in Ajax an outsider for the Champions League trophy next season."
I've been thinking about going after him with Sheffield United.