In the Eden Arena of Prague, Ajax have secured additional European games for themselves. The Amsterdam side will at least be among the 24 best teams and are currently in 5th. If Ajax remain in the top 8, they'd skip the preliminary round of 16 and jump to the actual round of 16 straight away.
Things didn't start smoothly in Czechia. Where home team Slavia really made an effort, Ajax appeared a bit lackluster, similar to the domestic league game against Heracles Almelo as if hibernation kicked in early. It was indeed a momentary lapse of absence that gave Slavia the lead: Takehiro Tomiyasu couldn't quite control the ball and subsequently lost it to Tomás Chorý near the Ajax-goal of Predrag Rajkovic. The Czech striker didn't fail: 1-0.
But scoring against Ajax, is like waking up the dragon: within minutes Ajax switched on and displayed full pressure high up the pitch with the opponent soon buckling under the pressure. Striker Kasper Dolberg came into the ball and opened up for Mika Godts on the left flank with acres of space. The Belgian winger had plenty of time to set, aim and shoot and five minutes after the surprising Slavia lead, Ajax had already equalized.
And if Ajax were sloppy in the opening phase, Slavia was more towards haftime. Leftback Stepán Chaloupek lost the ball to the ferociously hunting Kian Fitz-Jim, who saw Kasper Dolberg moving freely towards goal. The pass by Fitz-Jim was on point, the shot by Dolberg was accurate, the score was 1-2 in favour of Ajax!
The second half could've seen Ajax walking all over Slavia, but Maher Carrizo who had three one-on-one opportunities failed in all of them: the first was turned by Slavia-goalie Jindrich Stanek, the second hit the post, while the third went an inch wide. The misses kept Slavia in the game until the 86th minute, when Dolberg struck again: his sixth in six Champions League games.
In 2027, Ajax are playing to stay in the top 8. First a visit to Benfica on January 20th, while finishing the group stage at home against AC Milan a week later.
