Villeneuve-d'Ascq (AFP)

Ajax Amsterdam overthrew Lille at the very end of the match (2-1) and took a big step towards qualifying for the knockout stages of the Europa League on Thursday at the Pierre-Mauroy Stadium.

The Dutch, superior to the Northerners, recorded a logical but cruel victory for Losc, who opened the scoring against the run of the game by Timothy Weah (73rd).

Accustomed to European games, the Batavians spoke of their experience to return to the score on a very generous penalty scored by Dusan Tadic (87th), before taking the advantage by Brian Brobbey (90th).

A year and a half after two one-sided confrontations in the Champions League (3-0, 2-0), the Mastiffs, who had yet competed in the game last season, this time seemed far from the level of Ajax .

The leader of L1 has never managed to put the leader of the Dutch championship in difficulty.

To counter the well-run 4-3-3 of the Amstellodamois, Christophe Galtier had reserved a small surprise in his 4-4-2 with the tenure of Weah at the position of right midfielder, behind an attack composed of Jonathan David and Yusuf Yazici.

After a balanced first quarter of an hour, the Batavians got their hands on the match and confiscated the ball, forcing Lille to run a lot to try to recover it.

- Decisive Maignan -

Logically, the men of Erik ten Hag created dangerous situations, in particular through the Brazilian Antony, whose strikes were captured by Mike Maignan (23rd, 37th).

The northerner goalkeeper was especially illustrated by repelling magnificently, like a handball goalkeeper, the recovery at close range of the left winger ajacid (28th).

Deprived of balls, Lille experienced the worst difficulties in approaching the opposing penalty area, and when they did, the defenders cleared the balloons, like this center back against Jonathan Bamba (43rd) or a superb tackle from Daley Blind in the box in front of Weah (45th).

After the break, the same scenario happened again with the Dutch who quickly jostled Mastiffs overwhelmed by the opposing technical mastery.

Davy Klaassen has secured no less than three chances in three minutes!

He was initially too short of nothing on a deep ball from Lisandro Martinez (47th), then he missed his gesture in the area (48th), before being narrowly preceded by Maignan (49th).

Then it was Blind, author of a very large performance, who sent his volley over (64th), while David Neres shot the bar after an intervention by Maignan in the feet of Klaassen (66th) .

- Severe penalty -

Arch-dominated, the Losc nevertheless managed to open the scoring on its first situation, taking advantage of an opposing error.

Pressed by Zeki Celik, who had been launched by newcomer Luiz Araujo, Nicolas Tagliafico did not support his back pass enough and Weah slipped the ball between the legs of Maarten Stekelenburg (1-0, 73rd).

Ajax then rushed into the attack, but without succeeding in really worrying the Lille defense.

Until a very severe penalty whistled for a fault by Renato Sanches on Tagliafico.

Solicited by the VAR, the referee consulted the images and confirmed his first judgment despite the northern protests.

Tadic then did not tremble to equalize (1-1, 87th).

And in the process, Brobbey, served by Klaassen, offered victory to his family by winning his face to face with Maignan (1-2, 90th).

A very cruel outcome but quite logical for the Mastiffs, who will now have to achieve a huge feat in Amsterdam in a week to see the round of 16.

© 2021 AFP