Defeat of Dynamo Kyiv, Karabakh success and Ajax tie syndrome: results of matches of the 3rd round of the Champions League qualification

The new look of Ajax and Promes on the bench

The third round of the Champions League qualification is noteworthy not only because of the debut of Krasnodar in the main club tournament of the Old World. The day before the upcoming Kuban game on the football fields of Europe, five matches were held. In one of the most anticipated of them, Ajax met with PAOK, which won the gold of the Greek championship for the first time in 34 years.

One of the main issues was the current state of the Dutch team. Last season, Ajax became one of the main sensations of the tournament and reached the semifinals, beating Real Madrid and Juventus. But in the summer, the team immediately lost two leaders in the person of Matthews de Ligt and Frankie de Jong, who went to Turin and Barcelona, ​​respectively. Thus, Eric ten Hag had to quickly rebuild the game of his team and find an adequate replacement for the young stars. So far, there are obvious problems with this, as evidenced by a draw with Vitesse headed by Leonid Slutsky in the first round of the Dutch championship.

In light of this, the Dutch club did a serious job in the transfer market, inviting seven new players at once. At the same time, the most expensive acquisition was Spartak's ex-midfielder Quincy Promes, for the purchase of which Ajax broke up from € 15.7 million (according to Transfermarkt). It is all the more remarkable that in the guest game with PAOK the midfielder never played a single minute.

In general, the meeting at the Tumba stadium showed that the “sons of God” are still a strong team, which is able to prove themselves in the upcoming tournament. The wards of ten Hag looked noticeably more active than their rivals and already in the tenth minute the midfielder of the guests Hakim Ziyekh hit the gate of Alexandros Paschalakis. The Moroccan took the free-kick, but the ball ended up in the net without touching any of the players.

However, the ending of the first half showed that Ajax did not learn how to keep the advantage in the long run. In just seven minutes, he allowed the reigning champion of Greece to hit his goal twice, both times after serving on horseback. The absence of de Ligt in the penalty area was skillfully used first by Chuba Akp, and then by Leo Matos, who “shot” Andre Onanu.

In the second half, ten Hag's team demonstrated the will to win and completely outplayed their opponent. So, in the second 45 minutes, the Dutch delivered six times as many shots on goal (12: 2) and four more shots on target (4: 0). By this time, the mentor had already released on the field veteran Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who was destined to become one of the main characters of the meeting. The forward put his foot under the unsuccessful take-out to Fernando Varela and restored the status quo.

Thus, Huntelaar himself scored his 11th goal and took second place in terms of the number of goals for Ajax in 2019. Donnie van de Beck has the same number, and Dushan Tadic (20 goals) leads in this indicator. In addition, the Dutch team has extended its unbeaten run in the confrontation with the Greek teams, which currently has nine matches.

One shot on goal Dynamo and a goal from the penalty kick of Brugge

Another interesting event took place at the Jan Breidel Stadium, where the local Brugge hosted Dynamo Kyiv. Both teams quite often appear in the main club tournament of the continent. So, a year ago, the Belgians took third place in Quartet A. The Black-and-Blue went around Monaco, but could not compete with the Dortmund Borussia and Atlético.

As for the Ukrainians, the last time they turned out to be among the participants in the championship in the 2016/17 season, but then they took fourth place in the group with Napoli, Benfica and Besiktas. After that, the Kiev football players tried twice to break into the Champions League, but both times flew out during the qualification. Two years ago, they were defeated by the Young Boys in the third round, and last year they lost to Ajax.

The current campaign for a ticket to the group stage did not start very well for them either. In 90 minutes, the wards of Alexander Khatskevich could not find the keys to the defense of the opponent. For the entire match, they delivered 11 shots on goal of Simon Mignole, but only one of them reached the target. Artyom Besedin powerfully attached himself to the ball, but the ex-goalkeeper of Liverpool managed to cope.

“Club Brugge” acted in the attack a little more collected, and the key moment of the meeting occurred in the 37th minute. Alexander Karavaev violated the rules in his own penalty area, and the chief referee Javier Estrada Fernandez pointed to the “point”. Hans Vanaken, who recently entered the sphere of interests of the Moscow Spartak, approached her. The midfielder confidently spread the goalkeeper and the ball in different angles and opened the scoring.

Subsequently, Dynamo could equalize, but at the right time, luck turned its back on his players. At first, Gerson Rodriguez, who replaced during the break, had an excellent chance to restore parity, but the defender hit the ball after it was hit. And then Carlos de Pena missed a great moment, having struck heavily past.

Sensation from “Karabakh” and APOEL prestige goal

One of the main sensations of the game day in the Champions League was the performance of "Karabakh", which was the only one who was able to achieve victory on the road. Azerbaijanis did not hesitate before the Cyprus champion APOEL and approached their return to the group competition tournament.

In the 2014/15 season, “Karabakh” made its debut in the main stage of the Europa League for the first time in its history and since then has never been left without European cups. At the same time, the most successful season “horses” spent two years ago, when they won the right to play in the Champions League. Wards of Gurban Gurbanov took the last, fourth place, but managed to please their fans by taking away points from the formidable Atlético twice.

As for APOEL, the Cypriots last played in the Champions League in the same year as “Karabakh”. The team fell into the "death group" along with "Real", "Tottenham" and "Borussia" from Dortmund and, as expected, took fourth place.

The first half turned out to be quite equal, and both teams had several good moments to score. At the same time, the hosts were a little closer, who, during one attack, were marked by a dangerous blow, and had the right to claim a penalty. Moussa Al-Tamari was on the lawn after contact with Marcos Michel, but the referee found his fall too picturesque.

After the break, “Karabakh” accelerated its pace and hit the opponent’s goal twice in 16 minutes. At first, Mahir Emreli took advantage of the sluggishness of the defenders and easily sent the ball into the net, and then Magaye Geye closed the cross from the flank. APOEL was only able to play one goal and maintain the intrigue. In the fifth compensated minute, Giorgos Merkis powerfully struck his head after a corner kick and left the team with chances of reaching the next round of the qualifying tournament.