Bayern Munich 1-1 Ajax
Underdogs Ajax put up a fine performance at the Allianz Stadium tonight to take a well-deserved Champions League point back home to Holland.
Niko Kovac had demanded more from his team after a couple of disappointing results, and an early goal from Mats Hummels seemed to have Bayern on their way. But Noussair Mazraoui’s equaliser gave the Dutch confidence and in the end, they were well worth a draw.
FC Bayern are one of the tournament favourites according to Champions League 2018 odds, but on this showing, Ajax too will have high hopes of making the knockout stages. And then…who knows?
Highlights of the game
Bayern came into this game on the back of a Bundesliga defeat to Hertha Berlin, and that had clearly stung the champions as they came out all guns blazing. Franck Ribery fired just wide with two minutes on the clock, and Arjen Robben forced a fine save from Ajax keeper Andre Onana.
But the Dutch defence was breached on four minutes when Robben turned provider with a free-kick opportunity, crossing for Mats Hummels to head his first goal in a year, low into the corner.
This was a daunting enough task for Erik ten Hag’s young team before, and now they had a mountain to climb, but they responded well. Striker Dusan Tadic arrived in the summer from Southampton to provide some pace and guile up front, and he tried his luck on 17 minutes but shot over.
Young midfielder Donny van de Beek put in Hakim Ziyech, and his shot was saved low in the corner. And then Ajax stunned the Allianz Arena, on 22 minutes, when Tadic put a perfect through ball in for Noussair Mazraoui to fire past Manuel Neuer and into the net.
Javi Martinez came close to restoring Bayern’s lead almost immediately, but his shot from distance fizzed narrowly wide. The midfielder had a busy few minutes, heading over when he should have done better and then collecting a yellow card for a poor challenge on Ziyech.
Hummels had another chance from a dead-ball kick, but this time he headed David Alaba’s corner over the bar. And when Ajax had a corner on the stroke of halftime, Matthijs de Ligt headed wide.
After matching their hosts with an accomplished first-half performance, Ajax made the first attack of the second and Manuel Neuer had to get down smartly to save from Tadic. The former Saints man then put Nicolas Tagliafico in, but he shot straight at the Bayern stopper.
Kovac decided to ring the changes on the hour, bringing on James Rodriguez in place of Robben, and his first action was to foul the lively Tadic. Then he got to work in attack, crossing for Robert Lewandowski who headed over.
Ajax continued to play their part, van de Beek shooting just wide from a Daley Blind-headed pass.
James brought another good save from Onana with a low drive, and then his all-action cameo continued with a yellow card for a nasty foul on Tagliafico.
As the minutes ticked away, Ajax began to sit a little deeper. Thomas Muller had a good chance for the hosts, heading inches over from a Joshua Kimmich cross. But ten Hag’s men saw the game out and came close to a winner when Lasse Schone fired towards the top corner only to see Neuer make the save.
Key statistics
Plenty of pundits, I included, saw this as a men-against-boys clash with SBOBET odds of 14.00 on an away win, which were halved by the break. Ten Hag’s team had a good share of the first half with 46 per cent possession and six shots to Bayern’s seven.
By the final whistle, Ajax had 15 shots to Bayern’s 17, but Neuer was the busier keeper as the visitors had seven shots on target to their hosts’ four.
The most surprising statistic of the night is that Kovac’s Bundesliga champions have now gone three games without a win!
What’s next?
The Champions League 2018 updates from Athens revealed a thrilling win for Benfica, but Ajax and Bayern sit first and second in Group E.
Ajax welcome Benfica to the Johan Cruyff Stadium in Amsterdam in the next round, but back in the Eredivisie they continue their pursuit of PSV, with six points to make up on the top team, when fifth=placed AZ Alkmaar come to town.
Bayern have another tough test in the Bundesliga this weekend when fourth-placed Borussia Monchengladbach are the visitors, before heading to Athens to take on pointless AEK.
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