Following the announcement of Ajax’s Champions League playoff fixture with Apoel Nicosia, Ajax was viewed as a clear favorite going forward. Unfortunately for the Dutch Eredivisie side, they were unable to find the back of the net on the night, with the match ending in a goalless draw.
While their Cypriot hosts managed to create a decent amount of scoring opportunities – 11 in total – it was Ajax who dominated proceedings, with a grandiose portion of 71% ball possession throughout the 90 minutes.
The Dutch outfit came close to scoring on a number of occasions, yet ultimately lacked the firepower needed to grab the three points. It was the Cypriot underdogs who almost pulled off an upset in the last half hour of play when Andrija Pavlovic headed the ball into the crossbar.
Ajax manager Erik ten Hag had this to say following the full-time whistle: “You have to bring good results in such competitions and we did. We started well but we became inpatient and restless”.
He then elaborated by saying, “We have the quality to improve our opportunities. We had four or five good opportunities tonight. We have to work on this every day. And above all remain calm in our heads.”
