'flood to tCMligllt
S3 and 4-4 on aggregate, it was game on with all equal
on away goals and everything to play for,
However, the Ajax celebrations had barely had
time to cool down when Schaub struck again for
Rapid just two minutes later leaving the Dutch side
just 13 minutes to score the two goals they would
need to progress,
Alas, it proved too steep a hill and Rapid won 3-2
on the night and 5-4 on aggregate leaving Ajax
parachuting into the UEFA Europa League,
The play-offs paired the Dutch giants with
FKJablonec from the Czech Republic (who had
beaten Copenhagen on away goals after a 3-3 draw
in the third qualifying round) with the first leg going
ahead at the Amsterdam ArenA on August 20 and it
proved to be a pretty tight affair.
It was all-square until nine minutes after the break
when jablonec defender, Vit Benes was booked for
fouling Davy Klaassen in the box and Milik stuck
away the spot kick for the only goal of the game,
The next game went ahead a week later at the
Strelnice Stadion in Jablonec nad Nisou and, like
Ajax's previous second leg, was another nail-biter -
but without the goals to show for all the drama,
And, just as in the first leg, there was penalty
action soon after the turnaround, but not for Ajax
this time as Jairo Riedewald gave away a foul in
the box and the defender had good reason to thank
Jasper Cillessen for what happened next.
The keeper saved the spot-kick by Slovakian
midfielder Jan Gregus to boost the hopes of Ajax
but just a minute later, Dutch midfielder Riechedly
Bazoer was sent off for a second yellow card, leaving
Ajax to play for half-an-hour with 10 men,
The game went into four minutes overtime but
Ajax held out to go through to the group stages
where they would team up with Fenerbahce, Molde
and, of course, Celtic in Group A,
And Ajax's first involvement in the group stage
action was also Celtic's as the Hoops made their way
to the Amsterdam ArenA to kick off the sectional
games and it was the visitors who drew first blood as
Nir Bitton rifled in a shot from the edge from the box
to put Celtic 1-0 up in the eighth minute.
