A painful end to the European fairy tale: Nino Žugelj had the advancement on his foot, but Ajax progressed to the round of sixteen despite an unconvincing performance
Photo: Bodo/Glimt
It was a very hot and dramatic match in Norway, where the teams of the local Bodo Glimt and Ajax faced each other in the return leg of the round of 16 playoff in the conference league. This season, Ajax is far from its former glory.
The home team, which will start its national championship matches in early April, had control throughout the match but still succumbed for the first time in the 34th minute. The visiting captain, Steven Berghuis, scored from the only shot on target in the regular part of the match.
A few moments after returning to the field, Josip Šutalo went to the locker room due to a rough foul and a received red card, providing the hosts with an additional advantage under immense pressure. However, less than twenty minutes later, the number of players on both sides was evened as Albert Gronbaek received his second yellow card. Five minutes later, Nino Žugelj seized his opportunity, clashing with the visiting goalkeeper Diant Ramaj in the 79th minute after a collision. This scuffle apparently provided some additional motivation for the home team, as Bodo’s players equalized four minutes later after a goal by Patrick Berg from the edge of the penalty area. Before the end of regular time, the net of the Dutch team shook once again, as the Slovenian representative initiated the action on the right side, and ultimately, the ball ended up behind the goal line after a shot by Ulrik Saltnes. However, the goal was disallowed due to an offside position. Then came the extra time.
😳😳😳😳😳😰😰😰😰😰 pic.twitter.com/sHbzumvAaY
— Fútbol Noruego (@NoruegArg) February 22, 2024
In the 6th minute of extra time, we witnessed the most beautiful opportunity of the match, which unfortunately remained unexploited. Nino Žugelj managed to dribble past the visiting goalkeeper Ramaj and found himself in front of the empty goal, but in excessive momentum, he lacked some much-needed precision to become the hero of the match.
The hosts wasted this opportunity, and the guests managed to capitalize on it in the 114th minute when the winning goal was scored by Kenneth Taylor. The home team tried to force the match into at least penalty shootouts and came very close to it just before the end when Adam Sorensen hit the crossbar from a free-kick, but despite complete dominance on the field, they ran out of time.
This text was automatically translated using AI.
Author: editorial Football Planet
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