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Ajax pulled off this year’s biggest upset in the UEFA Champions League after knocking Juventus out from the quarter-final stage. The Dutch side crashed Juventus 2-1 on the night and 3-2 on aggregate and secured a berth in the semi-finals. Although in paper, it might look like an upset but in reality, the Dutch side really deserved to go through combining their performance in both legs.
Ajax came into this tie after a tightly fought 1-1 draw back at Amsterdam on the 10th of April. However, just like last Wednesday, Juventus ace Ronaldo broke the deadlock for the old lady as the Portuguese superstar’s nicely timed header find the back of the net from a Juventus corner on the 28th minute.
However, Ajax came roaring back and got the much-deserved equalizer on the 34th minute mark after a pinball situation in the Juve box from which van de Beek made no mistake of gliding the ball past Szczęsny as the first half ended 1-1 at Turin.
After the restart, both Juventus and Ajax missed great opportunities to put their nose in front in the tie. But it was Ajax’s 20-year-old captain Matthijs de Ligt who put the away side in the lead for the first time in the tie after his towering header from an Ajax corner.
After knocking the defending champions, Real Madrid out in the round of sixteen stage, Ajax scalped another European heavyweight in the quarters. This will be Ajax’s first the semi-final appearance in the UEFA Champions League since 1996-97 season.
Ajax will face either of Manchester City or Tottenham in the semi-final as both English sides will battle it out in today’s other quarter-final return leg tie at the Etihad.
However, Juventus’s misery in the Champions League continues even after signing Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid back in the summer.
Here is how Twitter reacted after Ajax’s historical comeback.
