Ajax has no control over the achievement of the national title this weekend. The team from Amsterdam could celebrate the championship party against AZ if they beat FC Utrecht on Thursday evening, but that did not happen: 1-1. As a result, PSV will have to lose points in the weekend against FC Groningen and Ajax will have to win. Ajax fell behind early due to a penalty from Simon Gustafson. After the break, a goal by Davy Klaassen was disallowed for alleged offside, after which Edson Álvarez determined the final score.
Erik ten Hag awarded a starting spot to Mohammed Kudus in the match against his old club, who relieved Klaassen in midfield. It was Kudus’s first starting spot in the Eredivisie since March 7. Ajax looked impotent in the first half and fell behind in the thirteenth minute. Nicolás Tagliafico committed a foul on Gyrano Kerk in the penalty area. The left back started his sliding too late, did not hit the ball and saw how referee Allard Lindhout pointed to the spot after watching the images. Gustafson used the penalty cold-blooded. He hit the bottom left corner; Maarten Stekelenburg dived the other way.
Utrecht kept the rows in the back tightly closed for the remainder of the first half. Ajax could no longer create many serious opportunities. In minute 33, David Neres was released in the penalty area after a flick from Kudus. He wanted to serve Dusan Tadic on his left side, but Joris van Overeem put a stop to that. In the second instance, Neres did not get the ball past goalkeeper Eric Oelschlägel from a difficult angle. In the same minute, the keeper tapped the ball under the crossbar after a headbutt from Sébastien Haller and so it stayed at 0-1 in the first half.
Eight minutes after the break, Adam Maher was close to 0-2: a spinning free kick from the midfielder just sailed past the post. Moments after that, Klaassen, in minute 56, seemed to have come in for Kudus, to take care of the tying run. However, the midfielder would have been offside when served by Edson Álvarez. It was by no means clear from the television images that there was offside, but the VAR supported the linesman’s decision to raise the flag. Incidentally, a goal by Gyrano Kerk was also disallowed in the first half due to offside.
Halfway through the second half, Álvarez headed on the crossbar after preparatory work by Dusan Tadic, but a few minutes later he took the equalizer. Tadic was again the declarer after an action on the left flank; this time Álvarez already dropped the ball in. Ajax then started the hunt for the winning goal. Oelschlägel barely kept a header from Klaassen from his goal. Arbiter Lindhout added five minutes to the match, but Ajax was unable to take over the game in that as well. The club thus again lost points in the competition, after five consecutive victories.