Haller writes Champions League history with Ajax’s victory over Besiktas

Tuesday, September 28, 2021 at 20:34• Chris Meijer • Last update: 20:42

Ajax also turned its second group match in the Champions League into a victory. Besiktas was defeated 2-0 in the Johan Cruijff ArenA, by goals from Steven Berghuis and Sébastien Haller. The latter set a Champions League record with his goal, as he is the first player ever to score five goals after two games in the billion-dollar ball. After two victories, Ajax is currently in the lead in Group C, although Borussia Dortmund can tie in points later in the evening with a home win over Sporting Portugal.

Trainer Erik ten Hag made no changes to his line-up compared to the 3-0 win against FC Groningen, which meant that Berghuis was still preferred over Davy Klaassen as an attacking midfielder. For colleague Sergen Yalçin it was a puzzle for the visit to Amsterdam, because he had to miss no fewer than eleven players – including Domagoj Vida, Atiba Hutchinson and Miralem Pjanic. Michy Batshuayi was present at Besiktas, while former Feyenoord player Oguzhan Özyakup started on the bench. The first danger came after a minute, when a shot from Ryan Gravenberch went straight at goalkeeper Ersin Destanoglu.

The first serious chance, however, was for the visitors. Kenan Karaman found Batshuayi, who cleverly ran away and hit the post after searching the far corner. It didn’t settle Ajax, because after Antony’s shot went just wide, the team from Amsterdam took the lead early in the match. With seventeen minutes on the clock, Dusan Tadic came out in the penalty area after a nice play on the left side of the field, where he managed to put the ball wide on Berghuis. He passed Destanoglu and gave Ajax the lead.

After the opening goal, Besiktas barely got involved. Through a header from Haller turned by Destanoglu and a life-size opportunity for Tadic, Ajax already handed out warnings, before the margin was doubled shortly before half time. A cross from Berghuis reached Haller, who reached the near post in front of Serdar Saatci and worked the ball against the ropes with his thigh and help from his opponent. This made Haller the first player ever to score five goals after two Champions League matches, having already scored four times in the first group match against Sporting Portugal (1-5 win).

Yalcin intervened at halftime by bringing in Özyakup and Gokhan Töre for Ridvan Yilmaz and Salih Ucan, leaving him with only youth players on the reserve bench. Little changed in the game initially and the first big chance of the second half went to Haller, whose header was whipped out of the goal by Destanoglu. Ajax then sank, however, and after more than an hour of play, Besiktas seemed to take advantage of that with the connecting goal. Referee Benoît Bastien, however, disallowed that goal due to a nudge from Karaman towards Jurriën Timber.

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After a header from Haller had gone over, Ten Hag brought in David Neres and Klaassen as replacements for Antony and Berghuis. In the remainder of the second half, Ajax kept the duel under control relatively easily. A swab from Neres almost gave a wider margin, but Destanoglu managed to keep the score at 2-0. For Ajax, Borussia Dortmund will be the next opponent in the Champions League in three weeks in the Johan Cruijff ArenA. Besiktas will then receive a visit from Sporting Portugal.