Ajax impressed the international media on Tuesday evening. With a 4-2 victory over Sporting Portugal, Ajax concluded the group stage of the Champions League with a perfect score: eighteen points from six matches. Abroad, there are mainly praising sounds about Sébastien Haller, who already scored ten goals in the billion-dollar ball this season. The striker can call himself the player who needed the least number of games to reach ten goals in the Champions League.
“Rúben Amorim’s men came back in the first half, but it turned out to be short-lived that Sporting was in the game. Ajax was much better, created much more and took distance after Antony’s goal. He is experiencing an explosive season after last summer’s Olympics.” ASH. Their compatriots from Sport speak of the ‘faultless machine of Ten Hag’. “Sporting will undoubtedly pray to see Haller, his teammates or Ten Hag again. They continue to convince and win.”
marca Ajax calls a ‘steam roller’. “Only Liverpool and perhaps Bayern will experience such a perfect group stage in the Champions League as Ajax,” says Spain’s best-selling sports newspaper. The Italian La Gazzetta dello Sport speaks of an Amsterdam ‘goal machine’, which only really came loose in the second half. From England, most of the attention goes to Haller. ‘Haller equals Cristiano Ronaldo’s record’, headlines the Daily Mail. He is now the first player to score in all six group matches along with Cristiano Ronaldo.
West Ham flop Sebastien Haller equals Cristiano Ronaldo record, so does the Daily Express. “The Ten Hag men won their group, thanks to Haller’s goals. Impressive, considering they trumped Sporting and Borussia Dortmund. Haller’s performance has not gone unnoticed, as he has already been linked with a departure from Ajax,” writes the English tabloid. Also L’Equipe specifically points to the role of the ‘essential’ Haller.
“Let’s not forget that this season he is on his journey of discovery in the Champions League,” says the French sports newspaper, which also talks about ‘turning top’ Antony and the ‘lively’ David Neres. The German kicker was impressed by the pace of the match between Ajax and Sporting, despite the fact that both teams were already certain of their place in the group. The newspapaer outlines the difference between the income of Ajax and Club Brugge from the Champions League after the group stage.
“Club Brugge’s European season has come to an end after the 4-1 defeat against PSG. Blauw-Zwart has more than 33 million euros left over from its Champions League campaign. However, that is not even half of the income that Dutch champion Ajax has already insured for”, according to the Belgian newspaper. The last news and sporza talking about a perfect group stage for Ajax. “Ajax has played a unique group stage with 18 out of 18”, concludes sporza. “It also did that with impressive football, many goals and few goals against.”