Thursday, May 13, 2021 at 4:23 PM• Jeroen van Poppel • Last update: 16:39

VVV-Venlo will play permanently in the Kitchen Champion Division from next season. The team from Venlo went to visit national champions Ajax with a 3-1 loss and can no longer avert relegation due to the victories of Willem II and FC Emmen. Devyne Rensch, Sébastien Haller and Mohammed Kudus took care of the Amsterdam hits; in between, Giorgios Giakoumakis did something in return on behalf of VVV.

VVV was pushed back from the first whistle by Ajax, which started with clear attacking intentions. Sébastien Haller tapped wide in the opening phase after a low cross from Devyne Rensch and saw a promising attempt a moment later blocked by Arjan Swinkels. A beautiful attack led to the opening goal in the tenth minute. Davy Klaassen cut the ball through to David Neres, who in turn offered a ticker to Devyne Rensch: 1-0.

The team from Venlo seemed ripe for the slaughter, but after the opening goal, the team from Amsterdam seemed to slow down a bit. Klaassen was released for Thorsten Kirschbaum after a high depth ball from Oussama Idrissi. The number ten of Ajax took well but could not get the ball past the goalkeeper. On the other side, VVV had a good chance. Giorgios Giakoumakis was able to continue from the right after an unintentional bounce with his opponent Lisandro Martínez and ran into Maarten Stekelenburg’s feet. A disappointment for Ajax was Klaassen’s withdrawal on the stroke of half time after a hit by Arjan Swinkels.

Shortly after the break Ajax had to continue with ten men. Kenneth Taylor, who had come on for Klaassen, was sent off with a red card in the 54th minute after a tackle on Danny Post’s lower leg. It did not bother Ajax, because shortly afterwards Haller handily tapped the ball over Swinkels in the penalty area and to score acrobatically: 2-0.

VVV got a good chance in the final phase via Jafar Arias, who saw his header cleverly turned by Stekelenburg. In the 77th minute, the Limbugers still managed to make the tying goal. The ball after a corner kick, fortunately for the feet of Giakoumakis, who slid in: 2-1. VVV was not allowed to dream of a stunt for a long time, because Kudus placed the ball hard in the bottom corner from outside the penalty area a minute later: 3-1. Haller got another huge chance, but fired at Kirschbaum from close range.

No. Team M. W. G. V. +/- Pnt
1 Ajax 33 27 4 2 77 85
2 PSV 33 21 8 4 39 71
3 AZ 33 20 8 5 29 68
4 Vitesse 33 18 7 8 16 61
5 Feyenoord 33 15 11 7 25 56
6 FC Utrecht 33 13 13 7 11 52
7 Fc Groningen 33 14 8 11 4 50
8 Sparta Rotterdam 33 12 8 13 0 44
9 Heracles Almelo 33 12 8 13 -6 44
10 Fortuna Sittard 33 12 5 16 -7 41
11 sc Heerenveen 33 9 12 12 -5 39
12 FC Twente 33 9 11 13 -3 38
13 PEC Zwolle 33 8 11 14 -10 35
14 RKC Waalwijk 33 7 9 17 -19 30
15 Willem II 33 7 7 19 -29 28
16 FC Emmen 33 6 9 18 -32 27
17 VVV Venlo 33 6 5 22 -44 23
18 Ado den Haag 33 4 10 19 -46 22