On Sunday afternoon, Ajax managed to turn their first game of the new Eredivisie season into a victory. Due to an early red card by Nicolás Tagliafico, the Amsterdam team played one hour less with one man against Sparta Rotterdam, but still won 0-1. The debuting Antony was finally the celebrated man with the sole purpose of the afternoon. Due to the narrow victory, Ajax is currently in sixth place, while Sparta is in thirteenth place.

Despite the recent moment of shock, Daley Blind appeared in the practice match against Hertha BSC on behalf of Ajax during the kick-off for the season. Antony and Zakaria Labyad, among others, joined the central defender who started at the point of attack. On the Sparta side, there was even room for three debutants, with Michael Heylen, Lennart Thy and goalkeeper Benjamin van Leer. The latter was taken over by Ajax earlier this summer. The visitors created some modest opportunities in the opening phase by Dusan Tadic and Quincy Promes, among others, but they did not manage to get Van Leer into serious trouble.

On the other hand, things immediately went wrong for Ajax in the first dangerous outburst of Sparta when Tagliafico launched an attack on Mohamed Rayhi after penetrating from Thy and thus getting the ball on his hand. Because the Argentine was the last defender, the incident was punished by the referee Jochem Kamphuis with a red pressure. Ten Hag intervened after the exclusion of Tagliafico by putting Labyad aside and bringing in Sergiño Dest as the new defender.

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In the ensuing phase, in which Sparta thought it could take advantage of the man-more situation, it was Ajax who took the lead through Antony. A shot from about twenty meters from the debutant was too powerful for Van Leer after the ball received an unexpected bounce from the artificial turf field at Het Kasteel. The goalkeeper then took good action just before half-time after a good chance for Tadic, which limited the damage to 0-1. Henk Fraser intervened at half-time by bringing in Danzell Gravenberch and Emanuel Emegha for Thy and Deroy Duarte and in the opening phase of the second half most of the ball possession was for the home side.

However, this did not lead to great chances and it was Quincy Promes who was allowed to play for just over ten minutes after the restart of the match. Not much later, substitute Gravenberch made a shot between the posts, but his role was an easy prey for André Onana. More than twenty minutes before the end, the situation for Ajax seemed awful after a suspected handball from Gravenberch in the penalty area. After consultation with the VAR, however, Kamphuis did not agree, which left the danger for the Amsterdammers.

Fifteen minutes before the time, David Neres, who had been sidelined for a long time due to a knee injury, was allowed to make his entry instead of compatriot Antony, and the attacker was almost face to face with Van Leer five minutes later. However, due to a good tackle from Heylen, the margin remained just one goal, and so it remained exciting in the final phase. Fraser tried to stir things up by bringing in newcomer Tom Beugelsdijk in the last seven minutes of regular playing time plus injury time as a hijacker. Even with the original central defender within the line, Sparta no longer succeeded.