According to Jurriën Timber, Ajax can count itself lucky that Besiktas did not bring the tension back into the match in the second company. The Turks scored via Kenan Karaman, but referee Benoît Bastien noted a pushing error by the attacker in relation to Timber prior to the goal, after which the goal was disallowed. According to the defender of Ajax, it could go either way, he said after the 2-0 win against Ajax TV.
At the time of the conscious action, Ajax was leading 2-0 and there seemed to be no problem for Erik ten Hag’s team, until Besiktas scored out of the blue via Karaman. Before the Turkish striker had finished, however, Bastien already whistled the attack. “I have yet to see it again, I have no idea,” Timber said Ajax TV on the disallowed goal after more than an hour of play. “The referee whistled pretty quickly before the goal fell. I wasn’t afraid it was a goal, because he already whistled, but he couldn’t have whistled just like that.”
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Analysts Wesley Sneijder, Jan Boskamp and Rafael van der Vaart also saw little in the action of the Turk. “Imagine it will be 2-1…”, Boskamp said in the studio of RTL7. “It’s a push to the side, a push on the shoulder,” Sneijder adds. “If he doesn’t whistle and let the action continue, you get a VAR check and normally the goal isn’t disallowed.” Bee Ziggo Sports Van der Vaart comes to the same conclusion. “I don’t know what the ref saw, but he whistled before he started shooting. Normally you wait a while before he goes in. I didn’t find anything wrong here, to be honest.”
Despite this, according to Timber, Ajax deserved to win the game. “We were on top of it from the first minute and created chances,” Timber continues. “The attackers can trust that we will connect and play straight forward when they have had a chance. I really enjoy these kinds of matches, also the preparation. There is more to it and everyone is talking about it too, so for me It’s fun. I’m comfortable playing football and that’s expected of me here.”