Sébastien Haller scores no less than four times on a magical evening for Ajax

Wednesday, September 15, 2021 at 10:50 PM• Jeroen van Poppel

Ajax started the group stage of the Champions League unparalleled on Wednesday evening. Erik ten Hag’s team was taken by the hand on a visit to Sporting Portugal by Sébastien Haller, who crowned his European debut for Ajax with no fewer than four goals. Steven Berghuis scored a fantastic team goal in between, while Ajax also conceded a goal due to a mistake by Remko Pasveer: 1-5. Ajax takes the lead in the group on goal difference, after Borussia Dortmund won 1-2 at Besiktas earlier in the evening.

Ten Hag was struggling with the necessary personnel problems and therefore had to shift in his line-up. Remko Pasveer defended the goal, because Maarten Stekelenburg had not recovered enough from groin complaints. Davy Klaassen was also not fit enough to play, so Steven Berghuis played at number ten. Back left, Daley Blind was preferred over Nicolás Tagliafico.

The team from Amsterdam experienced an absolute dream start and was ahead 0-2 within ten minutes. Antony cut in from the right and saw his shot hit the post via Neto’s foot, after which Haller headed in the rebound: 0-1. A few minutes later, Antony was able to take advantage of a total error of judgment by his opponent Rúben Vinagre in depth. Ajax’s wing striker took Pasveer’s long pass well and put the ball wide on Haller, who tapped in from close by: 0-2.

In the phase that followed Ryan Gravenberch produced a weak shot after a cleverly taken low corner. On the other side, Sporting became dangerous for the first time with a header by João Palhinha from a free kick. After just over half an hour, the Portuguese made the connecting goal. Pasveer misjudged a through pass on Paulinho and walked backwards again, but was then unable to move the attacker’s shot sufficiently to prevent a goal against: 1-2. A serious mistake by the Ajax goalkeeper.

Ajax did not let themselves be fooled and made 1-3 in a brilliant way. Antony found Ryan Gravenberch from the right flank, who in his assumption used his opponent as a turntable and served Berghuis. The attacker cleverly took the ball into the box and was able to tap in. Ajax was lucky that Sporting didn’t come back before halftime, when Pasveer processed a high cross badly and Zouhair Feddal narrowly headed over in the post.

Even after the break, developments followed at breakneck speed. Paulinho seemed to head the ball hard and focused behind Pasveer, but saw his new connecting goal disallowed for offside. On the other side, Antony sent a beautiful pass to Haller with the outside on the left, who completed his hat-trick by sliding the ball in: 1-4. Sporting did not give up and shortly afterwards hit the post via Pedro Porro, who saw his shot bounce off Daley Blind. After an hour of play, Pasveer had a good reflex on a new long shot from Porro.

Ajax showed itself deadly efficient and a little later came to 1-5. Noussair Mazraoui dribbled in over the right and sent a splitting pass to Haller, who handled the ball well and signed for his fourth goal of the evening. Jurriën Timber headed in front from a corner in the final phase.