Steven Berghuis finds it difficult to still believe in an Ajax championship. After the lost Classic (2-3), the playmaker of the team from Amsterdam gives the credit to Feyenoord, which, according to him, came out well and ‘will be very difficult to catch up’. Karim El Ahmadi then calls Berghuis ‘one of the few’ who made a good impression at Ajax.
Berghuis was at the base of Ajax’s 2-1 eight minutes before the break with a beautiful through ball. Before that, the team from Amsterdam had already brushed away Santiago Giménez’s early 0-1. There seemed to be no problem for Ajax, but after the break the team from Amsterdam completely collapsed. Berghuis is the first to admit that.
“We started the second half a bit half-hearted and that start (the fast 2-2 after the break, ed.) Of course gives Feyenoord a bit of fuel and takes that away from us”, the technician analyzes in conversation with Hans Kraay junior. “You notice that they have a lot of confidence after the break and we less so. For a long time you think it will be 2-2, but then they take him out of a standard situation.”
That standard situation – a corner from Orkun Kökçü, headed in by Lutsharel Geertruida – gave Feyenoord the win, and thus a lead of six points over number two Ajax. “What does your heart say?” Kraay junior therefore asks Berghuis, regarding the title chances of the team from Amsterdam. “If you are realistic with the program of both teams, it will be very difficult to overtake, but you never know,” Berghuis replies. “We will do everything we can to keep winning our matches. Feyenoord is also doing well. Sometimes you also give the credits to the opponents. Congratulations.”
“He was one of the few who played very well in the first half”
El Ahmadi is one of the few Ajax players who has nice words for Berghuis. “He was one of the few who played very well in the first half, especially on the ball,” says the former midfielder. “Perhaps he could have set out the lines more often to collect the ball from Bassey, because he always looked very bad because he was always alone. If you have to move all the time: that is not right.”