Noussair Mazraoui was one of the stars at Ajax on Wednesday evening in the away match against Benfica (2-2) in the eighth final of the Champions League. Apart from one unfortunate and very precious moment, the slip that gave Jan Vertonghen a clear path to send the cross that resulted in the 1-1, the right-back played excellently. Mazraoui himself experienced ‘the most intense match’ in the current Champions League campaign, he said afterwards.
“This has been the most intense match of the season in the Champions League so far,” Mazraoui told Ajax’s club channel. “It was intense, a lot of sprint work back and forth. It was a very tough race.” Mazraoui often combined with Antony in the first half. “I think the tandem with Antony is becoming known,” continues Mazraoui. “Everyone knows what our qualities are. Opponents adapt to that. We continuously try to come up with new running actions to create spaces for ourselves.”
After more than fifteen minutes of play, the back had an important part in the opening goal, when he delivered the ball to Dusan Tadic from the right side of the field. The captain then hit the target with his lesser right. “I put pressure on the left back, who did not expect me”, Mazraoui describes the goal. “I combined with Antony and saw that Dusan (Tadic, ed.) was free in the sixteen. Exactly as we discussed it before the time, that we would have space in the switch. That’s why the match was so intense. It was counter on counter. In principle there was no peace.”
Vertonghen’s toe prevented Mazraoui from appearing on the scoreboard after 62 minutes. The defender was cleared by Lisandro Martínez with a long ball. “He took the keeper well, I’m really disappointed with that. That would have been very nice. I’ve scored like this before, it’s a bit ingrained. When Martínez has the ball free, he looks at me and I know that I have to run “Then he knows that he has to play the ball when the space is available. With that chance it was very quick to act. I felt I shot it well, only the keeper caught it.”