Ajax Amsterdam can’t handle Benfica’s push: 2-2

Ajax Amsterdam took the lead twice this Wednesday in Lisbon, but Benfica managed to rebalance the score in both, to finish 2-2 in their first leg of the Champions League round of 16, which remains open before back in Holland.

The Ivorian Sebastien Haller, scoring revelation of this edition, scored again for Ajax, in the 29th minute, making up for himself shortly after scoring an own goal (26). Earlier, his Serbian teammate Dusan Tadic had opened the scoring in the 18th minute.

But Ajax could not maintain the advantage until the end and the Ukrainian Roman Yaremchuk (72) put the final tie at 2 on the scoreboard.

The leader of the Dutch league and the third placed in the Portuguese championship will therefore decide the winner of the pulse on March 15 at the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam.

Without the rule of the highest value of goals as a visitor in case of equality, everything is very open for that second round, where Ajax will have the best advantage of playing in front of their fans.

Sebastien Haller continues to be the revelation of this Champions League and after the ten goals he achieved in the group stage, he now adds an eleventhwhich allows him to extend his dominance in the table of top scorers in the tournament, ahead of the Pole Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich), who has 9, and the Egyptian Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), who has 8.

After a run of six wins in the group stage, Ajax were unable to continue that streak at the start of the knockout rounds.

Benfica, who beat and eliminated FC Barcelona in their group, were thus able to stop the team from Amsterdam, something that another team from the Portuguese capital, Sporting Lisbon, had not been able to achieve, who were defeated twice by Ajax in the first phase.

Ajax vs. Benfica – Minute by minute

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