UEFA Champions League – Match Review: Real Madrid versus Ajax
Real Madrid kicked off their UEFA Champions League campaign with an emphatic won over Ajax, the Spanish giants and the nine time European Cup winners were absolutely brilliant in their opening encounter against the Dutch club.
It was a strong display of intent by Mourinho’s team who are seen by several experts as the favorites to win this year’s UEFA Champions League.
Madrid started with most of their stars in the starting lineup as Jose Mourinho went with a 4-2-3-1 formation. A formation that has come into fashion following the FIFA 2010 World Cup, Iker Casillas started in goal for the men
in white. At the back, Arbeloa started at right back due to an injury to Sergio Ramos. In the center of defense, Carvalho and Pepe were entrusted with clean sheet keeping responsibilities. At the left side of defense, Marcelo took his regular berth. In the
center of the park, Xabi Alonso and Ozil took up their places while the front four included, Ozil, Di Maria, Ronaldo and Higuain.
The former Dutch league champions went with Maarten Stekenlenburg in goal while Van Der Wiel, Alderweireld, Ooijer and Anita made up the back four. In the center of the park, they played with the likes of Demy de Zeeuw, Siem De
Jong, Eyong Enoh and Sulejmani. Martin Jol, the ex-Tottenham manager, now in-charge at Ajax selected Emanuelson and Hamdaoui as their two strikers.
Madrid started the first half strongly as Ronaldo forced his way into the Ajax penalty area but his charge was stopped by the Ajax goalkeeper in the 23rd minute of the match. 26th minute of the first half
again saw, Ronaldo push forward this time his shot was deflected away for the corner kick from inside the Ajax penalty area.
Di Maria had a good shout for the penalty for Real Madrid in the 28th minute of the match as he was brought down by the Dutch goal keeper; however the referee had none of it and gave the decision Ajax’s way. In the 31st
minute of the match, Higuain scored with a header from Xabi Alonso’s corner kick. It was a scrappy goal for Los Blancos but Mourinho’s side went in the lead nonetheless.
Marcelo dribbled his way to the Ajax penalty area in the 31st minute but then crossed the ball to Di Maria, whose shot ended up in the stands rather than the back of the net. Ozil missed a good chance to double the lead
for the Spanish giants in the 41st minute but his shot was also off target as Madrid missed a host of chances before the half time whistle was blown by the referee.
Second half resumed and so did Madrid’s domination, they were again wasteful with their finishing as Di Maria skewed his shot wide and high from inside the Ajax penalty area in the 51st minute of the match. Madrid maintained
their control of the match but were constantly wasteful with the chances that fell their way, Di Maria and Ozil were particularly bad with their finishing but in the 71st minute of the match Ozil passed the ball to Higuain inside the Ajax penalty
are and the striker buried the chance and gave his team a two goal lead in doing so.
Right after scoring his second goal, Higuain almost completed his hatrick as Ronaldo played him through but the Argentinean striker failed to get past the experienced Marten Stekenlenburg. Near the death, Ronaldo was on the receiving
end of a pass from Higuain but amazingly the ex-Manchester United winger completely failed to make contact with the ball. In all fairness, Real Madrid missed way too many chances in the match but still ended up as winners at the final whistle as the score
line rested at 2-0 to the former European Cup winners.
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