Ten-man Ajax scraped their way into the Europa league group stages after a 0-0 draw against Jablonec saw them progress 1-0 on aggregate.
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After last weeks 1-0 success in Amsterdam, Frank de Boer spoke of the importance to Dutch football and his club that Ajax progressed to the Europa League group stages, but his side made hard work of it in a tough night in the Czech Republic.
Jablonec had the better of a quiet first half with Jasper Cillessen having to be quick off his line to deny the home side after an error by Kenny Tete. At the other end Joel Veltman could not connect properly with a dangerous Nemanja Gudelj corner.
On 57 minutes Jairo Riedewald handled in the box to give Jablonec a way back into the tie, but Jan Gregus struck his penalty against the post. Its the first penalty in 25 attempts that Cillessen has not conceded.
Straight after the scare Ajax were once again put under pressure as Riechedly Bazoer received his second yellow card, meaning they had to play the last half hour with only ten men. However Ajax defended soundly, and created the best chance to break the deadlock with Mitchell Dijks’s striking the woodwork.
Ajax held onto the draw which puts them in the group stage draw on Friday, with Frank de Boer’s side among the top seeds in the tournament.
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