Ajax threw away a two goal lead against ten-man Rapid Vienna as they were held 2-2 in the first leg of their Champions League third round qualifier.
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Its been four years since Ajax last tasted victory on foreign soil in the Champions League, but they seemed on their way to an easy victory in Vienna after an excellent first half. On 25 minutes Daley Sinkgraven found Davy Klaassen in the box, and the new Ajax captain made no mistake in guiding the ball into the bottom corner to give Frank de Boer’s side the lead.
The goal seemed to unsettle Rapid Vienna, and Ajax were able to cut open their defence time and time again, but Nemanja Gudelj, Anwar El Ghazi and Sinkgraven all missed guilt edged chances. Finally two minutes before the break Arkaduisz Milik whipped a ball to the back post for Klaassen to nod in his second, and it appeared Ajax were coasting.
However four minutes into the second half Florian Kainz got ahead of right back Kenny Tete to fire past Jasper Cillessen from close range and give Rapid Vienna hope in the tie.
That hope seemed to be extinguished when Stefan Schwab was shown a straight red card for a lunge on Jairo Riedewald, but the ten men equalised when Joel Veltman’s poor pass was cut out and Robert Beric slid the ball past Cillessen.
Neither side could find a winner, but it will be Ajax who are kicking themselves after throwing away a commanding lead. However two away goals puts them in a commanding position going into the second leg in Amsterdam next week.
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