Ajax qualified for the last 16 of the Europa League thanks to Kenneth Taylor’s extra-time penalty. The tie against USG finished 3-2 on aggregate.
- Follow Football-Oranje on X
Ajax went into the game with a comfortable 2-0 lead which was earned in Belgium last week but that was wiped out after a disastrous first half.
Union Sint-Gillis dominated from the first minute and Kevin Mac Allister headed them in front after 16 minutes. Sofian Boufal then had the ball in the net again but VAR ruled it out through offside.
After 25 minutes, Davy Klaassen stopped a shot with his hands and earned himself a red card. Promise David calmly slotted in the penalty to make it 2-0 and level on aggregate.
Ajax then managed to keep the score down by half time and Bertrand Traoré, Anton Gaaei and Ahmetcan Kaplan all appeared as substitutes in the second half.
The Belgians dominated the second half but Remko Pasveer kept them out and towards the end, Ajax even got chances through Mika Godts and Traore. However, there was no winner and the game went to extra-time.
Three minutes into the extra-time, Traoré shot the ball against the outstretched arm of Christian Burgess and Ajax got a penalty. Kenneth Taylor slotted in to send the home crowd wild.
Jorrel Hato then went off injured so Ajax finished the game with nine men but managed to survive with Taylor making a clearance off the line in the 115th minute.
Ajax progresses and they will find out their last 16 opponents on Friday.