Ajax, returning to the stadium where they last won the Champions League 20 years ago, squandered a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 against 10-man Rapid Vienna on Wednesday.
The Austrian side fought back despite having Stefan Schwab sent off for a shocking two-footed lunge at Jairo Riedewald in the 59th minute of the third qualifying round, first-leg tie.
Four-times European champions Ajax, who beat AC Milan at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion in the 1995 final, dominated the first half and two goals from Davy Klaassen put them in a commanding position at halftime.
Photo: Reuters
Klaassen turned in a pass from Daley Sinkgraven in the 25th minute and headed another two minutes before the break.
Florian Kainz got ahead of his marker to pull one back early in the second half and Robert Beric equalized in the 76th minute after a mix-up in the Ajax defense.
Two other former European champions were in action on Wednesday with Celtic beating Qarabag 1-0 at home and Steaua Bucharest drawing 1-1 with Partizan Belgrade, also at home.
Photo: EPA
Scottish champions Celtic are in danger of failing to reach the lucrative group stage for a second successive season despite Dedryck Boyata’s late goal giving them the win.
Boyata’s header from a Kris Commons cross eight minutes from time saved the hosts’ blushes and gives them a slight advantage to take to Baku next week and hope of progressing to the play-off round for the group stage.
However, the Azerbaijani side — who beat eventual Europa League finalists Dnipro in a group-stage game last term as well as holding Inter to a 0-0 draw — showed enough in restricting Celtic to only a handful of opportunities that they can claim a famous scalp.
Fernando Varela snatched an 81st-minute equalizer for Steaua at home to Partizan after Miroslav Vulicevic had given the Serbs the lead just after the hour.
Swiss champions Basel, who reached the last 16 last season, had a 3-1 win against Lech Poznan, with both teams finishing with 10 men.
Michael Lang gave the visitors the lead in the 34th minute only for Denis Thomalla to level just one minute later.
Shkelzen Gashi, topscorer in the Swiss league last season, missed a penalty for Basel midway through the second half after Tomasz Kedziora had been sent off for the hosts.
Marc Janko and Davide Calla scored in the last 15 minutes for the visitors, who then had Taulant Xhaka sent off.
Austrian champions Salzburg, who have failed to get through the qualifying rounds on any of their past seven attempts, overcame Malmo 2-0 at home, while HJK Helsinki were held 0-0 by Kazakh champions Astana.
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