Four-time European champions Ajax have been eliminated at the third qualifying round stage of the Champions League after a humiliating 3-2 second-leg defeat to SK Rapid Vienna on Tuesday, while AS Monaco advanced with a 4-0 win over Swiss side BSC Young Boys.
After a 2-2 first-leg draw in the Austrian capital last week, Ajax were strong favorites to progress to the play-off round, but they suffered a torturous night at the Amsterdam Arena.
Frank de Boer’s men let a two-goal lead slip at the Ersnt-Happel Stadion last week and the visitors — seemingly buoyed by that comeback — started where they left off last week.
Photo: EPA
Slovenia international Robert Beric — the scorer of Rapid’s equalizer in the first leg — tormented Ajax again as he put the Austrian side in front after 12 minutes before Louis Schaub doubled their lead before half-time.
Ajax, who had reached the group stages in each of the past four seasons, hauled themselves back into the match and leveled the aggregate scores at 4-4 thanks to goals by Polish international Arkadiusz Milik and Serbian midfielder Nemanja Gudelj.
However, just as the tie seemed set for extra time, Rapid Vienna — who last reached the Champions League group stages in the 2005-2006 season — struck a decisive blow after 77 minutes via Schaub’s second goal of the night.
Photo: AFP
Rapid progressed to the play-off round after a 5-4 aggregate victory.
Last season’s quarter-finalists Monaco are into the play-off round after a thumping 4-0 second-leg win over Young Boys.
The Ligue 1 side — who reached the 2004 final where they were beaten by Portuguese giants Porto — were already 3-1 up from last week’s first leg in Bern and finished the job handsomely at the Stade Louis II thanks to a blistering second-half display.
Photo: AP
“I liked our performance. We managed to put our game plan into practice — to contain the opposition at first, then counterattack after we scored the first goal,” Monaco boss Leonardo Jardim said. “We took control of the game. The first half was very good from a strategic perspective. Our goal was to not concede before half-time and force our opponent to attack. That’s exactly what happened.”
Young Boys, who were semi-finalists of the European Cup in 1958-1959, retained some hope of getting back into the tie with the second leg goalless at half-time.
However, Monaco — who were third in Ligue 1 last season — struck four times in 23 devastating second-half minutes to inflict a crushing 7-1 aggregate defeat on the Swiss capital club.
Ivan Cavaleiro — a big-money summer arrival from Portuguese champions SL Benfica — curled in a superb opener after 54 minutes before further goals from Layvin Kurzawa, Anthony Martial and another new signing Stephan El Shaarawy saw Monaco run riot.
Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb survived a thrilling comeback by Norwegian side Molde to progress on away goals after a 3-3 second-leg draw.
With the tie level after a 1-1 draw in Zagreb last week, the visitors looked to be out of sight after scoring three goals in the opening 22 minutes at the Aker Stadion.
The Norwegian champions — who missed two penalties and had Vegard Forren sent off — hit back with three second-half goals to leave Zagreb hanging on, but the hosts could not get the fourth goal that would have put them through at the visitors’ expense.
Cyriot champions APOEL remain on course for a second successive appearance in the group stages, despite a 1-0 second-leg loss to Danish champions Midtjylland in scorching heat in Nicosia.
In temperatures of 35oC, the Cyprus team — who played for an hour with 10 men after Vinicius’ straight red card — were beaten by Erik Sviatchenko’s early goal, but progressed on away goals after a 2-1 first-leg success last week.
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